ALWAYS, bring the camera

Today I went with the wife and daughter for a picnic in the countryside, it was late and I just wanted to spend some time with them so I decided not to bring the camera.

When we got to the lake we saw quite a dramatic and at the same time amazing play of nature. A small snake, jumped out of a hole chasing two small mices and with a quick move managed to grab one of them. The scene that followed was developing in front of our nose. We kneeled down watching the small snake suffocating the little rodent; I could stretch my arm and touch them, so close I was.

After a brief struggle the snake probably decided that we were indeed too close and left the almost dead mice alone, returning to the hole. The poor soul came back to life, thinking that probably his day hasn’t come yet, and with a quite deformed body managed to get back on its feet.

We left them there: both little rats were frightened to death and quite confused about what to do with their uncertain life but I’m afraid that the snake, once we disappeared returned to the crime scene to complete the job.

My daughter was very disappointed with what the snake was trying to do to the rodent, and my wife was very happy that she’d disappeared, in fact she would have been happier if it was the mice trying to eat the snake….

I didn’t even pull out the phone to try to grab a shot, I was too excited watching it and truly I’m not a big cell phones camera lover. Today I have learnt another important lesson, never leave home without the camera…