It is nearly three weeks since my previous post about Henry and he is in the house still, because it has been quite cool at night. Today could hardly have been a nicer Easter Sunday with brilliant sunshine and almost completely calm. So, after lunch, our enclosed rear garden was warm enough for Henry to be put out on the grass for an hour or two.
His first move was to head directly on to the border from which I had removed the box hedge only days ago so that the Head Gardener could plant fruit bushes instead. He seemed a bit confused by the absence of the hedge, under which he used to walk from one side of the garden to the other while keeping out of sight.
After a while he settled in a typical sunbathng position while he thought about it and about the potential of all the new fruit bushes. This was followed by a further exploration of the borders.
Next came a quick inspection of the lawn during which he nibbled one dandelion leaf and that was all. This seemed to confirm that he is getting enough to eat indoors. He even ignored the dandelion flowers, having had his daily quota of those indoors at lunchtime.
On days like this Henry can be outside all day but I will be watching night temperatures for some time yet to ensure that it is not just frost-free, which is essential, but actually relatively mild when he stays out all night.
Just Williams 
What fun to see him out and about! To be quite frank, he appears to be living the tortoise equivalent of the good life. Unfortunate about the missing hedges, but we all have to cope with those now and then!
I trust your Easter was lovely. I enjoyed the story of the anonymous violinist, by the way. Context can be everything!
Pampered is the word. But we must be doing something right as he has been with us for well over 20 years. He hasn’t been out again since Sunday because it has been a lot cooler.
The hedge has been transplanted to another garden so it was not just wasted. The stories, to which I linked in an earlier post, were discovered thanks to Twitter, on which I “follow” a few natural history and BBC sites among others.
Good morning to you! Just dropping by to let you know that my new post contains the story of Doro, the name now given to “my” turtle. There’s also a little detail about how I found him and where he went. I told him about Henry, and he seemed quite interested. 😉
Hi shoreacres, thanks for visiting. Your whole post is fascinating (I have just read it) and that Doro is pretty – but obviously cautious, probably because he/she was told when young not to speak to strangers!
By the way, glad to find someone as daft as me who talks to the animals – it’s very therapeutic 🙂