all creatures great and small

a handsome zebu bull with one of his cows on San Cristobal

Before I completely forget about some of the wondrous animals I interacted with whilst away, I thought I would upload a few images to share with you. You will have gathered by now, I’m passionate about animals, and in particular mammals - from the teeniest rodent through to gargantuan whales. All, wild and domesticated, human and not so human, fascinate me. I thirst to know more! Here are a few encounters…

islands - panama post 25 january

All travelling between the islands, and most going back and forth between villages and houses, around the Bocas archipelago is carried out by boat. Dugouts, hardly visible above the waterline, holding a single Indian, a cluster of children or a whole family are paddled skilfully and silently along the edges of mangroves or across open bays where they glide with hardly an inch of freeboard alongside occasional pods of dolphins, rays and leaping fish.

panama post 23rd january

Busy, busy, busy. I’ve been catching up on all those little problems that happened whilst I was away.
Ginny developed a bad foot the day before I arrived back (foul-in-foot) and needed treatment. Several of the cows and the bull have a nasty case of mites and are driving themselves crazy with itching. It’s extremely contagious and the whole herd has to be treated – similar to children getting head lice. So this afternoon I had great fun trying to aim 40mls of the appropriate chemical along the backbone of all the cattle, who were convinced that I had devised a homecoming gurgle-torture…they are paranoid about white plastic bottles that gurgle!
This morning after a prolonged feeding, tidy-up and general check over of all the stock it was onto the bobcat for a-shifting and a-building of the dung heap in preparation for mucking out the cows on Friday in readiness for calving.
The dogs are dillirious with excitement at resuming their daily walks with me, and even the deer in the wood sounded their wierd ‘dolphin-barks’ as I passed by.
And what a gorgeous day! Cold, but dry with sun from dawn to dusk. Desk work will have to wait till tomorrow.

panama post 23rd january

Today’s my birthday! We celebrated with an early morning swim. A full moon white and bright played hide and seek behind low streaked clouds whilst the sun erupted above the horizon changing the smoked-glass sea into an oil smooth mirror. Kingfishers craaked noisily skimming low over the water. Herons, silhouetted against the pale sky, flew with long steady wing beats. Far out in the bay a dolphin breaks the sea glass, leaping fast and furiously chasing his morning breakfast. I slowly glide out into the bay reveling in the sensuous warm silk of the water. Robert signs - come back, come back! I shrug my shoulders – why? ‘Predators’, he mimics, ‘this is the time’. I lazily pull homeward enjoying the flipper-like feeling of my limbs and instinctual harmony with the sea and swimming. As I near the landing stage I feel a long-past remembered tingling sensation along my arm – jellyfish - a million minute stinging cells shed as she drifted past left to cling and sting tender white northern skin!

i’m back…just!

Weary, travel-worn, a bit tattered and sore around the eyes, but nonetheless well, hail and hearty! Arrived back this afternoon after a very long, but relatively painless and uneventful, flight or rather flights - three of them to be precise.

tails from the americas

The flight was long; well, not the actual flight but the four hour transit in New York, three of which were taken up queuing for US security, immigration and custom procedures. Frustrating, tiring and seemingly pointless considering we were not even exiting the airport! Settled into our friendly, helpful, B&B we spent the first day exploring the contrasts of Panama City. Poverty mixed with overt affluence, the city is one of contrasts, half American, half Latino in nature.

flying high

I’m sitting thirty six thousand feet above the Atlantic. Yes, you’ve guessed I’m in a plane. A rather cramped one.
You may remember that in my Jemima Calves post I mentioned that we were going away, hence my relief Jemima had calved. So here I am, gone and many thousands of miles away from Locks Park Farm.