Critter count hits new high...

After flora, some fauna (this isn't just thrown together you know!)

It is the land of the small furry things at the moment and poor Otter doesn't know which way to turn.

As well as overly aggressive tree-living squirrels to deal with, he now has ground squirrels and marmots!

One of many local ground squirrels (need to x 500+ for the local population!)



A marmot, surprising not in the majestic mountains and hills which surround us...but on a patch of grass, in the middle of town, next to the highway (uh oh!) and beside the petrol station!

The problem with the ground squirrels are a) there are loads of them and b) they look out for eachother and c) they live under ground. So poor Otter's tripping along on his afternoon walk and they are all basking in the sun on top of their little mounds (in gardens/orchards/banks etc).
Being fairly well camoflaged and faced with not the sharpest tool in the doggy toolbox Otter doesn't spot them until they see him. Then the pesky little critters all bond together like some communist utopia and warn eachother with little sharp squeaks. Now, there IS a reason for those ears and at this they prick up but hearing and direction are two different things in the brain of a cocker spainel and it takes a while for the two brain cell to collide and go 'they're over there, doofus!'.

So then we have a incredibly excited puppy bounding recklessly across the road/bushes/neighbours gardens to get to the wriggly little furry-squirrel-rabbit-I haven't seen these in the New Forest-type things, who, by now, have dived into their burrows and are splitting their sides with squirrel-giggles!

On the neighbours gardens front - no fences - very N. American but particularly confusing for a dog who has been brought up in the New Forest - again no fences but also no incessant hissing of 'Otter, come' 'Otter, you little darling, come here' 'Otter, you ******* little bugger, I can't believe we paid $1000 to get you over here, you little *******, don't you poo as well' - I say hissing, rather than yelling as would be more customary, as these are very expensive houses and sneaking away before anyone notices is the order of the day and plus they probably have a licence from the RMCP too!

Slightly bigger than a ground squirrel or a marmot, the quite fresh track of a black bear when we were hiking in the hills above Oyama....fortunately its owner is not featuring on the critter count just yet...and long may it stay that way....unless I am on the chairlift at Silver Star and he is nice and far below me....!