30 Days Wild:Day 16/17 - Seeing The Legend

Day 16 was a non-event :( Besides a bit of reading ,"My Garden And Other Animals" by Mike Dilger I didn't get to do anything else to surpress my "wildness"

  Day 17 though was busy.A bit of work, a lot of packing including taking the Moth Trap apart for transportation to South Wales, sorting out the cameras, scope, trail cam and making sure batteries were remembered.

  That done, it was time to head north to York University, a drive of around 75 minutes to join the celebration of Yorkshire Wildlife Trusts 70th birthday with the added bonus of a special guest.

  The host was Director Of development Jonathan Leadley

  He did a quick welcome speech to the 1100 people crammed into the Central Hall of York Uni and then said "This speaker needs no introduction" and on came Sir David Attenborough.
  He spoke for about 10 minutes, talking of Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and what we need to do to help the planet and its wildlife.Everyone in the room was hung on his every word.To hear his voice without it coming out of the TV was amazing.

  After which he was joined on stage by Sir John Lawton, President of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust where Sir David was asked questions given to the YWT to put to him.

  He answered with enthusiasm and joy, re-telling stories of dangerous situations he had found himself in, especially with a Rhino attacking and destroying the back wheels of the jeep he was in.

  Another question put to him was , "what animal would you bring back from extinction?" As a man who loves his Dinosaurs , he answered the Quetzalcoatlus, the largest Pterosaur which was as large as a small plane(35ft wingspan) just so he could find out how it managed to take off and fly.

  After around 45 minutes of questions and spellbounding answers it was time for him to go catch his train back to London.I think people tried their best to make him late by giving him the longest standing ovation I've ever seen for anyone.
  Following Sir David was a film showing 100 years of the Wildlife Trusts and then Sir John came back out to talk about it a bit more.

  The evening was rounded off by Executive Director Rob Stoneman on projects that have already been successful and what they hope for in the future, though personally as a member of Friends Of Spurn I and others still worry about their planned Visitor Centre being built in a sensitive location at Spurn Point.

  In all it was a great evening and I even managed to bump into a Twitter friend and famous blogger, BBC Wildlife Mag's Junior Blogger Of The Year 2015 and Springwatch Unsprung Hero, Zach Haynes and his parents, great to see you all :)
  You can catch up with his amazing blog here -
https://yearofnature.blogspot.co.uk/

  The next 8 or 9 days will be coming from South Wales so look out for future blogs on Skomer, Pembrokeshire, Badgers, Choughs, Great Spotted Woodpeckers(as they have been distracting me all evening since I got here) and Moths.

Many thanks again for reading and staying with us throughout the "wild" month of June :)

30 Days Wild:Day 11 - The Chimney Sweeper, the Damsel & The Colony Of Gulls

  I couldn't think of a good title so I have the above though it does sound like some fantasy adventure movie where the Chimney Sweeper saves the Damsel from the evil land of the Gulls ;)

  Anyways, I thought I would have the whole day to get out somewhere but it turned out to be a few hours of work first (til 3pm) so had to think of somewhere nearby to pop into for a "wild" walk.

  As we were near Lincoln we decided on the Whisby Nature Park.The first thing you hear once you get past the visitor centre is the deafening sound of the Black-headed Gull colony.I gave up counting Gulls once I got past 600 lol with around 50% of them chicks.

  

  Some strange new species were being hatched like this Push-Me-Pull-You Gull ;)

  A quick check of the feeding station only produced a couple of Great Tits but also this Brown Rat.I know some people don't like them but I think they're kind of cute :)

  I stood watching and enjoying been serenaded by this Robin.

  The hedgerows and ditch vegetation were alive with hundreds of Damselflies, Moths, Bees and Dragonflies.

 Chimney Sweeper Moth

  Common Blue Damselflies(photos by Majella Fox)

  Large Red Damselfly(photo by Majella Fox)

  Female Black-tailed Skimmer

  Bee watching(photos by Majella Fox)

  Somehow among the Gull colony that had pretty much taken over the islands and the rafts, Common Terns were still managing to breed among the mayhem.

  I also saw Bullfinches, heard a Blackcap(even with my limited hearing) as it was that close but could still not see it through the foliage and a couple of Song Thrushes.

  If you are ever around the Lincoln area then its a great place to check out.You can easily spend the whole day there with such a massive area to explore and it's a good place to see and hear Nightingales.We didn't see them this time but have done on previous visits.

http://www.naturalworldcentre.co.uk/

  Thanks for staying with us til Day 11 and reading and looking at the photos.Lots more to come.

30 Days Wild:Day 6 - A Walk In The Yorkshire Sun

                                                                  

  It was a very warm , sunny day in Yorkshire so we headed over to YWT Potteric Carr for a mixture of bird watching and bug hunting.

First Bug of the day, a Green Shieldbug

  Around the ponds there were lots of Dragonflies, all Four-spotted Chasers.Majella took this photo of me taking the photos below.

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  Lots of birds were heard but not seen including Blackcaps and a Cuckoo.Viewing was easier at the Willow Pool Feeding station.

  A couple of young Coots.

    A Magpie that had decided the original holes in the feeder were not to his liking lol

  The water in the Mother Drain was beautifully clear as usual , no Grass Snakes there this time but nice to have good views of the Roach and Perch.

  Butterflies on the wing included Brimstones, Large Whites, Orange Tips and Speckled Woods.This Speckled Wood looking a bit worse for wear.

  Walking down a trail I noticed a lot of movement in the nearby vegetation and was excited to see newly fledged Willow Warblers, 4 of them with an Adult.

    Plenty of other birds around such s Grey Herons, Tufted Ducks, Moorhen, Black-headed Gulls, Greylag & Canada Geese.

  Female Mallard, you can see the meaning "water off a Duck's back" ;) (photo by Majella Fox)

  Mute Swan

  We were hoping to see a Bittern fly by but no luck so had to be happy just watching this Marsh Harrier hunting over the reed beds.

  A few photos of different parts of the reserve.

  So overall a fantastic 3 hour walk around part of YWT Potteric Carr and worth all the (now itchy) Midge bites lol Something that really ended the walk on a high was a Mammal encounter on the access road back to the centre.Unfortunately I didn't get a photo but it was a Common Shrew rummaging in the grass at the edge of the road, amazing to see :)

  Thanks again for taking the time to check out my blog, lots more to come over the next 3+ weeks.