Remember back in May, I spotted a fox in the ground-floor flat garden, and managed to get a photo of it (see here). Well I noticed him again this morning.

This latest fox photo isn’t as good the one back in May, mainly due to poor light, and the fact he was hiding in the trees at the foot of the garden.

Making my way home from work today, I saw an injured bird in the car park. I had noticed it earlier on in the morning, but just dismissed it. As it had been there all day though, it was obvious it’s wing was injured, so thought I had better help in some way.

I returned to the office and recruited a colleague to help me in capturing the bird. The plan being for me to take it home in a photocopying paper box and nurse it back to health.

Getting anywhere near the poor creature proved troublesome. For an injured bird, it was certainly able to run fast and hide underneath parked cars. After much effort, we decided to give up.

As we admitted defeat and begun to make our way back, the bird leapt out from under a parked car and flew into a nearby tree. Obviously it was less injured than we first thought – or we scared it into flying! Either way, I was left happy that it was back in the safety of a tree and not left on the floor as a tasty ready meal for a cat.

On our return to the office, we decided to be mean, and play a trick on Sam, who had been left behind to man the fort while we went out bird catching. My colleague recorded bird sounds into my mobile phone, which I then placed into the paper box. When Sam inspected the closed box, high-pitched bird song was emitted from inside. We had him fooled for all of 30 seconds until he realised it was simply a mobile phone!

* I say Starling, I think it may be a Thrush. Putting “Stop The Thrush” as a blog title may have lead to many misunderstandings though!

An unexpected guest turned up in the garden this morning.

Isn’t she beautiful! Just sitting out in the morning sun, after a night out chasing cats, eating chickens, and whatever else that foxes do for fun. I was tempted to throw her some food, but I don’t think the ground floor flat would appreciate it. More foxy pictures if she comes back.

I came across this news story while trawling the DVD Reviewer forums. It’s a little nasty so don’t read if you have weak stomach and have just eaten – especially if your last meal was a rare, rump steak.

ISSA KANU was in the wrong place at the wrong time. On 23 April, Kanu showed up in his taxi at the Tacugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary in the forests outside Freetown, Sierra Leone, with three US construction workers. They wanted to see some chimps, but got more than they bargained for. A frenzied attack by an angry mob of animals left Kanu dead and the three Americans badly bitten.

The chimps responsible for this horrific attack had just escaped from an enclosure, and while the incident was unusual it was not unprecedented. In March 2005, two chimps escaped from their cage at the Animal Haven Ranch in Caliente, California, and attacked a couple visiting the sanctuary, badly mauling 62-year-old St James Davis. The former racing driver lost much of his face, part of his buttocks, a foot, all of his fingers and his testicles. Like Kanu, Davis could do little to defend himself: adult chimps are far stronger than people.

Ouch! That has gotta hurt! We’ll all have to remember this summer, when England are losing 2-0 to Brazil in the World Cup Semi Final, things could be worse – a monkey could be knawing on your head.

The full story can be found on The New Scientist website.