Day 125 - Ritual Sacrifice

what demonic beast is this?

We were supposed to go climbing today, but when I woke up this morning I felt drained, exhausted even.  I didn't even have the energy to get ready, let alone to drive 100 miles, lug a heavy bag on a difficult scramble up to a crag, then climb.  I'm ashamed to say I had to cry off...really not like me.

I sat around for a couple of hours, then went back to bed and slept like a baby for four hours! I think I might still have the remnants of a lurgy...ho hum.

Anywho, I felt a bit better when I woke up, and have a had a pleasant day since, thanks for asking!  

First, Anna took me snake hunting!

There's an SSSI site owned by the Wildlife Trust nearby, and some of Anna's friends have reptile mats down.  These are simply mats of various types, that are put on the ground in the sun, in environments where there may be reptiles.  Reptiles, being cold blooded, need to warm up in the sun, and it gets warm under the mats, so attracting snakes and lizards.   

It has the side benefit of providing ecologists with somewhere to look where there's a better than average chance of finding any local reptiles.

At the site local to us, there are grass snakes and slow worms, so we hoped to maybe get a photo of something interesting.  

Basically, you wander round the site looking for the mats, then see if there are snakes under them. 

We did get distracted for a while by a bit of a skeleton I came across.  Looking around, we found several bits of bone and some feathers, and part of a wing.   Somewhat disturbingly, we then spent some time reassembling them on top of an anthill.   

If anyone comes across it they'll assume they've disturbed a serial killer's sacrificial altar, complete with grisly souvenirs of his evil deeds.

Maybe we'll get back there later with candles and incense, and have a little midnight ritual, raise some spirits, all that jolly stuff... ;-) 

Anyway, that aside, I can succinctly summarise the two hours we spent doing this with the following two photo's:

any snakes?

nope

Still, it was a good to get some exercise, and a pleasant walk around a peaceful, quiet site. 

And I got this photo of a cool tree:

After that it was time to fulfil my promise to Ol' Blue Eyes, so I took him a juicy apple, which he seemed to enjoy:

He then proceeded to check all of my pockets for any further goodies, getting his muddy snout all over me in the process.  

He was a bit braver today, and he has quite a personality...I like him.

Tomorrow, I shall buy him carrots!

B-)