Topsham

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Ah, nothing quite like a Spring sunset over the water, is there? I visited Topsham with Ciao to take some photos and celebrate my chum Tom's thesis submission. There were lots of us there, getting merry and talking toot in the sunshine. It quickly got very cold once the sun had gone down!

I was very glad to spend the latter half of the day like this, laughing with friends. I needed it after what happened earlier on. I will describe what happened now, but I warn you it involves animal cruelty.

I'd gone exploring in the woods near my house shortly after lunch, thinking I might find something worth snapping. After quarter of an hour of crawling through hedgerows and tracking a little stream, I found something I wished I hadn't. Someone had taken a fox and thrust it over the branches of a tree, breaking its back in the process (its back legs were twisted very unnaturally). They had also taken handfuls of its fur and ripped them out, scattering them around on the leaf-littered ground. It pelt was matted and there was congealed blood dripping down from its nose.

I couldn't tell if it had been found dead and then toyed with by someone/some people who are deranged, or if they themselves killed it. I will be reporting it to the RSPCA.

Anyway, when I made this discovery I was instantly terrified that the person or persons who did it were still hanging around (there is a 'den' a bit further away that I've explored before now, I thought that kids used it but now I'm not so sure). I thought I heard voices coming from that part of the wood, so I tried to find a quick way out. My heart was hammering and I did my best to keep my cool as I scrabbled up steep banks and inadvertently found myself in boggy patches as I desperately tried to make a quick getaway.

Once I'd made my way back up to open fields, I breathed a sigh of relief, only to hear voices again. Thankfully they were far enough away that I could get most of the way home before I turned to look. A bunch of maybe 5 teenagers were trooping across the field to the part of the woods I'd just left, laden with full shopping bags.

I just don't know what to think. I certainly won't be going back to that part of the wood again. Incidentally, on my walk in the woods I also found a knife handle and a hammer discarded in the leaf litter. What on earth goes on in those woods? Do I really want to know?