Frogs. Squirrels.
“Imma catch the next one!!”
Exactly.
But I had a dog named Pepita years ago who would catch & pin a squirrel to the ground. She had zero killer instinct, so she let it go and try to pin it again. She was lightning fast. She’d pin a single squirrel three or four times before it escaped, unharmed.
Today, when driving a coworker home from work near downtown St. Paul, I/we witnessed a bit of a kerfuffle between a small owl and a juvenile hawk over a mouse. The owl quickly won. It happened too fast to identify the specific breeds, but we were very excited to view it because we were so close to downtown. I love the Mississippi river front.
This is actually from yesterday. Here in the UK it’s been a really funny year, weatherwise, with a long, cold, wet period at the start of the year. I grow vegetables, and it’s been an awful year for pumpkins and squashes, and a 100% failure for turnips; on the other hand it’s been a great year for French beans and cucumbers - go figure,
Aside from growing, I also do a bit of foraging and a similar picture is developing. It’s been a really bad year for wild plums; but it’s been a good year for apples and a great year for hops. I’m seeing wild hops in profusion in places I’ve never seen them before. Here in South Surrey, a bine (yes, it really is “bine”) has grown up into a roadside tree, which provided me with a double-take moment as I rode past:
j
Better hop to it!
Not today, but last week. My sister and I were bicycling a path along some lagoons. We saw several birds flying up ahead of us, when one just plummeted out of the air and landed on the path dead. A kildeer. Never saw that before. But I guess they have to die sometime.
It’s been that kind of year here, too - some things just went apeshit, and other things didn’t grow at all.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen wild hops growing anywhere; very cool to see!
They can be pretty spectacular. Consensus seems to be that the wild varieties aren’t bitter enough for beer making, but they can be pretty pungent when they’re fully ripe. Hedgerow pot-pourri might work.
j
When the light is just right for a spider web:
And butterflies and frogs just look lovely:
Back in the day prior to the rise of craft breweries, I used to brew my own beer. Not being fond of IPAs or other bitter styles, I tended to use English hops like Kent Goldings and Fuggles for most of my beers. I’d absolutely try out wild hops if I lived over there.
Last night, right before full dark, took the terriorist out for last potty. 7 elk moving across my pasture, too dark to get good pics.
My wife took this photo a few minutes ago:
“Buck! How ya doing, neighbor?”
Pew! Pew! Pew! 
“Dude sitting on his deck? What dude sitting on his deck? That’s just the guy who fills the feeder.”
" … that’s amore!" 
Thank Godott it’s not a moray!
A different kind of nature to behold…
When you swim in the sea and an eel bites your knee that’s a moray….