30 Days Wild:Day 1 - Going Cuckoo For Nature

Hi to everyone new to my blog :)

So here it is, Day 1 of 30 Days Wild with The Wildlife Trusts.

    I signed up to 30 Days Wild as in incentive to myself to get out and do something "wild" every day.I've always loved Nature but due to work and my continuous treatments for my illnesses I am lucky to get one day a week to enjoy our Natural World.Doing 30 Days Wild will hopefully help me find ways I can bring Nature into my life every day.

   Today I managed to finish work at 2pm so had some time for a walk around our local reserve, Messingham Sand Quarry in North Lincolnshire.A fantastic reserve just 10 minutes from Scunthorpe.

   Over the first reed bed I was greeted with the glorious sight of 50-60 Swifts and Sand Martins zooming around the reeds like miniature Exocet missiles catching insects.I spent 20 minutes engrossed in their lives feeding on the wing.I also failed miserably in catching any of them in focus on my lens.lol

So I put down my DLSR and took out my camcorder to try and catch them on screen.

Around the lake, the grasses and reeds were teeming with Damselflies.

Further surveying of the vegetation produced this stunning Dragonfly, a 4-Spotted Chaser.

Being able to look at the detail close up of such an extraordinary creature can make you appreciate the beauty of our Natural World even more.

    The main lake on the reserve is a haven for Black Headed Gulls, Tufted Ducks, Greylag Geese, Mute Swans and the odd Kingfisher.The highlight from today though was a pair of Shelducks with their family of 6 Ducklings.There is something about seeing Ducklings that always raises a smile on your face..try it ;)

    On the walk back to the car I heard the unmistakeable call of the Male Cuckoo.I have only ever seen them in Scotland so to hear one just 15 minutes from my house was very exciting.I followed the sound of the call for about 10-15 minutes before I located him in a tree on the edge of the marsh.He was well concealed by other branches so only got this one dodgy photo.

    It was a wonderful end to what started as an hours walk but turned into a 3 hour one.It is so easy to lose track of time when enjoying our wildlife.You just need to have a bit of time to get outdoors and find our amazing wildlife for yourself whether it be at a reserve or 10 minutes in your own garden.
   As Ralph Waldo Emerson said  "Lose yourself in Nature and find peace" :)

 Thanks for reading and hopefully you will follow me for the next 29 days to see what "wild" I can share with you.

Stuart Pike
The Arthritic Naturalist

Birding along the County Down coast.

I am currently in Northern Ireland for Christmas with the future in-laws and wanted to get away from all the mad last minute shoppers in Newry centre so headed to quieter pastures on the Co. Down coast.
Just over an hours drive north to our starting point at Strangford Lough.The sky was blue and the sun was shining but that just lured you into a false sense of security as stepping out of the car you were hit with an icy blast of wind that took your breath away.
View over Strangford Lough.

This Grey Heron was the first bird to see as it took flight and flew across the morning sun.                  

                 


Knots were huddled along the waters edge and Brent Geese were feeding among the weed.

A walk around Killyleagh harbour produced more sightings with Red Breasted Mergansers, Redshanks, Black-Headed Gulls.
Killyleagh Harbour, Co.Down.

Along the shore were a group of Turnstones playing out their own version of "Fight Club"

On the shingle Rock Pipits foraged among the............er rocks ;)

 

also joined by a Pied Wagtail.

Following the coast further south the next stop was Dundrum estuary just north of Murlough National Reserve.
The estuary was alive with Gulls, Lapwings, Wigeon, Oystercatchers and a pair of Black Tailed Godwits.
The estuary.

One of 100+ Oystercatchers at Dundrum.

The distant pair of Black Tailed Godwits.

Continuing down into Newcastle where the temperature was not much warmer and the tide was high so we checked out the local boating lake.A Grey Heron & Cormorant were resting on the island and a solitary Grey Wagtail flew by.
The Black Headed Gulls were in full voice and one accidentally swam into a leaf which then started a game of chase and catch.

Jackdaws called and looked at us inquisitively wondering if we were going to produce any food.

Jackdaw siamese twins?

Sticking to the coastal road through Kilkeel , Warrenpoint and back to Newry we saw more Gulls, Cormorants and 100s of Oystercatchers resting in Warrenpoint playing field.
Arriving back into Newry just to have a quick bit of Urban Birding with plenty of Mallards, Gulls and Mute Swans outside the shopping centre,

and a Cormorant fishing on the canal.

A great relaxing day out birding and back to the house to warm up with a dram or three of Whiskey:)
Thanks for reading.
Happy New Year to you all.

Rutland Bird Fair 2014

Yes it was that time of year again when 20,000+ birders and wildlife enthusiasts, along with well known TV naturalists descend on England's smallest county and get together in the name of wildlife and conservation.From 1989 when the Bird Fair raised £3000 til 2014 when £270,000 was raised for Bird Conservation, a total of £3.4 million over the last 25 years.

We arrived in time for a quick browse around some of the many stands before heading for the first lecture we wanted to watch.
Mark Avery & Tristan Reid(The Inked Naturalist), two great conservationists talking about Martha the last Passenger Pigeon and the extinction of the species from billions to nothing in just 60 odd years.

I then had the opportunity to watch Simon King talk about Wild Meadows and then to speak to him about our first trip to Shetland earlier this year.

There were plenty of competitions and prize draws from the numerous exhibitors, none of which we have won yet lol but did get plenty of information on all the places that would be amazing to go watch wildlife in but will never afford:(
We stayed for the evening lecture as it would be the first time we have seen Chris Packham's talk.A brilliant 2 hours about the persecution of our Birds Of Prey and then a bit about photography.

 Afterwards I managed to get him to sign his new book.We also got to his talk the next day(just, as it was the most packed I have ever seen any lecture there), about the Malta Massacre.A very emotional talk about the constant fight with hunters about the illegal shooting of birds, some of which were destined for our shores to breed.This prompted me to go join BirdLife Malta straight away.
To join check their website at http://www.birdlifemalta.org/

Bill Oddie came on to chair the Bird Brain Of Britain quiz along with Tim Appleton.
Praying that someone gets one question right;)

Another walk around the marquees presented me with the chance meeting with another tv naturalist, Iolo Williams.

Chatted to the Hawk & Owl Trust, http://hawkandowl.org/ about Hen Harrier Day and our stunning birds of prey and finally joined them too, long overdue though.
One of the books I have been after for a while to help me improve my identification of moths was of course the Macro Moth Guide and so I thought the best person to buy it off would be the illustrator himself, the multi-talented Richard Lewington.His new project being illustrating 250 species of Bee, wow.

Another birding quiz, this time the Wild Bird Brain Of Britain pitted Stephen Moss, Mike Dilger, Dominic Couzens and David Lindo against each other.
Mike Dilger & Stephen Moss(eventual winner)

 David Lindo, The Urban Birder wishing he hadn't picked Gulls(not girls David);) of the World as his specialist subject.

A look in the Art Marquee showed some astonishing artwork but unfortunately you cannot take photos in there so really shouldn't have mentioned them;)
At the Swarovski stand I bumped into one of my favourite people, Jonathan Scott of Big Cat Diary fame.he is such a great guy to chat to as we found last year and he even remembered us:) talked about the conflicts in Africa and Ireland(as he went to Belfast Uni) as well as his Grandson and showing us his photos of him and other things.Then he got another guy to get a photo of us all.

The last lecture we got too was actually by the same person as the first one we went too, Tristan Reid , The Inked Naturalist about Turkey's bird habitat destruction.
With Tristan, www.theinkednaturalist.co.uk

So that was unfortunately the end of Bird Fair for another year, already missing being able to talk with like minded people about wildlife and conservation.
Roll on the Spurn Migration Festival in a few weeks time.:)

Thanks for reading and hope to meet some of you at the next Bird Fair:)