Holy hedgehogs

Being kind to animals is one thing. But, when animals take advantage of kindness and make a nuisance of themselves, that’s where one has to draw the line. One such animal is the common hedge-hog.

Far from being cute and cuddly (except for their pups /piglets /hoglets), the local Reikorangi hedgehogs are persistent, with carelessness as their second name, when being in close proximity to anything resembling Bennie’s turf.

Bennie is unable to resist picking up these little critters whenever he encounters one in the shrubbery. He carefully picks them up in his huge jaw, with just sufficient jaw pressure to restrain the creature and not causing any damage to the inside of his mouth. He then brings the prize inside and places it on the floor in a prominent position for all to see. Once he is praised for his prowess as a hunter, Bennie’s interest in the prickly beings immediately wanes.

Our task then is to dispose of the surviving hedgehog in a spot where he will be safe from re-capture. When the hedgehog in question is captured in a dead/dying state, there is no problem with disposal – fling him over the fence into the neighbour’s grazing paddock. But, the live and mobile ones present much more of a problem: their intelligence is of such a level that they do not understand that re-entry to the Chartwell ground might involve a certain demise. 

The policy is to carefully place the living ones in the undergrowth about 4 kilometres away, near St Andrew’s Anglican Church, which is on the way to the station, the shops and the rest of the outside world from Reikorangi Valley, roughly half the distance from Kents Road to the Waikanae town centre.

(Above): The dotted red line indicates the route from Kents Road to a patch of gardens and shrubbery opposite St Andrew’s, via Ngatiawa Road to Reikorangi Road.

There must have now been close on to a dozen hogs which have been transported from Kents Road to opposite the church for re-cycling.  I can only say Holy hedgehogs!

He’s a Lumberjack!

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay,
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees, I eat my lunch,
I go to the lava-try.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea.

I cut down trees, I skip and jump,
I like to press wild flowers.
I put on women's clothing,
And hang around in bars.

A drawback of having a street-facing property bordered by tall pine trees is that the maintenance of the trees and the safety of passing motorists and pedestrians become your responsibility. Thus, yesterday afternoon, Bianca, Clayton and Tyler together with chainsaw, handsaw, secateurs and long-handled lopper, went down to the southern end of the grounds to attend to some of the overhanging branches and unruly overgrowth along the fence. I remained in the safety of the inside of the paddock and grabbled whatever was sawn off property-side.

It was only after the weary troops were returning to base camp to clean the cutting edges and to nurse the overheated chainsaw that I realised that the camera had not been present. It was therefore after the event that I took these photos.

Brynn had been building a castle with the fir branches and had incarcerated Bennie in the Tower of pines. Obedient Bennie seemed quite happy with the doll-house episode and snoozed without protest.

Along the inner fence, where once was a wilderness of overgrowth, I can see clearly now…

No longer will we run the risk of having our eyes poked out by stuff sticking out of the trunks. Thanks to Bianca, Clayton and Tyler. Not necessarily in that order.

The long and winding (Ngatiawa) Road

I try to follow the golden rule of remembering to carry a camera when strolling along in nature the road. When we went on a short stroll along Ngatiawa Road (east) this morning, I took it along, only to find that I’ve already photographed most of the noteworthy scenes.

Then I spotted the remains of the tree with which Richard the Woodcutter had almost blocked off Kents Road traffic: The photo does not do the height from which it fell any justice at all -  the top of that ridge is a good five/six storeys above the road. You don’t want to be standing here when he fells one of these pine giants! The ‘arrows’ sign has nothing to do with the tree-slide – it indicates the one-way narrow bridge over the river up ahead.

 

I looked around for more ordinary scenes, with these results:

Hi from Billy at the Ngatiawa/Kents T-junction

Lots of pretty weeds, seeds and wild flowers to be seen along the verge.

The winding road…

Mr Arachna designed his new home with one nice rectangular window. Then he got bored and made a whole bunch of funky odd-shaped ones.

The sun filtering through the trees at this peaceful scene with a wooden paddock gate.

The canopy above the road ahead creates a complete roof: ideal shelter if you get caught in an unexpected rain-shower.

First stroll : Terrace Road

Our second day in the Reikorangi valley sees us taking our very first walk in New Zealand – a stroll around the neighbourhood, really. Turn left up Kents Road and you end up in Terrace Road, a ‘no exit’ road, a cul-de-sac, if you wish. Benny and Sophie are left to guard their turf, while the human counterparts glance up at a threatening skyline…

 
Just a few metres up Kents Road, we encounter the source of the bovine chorus which I’d heard a few times earlier during the day. Free range milk on hoof, as supplied by Mrs Cuddy. Thankfully, there’re no flies around, to speak of.

 
Like a true Dr Who, Brynn could be snapped a number of times doing a high speed run ahead to explore and discover. And, on a couple of occasions, running back again to urge us on to inspect her discoveries. Her unending energy is astonishing. That’s the T-junction of Kents Road with Terrace Road in the distance,

 
A short distance up Terrace Road, I spot a field of sheep. A few are of the mountaineering persuasion, and I snapped this shot of them showing off on a fairly steep grazing hill.

Brynn ran ahead to stand and wait while I got a shot.

“Dunwurkin” – a real good Scottish name. We met the owner of the property on the return leg of our walk.

 
I suspect that Brynn has spotted an interesting animal somewhere in the distance.

Owner of Dunwurkin, a keen bowman explains some of the finer aspects to Tyler, who attends archery classes regularly down Reikorangi Road.

 
Tyler meets up with a pair of goats munching grass next to the roadway fence.

 
Meet Billy, Tyler’s newest acquaintance.

Now we discover what Brynn had spotted. This furry ball was promptly named “Midnight”. It was quite a job persuading Midnight that he should get back inside his owner’s property.

While the owner of the property across the way made no bones about what he wants.

Jeanette admires the foliage on some of the trees/shrubs along the way.

Part of the “Two Fold Mini Highlands” population look at us in apparent bewilderment.

Family on the downward leg back home in Kents Road.

Brynn posing against the neighbour’s post box in the background.