Category Archives: Wildlife

30 Days Wild 2016 – Part 1

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The Wildlife Trusts 30 Days Wild PackSo June is nearly upon us and that means it’s The Wildlife Trusts ’30 Days Wild’.  As last year, I will be taking part in this year’s event.  A lot of amazing people blog every day about their Wild experiences, I’m going to Tweet (I know I won’t have enough time every day to blog so will do a full post at the end of the month).

If you would like to know more about The Wildlife’s Trust and ’30 Days Wild’ check out their website, each County has their own dedicated page.  The 30 Days Wild app has also just launched.  It features over 100 ‘Random Acts of Wildness’ as inspiration of how to connect to nature this June.

I’m looking forward to following along on Twitter (#30DaysWild) to see what everyone does.  If you would like to follow my wild adventures you can find me at @_HannahBaker 🙂

Bluebells 2016

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Bluebells at Badbury Clump, Oxfordshire

This year I was determined to get out and see Bluebells. I always manage to miss them but this time, I finally got it right! I headed to Badbury Hill in Oxfordshire (locally known as Badbury Clump) owned by the National Trust.

I first went at the end of April. I was a little too early as they were only just starting to flower so not the carpet of blooms that I was hoping for – at least I hadn’t missed them!

Last week I headed to the site again to witness the floor covered in flowers.  I timed it just right as it did look as though some of the flowers were just starting to go over.

There were plenty of people out enjoying the sunshine, though unfortunately some were walking through trampling and picking the flowers.  I know not everyone likes flowers or sees their importance but do they really have to damage them?!

I’m also not sure why some dog walkers insist on leaving bags of poo lying around when there are bins provided!  If they can put it in a bag, surely carrying it to the bin should not be a problem?!

Dog poo left at Badbury Clump, Oxfordshire

Dog poo left at Badbury Clump, Oxfordshire

 

 

 

 

 

The car parking at Badbury Hill is free, but it does get very busy.  If you’re lucky, there might also be an ice cream van in the car park 😉

Lower Moor Farm – March 2016

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There were definite signs of spring at Lower Moor Farm last Friday.  Grey Herons and Carrion Crows nest building along with Common Frogs mating and my first butterfly sightings of the year.

We arrived on site at about 10am, it was still very quiet, there only being two cars in the Car Park. I thought it was going to be really busy so it was a nice surprise.

My first spot of the day was a Grey Heron who was collecting nesting material on the far bank of Cottage Lake.  According to the log book in the hide he had been doing this for at least 40mins.  It was nice to just sit and watch his process, on occasion he seemed a bit ambitious with the size of twig he was trying and failing to pick up.

The Wildlife Trusts - Lower Moor Farm - Grey Heron gathering nesting material

The Wildlife Trusts - Lower Moor Farm - Reed Bunting (Female)My lesson learnt for the day is ‘Remember to take the bird book even if you think you won’t need it!’…  to the left of the hide there is a feeder that had been topped up that morning.  I was fairly sure what I was watching was a Reed Bunting but I doubted myself as I had never actually seen one before.  Seeing I had no phone signal I had no way of double checking either.

After lunch we moved round to the other hide looking over Swallow Pool which looks upon the other side of the tree the Grey Heron had been flying to that morning.  There turned out to be two Grey Heron nests in the tree quite close together.  Some people came into the hide saying they had seen three Roe Deer, not long after one appeared further down the lake and proceeded to take a swim across.

I look forward to visiting Lower Moor Farm again soon, I hear they have Otters but they haven’t been seen for a while…

My full list of sightings for the day:
Butterflies: Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell
Birds: Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Long-tailed Tit, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Red-crested Pochard, Reed Bunting, Robin, Wren
Amphibians: Common Frog
Mammals: Roe Deer

Millets Farm Falconry Centre 2016

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Last Friday I took the day off work with a couple of colleagues and went to Millets Farm Falconry Centre.  I had happened to see it included in a Twitter post for places to visit in my area and thought it would be a nice day out that would suit everybody that was going.

I woke to heavy fog outside and wondered if it was set to improve, after a check with the online weather information I was happy to see it was set to lift mid-morning.  After I had picked everyone up we headed on the half an hour journey to the Centre.

Thankfully the weather decided to play nice and the fog lifted an hour before the first flying display at 12pm.  As the Centre is situated next to a restaurant it was a good time for lunch before the next display at 2pm.

Millets Farm Falconry Centre - Striated Cara CaraThe first bird to fly was ‘Boo’ a Striated Cara Cara who came with a warning from the Falconer Luke… please insure all bags are done up securely as he will raid them for food! and sure enough he came over to see if he could get in my bag, sorry Boo no food from me.

They flew a variety of birds; two seemed very interested in the local mouse population deciding to do a little of their own hunting though both were unsuccessful with their catches that escaped their talons.

We also had a visit from some of the local Red Kite population with three of them riding the thermals at one point.

When taking photographs at Falconry Centres I always try and take photos that make the birds look as though they are in their natural environment.  Part of the attraction is to get up close and learn about birds I have little knowledge of.

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2016

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January 30th was again time for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch so I settled in the kitchen with my camera and notebook to mark down what I saw.  I have included the figures here against last years as a comparison.  This time, as last year, I saw 11 species of bird though not exactly the same as 2015.

2016 2015
Coal Tit 2 1
Blue Tit 2 3
Great tit 1
Long-tailed Tit 1
Blackbird 4 2
Woodpigeon 2
Goldfinch 9 2
Blackcap 1
Greenfinch 1
Robin 2 2
Collard Dove 3 1
Starling 1 1
House Sparrow 1
Dunnock 1
Pied Wagtail 1

I have, since completing the count, seen a Long-tailed tit and a Dunnock in the garden. I have not seen the Pied Wagtail for some time now.

Below are a few record shots of the birds that took part in the count…

RSPB Arne – August 2015

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As bad as it may sound, I had not heard of RSPB Arne. I have been to Dorset more times than I can remember and never knew it was even there! So at the beginning of August I took a day off from work and headed down to the Dorset Coast.

RSPB Arne is situated 4 miles East of Wareham, overlooking Poole Harbour.

We started the day by taking the walk out to the hides on Coombe Heath.  There is wonderful heathland to walk across with a variety of butterflies and birds to see, along with the ant hills! I happened to have my parents with me on this visit and I have discovered they don’t mix well with hides! If there is nothing to see straight away, they want to move on! However, they did manage to settle for a while at a screen not far from the hide.  With us being the only people there, they were happier being able to talk at a normal level, with me explaining what we were looking at.

After lunch we headed along the other trails towards Shipstal beach.  The trail is quite undulating but a very pleasant walk looking out over the harbour.  On our route back, we were entertained by a number of dragonflies and lucky enough to spot a Sika Deer amongst the trees.

I am planning to visit the site next year along with a trip to Brownsea Island to see the red squirrels.

30 Days Wild 2015

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So The Wildlife Trusts asked ‘This June, can you do something wild every day for a month?’ so I signed up and said “Yes!” I was emailed a great information pack with loads of ideas and a wall chart to mark off the days I had completed. I printed this to fit in my notebook so I could plan and record my activities.

This is what happened:
1 – Snail enjoying a rainy day
2 – The art of noticing: Tiny pink flower hidden in the grass
3 – Lovely evening walk around a maize field
4 – Wildflowers, natures little gems: Cow Parsley growing next to the hedgerow on my drive home tonight
5 – A burst of colour in the garden
6 – Bees and beekeeping: Followed this chap today in the garden. I think he’s an early bumble bee
7 – Sat in the garden watching the birds. First Greenfinch I’ve seen here on the feeders
8 – Took a lunchtime walk around the pond
9 – Mixed up food for the birds tonight, should last them a few days!
10 – Oxeye Daisies tonight at Whelford Pools Nature Reserve
11 – Missed a day 🙁
12 – Feeding the neighbours chickens this morning
13 – Sat at the kitchen sink watching the hedgehogs in the garden
14 – Feeding the ducks at the local park
15 – Visit to The Hawk Conservancy Trust
16 – Walked around the field on the lookout for the local badgers, sadly I didn’t see them
17 – Noticing lots of ‘cuckoo-spit’ today
18 – Barley field speckled with poppies
19 – Lunch by the pond at work
20 – Bug hunting in the garden
21 – Missed a day 🙁
22 – Wildlife spotting and recording on the drive home from work
23 – Missed a day 🙁
24 – Wildlife spotting and recording on the drive home from work
25 – Missed a day 🙁
26 – Missed a day 🙁
27 – Ordered Charlie Elder’s ‘Few And Far Between’ to read over the Summer
28 – Watching swallows in the evening sun below amazing clouds
29 – Missed a day 🙁
30 – Watching the sunset in the garden

As you can see I didn’t complete all 30 days. Towards the end of the month my day job got rather busy and I was there more than I was at home!  The days when I didn’t get to do or see anything specific, I did what I always do – fed the birds and watched them from the window as I was getting ready to go to work.  The family of Starlings seem to be increasing by the week, counting 11 young today! Following other peoples #30DaysWild has been a joy seeing what everyone has been doing. I enjoyed spending some time every day in the wild when I was able to and I look forward to continuing.

If you are interesting in incorporating some more wild into your life then check out The Wildlife Trusts website to find your local nature reserves (there are 2,000 across the UK) and follow @wildlifetrusts and their hashtags #MyWildLife and #365DaysWild.

Roadkill

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Okay so roadkill is not a nice subject but over the past month as Spring has arrived, I have noticed more than normal, whether that’s because I am driving more country roads or just because there is more, I don’t know. I try and record all of my sightings on iRecord using the ‘Mammal Tracker’ app as the data is used to monitor animal locations and numbers. I always feel bad though as most of my sightings are classed as ‘Visual: dead – roadkill’.

I have turned into one of those annoying drivers who, especially at dusk, drive slower than normal so I can avoid animals that run out into the road.  I have had deer, badgers, foxes and loads of rabbits cross the road safely in front of me.  There really is no need for them to become another statistic if people were just a little more aware of them.  Back in the Summer I hit a squirrel so I do understand that sometimes there is no avoiding them, but 99% of the time they can be avoided.  Maybe if we all thought of them as a member of the family, we would be more inclined to take better care of them.

Winter 2014/2015

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Great titWinter has come and gone very quickly this year and I fear Spring will do the same. As I write this, Spring is well underway and I am just trying to catch up with my Winter photos.  A lot has happened in the last few months which has meant my blog posting has been less frequent than I would like!

Winter is generally not one of my favourite times of year, just because of the cold. I have this year been more prepared for the weather and as they say, there is not bad weather just the wrong clothing, and this year I think I have got the clothing right.

I didn’t venture out as much as I should have and maybe that’s because it flew past us. I did, however, see a Blackcap which I was not expecting, especially seeing it was on the bird table in the back garden!

A few frosty mornings when I didn’t have to dash out to work allowed me to take a few images of the landscape at dawn with the cold winter chill visible in the air.  I hope to catch more of Winter next time round as it is a lovely, still time of year.

In what’s left of Spring I’m looking forward to what I find, especially as in a field nearby I have already seen a barn owl and signs of badgers 🙂 Now all I have to do is photograph them…

Donna Nook National Nature Reserve

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Grey Seals at Donna Nook Nature Reserve, LincolnshireDonna Nook is situated in the East of England on the Lincolnshire coast. The Grey Seals arrive in their hundreds in November and stay until the beginning of January, giving birth and mating.

It is amazing to see them all there. I confess I spent two days there photographing them! I sent a few images to my Mum and she asked me if they ever moved! Well, yes they do but not a lot, they spend most of the time resting and sleeping!

Grey Seals at Donna Nook Nature Reserve, Lincolnshire - New bornThe second day I was lucky to see a bit more activity; mating and a pup being born. Unfortunately, the latter happened very quickly and I only spotted it happening out of the corner of my eye so didn’t get to capture a photograph.

The wardens are very knowledgeable and can tell you which cows are still to give birth etc. They also advise you not to visit on a weekend as it is extremely busy. I went in the week and although there were a lot of people it was easy to see the seals. Some of the pups seem very inquisitive about the humans that are stood watching them. The cows always have an eye on the pups and if the humans are making too much noise then they seem to lay between the noise and the pup to protect them.

If visiting the site there is a main car park and an overflow if you don’t manage to get a space. The main car park gets full very early and the overflow is a farmer’s field but it does have portaloos! The nearest toilets are otherwise in North Somercotes village. Look out for the cute little gift shop where they also accept donations 🙂

This year, there were 1798 pups born at Donna Nook. You can follow the progress of numbers on Twitter @DonnaNookWarden