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The Uninvited

By George L Atkinson

You may have heard the phrase “It’s amazing what you see when you don’t have your gun”. Well, I have a variation on that – it is amazing what I have seen when I did not have my camera!

One example was when I was walking by the seaside. The nearest houses to our local beach were built originally, I believe, for the men employed as “keepers” of the lighthouse at the end of the pier. The lighthouse was later converted to automatic control and the houses gradually occupied in different ways.

At the end of the short terrace an upper window, facing the sea, carried a notice proclaiming its use by the local Birdwatchers Club. As I walked past I saw an enthusiastic birdwatcher looking out – a large black cat! What a picture – but I did not have my camera!

Another missed opportunity was when one of the major oil companies was drilling for oil, or gas, on land near the cliff tops at Marsden. At the same time a ship-mounted drill rig just off the coast nearby was exploring the extent of the under-sea coal measures. Both activities could have been recorded in one picture, but despite passing several times I failed to take my camera.

I was more fortunate in a recent incident right at home. Home is quite near a busy main road, but with a good garden space. I usually have breakfast at the kitchen table, looking at the back garden to observe the growth of flowers and bushes. Another interesting sight is the variety of birds – including the wood-pigeons drinking from the fish pond. The largest number of different species of birds which I’ve seen there at one time was twelve, on a Christmas Day!

bird

You can tell from one of my pictures that sometimes I did have my camera and I managed to record a blackbird on the window sill patiently waiting for a share of my breakfast!

One morning recently my eyes were attracted to a strange shape and colour behind the foliage of a holly tree. When the object moved I thought it could be some sort of animal, and when I went outside I saw it was a large fox! It seemed to be about three feet long from the tip of its’ bushy tail to its’ nose.

fox

Back to the house! And I could not find my camera! But I called my son Paul, who lives reasonably near and who took the other picture on this page. He discovered that the fox was trapped by having a leg nipped between two fencing boards. He released the animal which quickly sped off without any thanks – leaving Paul to remind me that my mobile phone also takes photographs!