Posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, maybe, extra ‘news flashes’!

Sunday November 20th 2016

Because the ‘Perfect Space’ is so well used, it’s very muddy and slippery in the wet weather; consequently, Isis and I have not been there for a couple of weeks. We’ll pop over and suss it out again as soon as we have a dry, frosty spell.

In the meantime, Isis and I are experimenting with carefully selected semi-enclosed spots in Highbury Park.

The first is what many of the people who frequented Highbury Park when they were kids call ‘The Secret Garden’. I guess that the garden existed before Neville Chamberlain gave the land to the people of Birmingham. There is an entrance at either end, between two sets of ancient trees. The two trees of each set grow close together, adding to the ‘secret’ feel. It is built on two different levels and is surrounded by a thick beech hedge. Unfortunately, the chicken wire which once ran all round the outside of the beech hedge, has broken down in many places so it is possible for a dog to squirm through. Not far away is a busy road, so I have to be very vigilant.

I choose the lower entrance as here is a good sized space where the chicken wire is largely intact. I walk over to the hedge and unclip Hairy One’s lead from her harness. I step back and take up position in front of the narrow entrance, with my back to the road. This is an image of Hairy One’s first off-lead experience in The Secret Garden. (You can see the little gaps in the hedge on the left near to the rhododendron.)

Isis is very, very excited. She loves hedges. I’m sure they smell of birds and little mammals. And she’s recently become aware of the delights of falling leaves, which, she’s discovered, flutter from  hedges as well as trees.

Sniff! There’s someone in this hedge.

Sniff, snuff. Maybe a bit higher up.

Sniff, snuff, sniff. No, lower, lower.

Sniff, snuff, SNIFF-SNUFF. Gotcha!

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk