I love Dogs me...

The still and dark of pre-dawn. As fascinating in its own way as the daylight discoveries of other mornings. The important thing being that you and your dogs were happy in your quiet companionship, Rocky.

One of the main factors when we are choosing caravan sites for holidays is that it must have a large enclosed dog area. We have two whippets both girls, one is four and the young one is two years old. One of the things that sight hounds love to do is run, I have never seen one yet that does not love to run as fast as there long legs will take them. To watch our's enjoying themselves makes our holiday. They will chase anything that moves, that being the reason that we try to choose ones that have a fence. We have 11 sites booked for 2017 so hope to meet some of you there.

Our lurcher was the same, CGB. A nearby quiet beach was heaven for him. Sight hounds only know two speeds - flat out or asleep.

Out this morning a few minutes before sun up, heavy frost overnight, another whiteover. In fact as we rounded the hedge at the Sou'east corner of the meadow I could see the sun had just broken the horizon. Cold, clear & beautiful, that time when the sun is there but just not high enough to give high levels of bright light but enough to enjoy its appearance. As we all turned East towards the log copse a loud squawking caught my attention to my right, as we were the wrong side of the hedge I couldn't see what was happening but I knew it was Magpies & Blackbirds. Neither Young un nor Her Mum was very interested, they'd found recent Deer prints in the frosted grass & was following them towards the copse. I faced the noise & walked backwards into the field, the top of a good sized Oak came into view, then just above my head(less than 1.5metres) appeared a Tawny Owl, it flew over the hedge then dipped slightly, it was directly above me, moving fast but silently, Swiftly followed by 2 Magpies & a single Blackbird, all 3 much higher than the Owl. I turned to follow its flight North. It alighted on an Ash Tree on the corner of the meadow & just sat still, the Magpies & Blackbird well above it creating a cacophonous noise as they harried & berated it. The Owl just leant forward & dropped from the branch & continued at quite a low level North. Neither of the 3 mobbers followed. I've heard a multitude of Tawny Owls, most nights they call with their 'Too wit'(Female I think) & Too woo(Male returning call), I've seen them roosting but never have I seen one so close in the wild. It had a wingspan I'd estimate of a metre, I never knew they were so big. The rest of the walk was uneventful but very enjoyable, nitheringly cold mind. The Dogs were enjoying the walk, kicking up frosted particles that caught low sun beams, just beautiful. They were toddling off just to turn & run back jumping up for an ear rub. I wasn't as attentive as usual due to me thinking of the Tawny Owl encounter. A glorious start to the day. Here's hoping you too enjoy yours.

Back to the subject of dogs. --

Isn't it great to see a young puppy develop and grow every day. They are wonderful creatures and they are learning about the world as the days progress. 

I just love dogs. 

Cheers......................K

Excellent tale Rocky I shared the whiteover this morning on our walk, minus 2 degrees but it brought out the silliness in Cassie running around on the hardened grass 

As ever, a great post, Rocky. We're missing the frost down here in Cornwall, but Harry and Lady have been having a marvellous time over on the dunes. Although we're not locals, we are frequent visitors and have made many friends who we meet up with regularly on our walks, including one wonderful old lady, now in her 90's who walks the dunes every day, whatever the weather. She lost her long time companion just before Christmas and we were quite concened about how it might affect her. So we were delighted to see her yesterday with a lovely new rescue dog - a 3 year old smallish collie type - already runnng free but returning to her mistress's side when called back. And this after just a week of being together. Oh to be so positive and active when I get to that age! Smiley smiley.

Wonderful when dogs can bring happiness into someones life 'moulesy', a dog sees no age in its companion only someone that loves it.

What a fantastic sighting of the TO, Rocky, and of the magpies and blackbird giving it some stick. I can imagine the TO thinking "Pah, you're all mouth squawking like that". Then ignoring them and flying off to get on with his own business of living. 👍🏻

The TO was a shock, I've obviously got a mental picture of a little Owl in my head, not anymore. The joy of nature is a wonderful gift, it can turn an enjoyable walk into something special, everyday is a school day, long may it last