Full of The Joys of Spring?

I've seen a few lovely spring-like scenes on my travels today. This morning driving through Axmouth a pair of Collard Doves were snuggled together one resting its head (lovingly) on the others breast, newborn lambs were gamboling around the fields, primroses and wild daffodils were adorning the lanes and over the road from my house the male Herring Gulls were trying to dismember each other!! The scene was reminiscent of a schoolyard scrap with eager bystanders egging on the combatants. It all got very nasty and the birds continued the fight on and off for a good half hour or more. Here are a few photos of the action:

One onlooker gives a bit of vocal encouragement.

The Neck-lock

The Wing-grab,
Note the nasty wound below the eye of the right hand bird.

The Tug-o-War
The right hand bird showing a nasty wound behind the bill.
Be warned! The next one (the eye gouge) isn't for the squeamish.

EEHEW!! Ouch!

A quick look along the river at around 2:30 revealed 'Derek the Dark One' (Iceland Gull, in case you've not been paying attention or haven't read my blog before) amongst the multitude of Herring Gulls.

A Warning: If you happen to spot an abandoned Guinea Pig on your travels, try not to be a soft-hearted sucker like me, just pretend you haven't seen it. Bramble is, as I type this, languishing at the vets in Axminster after having extensive dental treatment under anesthetic. I found out to my cost that the previous owner dumped him because he has a severe malocclusion problem, meaning his teeth are misaligned and do not wear down. They have become so overgrown that he can't eat, hence the treatment. He was struggling to recover from the sedation this afternoon and so had to stay at the vets overnight. I can't bear to think about what it's going to cost!! The vet's warned me that the prognosis is in fact poor and that he will probably ultimately have to be euthanased. I felt compelled to at least give him a chance though, which is more than his previous owners could do. I think leaving him to die in the countryside instead of taking him to the vets to be humanely killed was simply a cowardly shirking of responsibility.