The bears and Tony enjoy the warm weather

Teddy Bears' Picnic, a photo by Bev & Paul Mynott on Flickr.

Us bears and Tony went to Ashridge Park for a picnic as the weather has been so warm and sunny. We took sandwiches, lashings of ginger beer, a box of profiteroles and crisps - scrummy! We then had a snooze before playing in the woods!

Female Southern Hawker at Ashridge Park

Female Southern Hawker at Ashridge Park, a photo by Bev & Paul Mynott on Flickr.

Paul took this amazing photograph at Ashridge Park. We thought dragonflies were kinda cute, but this one is the ugliest bug we have ever seen! Hopefully a dragonfly's idea of beauty is different from ours, otherwise she'll never get a boyfriend!

Tony climbing trees in Ashridge Park

Tony climbing trees in Ashridge Park, a photo by Bev & Paul Mynott on Flickr.

Tony had another day out with us bears this week - today was at Ashridge Park in Buckinghamshire. We had a picnic, then played in the woods and climbed the trees.
Here is Tony up a tree - he got into trouble for scuffing the toes of his new bumper boots, though Paul says he thinks they can be cleaned and repaired!

Ashridge Park - nature, flowers and photographs!

Bev took a couple of days off work at the end of April to use up her 2009 holiday entitlement, and we bears bullied her into taking us to Ashridge Park so that we could play in the woods.  The weather was lovely and warm, so we took a picnic to the woods and had a great day out.  Bev left us to chase the deer (yum yum, we love venison!) and went off to take some photographs. She got some interesting shots but we didn't manage to catch any deer or other wildlife :-(  It did rain a little, but we sat under the trees and just listened the rain pattering on the leaves - it was wonderful, so relaxing and the smells of the forest were delicious (or was that the venison we could smell?).

The bluebells are late this year because of the ultra-chilly spring, but Bev got this photograph of a bluebell. 

 

A ladybird on some gorse.

And a close-up of some gorse.

And finally some plump and colourful Mandarin Ducks, which we chased but couldn't catch! This was a much nicer place to see them than our last sighting, which was in Effing Forest, where we met Mr & Mrs Essex, the muscle-bound chavs with their horrible dog! If you haven't read about the fight, read my post about Epping Forest and enjoy!

Fly-Tipping Gits and Theft

Interestingly, the waste left in Ashridge Park is reducing every day as people help themselves to the rubbish - it's either that or the deer are building themselves a conservatory! Anyway, my point is, perhaps we need large spaces for rubbish where people (including bears, chimps and the deer) can go through it and take what they want. Mind you, don't tell Paul the hoarder or he will fill up the house, garage and shed with more tutt and we'll have to live in Kitty's house in the garden!

Fly-Tipping GITS!

Hopefully you know who you are and will hang your heads in shame! Yes you, the person(s) responsible for dumping building rubbish in Ashridge Park, spoiling the beautiful views and leaving hazardous materials that could injure the local wildlife. You are SCUM, and when Tony finds out who you are, he will put on his boots, come round to your house and kick the crap out of you! Oh, and we will probably let the air out of your tyres as well for being such BAD boys!

How could you do it? Are you so THICK that you think it is acceptable for someone else to clear up your mess? If you had any decency at all, you would go back and remove that rubbish, but we bears and Tony think you are without decency, without responsibility and without brain cells - in other words, TRASH!

Ghostly Commute

Last week while driving through Ashridge Park and concentrating on avoiding any kamikaze wildlife, Bev spotted something white - she wasn't sure but she thought it might have been a white deer.

Anyway, a couple of mornings later and Bev is driving through a misty Ashridge Park when she spots what looks like a little ghost standing under the trees - it is a cute little deer with tiny horns, and yes he is completely white! While Bev was admiring Mother Nature's wonders, we were licking our lips and wondering just how tasty he would be with a savoury sauce :-)

So, we are now trying to persuade Bev to leave us and Kitty in the park during the day so that we can go hunting, and she can pick us up on the way home from work. But just remember bears, chimp and cat, don't kill anything cute or Bev will go bonkers!

Oh no, Kamikaze Wildlife again!

Yup, it's that time of year again. Poor Bev is suffering from shock after doing an emergency stop in Ashridge Park to avoid a huge stag!

Visibility was crap as it was dark and wet, and the lights from oncoming cars dazzled Bev. There was a van about 2-inches from the back of her car, so she slowed down to force it to pass her, and as it sped off into the distance a stag lept out of the bushes! Luckily, Bev was able to stop in time and thankfully no vehicles were close enough to run into the back of her car.

So Bev and the stag survived the incident, but if we find the dimwit of a van driver we will let his tyres down for speeding through Ashridge Park!

Interestingly, Bev has done more emergency stops in the last year since she started commuting through Ashridge Park than she has done in her entire motoring career!

Kamikaze bunny

Well, it would appear that our message about leaving Bev and her car alone has not reached all the wildlife along her route to work - she was attacked by a kamikaze bunny on the way home tonight, so had to performed yet another impressive emergency stop to avoid hitting it!

Mr Bunny, clean out your big ears! LEAVE BEV AND HER CAR ALONE OR ELSE! Is that clear enough or do you need Tony the Chimp to come over to your burrow and give you a good kicking?

Oh deer, Part 2

Having survived the two suicidal deer and the pea-souper of a fog, Bev had to stop for a whole herd of deer crossing the road in Ashridge Park this morning. However, they must have heeded our pleas because they gave her plenty of warning - she had time to slow down for them and put her hazard lights on so that no-one ran into the back of her car. Paws crossed there are no more hazards this week, as we don't think her blood pressure can take much more!

Today's Obstacle

Bev asked us bears to put out the word that wildlife should avoid her car, so that she can get to and from work without any more obstacles. Ok, so we have done that, but she faced a new obstacle this morning - dense fog! She gets up at dark o'clock, and when she got out to the car it was icy and foggy. The ice wasn't too much of a problem, even on the country roads, but the fog was a different matter - it got thicker and thicker as she got closer to work, and by the time she was driving through Ashridge Park it was a real pea-souper. If any wildlife had jumped out at her car, she would just have hit them because she wouldn't have seen them - visibility was down to a couple of feet at most. She just followed the white line in the middle of the road, which luckily takes you directly through the forest - if it had veered off down some track, she would just have followed it because she became completely disorientated.

Anyway, she got to work safely and is now tucking into a large bowl of porridge (yummy), but she still has to face the journey home. Paws crossed the fog has disappeared by then.

Oh deer!

Poor Bev is feeling paranoid today. Having survived hillbilly hell in the outskirts of Berkhampstead, she was driving through Ashridge Park this morning when 2 deer leapt out in front of her! She did a very impressive emergency stop and missed them, but she feels that everyone is out to get her and her car. She's only trying to get to work on what is a very pretty journey, but every commute is beginning to feel like an obstacle course as she tries to avoid potholes and now wildlife :-(

Ashridge Park

As Frankie wasn't racing tonight, Bev and Paul bunked off and went to Ashridge Park to photograph the bluebells and generally have a relaxing day. The weather was glorious - warm and sunny, with a gentle breeze, and surprisingly Ashridge Park was quiet. It can get very busy, but most people don't stray too far from the ice cream van or tea-shop, so the woods can be very peaceful. Bev and Paul saw some deer, heard lots of birds and saw the most wonderful display of bluebells. It was a magical experience, with the delicate scent of the bluebells, the soft dappled light filtering through the trees onto carpet after carpet of deep blue-coloured flowers. Bliss! Oh, and there was plenty of wildlife for Bill, Phoebe and myself to chase, but the food from the ice cream van was much more delicious than anything we could catch in the woods!

Here are some photographs of us at Ashridge Park (ok, I know it looks as though we could be anywhere, but we WERE at Ashridge Park), and one of Bev's photographs of the bluebells.