Thursday 30th July 2020 - Two Seals and Farewell Poppy

Compared to other years, there have been fewer Harbour Seal pups, along this stretch of the coast, needing to be rescued or moved to a beach where there is less footfall. Having said that, in the past two days there have been two pups here in Overstrand. The first, yesterday, was on the east ramp. A bloodied face was a sure indication it had worms and after further investigation by a Marine Medic, it had abscesses too. A place was found for it with the RSPCA at East Winch. This morning there was another pup, this time about three groynes down from the west end of the promenade. Much younger and smaller, it had a small lesion near its back flipper which the Marine Medic felt did not need veterinary attention. This pup will be released at Waxham later today, on a beach which attracts fewer people. Here, hopefully, after a restful day it will head off into the sea in search of supper.

A sad time for us, our little tabby cat, Poppy, died in the garden yesterday evening. She had not been her normal self for a few weeks. She loved to be out and about and was a great mouser but then she changed and preferred to stay at home, taking occasional ventures out to her favourite haunts. Her appetite increased and we wondered if she had pussycat Alzheimer’s or cancer; if she did, it did not stop her from purring and seeming content with life. We think, yesterday evening, she had a stroke. She was not very responsive and whether she knew of our presence or not, we stroked and talked to her until she finally slipped peacefully away. We buried her this morning next to our other tabby cat, Tim.