The Creature

A friend of mine, Ken, likes to take a long walk each morning, usually round a local nature reserve. It's his habit to stop off in one the hides, where he can smoke a cigarette and watch kingfishers on the lake and observe a friendly hedgehog who lives nearby. He doesn't seem to be bothering to hibernate this year. He seems to like bananas, by the way. The hedgehog, that is, not just my friend.

Sometime before Christmas, Ken heard a rustling in the hide. It came from above his head, where there is some sort of shelf. He thought a bird might be nesting there, but when managed to see it, it appeared to have fur and so might be a bat.

However, are they any bats which don't hang upside down when at rest?

Rather bravely, I think, Ken reached out to touch it. Sure enough, it felt furry, but it immediately started hisssing and spitting. It even squirted piss at him.

The thing was there the next day and for the next three months. Various conversations took place and various suggestions were made, the most popular being that it was a Tasmanian devil, or simply that Ken was hallucinating after a heavy night. Eventually Ken managed to take a photograph of it. (And I have just managed to download it and add it to this post. It's in the wrong place, but I'm definitely not trying to move it.)

It looks like a blue tit's tail sticking out of a spherical nest, but the 'nest' is the creature's body, which is about the size of a man's fist.

The photo was passed around and eventually someone recognised it, we think. If true, this has to be the coincidence of the decade. A regular drinking companion of ours had managed to miss all conversations on this topic for weeks, but as soon as he saw the photo he said, 'That's my kakariki. It flew off last year.'

The kakariki is a New Zealand parakeet. It's name means 'small (or green) parrot in Maori. I have to confess that I'd never heard of it, though it is a popular pet.

So maybe the mystery is solved.