I feel guilt… hit a grouse on the bike on the Tuesday night ride home over the hill. Thought it was a funny looking rock on the trail but then its eyes looked up into the beam of the headtorch, an instant before my front tyre bore down on it…
But there is a happy ending. Having bounced off the right fork leg and then my right foot, it clattered off noisily into the darkness.
Saw a female harrier and a buzzard having an argument last week. didn’t get a clear enough view to be certain but hen harrier is the most likely.
We have beaver dams and chewed logs on some of the riverside trails here in the east, but not yet seen one. should just be a matter of time.