Wednesday, August 17, 2005

My Mate Marty

NAME THE CRITTER
This is my mate Marty. Although a bashful creature by nature, he is a fairly regular visitor to my verandha. He is principally nocturnal, but sometimes ventures into the open around dusk. He has a varied diet including nuts, berries, worms and small mammals. He also has an extremely sweet tooth. I leave pieces of bread thickly coated with jam and peanut butter on the picnic table on my front lawn. It took him a while to muster up the courage, but he now appears regularly.
Once commonplace throughout Britain, he is now only found in numbers in the north west of Scotland. Persecution by gamekeepers and farmers almost led to extinction for Marty and his kin in the UK. As a protected species, numbers have increased over the last thirty years, and there have been isolated sightings in the north of England.
Can you name the species to which Marty belongs? Better still, if you have ever seen one I would love to hear about it.

24 comments:

Wyndham said...

I'm more interested in the fact that you have a verandah - it must be like living at Southfork!

M said...

He looks kind of like a ferret. Is he a marsupial(sp)?

Beccalog said...

is he a mink? we have one in our back garden. they are terrorists you know. they torture their prey before they eat it.

garfer said...

Wyndham
It is a very small verandha. There is room for a rocking chair, but the midges would devour me.
MHN
Ferret is close but not correct. He is not a marsupial, you only get those in Australia.
Becca
Sorry, not a mink either. I hate mink. Vicious little killers. I think they've spread throughout Scotland, and can even be found on some of the islands.

Keep guessing boys and girls.

M said...

Garf~ you've been tagged or is it shagged. anyway, come see me.

garfer said...

Hi Natalie, thanks for dropping by.
Cor, that's a rhyme! I could be a poet too.
Nope, not a dog.

Alex M said...

Is Marty a Stoat?

Sniffy said...

Stoat?

garfer said...

alexm and tina

Nope, not a stoat.
You're getting close though.

Herge Smith said...

Garfer, where are you getting these people from?

garfer said...

Gawd knows. Don't care really, I'm a comment whore.
These name the object posts seem to reel 'em in.

Herge Smith said...

You do lots of commenting huh?

I go through spells of it - i think the trick is to comment on a blog a few days in a row until you reel them in and then move on.

Trouble is I get distracted easy - plus, unlike Tina I can't join some bloody wimmins thing and just get loads of the sisterhood commenting.

I don't even know why there are all these women blogrolls things - I'd say this is the one place where more women blog than men.

I'm going after your commenters.

Herge Smith said...

Btw the critter looks like a Derek.

garfer said...

Nah, I don't comment unless I've got something to say. If someone comments on my blog I always try and comment on theirs, just good manners really.
Mr Applewhite over at mhn's reels in foxy females by putting up 'true or false' posts. That's just sad. Wish I'd thought of it first.

garfer said...

btw
am working on a 'we love each other' but I'm not happy with it yet.
Might have to wait for a later date.
Derek? More like a Raymond I'd have said.

Herge Smith said...

Come on - get it done - I may not do this again.

PLUS (and this is a big plus) Do you think I'm every happy with my end result - I just figure, fuck it, it's got sex, it'll do...


I would love to see it, seriously...

garfer said...

Ok, I'll try and get something to you tomorrow. Ah cannae dae the graphics tho.

Herge Smith said...

Don't worry - looks like I'm going to be doing graphics into the wee hours.

Do you not fancy a stab at some limericks?

Wyndham said...

Is there such a creature as a Pinemartin and, if so, is this one of them?

Sniffy said...

Herge, you could always do a mirror of Angry Chimp, called Frilly Cute Chimp and pretend to be a woman, who'd know any difference?

Sniffy said...

It is! that's what it is! It's a Pine martin, on the nail Wyndham.

garfer said...

Yes Wyndham, it is a Pine Marten. You spelt it wrong but I'll let you off. I thought it would be easy, what with a clue in the name 'Marty' and all.
You are awarded a gold star. There is no prize as I've spent all my money buying teacakes for Pissoff.

Wyndham said...

If I get gold star, does that mean I'm Sheriff

garfer said...

No chance. But you can be Deputy Dawg.