Be Excellent To Each Other

Come on piggies, get chomping!

New addition to the household today. Black cats are a nightmare to photograph.

I thought that cat had one skinny white arm

We put a new pond in this past week as our old pond liner (that was here when we moved in and reportedly about 30 years old, if not older) split and lost all the water. It felt a bit rushed as we had to try and get it set up as quickly as possible as we had a load of Great Crested Newts that were suddenly homeless, and they are still in their solely aquatic stage, and they’re a protected species.



It’s not 100% finished, but it’s progressing well and the noots are healthy and thriving in the new space.



There are plenty of shelter and hiding spaces both in and around the pond, plus a wildlife escape route.


It’ll take a while for it to settle and neutralise, and ideally we’d have had more time to prep and treat everything, but all the noot and forg inhabitants are doing well

That’s awesome having newts! I thought at first they were in a hot tub.

The Snakes on a Plane sequels are getting progressively more middle class

Call of Newty.

For a protected species they get everywhere, We've got loads. Which makes for a sad time when you look at the pond and see all the frog spawn because you know there will hardly be any frogs (there must be some I guess, since we get spawn every year).

I'm not sure the newts aren't the reason we don't get to watch dragonflies climb out of the pond anymore either, despite at least one or two laying in the moss every year.

Could you be seeing newt spawn/eggs instead of frog spawn?

Maybe. We used to have loads of frogs and see fewer every year though

Got a really healthy toad population though excellently, starting to see increasing snail competition from thrushes!

We had the female mallard and her young from the fishing pools over the way on our pond the other day which was awesome, as was seeing the pair of mandarins a couple of times. I've really missed the "pet" mallard pair that used to hang around our pond and conservatory doorstep.

Flystrike struck, trip to the vets, a half a haircut, some antibiotics and £100 later Theresa is recovering indoors. Margaret isn't too happy about being brung in from the garden to keep her company, but hey ho.

Mend well, Piggy!

She didn't.

Sorry to hear that mate. Don't know too much about GPs but will you get a Liz to keep Margaret company.

Oh mate, sorry to hear that.

Getting a Liz to keep Margaret company is an option, locking ourselves into a cycle until the end of time.

The another option is rehoming Margaret where she'll have company.

It's a tricky banana to peel. I'm more for the first option, but then you have to get them all to get along....

The second option would be like a second bereavement, I think.

Cheers, mate.

So sorry for your loss

We got stuck in the cycle of young/old piggy and it's tough knowing when to call it a day.

You do at least have the advantage that girl piggies are easier to bond, if that's any consolation.

Yeah it’s a tough call, we have Gizmo who has outlived two of his male buddies, he’s a fairly old boy now at 6 and a half and when he was first on his own we considered getting a dwarf rabbit as company to see his days out but so far he’s been ok. He gets treated like a king and fussed more than before he was on his own.

Mid season replacements!

Very much a Nay/Yay weekend you’ve had there.

Aw, they’re gorgeous. Sorry for the sadness earlier in the week. How were the girls with it all?

Kids were not too bad once they realised they weren't going to get a day off school over it. I think I was the most upset.

Liz and Margaret are both now next to each other in separate cardboard boxes after their speed dating hour at the rescue centre put them together