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There have been some exciting additions to the Mesmerising Moments idea that crystallised during the build of the new site. Go have a look and see how you can get more involved and spread the word.

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We’ve begun development of a fully hosted Mesmerising Moments site. While we’ve already done a lot of work on the site, it still isn’t quite ready.

Please bear with us and soon we can share some more Mesmerising Moments.

The loud cracking of cat biscuits beats from the kitchen, the same sound as the previous evening. I suspect it is a neighbours cat pilfering and go to investigate.

The kitchen is dark. I see a shadowy figure leaning over the cat bowls. No! They’ve brought in next doors rabbit.

I bend down slowly to save the fluffy ball from stalking cats and my palm is greeted by the sharp prickles of hedgehog spines. Amazed, I flick on the light and the cats appear. They’re very interested in the night visitor too but cautious in their approaches.

I don’t know what to do.

So I watch, for two hours, as the hedgehog and cats become acquainted and eat food. The spiny mammal decides to take a tour and wanders into the living room. He heads straight for the bookcase and begins to climb.

“It’s time to go home, my friend,” I say as I bend to pick him up. I stroke along the spines gently on both sides of his body. He stops and waits.

I reach deep underneath and tenderly lift him into the air. The hedgehog is heavier than I expected; dense, powerful, warm. His muscle an unexpected strength in such a small creature.

I carry him to the garden as the sky lightens in the east. I turn to see where the cats are and when I look back the hedgehog is gone.

I am mesmerised.

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For more information about the distribution and habits of hedgehogs, see the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.

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Apologies for the poor quality picture. It was taken during this Mesmerising Moment on a phone camera.

But then, from nowhere, our next door neighbour appears to announce that “one of your ewes is in trouble”.

Car keys are downed, farm boots pulled on and next thing I know my young daughter and I have our hands wrapped around two soft little cloven feet and a finger, tenderly hooked, on a nose at the “working end” of a tired and panting sheep.

“Pull gently,” I whisper to my darling daughter (thoughts of giving birth to her filling my mind). Together we tug, respecting the urges of the ewe.  And suddenly, plop, there on my boots is a darling, soft, snuffling, bleating, wet, steaming little mass of new life.

WE are mesmerised.

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Mesmerising Moments first guest post is by Caroline Webster a freelance writer and author of Small Fry Outdoors – inspiration for being outside with children.

She is a “passionate believer in the magic and power of being outdoors and encouraging lots of unstructured play for children”. Caroline is also President of the Friends of the Botanic Gardens in Sydney.

You can read more from Caroline on her blog, Caro & Co, and follow her on Twitter – @salisburydowns.

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If you’d like to share your Mesmerising Moment send us an email (picture if you have one) to: momentscontact[at]gmail.com.

Mesmerising Moments are more wonderful when shared.

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Photocredit: Paladin27

I pause at the step. The air is still.

Jellyfish clouds hang in the north-west, molten gold in the darkening blue.

Gossamer threads pinking high in the sky are criss-crossed by contrails dispersing hours after planes have flown by.

Mother Earth warms my soles, the drying grass tickles my bare feet. I know there’s more to see and race up the stairs.

There’s a fire on the horizon, precious metals melt into hot, bright lava. Shadowed clouds become billowing smoke.

I am mesmerised.

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This is one image of a set of photographs taken on June 21st 2010 between 21.45 and 22.05.

Exhausted by her ordeal the bee seems disoriented. She must be hungry and cold.

I mix some honey and water and smear it on to the doorstep. She stops moving aimlessly and bends towards the honey.

Her long tongue flicks out again and again tasting the sweet liquid. The bee is too tired to feast and more than once slips forward, resting her head in the honey-water as she dozes.

Moments later she is awake, sating her hunger once more before ambling to the warm wooden door to rest,

and sleep.

I am mesmerised.

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You can find more information about identification and habits of bees at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

Warm air billows from the canyon below. Earthy scents rising blue from the trees.

The heated draught hits my chin, cascading through the tiny hairs on my skin, eddying over eye brows, tickling lashes.

My hair dances.

A bird glides above the trees far below. I shiver. The cool mountain breeze trundles across the plateau, she-oaks singing in the wind.

I am mesmerised.