Saturday, 2 April 2016

Goats and hares, Jeziorki

An unusual sight befell me on ul. Kórnicka today - a pair of goats, grazing free! Below: a female goat looks up at me from across the road. Looks a bit like a horned giant sloth trapped in a Pleistocene tar pit.


Below: a second female goat, nibbling on the grass of the old football pitch. It would be nice to think that locally-produced mature goat's-milk cheese would available around these parts in a year's time.


Strange-looking beast, the goat. Those rectangular pupils - I can't make out what it's thinking.


Below: Jeziorki, as contemplated by a goat. Feline - cat. Canine - dog. Equine - horse. Bovine - cow. But goat? Caprine or hircine.


Below: between ul. Baletowa and Kórnicka, a pair of hares square off. On the left, an older male, sure of himself; to the right a younger male, holding his ground but ready to flee. The face-off continued for a couple of minutes until I took a step towards them. Each turned 180 degrees and fled in the opposite direction.


Hares are most noticeable at this time of year. They are timid creatures and keep at a distance from humans. Ah - and the adjective? Leporine. Which Google unhelpfully underlines with a red squiggle.

This time last year:
On Gratitude, and loving life

This time four years ago:
Edinburgh views

This time five years ago:
Halfway through Lent

This time seven years ago:
Swans on ul. Trombity

This time eight years ago:
Papal anniversary, Warsaw

This time nine years ago:
Sowing oats, Jeziorki

4 comments:

Helena said...

Caprine

Bob said...

Nice to see a resurgent goat population! Perhaps we will need to rehouse the bison from Bialowieza (sic) after the PiS clowns denude their habitat.

adthelad said...

@Bob - do tell about this denuding, since you seem to know all about it :)

Michael Dembinski said...

@AdtheLad

Białowieża - the point is it's a primeval forest. For 8,000 years its been left to its own devices, facing up to the ravages of fire and pestilence. Trees grow, live, die, fall over, rot - new growth emerges - that's the point. It's a living biological lab. Let the beetles do their worst - what happens next? We'll never find out. The people 'managing' this habitat, this fragile ecosystem, are not scientists - but a bunch of amateurs recruited for their political loyalty. And don't get me started about horses.

AMATEURS, DUDE!