Monday, 9 February 2009

Stoatally Bonkers

I wonder what is going on here. Perhaps the stoat is kicking itself for not having changed into its ermine coat of near-invisibility...
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7 comments:

  1. malty9 February 2009 at 12:07

    Nige, our resident stoats do that, they perform on the edge of the pond in late spring and summer when the moorhen chicks are about, this action mesmerises the chicks who then swim to the bank and their doom.
    The first time we saw this, about 12 years ago we thought the stoat was having a fit but have seen the same behaviour on numerous occasions since then.
    The moorhen's reaction is to produce a continuous stream of chicks, the stoats equivalent to Burger King.
    The stoats have occupied the same den in the gnarled roots of an old Noble fir for many years and are often out and about, they don't seem to mind our presence.

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  2. mahlerman9 February 2009 at 12:07

    Nah - looks more like he has just discovered that his investment with Madoff of a dozen voles and a couple of rabbits formed part of the Ponzi scandal, and this is his way of expressing his disgust with humans, and their venal ways

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  3. Brit9 February 2009 at 16:41

    Brutal and nightmarish, Malty. This is why I find nature so disturbing.

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  4. Nige9 February 2009 at 18:29

    I guess we can only take it when we humanise it Brit. Blake said, Without man Nature is barren...

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  5. Brit9 February 2009 at 20:47

    I find it hard not to be mostly disgusted by nature, Nige.

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  6. Nige10 February 2009 at 16:54

    Deep waters Brit. I suppose the problem is that being human we're incapable of seeing Nature for the utterly neutral blind characterless amoral thing it is and must read meaning, emotion, morality, intention and personality into it, to make it somehow like us - the pathetic fallacy (a useful phrase coined by birthday boy Ruskin). Dawkins is as guilty as any - selfish gene anyone?

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  7. Brit11 February 2009 at 09:09

    Or maybe it's disturbing because we are like it. Nature dehumanises us. I don't know - I have no strong theories left about anything any more, it's becoming a problem.

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