Thursday 4th June 2020 - The Noshers, Scaredy Cat and are they The Last Hunters?

I have a term for the creatures which attack our plants - noshers. When we see damaged plants, for the most part we know who the culprits are but then there are times when we don’t. We are currently having a particular problem with the noshers who have nibbled the stem of one my ageratum bedding plants causing it to keel over and similarly on Peter’s vegetable plot, where they have been noshing the French beans. The damage always happens in the hours of darkness, leading Peter to go out in the garden wearing his head lamp. Here, on his hands and knees he has tried without success to find the culprits. The latest tack is a concoction made from soaking moth balls in water. Peter has applied this to the area where the noshers have done the most damage in the hope the offenders don’t like the taste. Meanwhile, in case it is slugs or snails, who I know don’t like rough surfaces, I am collecting egg shells to crush and sprinkle on the ground.

Sid our adopted kitten and now ten months old, is quite dominant when he plays in our garden with the two ferals. In particular it is Meowmeow who he likes to have a bundle with, jumping on top of him and mock biting his ears, but when it comes to other things, Sid is quite a scaredy cat. Any loud noise, such as a passing car, or jet fighters out on manoeuvres, or a helicopter heading for the rigs, he runs indoors. He has a very expressive face and quite often looks worried, goodness knows why. Maybe he is concerned for the state of the World. Having broken my favourite mug, Peter bought me a new one with cats on, for my birthday. He pointed to one cat in particular saying, ‘That’s Sid, the one with the worried look,’ and yes that’s him. Sid is quite a character and over the months has developed a daily routine. This involves sleeping a good number of hours during the day. He has his favourite places to curl up in, one is Barney’s bed which doesn’t go down well, but Barney being a tolerant dog lets Sid get away with this invasion of his personal space.

Watching the fishing boats launch makes us wonder, how long before there aren’t any fishermen working out from Overstrand? The hours are not regular and to fit in with the tides, this often entails getting up in the very early hours of the morning.Income is reliant on good weather and length of the season. There are no set dates for the start and end of the season; it all depends on the weather. As portrayed in the book, The Last Hunters, the unsociable hours and unreliable level of income, no regular pay packet for them, are not conducive to family life. With, as far as I am aware, no family members ‘waiting in the wings’ to take over, who will be going out crabbing and hauling lobsters when Andy and Rob retire? It could be possible that commercial fishing here will cease altogether.In the meantime, the launching of the boats, as can be seen in today’s photos (taken using my phone at around 6.30 a.m. on Monday morning), will continue to provide interest and their haul, a delicious lunch or dinner.