By Deborah Garnett

There was once a red squirrel who lived deep in a wood. It was autumn and she was busy gathering acorns and hazelnuts.

For weeks as she busily ran up and down branches, red squirrel had noticed the leaves change colour to radiant orange and gold and eventually fall off and flutter to the ground.

The other animals could not understand why red squirrel was so lively. They were happy to sit around and admire the beautiful trees.

Red squirrel became concerned that her friends were not preparing for the cold, spare, empty time to come. She wanted to tell them what all squirrels know and that is to store up food for the winter, but she was unsure they would pay her any attention.

So, in preparation for the woodland meeting, red squirrel approached great stag and asked if he would use his authority to impress on the others the importance of preparing for winter.

At the woodland meeting, as all the creatures were gathered chatting, great stag raised himself up to his full height. With his chest puffed out and antlers raised high, he barked out orders for all the animals to wake at dawn the next day and work until nightfall to bring in the harvest. They were stunned into silence as the great stag roared out his message and some fell over into a terrified faint.

The next day, only red squirrel rose at dawn to continue the search for food.

Red squirrel became more concerned that her friends were not preparing for the cold, spare, empty time to come. She wanted to tell them what all squirrels know and that is to store up food for the winter, but she was unsure they would pay her any attention.

So, in preparation for the next woodland meeting, red squirrel approached fox and asked if she would use her cleverness to impress on the others the importance of preparing for winter.

At the meeting, as all the creatures were gathered chatting, fox appeared wearing her professor’s gown and spectacles. She pointed with her twig to charts and graphs, showing all sorts of facts and figures about why the animals should wake at dawn the next day and work until nightfall to bring in the harvest. They were stunned into silence by the end of the presentation and some fell over from sheer boredom.

The next day, only red squirrel rose at dawn to continue the search for food.

Red squirrel became increasingly concerned and so approached wise owl for advice. Wise owl told red squirrel that the message should come directly from red squirrel herself. Red squirrel said that she wasn’t sure what to say or whether the others would pay her any attention. Wise owl replied; “When the time comes, you will know exactly what to say and how to say it and they will understand and appreciate your message.”

At the next meeting, as all the creatures were gathered chatting together under a mighty oak, red squirrel began by saying; “My dear friends, as you are sitting here, you will be wondering what I, red squirrel can have to say to you.” With tears in her eyes, red squirrel reminded them of how they had gone hungry the previous winter and that she was concerned the same would happen again. She entreated them to work together to bring in the harvest and that if they did so, all would be well.

When she had finished and having dried her eyes, the other animals came up to red squirrel and thanked and hugged her and shook her paw.

The next day, red squirrel and all the forest animals rose at dawn to search for food.

I

By Gill Martin

Once there was a beautiful, flourishing garden which was adorned with rows and rows of juicy vegetables, trees and bushes which were laden with ripe fruits and berries.  The old gardener had invested a lot of his time and money into his garden.  He was planned and methodical in his approach, the watering system drenched the plants with fine bursts of dew as regular as clockwork, whilst the electric fence stood guard against unwanted four-legged intruders and fine netting wrapped the fruit bushes in a protective hold.  Every inch of the space was planned to perfection and the old man was proud as punch of what he had achieved.

The garden produce, along with the eggs from his wife’s chickens, provided a decent living for the gardener and his wife.

One Spring gardener fell very ill and was too sick to attend to his garden or go to market. The garden went untouched for many, many weeks, during which time the rabbits cottoned on to the fact that the gardener wasn’t around and dug under the fence and started to feast on the vegetables.

From that point everything started to go downhill.

The weeds started to take over the vegetable patches, strangling the growth of the young seedlings and drinking all the water so they couldn’t grow

The netting became insecure and lifted from the fruit bushes allowing insects to plunge into the ripe fruits and berries.

The chickens were terrified and stopped laying eggs as they were too frightened to come out of their coop as foxes began to creep under the fence and roam the garden.

Perched on the gable end of the shed, a wise owl sat and watched the disarray that had become of the garden – knowing how disappointed the gardener would be as his pride and joy was being so openly abused.

‘I suggest you stop and think how you are all behaving and the potential consequences of your actions’

The wildlife heckled back at the owl, ranting about the controlling old man and how they were finally able to enjoy freedom. The rowdy group became louder and more rebellious, arguing amongst themselves!  The Wise Owl flapped his wings up high to a bid to regain their attention ‘since you all have different views of this garden’ said the owl ‘why not share your thoughts and concerns …..but please speak to each other in a respectful manner’.  The garden fell so silent you could hear a pin drop – …. ‘what’s your view of this situation ‘he asked’ pointing at one of the weeds…

The angry looking weed replied ‘well at least we now get a chance to grow where we want instead of being ripped out and thrown on the compost heap. What a way to end up – it makes us feel worthless’.

The lazy caterpillar who lay stretched out on a cabbage leaf said ‘don’t worry yourself Mr Owl, I won’t be sticking around for too long!  I’ll chomp through this lot so I’m stuffed full, then I’ll get my head down for a bit and grow myself some wings; when I wake up I’ll be off to see the world!

The greedy sparrows chirped “we’re not complaining, there are loads more big fat insects than there used to be.  We have growing families to feed! The caterpillar gave a nervous laugh and quickly retreated into the darkness of the undergrowth.

The rabbits raised their heads from the lettuce patch and said ‘we can have heaps more lettuce, far better quality than what’s usually left on the compost heap, glancing over at the weeds!    ‘How rude!’ replied a dandelion.

The potatoes, carrots and beetroot were under the ground listening intently to the conversations above their heads – ‘blimey, it’s a bit of a war zone up there’ said one of the jersey royals, but I think if we keep our heads down and ride it out, we’ll be ok”.  At that point a brave little carrot spoke up.  “I can’t believe you all.  Apart from the fact that none of you will probably ever see the light of day at this rate, if you do nothing you’ll over grow, split and start to rot.   Don’t you see that our fellow comrades are under attack up there! Will none of you stand up and speak out?  We’re all in this together! And with that he asked a passing worm to give him a big shove, and the little carrot pushed up through the earth and popped his head up above the soil.

Blinking at the bright sunlight and feeling the fresh air for the first time, the little carrot took a moment or two to adjust and compose himself then, in the most authoritative voice a carrot of his size could muster, he shouted “the biggest losers are all the fruits and vegetables!  Either way we get eaten but with the gardener at least we get a chance to be respected, nurtured and appreciated so we can grow big and healthy.   Without us you wouldn’t have a garden to enjoy!  Think how sad he’ll be if he were to see his garden now. What if he never comes back to plant more of us; he’s unwell and he’s not getting any younger.  What if it’s too much work for him to get the garden back into shape.  I think you are all being extremely selfish!

The wildlife looked at each other and the penny finally dropped “the little fella is right’ said a rabbit, “if this free for all carries on then the garden will be destroyed and once this is gone, it’s gone for good”.

So the weeds, caterpillars, sparrows and rabbits got there heads together and began to make a plan, with a few compromises thrown in for good measure.

The weeds grew but only round the edges of the garden.

The insects agreed to stay off the vegetables and only to eat the fallen fruits which covered the ground.

The sparrows made patrols of the garden, eating any insects which broke the rules and strayed onto the growing fruits and vegetables.

The rabbits stayed off the main vegetable patches, again eating the fallen fruits and berries whilst guarding the perimeter fences so they could alert the chickens to the unwanted presence of any devilish foxes.

The chickens began to relax and started to lay eggs again which pleased the gardener’s wife, as she could make tasty omelettes to help the gardener regain his strength.

After a few weeks the gardener felt as ‘fit as a fiddle’ and well enough to return to his garden.  He was pleased to see things were not as chaotic and overridden as he had imagined.  He went back to work, maintaining the garden and planting more crops with even more growing success than what he previously achieved; this pleased the old gardener knowing that he still had green fingers.  With a spring in his step and a whistle while he worked, he prepared the produce for market, much to the amusement of the wildlife who continued with the ‘behind the scenes’ teamwork to help the old man maintain his garden, their home.

By Alison Welton

Once upon a time, there was a rabbit called Ruby who lived in a snuggly burrow in a green grassy field by a fresh water stream.

Ruby was a very wise, calm and thoughtful rabbit and each day would sit back in the morning sunshine watching the other rabbits run around the open fields.  She would take in the views all around, breath in the clean fresh air with the smell of the fresh grass and listen to the sound of the stream trickling along.

The other rabbits that lived with her in the burrow spent their days running around the fields and getting up to mischief.  When they returned each day and told Ruby about their adventures and mishaps Ruby would say to them ‘I told you so’ or ‘that was your own fault’. Then the next day the rabbits would go off again on an adventure and do the same things and get in to the same mishaps and come back and Ruby would say again ‘I told you so’ or ‘that was your own fault’.

Ruby wanted to help the other Rabbits to become wiser, she wanted to share her wisdom and experience with them but wondered if they would ever listen.

Then, one day whilst lying back and wondering how she could get the rabbits to listen to her she saw black clouds gathering, felt a breeze picking and realised that a storm was brewing.  If the storm hit, the waters would rise and their burrow would be flooded. They would have no home.  Ruby went into a panic and started to hop around wondering what she should do and thinking why had no one realised this before and moved to another burrow.

Ruby had to do something so she stood high up on her back legs and called for all the rabbits to listen and told them that there was a storm coming their home would be flooded and if they would not listen to her it was their fault that they would not have a home anymore. The rabbits listened for a second and then continued to run around the fields again enjoying themselves.

Ruby sat back, then after a few moments got up again and hopped, jumped and bounced through the air doing her own dance and all the other rabbits watched in amazement as they had never seen Ruby dance before.  Once she had their attention she then said to them in her calm thoughtful voice, I have been exploring our land and when you go up the hill there is a beautiful tree which provides shelter from the rain and shade from the sun, there are amazing views down the valley and you can see for miles around, the grass is so lush and green up the hill and it tastes delicious…..  and before Ruby could finish all the other rabbits said lets go and see and they ran off up the hill.

They all reached the tree and tasted the lush grass and next to the tree was a burrow which was just perfect for them all to live in.  All the rabbits asked Ruby why she had not told them about this before……  The storm never came…..  but the rabbits lived up the hill in the new burrow and each day listened to Ruby’ enchanting tales of survival …………