The Continuing Story of Our Possum Charlie

 A month ago we noticed that there was pile of vegetation on our bathroom window-sill. A nice warm and sheltered spot. J shone a light onto what looked like a furry brown lump in what was obviously a nest of some sort and was greeted by a BIG round eye!!! A young Ringtail Possum! They are a protected species here in Australia. We named him Charlie. 

Over some days he continued to work on his nest, adding branches from our Conifer tree outside the window, slowly denuding it and leaving a sorry mess on the floor outside.  One day J took it upon himself to remove the nest in the middle of the night when Charlie was out foraging (possums are nocturnal). Lo and behold Charlie then moved his nest into the Conifer tree! 

If he didn't make so much mess (vegetation and poop) we would have loved to have a possum to watch but this was just too much, we had to move him along. J poked a broomstick into the tree next morning and had a startled Charlie leap onto on his shoulder and scamper away! 

Next day Charlie was back in the Conifer again.

I read that possums hate the smell of Blood and Bone fertilizer. A generous sprinkle of the fertilizer around the Conifer tree made Charlie vacate his Conifer abode but he didn't go far – just across the courtyard into our Bay Tree where he continued to make a daily mess of vegetation and poop. 

J took a broom to the Bay tree one day and out popped TWO Charlies which scampered away!! One morning we dislodged Charlie who sat on our clothes hoist long enough for me to take a photo. He was scungy and his fur was bristling. Certainly not the cute fluffy critters you see in photos in Google!

Now a month later, he seems to have moved away! A friend told me that Possums live in about 5 different abodes... 

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #MoleskineWatercolourNotebook, 5 x 8.25”