Winter Dog Walking in Liverpool ; February tales of fun 2018

Bright crisp weak milky sunshine today. Little breeze. Comfortable to be out in for a couple of hours. Six of my regulars scurrying around for the morning on Broom Cross. Lots to see and note for my busy little eyes

Eight pair of tufted duck on the big pool, the coots are still skimming the slush topping of the water as the ice recedes, the male buzzard peers down at the ramshackle bunch of canines and striding lone star before plopping off his beam and silently sailing away to a quieter corner, the first two pair of territory defending lapwing have arrived on the stubble, arching and whooshing and peewitting their sharp strange eery calls over the landscape. Tuscan and Dakota disturb an almost chocolate coloured fox and are away after the smell, she screeched past me twenty yards away. Very little red vixen like marking on this one

After weeks of rain and waterlogged ground, the mud is starting to get to us. Im still in my shorts of course and my sandals which have to go into the wash twice a week. Cleaning the dogs off is never easy and none have been swimming for weeks...