Not far from our home for waifs and strays, is a large stretch of tidal wetlands that reaches out to sea. This is home to an abundance of wildlife including the marsh ponies and hardy sheep. But like a leopard that can change its spots, this quiet water can also change its appearance. On a low tide with the sun shining, one can see the ever changing colours of the hills that roll down to the waters edge. This enchanting and peaceful place has habitats that entice the many and varied wading birds. But during high tide, the banks and rivers become flooded leaving many an animal at its mercy.

     Not so long ago, during a storm, I travelled by this marshy land, on a narrow road, transformed into a shallow river. The tide, not yet high, was quite alluring and I impulsively stopped the car to stare at the beauty of it all.

     Many sheep and ponies had been rescued before and during the storm by volunteers but some remained and were sheltering on the edge of the river banks. 

     The unrelenting rain did not seem to bother a heron that stood patiently on a bank, waiting for his lunch. So, as the rain continued to fall, I wound down the window and took a few photos of this beautiful bird. And just as I did, a duck went sailing by, without a care in the world. It was magical!

Have you ever felt something brush your cheek or your arm and yet there is nothing or no-one there? This hasn’t happened to me for quite some time, but it happened today when I went to visit a remote old castle.

     Admittedly, the weather was growling and the clouds dark and dank and somewhere in the distance a rumbling of thunder added to the atmosphere. No, I’m not writing a fictitious wee tale here, this actually happened.

      It was as I walked up the narrow stone steps, cut into the hill, towards the ruins. I felt a featherlike touch on my cheek and shivered! There it was again!  I brushed my face sharply, thinking something was crawling on me but I had sensed this feeling before. I was being watched, I was sure of it.  But there was no-one or nothing there, not even a bird!

       Feeling slightly on edge, I looked to the sky to see a cloud with eyes, dark and threatening, glaring down at me.  It was time to go home!

       But as I turned to walk back down the narrow steps, I felt a large presence of people I could not see. It was almost overwhelming (are you still with me?) and yet not exactly too frightening.

       I hurried back to the car just before the rain came and washed the feeling away. Will I return there again? I am as curious as ever, so I most certainly will!

‘I don’t want to eat snails,’ said Hywel Hog, ‘I’m a vegetarian!’

      ‘You must eat up,’ said Mrs Erinaceus (this is Latin for hedgehog), ‘before the winter comes.’

       Hywel Hog moaned and groaned just like all children when they don’t want to eat their food.

       ‘Eat, eat, eat,’ he said, playing with a snail that was put in front of him. ‘But I don’t like snails!’

       ‘All hoglets eat snails,’ his mother replied. ‘Now eat up!’

       ‘I’m a vegetarian,’ said Hywel Hog and pushed the snail away.

       Now Mrs Erinaceus knew that unless Hywel Hog ate his food, he wouldn’t survive until the spring. She was a very worried mother.

       But the young hoglet would not eat his food and he got thinner and thinner. It was almost time to hibernate and Mrs. Erinaceus knew that her young son would die if he didn’t eat soon. She tried everything she could think of, worms, beetles and slugs, but nothing worked. Hywel Hog refused everything that contained meat.

        ‘I’m a vegetarian,’ he kept saying, over and over again. ‘I don’t want anything to have to die for me!’

        Although Mrs Erinaceus thought that this was a very sweet thing for her son to say, it wasn’t helping matters and the days became colder and colder and Hywel Hog got thinner and thinner. Then one evening, a very strange thing happened.

         They were wondering about in the garden of the home for waifs and strays, when the door of the house opened and someone came out. Young Hywel Hog and his mother watched from the shadows as the lady put down a dish of something that smelt delicious. They watched closely, as she went back into the house and closed the door.

          ‘You stay here,’ said Mrs Erinaceus, ‘while I see if it is safe.’ And she scurried across the yard to where the delicious smell was coming from. Her little heart raced and she prayed that the food would be suitable for Hywel Hog.

           ‘Come,’ she called softly to her son, ‘I think you will like it! It doesn’t smell like meat.’

           Little Hywel Hog hurried over to his mother and sniffed at the food in front of him.

           ‘It’s delicious!’ he said excitedly and gobbled it all down. Mrs Erinaceus sighed a huge relief.

           Every night they went to the yard and waited for the door to open and the food to be left. And every night until it was time to hibernate, the young hoglet gobbled it all up.They never once saw the lady smiling at them from the kitchen window.

Oh Bella Donna (beautiful woman) how is it that one as incredible as you has the potential to kill? I can see how some mortal humans could be deceived by your alluring bell shaped face and faintly scented body. But why do you allow such beauty to entice the innocent to your deadly sweet berries when ripened into a devilish shiny black? Are you not aware that death would almost certainly follow if they ate just a few of your berries or just one of your leaves?

      Keep back, I say, for your charming beauty does not entice me. My father warned me of your kind. However, I can see from where I stand that you are indeed a pretty site. There are many that before the Middle Ages, would have bowed before you, for providing the anesthetic they so required. And is it true, that the wife of Claudius and the wife of Emperor Augustus used your poison for murder?  Oh you wicked Bella Donna!

       I don’t mean to harp on but don’t you find it strange that rabbits and cows can eat you and survive and yet our domestic pets and we of course, would not be able to tolerate even a whimsical piece of you! I, for one, would certainly not be tempted by your bewitching and pulchritudinous charm! It is no wonder that they call you Deadly Nightshade!

Selin Llewellyn was looking in a rock pool, when she spotted the mermaid.

     ‘Look!’ she shouted to her twin brother Seth, ‘it’s a mermaid!’

     ‘There’s no such thing as mermaids,’ he replied, trying not to look interested as he raced towards the pool.

      ‘Where is it?’ he asked.

      ‘Right there,’ replied Selin, pointing to an almost odd looking capsule in the water.

       ‘That’s a mermaid's purse,’ said Seth and dipped his hand into the water and gently brought it out. ‘It’s empty,’ he said and passed it to his sister. ‘I guess there could have been a mermaid inside,’ he said teasingly.

        ‘She might come back,’ said Selin, holding the purse ever so gently.

        ‘No-one’s coming back Selin,’ Seth sighed. ‘It’s just a sort of nursery that once had a small shark inside or a dogfish as most people call them. They stay in there for about nine months or more.’

        ‘But there is no hole where it could have escaped,’ said Selin, examining the capsule carefully. ‘Are you sure she has gone?’ Her brother frowned then nodded his head.

        ‘If that’s the case,’ said Selin, ‘I’ll take it home in this bucket of water!’ And she carried the small orange bucket, all the way back to Gusty Gully, convinced that a mermaid lived inside the purse. That night, when everyone slept, a strange thing happened.

         Selin woke up to the sound of water splashing in the bucket besides her bed. It was still dark though the moon shone an eerie light through her bedroom curtains. She shivered! There it was again! Splish! Splash!  A tiny voice called her name. ‘Selin! Selin! Let me out!’  Selin hid under the bedclothes and stayed there until morning.

          ‘You were dreaming,’ said Seth when Selin told him what happened to her during the night. Selin did not believe it was a dream.

          ‘I heard her calling my name!’ she said, ‘and she asked me to set her free!’ Seth shook his head and frowned.

         As soon as breakfast was over, Selin ran all the way back to the beach, carrying her bucket with the mermaid's purse safely inside.

         ‘Where are you going?’ shouted Seth to his sister.

         ‘Down to the beach,’ Selin shouted back, ‘to let the mermaid go!’

         And she smiled as she watched the waves carry the mermaid's purse back out to sea.