It's really not a sight I would wish on anyone, which was why, at 4.30am last Wednesday, I came to be hiding in a lilac bush wearing nothing except a pair of Hunter wellies. Twenty minutes earlier, I had been asleep in bed when I awoke with a start to the dread noise of the chickens flapping and calling in panic.
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Racing downstairs, I grabbed a torch and some wellies and raced outside to find chickens running all over the garden, one dead and another injured. I didn't spot the culprit, but it was clear that I was going to have to catch the frightened birds and lock them up for safety, as whatever had attacked them was sure to return. It was when I caught one in the herbaceous border that the milkman arrived and I leapt into the lilac bush.
I suspected a fox as it's May, the prime month for attacks, but as we've had stoats in the garden and there are mink on the river below us, I wasn't sure of the attacker. However, when I took the terriers for a walk the next day and, uncharacteristically, the remaining chickens came flying across the lawn to attack them, I felt sure that it was the fox.
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Omoda 9: Not a Range Rover, but it might be the next best thingOmoda, one of the host of Chinese-made cars now on offer in the UK, presents its flagship SUV. We found a car of no frills, and plenty of luxury, at an extremely reasonable price point.
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Yorkshire’s bravest and most charming gentleman — the Airedale terrierBred on Yorkshire’s riverbanks to face otters, snakes and even enemy fire, the Airedale has gone from the trenches of war to the hearts and homes of presidents and movie stars.
