30 Days Wild 2015

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2015

Posted on by

On Saturday January 24th I settled on a stool at the kitchen window and counted our garden visitors for an hour for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. We have been getting quite a range of birds visiting and thankfully the majority decided to turn up for breakfast while I was counting…

Blue tit – 3
Great tit – 1
Coal tit – 1
Long-tailed tit – 1
Robin – 2
Starling – 1
Dunnock – 1
Goldfinch – 2
Collared Dove – 1
Pied Wagtail – 1
Blackbird – 2

We normally get Woodpigeon’s, a Magpie and a Jay who visit too.

I took the below images of our feathered friends through the kitchen window so not to disturb them.

Autumn 2014

Posted on by

Robin at Waters' Edge Country Park, LincolnshireSo Autumn is now over and we have moved into Winter. Its been so mild this year that it’s really only just started to feel like Winter!

Taking images for Autumn has had its challenges. The main one being dark evenings! Not being able to go out after work and take photographs has really reduced the time I have for shooting. The added bonus was, I had a week away in Lincolnshire that enabled me to take a few images that I wouldn’t have normally taken. This has led me to the decision that I need to take some annual leave in each season this year!

Again I had my list of ‘finds’ and I didn’t do too badly this time, but that might be because I based some of them around the area I was visiting!

The key Autumn image for me was the Grey Seal pups. I have never seen them in the wild until last years visit to Donna Nook – I will put another post on it with more detail/photos soon. I had also never seen a Fly Agaric either until this year, so I did make some great discoveries!

What I missed photographing was the changing colour of the leaves…I know, the most basic Autumn image! I just seemed to miss the best times to go out and shoot, so it will be at the top of the list for this year!

2015 – Happy New Year!

Posted on by

Happy New Year! I know most people post New Year messages on the last day of the year but I thought I’d be a little different!

I have decided to change things a little bit this year so wanted to let you know of my intentions. Last year, I set myself a schedule for adding posts – yes, it increased my content on the previous year but it also added pressure to get posts online! When my day job took over and I didn’t post on time, I felt I’d let myself and you down. So this year, I don’t have a schedule! I have a rough plan and when blogs are completed they will go online. This may mean two posts in one month and then nothing the next. However, I am hoping that the freeness will actually help me post more!

I am looking to continue with my seasonal posts (Autumn being added soon) but am not so sure about the iPhone posts…I’m thinking I might add individual images to OKDOTHIS / Twitter and maybe do a 6 monthly round up post instead!

If there is anything you would like me to post or would like to see more of, let me know in the comments below 🙂

xx

Birty Dastards Off-roading 10th Anniversary Event

Posted on by

Birty Dastards Off-roading - 10th Anniversary Event

This years Birty Dastards main event was their 10th Anniversary celebration. The weather was surprisingly good seeing we were expecting some rain – we always expect rain!

It being an Anniversary year the event was opened up to other clubs with additional food stalls and musical entertainment provided.

There were no major incidents thankfully; the truck that was on the verge of rolling over was stabilised and brought back down onto four wheels and the people that got stuck in the ‘sheep-dip’ were all laughed at and then winched out.

Although punches are put out on the site they are only used for people to try out different areas and to give a goal to reach. Most of the time they provide entertainment for the people stood around giving friendly advice / abuse 😉

Going to the same sites every year doesn’t really allow for a large variety of images. I tried to add the perspective of the slopes to the images this year but I think next years events I will try a different photographic tactic (unless it rains!). I have found that travelling around in one truck tends to mean that I focus on that truck. Walking the site instead of being driven may mean that I get to be in areas I may not normally find myself in.

iPhone Images – October 2014

Posted on by

I was surprised this month when I realised I had a few images to post, I really only thought I had two, so wasn’t going to bother with such a feeble effort!  Again I have been locked away behind a computer and have come to the conclusion that now the nights are drawing in the only time I have to take any images is at the weekends.  Next month I will be out and about a bit more so hope to have more of a selection of images to post 🙂