It didn’t take long . . .

. . . . for the wildlife to move in once they realised there was no dog patrolling the property any longer. The smarter ones realised Della dog had been no real threat for some time, but had still remained wary – just in case. Their boldness increased once the penny dropped she was no longer around, and her doggie scent had dissipated. In a matter of days hares and rabbits were all hopping about and munching breakfast in the early mornings, or venturing in for an evening snack.

They are oblivious to the chooks – who seem to be a little nonplussed by these creatures invading their patch – and they don’t seem terribly concerned about us either unless we startle them, or get too close. It will be interesting to see the reaction when we do welcome a new dog into our lives. We’ll visit the Dogs Home in the new year where there’s almost certain to be a dog bought for Christmas, but surrendered once the novelty had worn off. Or realisation kicked in that a dog is for life, not just for Christmas – and companion animals can prove expensive to feed and care for responsibly.

The past few weeks have been odd going on my morning walks without Della – and I still reach for the lead before remembering it’s not needed now. On the plus side it’s been a novelty to observe wildlife close-up, and to know that we have a resident family of quail confident enough to join the chooks for their breakfast wheat, and bandicoots that have been visibly active on the lawn. No sign yet of any green and gold frogs in the trough though which is disappointing, but at least they’re about as we hear them calling. More distressingly there have been a couple of squashed ones on the road.

The potential downside to no longer having a dog is emboldened blackbirds eager to eat our ripening produce. Specifically raspberries and boysenberries. We managed to thwart the parrots though, beating them to the apricots in the nick of time. The same will need to be done as the greengages ripen in a few weeks as neither tree is netted, but the mulberry tree is way too big to cover so the pesky starlings, blackbirds and parrots will win that one.

Sharing isn’t a concept wildlife understand so it’s all a question of balance when growing produce in the country, but it can become a free for all when it’s harvest time and there’s a need to pull the alpha species card. A case of us against them, although we leave them the odd misshapen or over-ripe fruit as a token consolation.