THE GRAVEYARD WATCH

I did not expect to sleep well last night and I was not disappointed,I did not sleep at all, always a poor sleeper these days I am practically nocturnal and a combination of heat and too much on my mind always keeps my mind busy no matter how badly I need to rest.

Two thirty found me sitting by my open bedroom window sipping coffee and wondering how the devil I would get through the next month.

There is a time of night,even in cities when man's hold on the world weakens for a time and for a few short hours nature takes back her own. Refreshed by the night air I gazed out into the stillness, not a leaf moved and the air smelled like the walls of an old well .damp and cool.

Darkness ,unusual in any city cloaked the lane as most of the street lighting is out of order, and long may it remain so, into the small patch of light from a solar gate light trotted a large dog fox. Sniffing the air he quartered up and down the lane, stood for a moment in the middle of the road and then sat down squarely on the white line ! Some how his calm assurance that he was safe on what can be a busy little lane at rat run times of day seemed to me to show that for the moment nature ruled in this place. Foxy tuned round twice and then lay down still in the middle of the road.

Moments later the vixen strolled across to where he lay and they greeted each other with seeming affection. Poor lady weeks of suckling her kits in a dark confined space has left her at the mercy of mites and her tail was almost bald except for its familiar white tip, her mate handsome yet dishevelled seemed to have fared a little better. These two foxes are old friends of ours and living as they do in our orchard we see a good deal of them,there seems to be a third adult,a female living here also.

Watching this little play unfold I was delighted to see three cubs emerge from a large bush of St Johnswort, play fighting the three tumbled down the path a snarling furry ball coming to an abrupt halt beside a large piece of shortbread at which point the fighting continued in good earnest.

Pollen was heavy on the air and a sudden load sneeze from me cleared both lane and garden and in a split second all was quite again. There was no time to be sorry for the same sudden noise had disturbed a small rodent foraging at the paths edge which was gone in a silent stroke as a big tawny owl picked him from the ground so fast that I doubt if the mouse knew anything about it.

During the next hour a hedgehog snuffled among the hostas looking for slugs and beetles and a large boar badger headed through the fence and into the orchard, later the foxes returned to rub themselves against the clipped rosemary bushes in the front garden to discourage mites ticks and fleas.

Beyond the shelter belt a finger of grey crept across the sky followed by a pale peach stripe, and night was over, the first plane of the day shattered the quiet and the faint hum of traffic on The Great West Road increased with each passing moment,nature gave up her presence and the magic was over.

Creatures of the day time share their lives with us and although they are all around us they are seldom noticed as we go about our busy lives but those who inhabit the hours of darkness have the world almost to themselves,except for insomniacs like me who can only wonder at the magical beauty of the graveyard watch.