Yesterday afternoon we all huddled together to protect ourselves from the nasty loud thunder that rumbled around.
Mum said we had been very brave so, as a bit of a reward, we could get some new sniffs in the big world today.
Buster has been feeling a bit under the weather recently and has to take some pills he got from the vet human. This has made him quite tired and needing special foods. As a result we have to take a bit more care of the old man.
Not sure if he could handle a big walk, mum decides we should head to the north of the city and investigate further the Kingmoor nature reserve.
Seagulls in Kingstown
Dad parked the car at the edge of the industrial area called Kingstown and we headed off into the surrounding green spaces.
The first thing we noticed as we left the car behind, were the screaming seagulls overhead and on the rooftops.
Looking up to the edge of one of the buildings, we noticed that someone had installed a plastic owl to scare them off – to little effect it would seem.
We counted almost 100 of the squealing pests who seemed to be using the rooftops of the many industrial units as nest sites.
Kingmoor pond
The first part of our walk was to the Kingmoor nature pond. Well placed signs gave us directions as we climbed the occasional flight of steps on the well drained path.
Either side of the path was fresh grass and many colourful wild flowers. The occasional boardwalk area also had a surprise for us with some enormous critters displayed.
Buster and I looked at each other and hoped that these were not life size drawings painted onto the wooden slats.
We so wanted to jump into the water to cool off but mum said that we would upset the homes of the bugs and swimmy fishes who called this pond home.
Instead, we just looked over the edge of the wooden platform and had to be contented.
Big black snake
Noses filled with pond sniffs and mum content with looking at the plants and buzzy things all around, we return a little back down the path towards the car. However, we continue past where we started and into another area of the wood.
Ahead of us both of us we spot, slithering across our path, a big black snake with yellow and black markings.
He was about 10cm wide and very, very long. This must be his regular crossing point as the humans had even erected safety cones at either side of the path.
We both stopped and waited until dad approached it to see if it was dead. All we could think of was the bugs displayed on the path earlier and wondered if this wood also contained giant snakes.
Dad just stepped over the snake, not even worried about the strange beastie.
Quite confused we approach, then after a quick bark and leap we jump over the scary creature to continue on our explorations.
New Carlisle bypass
As dark clouds start to bubble up in the skies above we exit from the woodland path near to the new Carlisle bypass.
Although not open to traffic, much of the works in this area are now complete and we take a quick look around and get first dibs at the new sniffs.
Read all about our visit to the Carlisle bypass and our first thoughts, here in this post.
Until next time – Charlie and Buster