Animal Communication

This morning I let out our animals, fed them way too many goodies and we had a short chat. They were a bit reluctant to head off for adventures and said so. Monty went in to the forest and came back in a hurry, deciding to have a good session of morning calls next to us. None of this is normal so I had a scan of the fields and to my amazement a saw a bear. What an absolutely magnificent animal... and more!

Credit: Dasha Dimitrova

It was not a huge bear but it cantered calmly past our house, on its way down to the beach, morning swim being so healthy for you and all that. It's funny when you see an animal like that, first you wake up everyone that matters and then you start to worry for the safety of the animal. Where can a bear find enough peace and quiet to live, around here? Not next door to Monty, that's never going to work. (At least our brave cockerel realised that this was not an animal to mess with...)

As I write this, our four lovely sheep are trying to graze on our doorstep, so nothing wrong with their sense of smell. The second thought that pops in to your head is that you have done something right to be blessed with such a sight as a bear.

It's been a standard joke in our childhood home, when out early in the mornings, horseback riding, walking the dog. The question if we saw anyone, any bears... Now I can happily answer, "Yes!" to the question. (You can tell I'm a bit exited... Sorry...)

The thing is if the animals had not told me about our visitor, I would have missed it. I would have meandered home, had more coffee and started the day as usual. Their reaction made me look a bit further afield. We have such clever animals and I am well trained. Better have Mr. Chip on a lead today, just in case he gets a whiff of wildlife. The bear is long gone but his wobbly leg cannot take a gallop through the forest.

Did I tell you I saw a bear this morning?

We talked about writing blogs with a good friend, the other day. She commented on the problem of finding stuff to write about. I thought about it and came to the conclusion that between our lovely animals and us living in the countryside, I'm never short of stuff to write about. I could write forever about my dear husband too but he would not like that... He is lovely, though...

Lina the hen went missing, the other evening. As I had to lock her out of the henhouse for obvious reasons, I gathered she had built a nest in the forest. Dear husband searched high and low and I went around calling but to no avail. In the end we had to give up and I went to say goodnight to everyone in the stable. When I arrived our long suffering sheep told that me they were hungry and quite frankly a bit fed up with it all. So I dug deep into their hay and found Lina in there. She had been building a nest when a lot of new hay had landed on her. She really does not like us at the moment. Whatever she does, there we are, spoiling it for her. Our lovely sheep could not eat their dinner as there was a sharp beak flying out at them from her new home but that she could not grasp. The next morning Lina stomped past me with angry, flat feet smattering, thinking what a horrid human being I was. We made up later with bilberries and a chat...

Now I have to get the ball rolling.  Mr. Chip has had his medicine and is asking for a walk in the forest. Now we want to see a giraffe or an elephant. How lovely and what a morning... Be well and as happy...

If you come across a bear out in the wild you are apparently to stand your ground, talk loudly and not run if it gets up on its hind legs. It may just want to have a sniff of your sent. Mine is Jour d' Hermes, Gardenia, just so you know, because if we did meet it again I would be too stunned to talk. And that does not happen often...

I was told if you meet a polar bear you are to remove your clothes slowly, leave them in a heap on the ground and back away. This is so the bear can smell your garments and you can pop off to safety. Not, as I first thought, to make the situation a bit embarrassing for the animal. The way global warming is escalating, it might be good to know this too.

This blog was written on the 12th of June so our friend the bear is long gone from the village, by now. All the best to the beautiful animal....

Text by Nina

Next blog on the 3rd July