Animals
There is a surprisingly wide variety of animal life around
Rattray Head, but I have yet to catch the shy ones on
camera.
Rabbits are the one thing you cannot miss. We used to
live near the place that Watership Down was based upon
and we saw a handful of rabbits, although there would
have been many more at other times of the day. Rattray
Head is overrun with literally thousands of them and you
will see at least dozens if not hundreds every day of
the year. Approaching our home along the lane, especially
at dawn or dusk, you will see hoardes crossing the road
in front of you as they must get to their own home before
the danger arrives. Care must be taken walking the dunes
as it is all too easy to twist an ankle in the many holes.
Roe deer live in nearby Rattray Woods and are regularly
seen in the open fields or crossing the lane heading to
the Loch of Strathbeg for fresh water.
Badgers are occasionally seen around St Mary's chapel
waddling along the lane ahead of the car before turning
off through a gap into the fields.
There is a fox den in the dunes and we often see a fox
patrolling the area around our home. On one occasion Bill,
our cat, was sitting by a rabbit hole waiting for lunch
to come out, but unknown to Bill the fox was approaching
from behind. All of a sudden the hunter became the hunted
and we saw Bill running at full speed with the fox chasing
him close behind. Thankfully he made it to the safety of
our garden.
Sometimes we see stoats crossing the lane between the fields,
then there are all the usual small creatures like frogs,
caterpillars, lizards, and grasshoppers.
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