Country Diary: North Derbyshire

It seemed to me that global warming had been confirmed when I looked out the other morning to see a duck-billed platypus on the grass behind the house. It was only late January after all - so what a sighting!

There is, of course, a logical explanation for the appearance of this antipodean rarity at latitude 53 deg N. Many years ago I rescued the stuffed specimen from a pile of rubbish in the backyard of a recently deceased naturalist. I had relegated it to an outhouse prior to its consignment to an auction where I'm sure it will realise a world record for the species.

A visiting dog had dragged it to the grass where I found it soaked by recent rain. Once dried out, it will go under the hammer. A Bentley Continental has already been ordered.

That is not the only natural treasure to go on sale soon. A companion for the platypus is a cured badger skin. Some readers may raise their eyebrows at the death of a badger for its delightful pelt, but this particular specimen was found by the roadside 30 years ago, and someone's distant relative was adept with the use of saltpetre. I doubt this particular skin will attain the dizzy heights expected for the platypus.

Then, the other afternoon, as I crossed a pasture by the swollen river, I came upon another pelt - or, rather, a dead ewe lying on her side, her fleece flattened by the overnight rain. Though she didn't seem to have died more than an hour earlier, a scavenging jackdaw had already removed both eyes. Her woolly jacket certainly won't end up in the sale room, more than likely she will be buried fully clad in a corner of that sodden field.