Roadkill

Living in the countryside we are surrounded by not only our own animals but also the wild ones too…

Just before Christmas I was going off to meet some friends in a local pub, I left the house at around 7pm - it was very dark. I drove down the single track road that runs through our village. The road goes between our fields and our neighbour’s orchards, and on the other side of most of the fields and orchards around here are ancient woodlands. Our village many hundreds of years ago was the hunting ground for the local lord of the manor who lived in the castle…And no, this is not turning into a fairy story, even though I can write a good one….

Anyway, the point being that we have lots of local wild deer, most of the time they are lovely to see; frosty February mornings they can be seen wandering out of the woods and into the stubble; last summer we took out goats out into a field near the woods and saw some deer – both herds of animals were transfixed.

So, back to the drive out to the pub…I wasn’t going that fast but almost drove into a hedge as I had to avoid the huge stag which wanted to walk out in front of me….Scary moment number 1…..

Got to the pub, had only one small glass of wine…actually another story entirely about a woman I know only slightly who was there and must have had the best part of two bottles of red wine and the drove home….horrifying.

But back to the wild animals…after finishing at the pub I said goodbye, as you do, and drove home.

As you’ve probably guessed we don’t have streetlights around us, or cats eyes in the road, or pavements – yes, I do live in the sticks and no, I’m not related to Mr Chickenlady in any way, but he does have large ears…I don’t.

So going back up the road where I met the stag out pops what I thought at first was a small black Labrador…no, actually it was a bloody big badger…I avoided it, but the car behind me didn’t…..Scary moment number 2

The following day (Saturday) the badger’s body had found its way onto the grass verge and into our neighbour’s field. The next day our neighbour and his elderly wife decided to bury the animal where it lay.

By Tuesday the body was laying above ground…foxes perhaps….

Wednesday neighbour and wife digging a hole again….deeper this time

Thursday very bloated badger body above ground again…….

Friday…digging

Saturday….bloody foxes

Sunday….someone hired a small digger….

Oh the joys of living in the countryside…it didn’t quite reach the local paper but it was the main topic of conversation in the pub…almost as much as when one of the foreign students spray painted very rude remarks about a local farmer on the main road in six foot high letters….very good command of English he had too….