Amphibians, Reptiles and a Puzzle

What an interesting time I’ve had this month observing a wide variety of plants and creatures! Rosie, Daisy, Little Bud and I set out for a walk in Manor Heath Park, Halifax. Minutes into our stroll the heavens opened, so we took cover in a jungle – The Jungle Experience to be precise. Little Bud was entranced by the fish and the terrapins – they looked a bit like me on a beach holiday. First they would take a little dip and then clamber onto their sun rocks for a long snooze.

There are usually lots of tropical butterflies to see, but because it was such a dull day they were elusive, so we only spied one. There is an amazing array of plants to enjoy – Bird of Paradise, tropical water lilies, orchids, banana plants, to name but a few. If you visit Halifax, maybe on a Gentleman Jack visit to Shibden Hall, which is well worth a visit too (you may remember Anne Reid and Derek Jacobi got locked in there in an episode of Last Tango in Halifax), take a detour to the Jungle Experience – entry is only £1 and it’s set in a lovely park (if it’s not raining).

A few weeks later we had a family visit to Hardcastle Crags (National Trust) near Hebden Bridge. This time we were blessed with blue skies and sunshine – oh, and the presence of GR, who had made a fleeting appearance between ski trips. We walked through the trees to Gibson Mill, a former cotton mill. Just to the edge of the impressive Mill Pond is a swampy area. We were lucky enough to find that it was full of croaking frogs and frog spawn – it was quite a sight and sound! Sorry about the quality of the photos, but if you get a magnifying glass out, you should be able to see them.

The night before our visit to Halifax we hadn’t slept well, on account of a loud gurgling sound that started in the early hours of the morning. On staggering downstairs, bleary eyed, we deduced it was coming from our boiler. It had in fact gone out the previous night, but GR did something and it came back to life. So, on the way to Halifax, I phoned our heating engineers. The receptionist asked if we had turned the boiler off? No, GR had turned the heating down though. I could sense the attempt she made to control her alarm. She suggested we turn it off. Hmm, we’re away for a couple of days now. No problem though – the lovely Victoria came to the rescue, disarmed our alarm and our boiler, so all was safe. On our return an engineer came out, and on taking the cover off the boiler, instantly detected the culprit. Apparently in a boiler there is a thing that catches any grit etc from the condensed water (that might not be strictly technically correct, but it’s the best I can do). Anyway, as well as grit there was a fairly substantial orange object in there. What on earth it is and how it got there, we can only hazard a guess at – looks vile doesn’t it? A carrot? or the engineer suggested a hot dog. How the hell it got there is a puzzle. The boiler has a kind of periscopey thing that protrudes from the outside wall, from which water drips (it’s supposed to). We can only think that a squirrel, or a mouse or a bird has shoved the orange thing in there for safekeeping and it’s worked its way down to the grit trap area. If you’ve got any ideas as to what it is or how it got there – answers on a postcard please. We’re now waiting for the bill 😦