Snake surprises mom in bath
September 21 2007
A young mother was in the bath with her baby when a 5ft python slid out from under it. Leanne Smith, 18, screamed as it hissed at her and four-month-old Millie, reports the Daily Mirror. She scooped Millie into her arms and leaped over the snake which experts believe was ready to pounce. Leanne, who lives with boyfriend Ben Payne, also 18, in a council flat in Dartford, Kent, said: "It was huge and it just sat there hissing and looking at me. "I just screamed and screamed, which was probably the wrong thing to do as it started to hiss at me even more. "I jumped over it and called the RSPCA. They said it had probably got in through a pipe and was ready to attack me. "So I locked the bathroom door and waited for them to take it away." An RSPCA officer caught the royal python - a nonvenomous constrictor that crushes its prey - and a neighbour experienced in looking after large snakes is caring for it while the owner is sought. Ian Stephen, London Zoo senior reptile keeper, said: "It would have been more aggressive than usual because it would have been very stressed and afraid, cold, confused, hungry - and more scared of Leanne than she was of it."
Source: Ananova.com
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
More wallabies
"We had a wallaby around our works site near Lenham in Kent for weeks. You could get to within a few feet of it. Many saw it - we called it Wesley!
Alas it was knocked down and killed on the A20. We thought that was that, but a few weeks ago whilst driving to work at five in the morning with another guy we came round a bend and there sitting in the road was another wallaby.
It sat there for a few secs then lopped off down the road and into the woods, so they have not died out here in Kent - YET!"
Alas it was knocked down and killed on the A20. We thought that was that, but a few weeks ago whilst driving to work at five in the morning with another guy we came round a bend and there sitting in the road was another wallaby.
It sat there for a few secs then lopped off down the road and into the woods, so they have not died out here in Kent - YET!"
Photo of 'Wesley' by Nick Perry
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Wallaby sighting
Thursday 24th May 2007:
Motorist driving from Lenham to Doddington, held up on narrow section of road as two lorries passed each other. Then spotted a wallaby hop across the road and disappear into the undergrowth.
Motorist driving from Lenham to Doddington, held up on narrow section of road as two lorries passed each other. Then spotted a wallaby hop across the road and disappear into the undergrowth.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Mystery beast of Chatham.
KENT TODAY reported in 2002 on a marauding creature on the loose at Constitution Road, Chatham from 1972. Vague details state that something was slaughtering pets in their hutches, and although the killer was believed to be a dog, the predator eluded capture.
Seals up our Creek!
EAST KENT GAZETTE - 3/3/99
The Wildlife of Swale is certainly getting more exciting - and I'm not just referring to those who frequent its nightclubs!
Telephone calls from readers have already alerted us to sightings of some sort of wild cat in the Sittingbourne area. Now we hear about seals cavorting in the Creek at Milton.
According to information reported to the newsroom, two of the sleek swimmers have been seen on several occasions bobbing up and down in the waters of the Creek. As with the big cat story, we'd love photographic evidence of these unusual visitors.
The Wildlife of Swale is certainly getting more exciting - and I'm not just referring to those who frequent its nightclubs!
Telephone calls from readers have already alerted us to sightings of some sort of wild cat in the Sittingbourne area. Now we hear about seals cavorting in the Creek at Milton.
According to information reported to the newsroom, two of the sleek swimmers have been seen on several occasions bobbing up and down in the waters of the Creek. As with the big cat story, we'd love photographic evidence of these unusual visitors.
Giant jellyfish in the sky!
KENT TODAY - 7/4/99 - A motorist has told police she was followed along the M2 for nearly 15 miles by a mysterious flying object that hovered above her car. The woman was with her husband and a friend who also saw the UFO which they reported when they arrived home at Gravesend.
The police said the woman driver, who has not been named, said the strange flying object followed them along the London-bound carriageway of the motorway from Faversham to Blue Bell Hill at Chatham where it disappeared.
Police have so far been unable to find any explanation. Police spokesman PC Dave Wisdom said the driver described the object as transparent with lights underneath which followed the car about 20ft from the ground. Checks were made with other areas and Maidstone police had also received reports about lights in the sky that evening. But it appears these were probably laser beam searchlights being used to advertise a town centre pub.
GAZETTE & TIMES - 14/4/99 - Motorists watched in wonder as they followed an unidentified flying object swirling around the night sky above the M2 motorway, from Faversham to the Medway Towns.
Two couples returning from the coast on Good Friday saw the object which they described as, "...like the bottom of a jelly-fish", circling close to their car, just past the Faversham turn-off.
Mrs Pauline Davis (51) had her attention drawn to the strange phenomena when her sister Mrs Val Springhall noticed the sky looked strange.
Mrs Davis described it as being transparent, with white lights swirling around. The object disappeared, then reappeared about 20ft from the car. It eventually disappeared when the family reached Blue Bell Hill, near Chatham.
Mrs Davis, from Gravesend, said, "I was dozing off when my sister said she saw it in the sky. When I looked I knew I had never seen anything like it before. A lorry in f ront of us was swerving all over the road, so I think he may have seen it too. It just kept swirling like the bottom of a jelly-fish. You couldn't see an object, just lights. We called the police when we got home and they say there was a light show at Detling, but when we went back along the motorway there was nothing. If there is a simple explanation for what we saw, I wish someone would tell me."
KENT TODAY - 14/4/99 - You can sleep safely in your beds - Medway may not have become a hotbed for paranormal activity after all.
the source of an alleged UFO sighting over the M2 could have been a giant laser image from a nightclub in Maidstone, we can reveal.
Last week we told you how a motorist claimed to have travelled 15 miles between Faversham and Blue Bell Hill with a mysterious flying object hovering above her car on Good Friday.
Valerie Springhall and her sister Pauline Davis were terrified when what they described as a 50ft long jellyfish-shaped object appeared to deliberately keep them under observation.
"I was absolutely terrified" said Mrs Springhall. "I have never seen anything like it before in my life and I don't want to repeat the experience. It was around 50ft long, fluorescent white, and changing shape from round to oval as it revolved. At one stage it tipped over slightly as we could see small fluorescent circles in its main body."
But the answer may be the laser lights emanating from Atomics nightclub in Maidstone town centre.
Sean Tudor, who writes articles on spooky happenings in the Blue Bell Hill area, believes lights from the nightclub laser show are capable of shining across large distances and is the most likely explanation for the sighting.
He said, "My girlfriend and I happened to be out in Maidstone on Friday and saw the jellyfish display again swirling on the underside of the cloud cover over the town - which confirms to me that the UFO witnesses probably saw something like this the previous Friday. The display clearly has a powerful beam and would be seen for some distance which might extend as far as the M2 at Faversham but would, under the right conditions, almost certainly overplay the M2 closer to Blue Bell Hill. The reason it disappeared at Blue Bell Hill may have more to do with a confined arc the display travels than any sinister association. This doesn't definitely explain the story but the very close descriptive and behavioural similarities suggest strongly that this might be so."
GAZETTE & TIMES - 28/4/99 - The UFO sighting over the M2 motorway on Good Friday was also seen in the hamlet of Bedmonton, near Wormshill. Mr Don Brown and his wife told the paper of their strange experience after reading the report two weeks ago, which they say described exactly what they saw. The couple were settling down for the evening on Good Friday when Mrs Brown noticed something in the sky. She called her husband who went out to look at the swirling object above.
He said, "It was a clear night and there was nothing in the sky to suggest where the lights were coming from. It rotated from left to right in a three-quarter circular movement. It was there from 9:30 pm and it was still there when we went to bed at 10:30 pm."
The following day Mrs Brown asked her friends whether they had seen the swirling object but drew a blank. It was only when a friend told her about the report in the newspaper that the couple realised they had not been alone in what they saw.
One explanation for what these and similar UFO sightings in the sky above Swale might be has been put forward by a local taxi driver.
Carol perry, who first witnessed the mysterious swirling lights in the sky two weeks ago whilst parked outside a fare's house in Roseleigh Road, Sittingbourne, believes they might be reflections on the sky of laser lights from a nightclub in Maidstone. A few days after the first sighting, Mrs Perry dropped off a fare at Maidstone and saw the lights emanating from Gabrielle's nightclub.
The police said the woman driver, who has not been named, said the strange flying object followed them along the London-bound carriageway of the motorway from Faversham to Blue Bell Hill at Chatham where it disappeared.
Police have so far been unable to find any explanation. Police spokesman PC Dave Wisdom said the driver described the object as transparent with lights underneath which followed the car about 20ft from the ground. Checks were made with other areas and Maidstone police had also received reports about lights in the sky that evening. But it appears these were probably laser beam searchlights being used to advertise a town centre pub.
GAZETTE & TIMES - 14/4/99 - Motorists watched in wonder as they followed an unidentified flying object swirling around the night sky above the M2 motorway, from Faversham to the Medway Towns.
Two couples returning from the coast on Good Friday saw the object which they described as, "...like the bottom of a jelly-fish", circling close to their car, just past the Faversham turn-off.
Mrs Pauline Davis (51) had her attention drawn to the strange phenomena when her sister Mrs Val Springhall noticed the sky looked strange.
Mrs Davis described it as being transparent, with white lights swirling around. The object disappeared, then reappeared about 20ft from the car. It eventually disappeared when the family reached Blue Bell Hill, near Chatham.
Mrs Davis, from Gravesend, said, "I was dozing off when my sister said she saw it in the sky. When I looked I knew I had never seen anything like it before. A lorry in f ront of us was swerving all over the road, so I think he may have seen it too. It just kept swirling like the bottom of a jelly-fish. You couldn't see an object, just lights. We called the police when we got home and they say there was a light show at Detling, but when we went back along the motorway there was nothing. If there is a simple explanation for what we saw, I wish someone would tell me."
KENT TODAY - 14/4/99 - You can sleep safely in your beds - Medway may not have become a hotbed for paranormal activity after all.
the source of an alleged UFO sighting over the M2 could have been a giant laser image from a nightclub in Maidstone, we can reveal.
Last week we told you how a motorist claimed to have travelled 15 miles between Faversham and Blue Bell Hill with a mysterious flying object hovering above her car on Good Friday.
Valerie Springhall and her sister Pauline Davis were terrified when what they described as a 50ft long jellyfish-shaped object appeared to deliberately keep them under observation.
"I was absolutely terrified" said Mrs Springhall. "I have never seen anything like it before in my life and I don't want to repeat the experience. It was around 50ft long, fluorescent white, and changing shape from round to oval as it revolved. At one stage it tipped over slightly as we could see small fluorescent circles in its main body."
But the answer may be the laser lights emanating from Atomics nightclub in Maidstone town centre.
Sean Tudor, who writes articles on spooky happenings in the Blue Bell Hill area, believes lights from the nightclub laser show are capable of shining across large distances and is the most likely explanation for the sighting.
He said, "My girlfriend and I happened to be out in Maidstone on Friday and saw the jellyfish display again swirling on the underside of the cloud cover over the town - which confirms to me that the UFO witnesses probably saw something like this the previous Friday. The display clearly has a powerful beam and would be seen for some distance which might extend as far as the M2 at Faversham but would, under the right conditions, almost certainly overplay the M2 closer to Blue Bell Hill. The reason it disappeared at Blue Bell Hill may have more to do with a confined arc the display travels than any sinister association. This doesn't definitely explain the story but the very close descriptive and behavioural similarities suggest strongly that this might be so."
GAZETTE & TIMES - 28/4/99 - The UFO sighting over the M2 motorway on Good Friday was also seen in the hamlet of Bedmonton, near Wormshill. Mr Don Brown and his wife told the paper of their strange experience after reading the report two weeks ago, which they say described exactly what they saw. The couple were settling down for the evening on Good Friday when Mrs Brown noticed something in the sky. She called her husband who went out to look at the swirling object above.
He said, "It was a clear night and there was nothing in the sky to suggest where the lights were coming from. It rotated from left to right in a three-quarter circular movement. It was there from 9:30 pm and it was still there when we went to bed at 10:30 pm."
The following day Mrs Brown asked her friends whether they had seen the swirling object but drew a blank. It was only when a friend told her about the report in the newspaper that the couple realised they had not been alone in what they saw.
One explanation for what these and similar UFO sightings in the sky above Swale might be has been put forward by a local taxi driver.
Carol perry, who first witnessed the mysterious swirling lights in the sky two weeks ago whilst parked outside a fare's house in Roseleigh Road, Sittingbourne, believes they might be reflections on the sky of laser lights from a nightclub in Maidstone. A few days after the first sighting, Mrs Perry dropped off a fare at Maidstone and saw the lights emanating from Gabrielle's nightclub.
Friday, May 4, 2007
Ladybird panic!
Deal, Kent, 18th July 1976 - Daily Mirror :
'Millions of ladybirds invaded the beach, and then the town centre, shutting shops for half an hour. they were thought to have made a 20-mile channel crossing'.
'Millions of ladybirds invaded the beach, and then the town centre, shutting shops for half an hour. they were thought to have made a 20-mile channel crossing'.
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