I should have guessed immediately which creature had left such a distinctive trail of pawprints across my garden — identical to the tracks in the photo below.

The mystery had intrigued me during a cold spell that saw most of the UK buried under a blanket of snow from Siberia.

Stocked up with provisions and an emergency bottle of cognac, I’d determined to hibernate through the big freeze despite the fact that everybody else seemed to be enjoying the novelty. . .  schools were closing and every television programme featured a snowman.

That my self-imposed exile was driving  me nuts might give you a clue to the identity of the creature that had defiled the virgin snow outside my kitchen window, which had been a picture postcard the day before.

Now there were tracks like perforations in a sheet of postage stamps that led all the way to the door of the garden shed, but came to a mysterious end. I knew they couldn’t have been the work of some tiptoeing burglar because everybody knows that burglars are either too smart or lazy to venture out in snow. And the nimblest of cats are very much like burglars and hate the snow even more.

I have to say at this point that it’s only thanks to my mysterious visitor that this blog appears to be returning to what it was intended to be, a writer’s journal, albeit an occasional one! I mean, the little fellow had at least inspired me to get back to writing after days of inactivity… and in the first person, a must for any journal writer!

I was enthralled. The mystery had driven me to investigate the characteristics of the animal tracks to be expected in my part of the world, but heavy snow is a relatively rare event and little had been written on the subject. Then, as the white blanket gradually melted away, so disappeared the creature’s tracks and any remaining clue to their identity. The writing was on the wall for my wildlife journal… or so I thought!

Days later, just as I’d forgotten the riddle written in the snow, I peered through my window once more to see the author pass directly in front of me. . . and if you haven’t already twigged, the tale ends here.

Tags: snow, weather, wildlife, winter, writing
Categories: writing

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 2nd, 2010 at 3.30 pm and is filed under writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.