PowerSwitch

I've had some unusual if not unprecedented weather patterns here as of late and as a result have about a foot of very dense snow (think rice) covered by a quarter inch layer of ice crust. This leaves all the mice and voles well hidden under the crust and all the predators able to move at top speed over the snow trying to find a meal.
Today at dawn I had a red fox (transplant from the UK c 1700) walk down my driveway and circle the house giving one of my cats the incentive to fly through the pet door as a grey streak and then bark back at the neighbors dogs as they conducted the usual dawn serenade.
No big deal and if the cats don't pay attention I'll save on vet bills.
And then mid day going off the hill I had a Bobcat (Lynx rufus) cross the road in front of me and when I stopped where he had crossed he was looking back at me from about 200 feet. Nice mature animal in good condition so the turkeys and rabbits need to take care.
This is the first time I have ever seen a Bobcat in my town and to see both the Bobcat and the fox in the same day is unusual.

I just watched a UK documentary which travelled in Vermont. What an amazing place. It reminded me of the 'Marches' - the border counties between Wales/England - Herefordshire etc:

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5555/1415 ... 940e_b.jpg

They said in the program that the pleasant landscape was restored in the C19th after earlier farmers had tried to reinvent the sort of ecodisaster that the Norman scum did to Scotland and the Pennine hills: Trees removed, sheep farmed and little nature left. I am suprised that Jersey cows like your winters though. Mind you they can be tough:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01 ... ing-bison/

Dairy cows of all breeds (there are more Holsteins then Jerseys) spend their winters indoors or at least under a roof as a cold uncomfortable cow gives less milk. Conditions have to be warm enough to keep the Mexican milkmen happy. As a rule you need one Mexican for every hundred cows you are milking.

I just saw a link from the telegraph which caught my attention as they are pretending to create wildlife habitats from quarries, whereas it is really a cheap way to do as little as possible to allow them to leave yet another piece of decreasing land area unusable after they have made a packet out of the minerals extraction to turn other pieces of land once suitable for growing or wildlife, into hard lanscaped dead zones.

Nearly like the Norman scum

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018 ... ndangered/

Yes we seem to have those artificial wetlands everywhere post industrial, with hardy plants on unbalanced soils. I grew up in the NE and the councils love a good regeneration scheme. It ticks the health and safety boxes as quarries attract teens. Mainly used by motoring dog owners.