Mesmerising Moments is going to close on Monday December 19th 2011 to undergo scheduled maintenance, software updates and a little refurb.

We’ve already started to make little changes and we’re busy collating contributions for the relaunch.

Fancy contributing your MM?

If you’ve had a Mesmerising Moment and want to be included in the relaunch, send your contribution (including URL to link back to and an image if you have one) to contact@mesmerisingmoments.com.

See you in 2012!

a unique Mesmerising Moment - no related posts

What are you, all dusky pink, not husky in your chirruping flock?

Badger heads and badger tails, black and white taking flight to come and get some lunch.

I have a hunch I’ve seen you before just not this close to my back door.

I creep closer.

You know. You look.

You see my movement and check me out. Is it safe to keep eating? Of course it is, you’re just intriguing. Fluffy blobs of pinky-brown, downy almost, keeping warm your sweet sounds assail my ears.

I take a picture, quick, and disappear leaving you to feed.

You can find out more about Long-tailed Tits (Aegithalis caudatus) on the RSPB website.

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1. standing still

The other half and I were taking a walk on Hampstead Heath. The quiet end, near the yellow flag iris and the pond. The pond that people don’t swim in, the one just for the wildlife. It was a beautiful evening so we sat down on a bench to listen to the birds.

I’ve always been one with quick eyes. In front of me I saw slight movement on the ground. Instinctively I knew it was a mole surfacing and I immediately motioned to my other half to stay completely still and silent. Moles are very good at vibrations dontcha know.

The mole suddenly appeared with its pink nose and dense fur and started moving across the grass. I could barely contain myself. I knew how hard it was to catch them from my grandpa’s stories of *avert eyes away now ye of nervous disposition* trying to hit them over the heads with spades when they made hills across the bowling green.

Moles are so good at detecting vibrations I knew it could sense us and disappear at any moment.

But no, it was exceedingly obliging. The mole crawled across the grass investigating, sniffing, changing directions when it hit a stiff part of turf. We even managed to video it to my astonishment.

Then down its hole it went, and away, to mole tunnels underground.

I love moles.

Tonight’s Mesmerising Moment is by multi-talented, guest contributor Rosie Slosek. Apart from a huge love of nature and a voracious appetite for social networking there’s only one thing you need to know about Rosie – she makes, quite possibly, the most perfect cakes in the whole world.

You can follow her on Twitter – fairycakemother

Find out more about Moles on The Mammal Society website.

a unique Mesmerising Moment - no related posts

Grey capped skulls, brown stripy backs, softer beige-grey breast – a rare treat in the garden when starlings squawk and fight for every single scrap of seed and suet ball in sight.

Two are better than one when there are lots of cats about, one to eat before switching to take a turn at being lookout.

I listen in to Tweedledum and Tweedledee two sparrows on the feeder.

Tweedledum, with his mouth full, said “I really like this seeder, when it’s gone it fills right up and I can stuff my beak, yeah!”

Sparrows were a childhood favourite in the garden. These two reminder me of another childhood favourite – Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures Through the Looking Glass.

Find out more about House Sparrows (Passer Domesticus) on the RSPB website.

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1. a bird in the hand
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A walk in the wind and the lashing rain recovers my mind from the brain strain of whirring fans and computer screens.

Soaking my hat, washing my hair, the rain drips from my glasses and nose. Gusty, blustery wind takes me higher and higher into the black sky.

Fat clouds hang above treetops dancing to the rhythm of flowing air. I whip off my hat and dance right then and there, under their boughs.

And the drip, drip drumbeat of tree soaked rain falls from the tips of buds waiting to burst green into spring.

The picture was taken in the dark, in the park on a mobile phone. It was hard to get anything!

A welcome back and a Happy New Year to all Mesmerising Moments readers.

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1. finch trees
2. gauging plums
3. golden green

Wherever you are, how ever you celebrate the turning of the season, have a peaceful time full of joy and a nature filled 2011.

Mesmerising moments will be back in the new year.

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I saw a video on YouTube for the first time yesterday. It was as mesmerising as it was heart-breaking. It has taught me many things. The video split me open, tore a great hole through my chest and ripped at the fabric of my soul as chainsaws felled ancient trees. But it was more than that. So very much more.

It came after reading a report that the UK government is considering selling not some but all publicly owned forests in England. Familiar places like Sherwood Forest, the Forest of Dean, the New Forest. Places with ancient histories and deep-rooted connections to this sacred earth.

They can cut down the trees, they can build megafarms and remove the cows from the fields, they can destroy everything that stands in the way of “fiscal growth” but we will remain.

We’ll remain in the wind that blows across the shining seas, the clouds that soar across the sky, the sun that rises and moon that sets. We’ll be in every river, every stream, every rose petal, every blade of grass.

For WE ARE NATURE and there is no stopping us. This is our battle cry.

If you have seen the interconnection in the video, if you have been rocked to the core by the power and majesty of nature, if you want to protect this world from the people who would take and take and take NOW is the time to act.

Make your voice heard – sign the petition to stop the sale of ancient forests – contact your MP, let them know what we want – and be ready for the work to come.

I’d like to thank Bee Strawbridge and Hen for tweeting the link to this video yesterday. They know its importance.

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