https://3speak.tv/watch?v=alonicus/lmutujjw
This is our neighbour's cat Stevie. He's absolutely ancient, but still comes around two or three times a day to scrounge food, chill out with our cat Duncan, and spend time sitting with me as I work.

Yesterday he noticed the planter of catnip we've been growing, and has totally fallen in love with it. Initially he ate a bunch of leaves and got totally stoned.

I walk him home each evening, just to make sure he gets back safely. It's only a short distance but he's old and wobbly as well as completely deaf, and it's a stretch of pavement where cyclists go far too fast and carelessly (even though they are supposed to only cycle on the road - I've had them run into me more than once).It was embarrassing explaining to our lovely neighbours that their cat hadn't had a seizure or some kind of medical problem, he was just stoned.

Today he's moved on to just rubbing his face all over it. I guess he still gets some effect from it, but at least the catnip might last a little longer. He's a strange cat !

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=alonicus/rwxoeztu
This is Stevie, our neigbours' incredibly ancient cat. He comes over to see us (and scrounge food) every day, and is a great family friend.

When we adopted Duncan a few months ago, one of our concerns was that Stevie might feel a bit put out by it, but they have turned into close friends. Especially by cat standards ! Stevie is teaching Duncan how to be a cat (he was a rescue, and was never properly socialised), and when we were chatting to our neighbours a few days ago, they commented that Stevie had really perked up recently but they didn't know why.

Although Stevie is really old (we don't know exactly how old, but we think late teens or early twenties), he still manages to get over the fence to see us, but apart from that just kind of totters around with barely functioning back legs and a stiff back.

Then he spotted Duncan's new toy, a thing called "Undercover Mouse". It's basically a battery driven arm with a feather on that rotates under a cloth cover. This short video is what he did when he saw it. We were amazed ! He was definitely having a lot of fun, and now when he comes over he finds where we've put it and sits down staring pointedly until we turn it on for him.

The thumbnail is Duncan and Stevie hanging out just watching the Undercover Mouse. It's like cat TV :D

Photos and video by me; sorry if they are a bit murky, it was night time !

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=alonicus/ihldqzke
This is Fatso. We gave him this name because he's so fat it is a wonder he can get airborne. Yeah, I know it's a bit weird giving the local wildlife names, but he's quite a character, and definitely the Boss Pigeon around our neighbourhood, so I guess he deserves it. He spends a lot of time in our garden, now I know why.

What I dind't know until recently is how he got so large. We feed our neoughbours cat when he comes begging; they know about it and are fine with it because he's a lovely old boy, a bit wobbly, and a bit thyroidal, so he needs all the food he can get. I always thought that when I gave him something, he'd have as much as he fancied at the time, then come back later and finish it off.

Turns out it was Fatso this whole time. Who knew that pigeons like eating cat biscuits made of fish and chicken ! But apparently, pigeons are the closest living relative to T-Rex (which is quite an embarrassing comedown in evolutionary terms), so I guess eating meat is still in their genes somewhere.

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=alonicus/wnjjwevx
This is my first 3Speak video, please be gentle with me !

There's no sound on this clip, I was lurking in my office filming through the window and trying to be quiet to avoid disturbing him. He spent a good 10 minutes turning over every leaf on the frozen lawn looking for bugs to eat.

Hopefully soon I'll be able to catch a clip of the blackbirds singing at night, they sound so beautiful !

Over the last year or so, we've seen a significant increase in bird life coming into the garden. I think a lot of it is because I had a terrible aphid problem, mainly on the sage and roses. I dug the sage up (it was getting woody), and stopped spraying the roses with bug killer. It sounds counter-intuitive, but the bug spray idn't seem to be working, and I didn't want to harm the bees. What actually happened is that the local tribe of sparrows started coming in andeating up all the aphids, followed soon after by great tits and robins. It makes the garden a far nicer place !