TRISTAN SANDERSON-DUCKETT: There's something in the attic!

Are you seeing a pattern developing here: long hair; boyish good looks? And we are not just talking about Jon. We have Max; Dave has grown his hair; and now Tristan, who writes: "Hello, I'm a fifteen-year-old animal and rock freak, that loves being outoors, observing nature! I'm home-educated so I have plenty of time to do stuff that most people wouldn't consider 'education,' even though I've learnt far more from being outdoors and thinking for myself (instead of being cooped up in a classroom, being taught instead of learning). I hope one day to be finding new beasties and conserving known ones so I thought it might be a good idea to blog for the CFZ!" With Jon's wild hair and beard the CFZ is rapidly beginning to resemble a fortean version of the Manson Family. Fleur as 'Squeaky', anyone? Welcome aboard Tristan....


This week, we’re back talking about Wales; a great place; no wonder it left such an impression on me. This time, unlike the blog about the red sparrows (see 14th June), I’m not entirely sure what the beastie was. I’m not even sure if it’s crypto, but it’s worth mentioning, as it might be of interest – but, in fact, I don’t have a clue what it was.

I think it was 2006 or 2005 when I first noticed something was 'living' in the attic (yes, I know this sounds like a children's ghost story, but it did happen). At first I suspected it was a rat or a squirrel so I put some food out to catch a glimpse, or at least find out whether it was carnivore, omnivore, or herbivore. All I found out was it didn't like peanuts (not a squirrel or rat then) but it loved bread.

At first, apart from the food disappearing, the only sign of life was the odd scuttle or shuffle. One night I had a friend staying over and as the weather wasn't the best for camping (plus the 'friend' was quite frankly a wuss when it came to the whole outdoors dark thing), we were sleeping in the living room. The whateveritwas obviously got braver, and started banging around downstairs, almost in the room we were in. Needless to say, I was scared (having a rather more active imagination then, than now) and from then on the beastie stayed braver, one night it even sounded as if it was trying to unlock the door from the attic.

If at this point you think this is fanciful, it does sound so – but it’s not nice having an unknown animal in your house. So if anybody has any idea what this was, please leave a comment; it would be most helpful.

And now to the photos I promised last week. I’ve had no success with the fox, but I’m sure you all know what one looks like! I found a suitable trout to photograph that show the variations, so look closely and you hopefully will see the dark mark on the dorsal fin, plus the zigzag-type dotting. If you don’t, just say, and I'll try to get a better photo. Enjoy....