30 Days Wild - Days 17-19

Day 17       Wagtails In The Woods

  Apologies in advance for the long blog and numerous photos in this firts section but I wanted to show as much as Tollymore Forest as I could but don't worry, the last 2 days are very short ;)

  We awoke early and headed back towards the County Down coast around 7am.On the way I saw my first ever Irish Hare :) Unfortunately on a very bendy road with nowhere to stop so a fleeting glimpse will have to keep me going til next time.
  Our destination was the Tollymore Forest Park just outside Newcastle.It covers just over 600 hectares and has the stunning Shimna River flowing through the trees and gorges.
  The beginning of the river trail(1 of 4 and the shortest)

  Almost immediately through the clear water I saw this Brown Trout, it's shadow giving it away.

  The Shimna river had numerous bridges and stepping stones to cross.All set in the stunning forest.

  The most spectacular location along the river though had to be the amazing Hermitage.Built in 1770 as a memorial to a friend who died that year.

  Red Squirrels are also found in the forest(just not by us lol) along with various birds we saw such as Robins, Hooded Crows, Mistle Thrushes, Chaffinches and more than one family of Grey Wagtails.We spent nearly an hour with the various Wagtail families along the river with the Adults constantly flying back and forth with food.

  Photographing the Wagtails.

  For the Game Of Thrones fans, Tollymore Forest was used as the Haunted Forest where the white walkers were first seen in the tv series.

  I didn't find anything that frightening but I did find something that may unsettle a few people, a wonderful nest of Spiderlings on a stone wall.

  Even though we spent a good 4 hours here, it was nowhere near long enough.If you find yourself in County Down then go check this amazing place out :)

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/tollymore-forest-park



Day 18     Last Day In Ireland

  As it was our final day in Northern Ireland, Majella spent the majority of it with her family and so the only "wild" thing I got to do was meet her sister's new Husky Hybrid Puppy, Luna(short for Lunatic) ;).
  I was welcomed with the usual hyper run, slide across the wood floor and peed all over lol
                                       

                                        

  Told you it was a very short day 18 ;)


Day 19      Back To Scotland(and the rabbits)

  We left Newry, drove back up to Larne and caught the ferry back to Cairnryan.We were upgraded to Club Lounge so I could relax seawatching through the window while enjoying the comforts of free drinks and biscuits :)
Leaving Northern Ireland.

  I saw hundreds of Guillemots, around 30 Gannets, 2 Fulmars and lots of Gulls but once again the highlights were watching the 80+ Manx Shearwaters seen during the crossing, gliding and banking over the waves.
  Manx Shearwater

  The main flock of Gulls seen were following this fishing boat.

  We alighted the ferry in Scotland and had the 2hr drive East to Gretna for our overnight stay.After getting into our room I had a look out the window and found that there was a Swallows nest in the corner of the building with at least 4 chicks almost ready to fledge.

  From the room window I also watched a Song Thrush, Pied Wagtail, a pair of Oystercatchers and 7 Rabbits.This Mother was out with triplets :)

  Nature is everywhere and we are all much better off with it in our lives.

  Finally up to date with the #30DaysWild blog again :) Tomorrow we drive across Northumberland ready for our visit to much smaller islands on Wednesday, The Farnes.

  Check back to see if I can get any photos of Puffins with fish in their bills to help out the RSPB survey.



 

30 Days Wild - Days 10-12

  The last 3 days of my #30DaysWild challenge included a bit of travelling :)

Day 10    Birmingham Wildlife Festival

  On Saturday my partner and I made the 3hr train journey down to Birmingham to the 4th annual Wildlife Festival in Victoria Square, 5 minutes from New Street Station and the Bullring.

  We arrived to find an array of wildlife and vegan food stalls along with the stage ready for the live music and speeches.

                               

  The Badger Trust, Born Free, Sea Shepherd, IFAW, RSPB, Vale Wildlife Hospital, Hare Preservation Society were all in attendance with information and tombolas available.

  There was great live music from Tanglemist, Sam Robinson band and members of Fairport Convention and then of course amazing speeches from massive names in the world of conservation and animal welfare.

  Peter Martin, Ray Puttock, Philip Mansbridge, Mark Muschamp, Anneka Svenska, Dan Richardson, Dominic Dyer and Peter Egan all spoke with passion about what we all need to do to help save our vulnerable wildlife.

  Actor Peter Egan speaking.

                                

  CEO of Badger Trust Dominic Dyer rallying the troops ;)

                                        

  It was great to be able to meet with these inspirational people too.

With Peter Egan

                                  

 With Dominic Dyer

                                    

   With Anneka Svenska & Sally Stewart

                                   

  It was fantastic to meet up with fellow compassionate people who care for all life, both on land and in the oceans on this planet and how we treat them.

  An amazing day that I urge you to try and attend next year if you live nearby.

Day 11     Sea Watch on the Irish Sea

  We had returned home the previous night from the Wildlife Festival at around 10pm and just stayed awake long enough to finish packing to be ready for Sunday.The morning involved a 6hr car drive from Lincolnshire, up through Yorkshire and into Scotland.The weather started taking a turn for the worse as we drove over the Yorkshire Dales.

                             

  Arriving in Stranraer a hour before our ferry from Cairnryan gave us chance to scan Loch Ryan for birds.There were Oystercatchers, Black-backed Gulls and Eiders with young chicks along the shore.

  The 2 hours on the ferry gave me chance to stand outside and sea watch during the crossing.Majella not surprisingly stayed inside where it was warmer and drier.lol

                                      

  As we left Scotland, from the ferry I could make out the 1100ft+ island of Ailsa Craig.I knew scanning the waters between the ferry and island would produce plenty of bird life.I saw Guillemots and Gannets in their hundreds with a well-named "plunging" of Gannets diving into the sea for fish.

  A Fulmar followed the wake of the ferry for around 10 minutes and several Manx Shearwaters were gliding low over the sea's surface.The highlight of the crossing came not long before we reached Larne with a solitary Black Guillemot sat bobbing on the Irish Sea.

  It's always worth keeping your binoculars on you on any ferry as you never know what you might see.Well worth getting cold and wet for :)

Day 12     Relaxing Sketch Day

  After the travelling of the last couple of days I knew we were not going to get out anywhere or do much while in mum-in-laws house in Newry, Northern Ireland so I thought I would try and do a wildlife sketch.

  I was unsure of what to draw and then used the inspiration of meeting Peter Egan and decided to try and sketch a Moon Bear.

  So this is my attempt.

                             

  Without doing the 30 Days Wild challenge I would've probably just watched tv all day so it was a great incentive to use my mind a bit more even though I didn't get outdoors :)

 Many thanks again for putting up with my blogs and taking the time to have a look through them :) I am in Northern Ireland for the next week so will see what "wild" adventures I can come up with so please check in again :) 

30 Days Wild: Day 23 - Day On Puffin Central

                                                               

                                                         
  After rechecking the weather numerous times during the week we finally decided that Day 23 would be the best bet to get on the boat over to Skomer Island.We set off early, arriving just before 7am and so had a 90 minute queue for the lodge to open, then another 90 minute wait after purchasing our tickets til our boat left Martin's Haven for the short trip over to Skomer.
  Before you even land you have Guillemots , Razorbills and of course Puffins whizzing past the boat or scurrying on the Sea surface to escape the boat's path.After the long walk up the steps and a talk about the Island from the Warden we set off down the trail.
 View out from Skomer.

  Like the majority of people , we headed over to The Wick, probably the best place to see Puffins(as well as at the top of the landing steps).
  It is an amazing experience to be within a few yards of these stunning little Auks.

  Sorry about that I got carried away with Puffin photos, but you still did get away a bit on the light side as I could've posted twice as many ;)

  After spending time with the Puffins we headed for the nearest benches for a bit of lunch and then unfortunately my Arthritic pain in my feet started working overtime and became very painful.This prevented us from walking further around the island so we had a very slow walk back to the farm stopping along the way at the Mere hide to watch Oystercatchers battle with Gulls.
Gull chick

  Lesser Black-backed Gulls getting too close to the juvenile Oystercatchers so needed a quick chase off.

  The Gulls also fought each other with this Herring Gull trying its best to tear the wing off the Lesser Black-backed gull.It actually dragged it by the wing about 5 feet before letting go.

  With my feet burning we started back to the boat far earlier than planned but spent the time photographing Razorbills, Guillemots and a Skomer Rabbit.
Razorbills

Guillemots "Ooooh yes, that's the spot!"

 Skomer Rabbit

  The boat left back for the Pembrokeshire mainland at 3pm and we were seen off by diving Gannets and then spent a few minutes watching these young Swallows in their nest in the Skomer information centre before heading back home.

I hope you enjoyed browsing the photos as much as I did taking them ;)
Thanks again for reading my blogs.