Austin Seven and drove away!
You have heard of the straw that broke the camel’s back, I am sure?
This wasn’t so much a straw as a socking great piece of railway sleeper! A story for another day... maybe?
My memory was jogged about the farming chapter of my life by Elaine (see Tales from Parsonage Cottage on my sidebar)
Hares.
In our fields we had lots of hares which I delighted in watching especially the boxing matches.
The joy for them and for me was one of life’s simple pleasures.
We had a huge top field alongside the back lane. One morning walking the plot with the farmer, we saw in the distance just in from the hedge what looked like a man with a goat on a lead. Leaving the farmer husband way behind I strode forward indignation in every step.
‘I say, there is no public footpath through here!’
my dulcet tones reverberated across the Vale of York! At the sound of my voice and probably the sight of me hoving to at speed, made him turn on his heels and run clambering through the gap in the hedge dragging the goat (on closer inspection a greyhound) with him.
What we found out after that was our field had been used for hare coursing, all the while with us completely unsuspecting!
The police were informed and we kept a very keen eye on the top field, which being well away from the house wasn’t easy along with all the other chores of a dairy farm.
I've never seen a hare in Cornwall, but when I lived in Leicestershire, they were plentiful in the fields around our village. Lots of footpaths through the fields - and I regularly walked through with my Border Collie, Zac. We used to see the hares standing, chatting, glancing our way as we approached and at every glance, Zac would tremble and hide behind my legs so they wouldn't spot him. The hares soon had him sussed and waited until we were almost upon them before giving each other a casual nod and turning into the vegetation. Poor Zac, by then, was a quivering wreck, totally un-nerved by the presence of these dangerous, killer beasts. Poor old Zac!
ReplyDeleteZac sounds a nervous collie very similar to Ellie. Yesterday late afternoon we were on Clee Hill were the sheep proudly display their newborn lambs. We walked by with Ellie hardly taking not a jot of notice, she is an extremely biddable dog and a joy to have around. Without her during this crisis our lives would have been so much poorer.
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Our hares are called jackrabbits, brown in summer and white in winter.
ReplyDeleteThe most beautiful of animals. The world would be so much poorer without the natural world.
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I've never seen a hare. When I was a child we lived in a house with a large garden backing onto a stream and the railway so we saw loads of rabbits and foxes. Over the years we've seen less and less wild rabbits and more and more foxes - I assume this is a related situation! I've never seen a hare though and I'm glad you chased off the hunter and his dog! x
ReplyDeleteWell MG you have missed a treat, the really are the most majestic of animals...
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