Self-Isolation - Home Garden Safari World Tour

  As well as watching the actual living bird life in our garden I decided to travel the world from our garden and photograph some of the amazing wildlife we saw.
  This is our whole Facebook garden safari trip in one blog with a few extras added that didn't make Facebook. :)

  Day 1 - Africa
  The tour began on the African Plains. Antelope, Zebra, Cheetah, Leopard, Rhinos and African Painted Dogs were all seen our on drive out.

  That evening we were also treated to a night-time drive.The Lions were more active and Hippos were grazing away from the river under the cover of darkness. A lone Red River Hog was also spotted.

  Bonus Trip (not seen on Facebook) ;) Before leaving the African mainland we trekked up to the Virunga Mountains in hope of seeing Mountain Gorillas.We were very fortunate ;)

  Day 2 - Madagascar
  Travelling East from Africa we headed for the island of Madagascar with all of it's wonderful endemic wildlife.
  It was fantastic to watch the Lemurs but the highlight was being able to dive with Green Turtles.

  We spent the evening on a walk through the Madagascan forest and found one of the most extraordinary creatures on the planet, the Aye-Aye.A nocturnal primate that finds it's food through echo-location by tapping the tree and listening for larvae under the bark before fishing them out with it's elongated middle finger.

  Bonus Trip (not seen on Facebook) - On our journey across the Indian Ocean we had a quick stop over in Mauritius and was astonished to find a previously thought extinct bird, the Dodo ;)

  Day 3 - Asia
  An incredible journey from South Asia all the way North to the Himalayas produced some amazing and endangered wildlife.A increasingly rare sighting (due to the deforestation for Palm Oil plantations) of a male Orangutan on his nest.A Giant Panda and a Moon Bear, another mammal struggling due to Human poaching for horrendous bile farms.

  In the snowy foothills of the Himalayas I searched for the elusive Snow Leopard.

  Back South in India I looked for Bengal Tigers and found one stalking a Chital.

  We set up a few trail cameras in the area to see if we could get any closer footage and caught a Mother and her cub on film.The Cub calling and then the Mother then scent marking our camera.

  Day 4 - Australia 

  We didn't have a lot of time in Australia but still managed to see two of the most iconic species there.The Koala and a Kangaroo with her joey.

  Despite the swarms of flies we were able to do some local bird watching and found this Rainbow Lorikeet.

                             

  Day 5 - The Americas

  Starting in the South American Jungles we found a couple of Three-toed Sloths in the same tree.The upper one is obviously cold and needed the jumper ;) and then as we headed in to North America a Nine-banded Armadillo crossed our path.

 A quick detour East to the Everglades saw us come face to face with one of the most destructive invasive Species, a Python.

  Continuing our trip North we searched for awesome Grey Wolves and was lucky enough to spot one before getting interrupted by this Black Bear looking for toilet roll. ;) 

                              

                              

  Bonus Trip (not seen on Facebook) - While in the South American Jungle we spotted Squirrel Monkeys and in Central America a Vampire Bat was seen sneaking up on it's unsuspecting food source.

  Day 6 - Canada

  Moving North out of the USA and into Canada we were able to explore an area just North of the stunning Hudson Bay.Caribou were on their immense migration across the tundra and two Polar Bears were seen.

  We also a saw Moose crossing 😏 

  Before leaving Canada I had an encounter with an Arctic Wolf and her cub.

  Day 7 - UK

  After our long around the world tour it was back to the UK where we have some amazing wildlife.We got the chance to find some before heading home.

Badgers, Puffin and a Chough.

  Back home and a pond is a fantastic way to encourage wildlife into your garden and it works ;) Two Spoonbills, a Mallard and an Otter frequent our pond.

  Bonus Trip (not seen on Facebook) Our Fox statue has found a new friend.

    Behind the scenes ;) 

  Top of the range technology was used to bring the garden safari to life 😂

   Thank you to everyone who had already followed this adventure on my Facebook timeline each day and to those who are seeing it for the first time and trying to imagine just how crazy we have gone in our first 2 weeks of self-isolation.

  Just a few photos of proof that we do see living wildlife too in our garden :) 

  Thank you again for joining us on our slightly unorthodox world safari. :)
 
  Kindest Regards
  Stuart
  #staysafe

The Cornish Coastal Experience - Part 2

  Welcome to the second part of my blog about our Cornwall adventure.Thank you for coming back for more but be happy in the knowledge that it is a shorter blog than Part 1 ;)

  I was once again up around 7am as I wanted to enjoy the serenity of being at Seacrest and also because I was excited to check the Moth trap and trail camera I had set up the previous night.It was overcast and very fine rain was falling but I was straight out to the moth trap.

  Crane Flies were everywhere, at least 30 of them inside the moth trap and more covering the fences and plants.Not a major interest to me but it showed the abundance of food available to our feathered friends, mainly a male Blackbird and a Robin which were happily bouncing about the decking enjoying a protein full breakfast.There were quite a few Moths with Marbled Carpets and Large Yellow Underwings being the most numerous.Square-spot Rustic,Beaded Chestnut, Lunar Underwing, Straw Dot, Snout, Setaceous Hebrew Character and Garden Carpet were also among the egg trays in the trap.

  Snout

  Setaceous Hebrew Character

  Square-spot Rustic

  Lunar Underwing

  Garden Carpet

  Marbled Carpet

  Beaded Chestnut

  The most intriguing Moth though was, what I thought a well marked Rush Veneer.After asking a few Lepidopterists on social media it was suggested it could possibly be a Lucerne Moth(Nomophila Nearctica).An American moth that had maybe been blown in by the oncoming storms and a species with no confirmed record of it in Europe.Unfortunately without further examination of the Moth we will never be able to confirm it's true identity.

  The Rush Veneer or potential Lucerne Moth

  Finishing with the Moths I then removed the SD card from the trail camera and was excited to find it had recorded three times during the night.The first 2 clips were of nothing but the third featured a quick pass of a jumping Mouse.

  Our plan for the rest of the day(once Majella had woken up) was to explore the headland on the opposite side of Mount's Bay, the Lizard Peninsula.It was just a 20 minute drive around Penzance and into Marazion where we parked to walk to St. Michael's Mount.

  At low tide the causeway is exposed giving you access to walk over and explore this island community.The receding tide had unveiled a myriad of food that Gulls, Oystercatchers and Little Egrets were taking advantage of.

  Little Egret

  Young Herring Gull with a Starfish

  Mute Swans with Oystercatcher in the foreground

  We crossed the causeway and explored the village and harbour while learning about the history of this ancient island parish.The castle watching over the neighbouring island and bay was stunning, now a family home, it had been a monastery and a battle sieged fort in it's past.

  The view of Mousehole across Mount's Bay from St. Michael's Mount

  We grabbed a coffee in the island cafe and headed back to the mainland before the encroaching tide swallowed the causeway once more.

  A quick walk through Marazion brought to us this fabulous Dolphin water feature which I photographed with St.Michaels behind.

https://www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk/

  There were a few coves we wanted to check out and so decided to begin at the most Southern end and work our way back.Onwards to Lizard Point.

  Britain's Southern most point reaching out into the Atlantic Ocean.

  We sat on the cliff top watching Great Black-backed Gulls, Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Jackdaws glide by on the Ocean breeze.Atlantic Grey Seals swam in the water below, occasionally stopping, head skyward as if watching the Human circus up on the cliffs or maybe silently pleading with us to halt the destruction of their home.

  Gulls on Lizard Point

 Atlantic Grey Seal

  

  We ate at the most Southern cafe in Britain along with the House Sparrows who were intent on longingly staring at your food like feathered Dogs while inches away from our plates.Our original plan was to also visit Kynance & Mullion coves but we just lost track of time relaxing and marvelling in the Natural beauty before us.I did however get one last close encounter with the beautiful Cornish Chough ;) 

  As we were losing daylight we decided to head back North along the peninsula to Marazion and have a quick walk around the RSPB Marazion Marshes.When we arrived the tide had risen and now covered the causeway to St. Michael's Mount.

  Marazion Marshes

  One roadside pool at the reserve held numerous Moorhen, Mute Swans, Little Egrets, a Little Grebe and a Grey Heron, while a walk through the scrub revealed Robins, Blackbirds and more amazing Stonechat sightings.It was a wonderful way to end another day exploring the stunning South West coastline.

  It was time to head back to Seacrest and pack for our 400 mile journey back North.Cornwall is such a beautiful part of the country with so many places to explore and wildlife to see and we feel just so privileged to have been able to stay in such amazing accommodation at Seacrest.

  We cannot thank Alexia enough for giving us this opportunity to experience Cornwall.She is a special person, a massive voice for Wildlife and a Trustee of The Wildheart Trust.

https://isleofwightzoo.com/the-wildheart-trust

Our final Cornwall Sunrise as seen from Seacrest in Mousehole.

  Thank you again for reading and browsing through my photos :) I hope you enjoyed it a little bit.It is very much appreciated :)