Algernon visits the rescue - Continued

After lunch in the cafe, we went to meet some more animals. I was surprised that no-one in the cafe took any notice of a rat and a guinea pig sharing a table with a human but then, Kevin sometimes walks around the grounds with a snake so perhaps it was not so odd. Algernon had a dish of rat food from the animal food store and I had a salad. Kevin had his sandwiches from home.

Next to the cafe is the Small Animal House. Kevin opened the heavy door for us and in the first cage we saw a beautiful rat!! He came over to his door to say " Hello". 

Kevin lifted Algernon up to see him and then took the rat out of the cage. They had a great time running around on Kevin's fleece.

Whilst they played, I went to look in the other cages. There were mice, gerbils and hamsters in huge tanks but when I tried to take some pictures the flash reflected off the glass front and I did not know how to avoid that. Guinea pigs are not renowned for their photographic skills. The degus were too fast for me to get a photo and Kevin said that they were rather skittish and if he were to take one out of their home, he could be frightened by the visitors. Human children are much noisier than baby piggies. It would have been better to have visited next week, when the children would have been back at school.

We reluctantly said goodbye to the rats. I know that Slave would love to have them all at home but probably has enough to do with all of us Piggyfriends, not to mention her birds and mice.

There were some chinchillas across the way. They had such beautful coats and whiskers to die for. Algernon was allowed to go inside a cage to meet some and they were very interested in him too.

Outside, in the grounds again, we went to the aviaries. These are home to all sorts of exotic birds, macaws, parrots, conures, cockatiels and others. Most of the big birds were neglected in their previous homes and were kept in small, unsuitable cages with nothing to do and, out of boredom, they had plucked their feathers.

They will probably never be rehomed but have a home for life here and bring a lot of pleasure to visitors, who are warned not to put their fingers through the bars. Not all of the big birds are sociable due to their earlier mistreatment and those big beaks could cause some serious damage.

Kevin introduced us to a cockatoo called Ice Cream. He has lost a lot of feathers due to self mutilation. Kevin was careful not to let Algernon too close to the cage bars just in case but all was well.

Last of all, we donned our hard hats again to go through the building site for a visit to the goats. Goats will eat absolutely anything so Algernon was careful to stand far enough back from the wire.

Toffee and Badger came over to see us but DJ watched us from his shelf.

We came home very tired after our busy day.

Floyd takes Algernon to visit the Rescue

Buttons and I were telling Algernon about the Raystede Rescue, where our Slave's son works. He was very interested in the quarterly magazine, one issue of which featured a lovely rat on the front cover.

We thought that a visit to Raystede might make a good day out and Algernon agreed." If we are quick," I said, " we might catch a ride with Kevin as he is off to work soon." I asked Buttons if he was coming but he said that he lived at the rescue when he was a piglet and that, although they took very good care of him, he would prefer to remain here at Piggyfriends.

I said that I would take lots of pictures for everyone to see and went to find Slave's camera. " Where did you leave it, Copper?" I asked. Soon we were ready to leave.

When we arrived at Raystede, Kevin parked the car and I asked him if I could take a picture of the entrance. The sign is rather high for us little rodents so I asked Kevin to lift Algernon up so that he could be in the photo.

Then Kevin took us to his office. As a result of a generous legacy, there is a lot of building work going on at the moment. A new kennel block is taking shape as well as new stabling for the horses and some improved roads. Kevin told us that this work should have been finished before Easter so as not to hamper visitors but, due to the unprecendented snowfall this past winter, all the work was delayed for months. Some of the grounds are, therefore, out of bounds to visitors but we would be allowed to accompany Kevin through the building site as long as we wore hard hats.

We stayed in the office and Kevin went to fetch some hats. Algernon mended a computer while he was waiting and then played with some mice.

Then Kevin came back with the hats and we set off through the building site to see the donkeys. Lots of people enjoy visiting them and are disappointed that they cannot now reach the paddocks.

After that we set off for the area called the Sanctuary. There are several large lakes, which are home to wildfowl like ducks and geese.

During the winter, these lakes are packed with migrant birds, who stop off for a free feed before continuing on their way south but the birds that we saw today are residents. Wild birds are free to come in for a meal and to stay or leave as they please. Two geese stopped by for a chat and laughed when Algernon told a joke.

The lakes, which are home to many carp, can be deep so the lifebelts are there for the safety of visitors. I took Algernon's photo when he jumped up onto one of them but I stayed firmly on the ground. Piggies are not built for climbing like rats.

Next we returned to the area where the visitors are still allowed.

We heard a lot of barking. I am used to dogs but Algernon was unsure so we decided not to visit them and he definitely did not want go near the cattery so we went to see the poultry.

There are many rescued birds here, often as a result of being dumped in the car park or as rescues from battery farms but Kevin told us that most of them soon find new homes with people who have smallholdings. New owners are very carefully vetted to make sure that they are only taking these birds home as pets, with the bonus of a few eggs sometimes, not for the dinner table.

Kevin unlocked the gate into the Rabbitry. It was a sunny day and all of the rabbits were asleep. I expect that they were glad to be outside after the bad winter.

To be continued..

A message from Copper Piggyfriend

I thought that Algernon might like to go out and see a little of our neighbouring countryside so I went to fetch Slave's handbook of interesting places.

We had a look through the book and Algernon said that he would like to visit a castle. We discovered that Pevensey was not very far away so I went to borrow Slave's camera and away we went.

When we reached the village, there was a cannon on the village green and we could not resist climbing up on it and I took this picture of Algernon with my friends, Velveteen and Patch.

We walked along the road towards the castle and passed a very old church. A sign said that this was the very first church erected by the Normans. These were people from across the Channel in France, who invaded England in 1066. Something this old deserved another photo or two.

Then we reached the castle. We all sat down on the grass whilst I read from the handbook.

"This building has a history going back 16 centuries (wow, fancy that! ) It was begun in the 4th.century as a Roman "Saxon Shore" fort, two thirds of which still stands. Then William the Conqueror landed here ( boo, hiss ) and during the next century a huge Norman castle was built. It continued to be used after William's time and there was a great siege here in 1264. In 1588, the castle was strengthened to face the threat of the Spanish Armada."

Then we went to explore the castle ruins. We climbed the castle walls. We probably were not allowed to do this but the humans did not notice us small folk.

We looked at the gatehouse and some turrets and then we went into the dungeon but it was too dark for me to take a picture down there. The steps were very steep for small piggy feet. We are not as agile as Algernon.

Algernon wanted his picture taken on the castle fence. There was a very steep bank behind it with a moat. It was a very windy day and I was so scared that he was going to fall off that my paws were shaking when I held the camera. It is not a very good picture but I thought that you would like to see it anyway.

Algernon ate some of his rat food, which we had brought along. The grass in the castle grounds was lovely and tasty so after a good meal, we set off for the nearby beach.

The castle once stood at the edge of the sea but now there is marshland between it and the coast as the sea has receded.

Here is a picture of us at the beach. Algernon leant back on some seaweed to catch some rays.

The tide was in so we could not play on the sand. I wanted to write our names in the sand but we were out of luck.

We climbed on the breakwater and then collected some shells before setting off got home again.

Copper Piggyfriend

Penny's Famous Garden

GuPi suggested an exploration in the garden where Camp Piggyfriends was held. She led the way and told Algernon about all the GPDD piggies that had visited from all over the world to set up camp there.

Gupi has wheels and can go really fast so she told Algernon to hold on very tight as they circumnavigated the lawn.

After that they were very tired so stopped for a rest on a bench and Algernon had a little nap.

When they had recovered, GuPi told him about the SAS manoeuvres in the shrubbery with Fugly during the camping expedition so Algernon decided that he wanted to climb a tree. " You won't get me up there" said GuPi but Stripy-Pig wanted to try. "Help" said Stripy " How am I going to get down?"

When Algernon saw the pond, he wanted to take out a boat. Hansa-Pig watched very anxiously from the edge. " Do be careful!" she said. " That is a very small boat and I think that you should sit down before you row."

"Don't worry" Algernon replied. He told her that all rats could swim and often lived on board ship. Hansa-Pig decided that she would rather live at Piggyfriends and watched as Algernon took a turn around the pond.

She was very relieved when he landed safely. Just then, it turned rather cold and so they headed for the greenhouse, where it was lovely and warm.

Algernon climbed up amongst the plants but Hansa-Pig stayed down on the floor. "Take care you don't get stabbed by those prickly cacti" she said but Algernon was very agile and jumped around without any problem.

Roscoe sends an email to Fugly

Hi Fugly,

You'll never guess who has just arrived in Shadow's and my pen. It was Algernon Rat. He said that he mailed himself here. Wasn't that a brave thing to do, especially as the mail service is so slow? He was very hungry. Just then our Slave came in with a bag of grass for our tea.

We told him to hide in our hay but she spotted an extra pair of eyes peeking out from the hay and we couldn't avoid him being found out.

It was OK because she loves rats and she picked him up and said " You must be Algernon! Don't you know that your mummy is dreadfully worried about you?"

She was so pleased to see him that she went straight to the computer to let Algernon's family know that he was safe.

She gave out our grass and put Algernon into Garnet's pen. His group rushed towards the grass and started eating it. Algernon told us that he did not really like grass but that the things in the bowl looked good. He was so hungry after his trip that he started eating those.

Slave came over and said that she must buy some proper rat food so she took Algernon in her car to the village pet shop. She let him choose the one that he liked and they bought a bag and brought it home.

I must say that I prefer the grass but there is no accounting for taste.

Algernon is going to stay with us for a few days and then go and visit some other piggies.

From your pal,
Roscoe Piggyfriend.