I travelled near enough 4 hours from the West Midlands to Suffolk, so I could visit RSPB Minsmere, and also be in the BBC Springwatch Unsprung audience! Some of you will know, it’s a reserve right on the East Coast of England! And is a host to a variety of habits, wildlife and of course, BBC Springwatch! 😃 I came over on the Wednesday night and stayed in near by Leiston, at the Field End Guest House.
I often wax-lyrical (to friends and family) about reserves that have a variety of habitats, I absolutely love them, because they are so enriching to explore and will be home to many different species of wildlife, which is fantastic to observe and have encounters with.
RSPB Minsmere certainly deserves it’s national recognition! I will definitely be visiting again in the near future! I arrived on the reserve at 10.30AM.
I was very happy to be there!
I love a good Log Pile and what an amazing extensive one this is!Top Nature of the Day:
That’s the Bittern Hide in the distance said Orchid Observing the Stone-Curlew (in the distance) Sand Martin colony Sea ThriftAt 5.00PM it was time to load the car up and get ready for Springwatch UNSPRUNG!
Cueing up for Unsprung with Gary Waiting to be let into the Studio! To see me on UNSPRUNG click here!
If you saw my last entry in June, then you know I spent a week in the amazing Lake District! This post is for the last 4 days of 30 Days Wild/June. For those who don’t know – I stayed in a place called Little Langdale with 4 of my friends, who are some of the best people and I’m truly thankful for knowing them 😀 I’m sharing with you iPhone pictures of my wild-and-natural highlights.
Day 27
We looked and ambled around one of our nearest towns, Ambleside – before heading to our home for the week! It had all the shops we would need 🙂
A lovely view from Ambleside’s recreation ground. Atmospheric clouds!A few minutes before I took this photo, I saw my first ever Dipper down there! 😀 This is the River Rothay.Of course we visited the Bridge House – National Trust.
We had to walk up a pathway to get to our Little Langdale cottage, we had our very own tarn and everything! 😀
Taken a little way down the pathway, but it was just our wee garden & a field that separated us from Little Langdale Tarn (the lake) ❤Mary, Scott, Nick, Charlotte & our cottage, High Hallgarth! ❤The view from my bedroom window for the week ❤Taken from our garden area, we were surrounded by hills & mountains.
Day 28
We awoke to a downpour… Despite the rain we decided to explore and visit our tarn first! 🙂 Later we found out tarn meant something completely different to our friend Mary (the redheaded lass), in Barnsley it means town! 😛
Even with unpleasant weather, it is fantastic! I loved seeing our Tarn each day!
On the way over to our very local lake, we came across a variety of nature. My friend Scott (the blonde chap) is excellent at spotting small members of the animal kingdom, and allowing me time to document his finds! 🙂
Chimney Sweeper (Moth)There’s only one Orchid in this picture, but they were everywhere we went, with some fields/meadows brimming with them! Like the field we passed through on our way to the tarn.
We didn’t quite expect to find our selves in boggy conditions, and couldn’t make it down to the Little Langdale Tarn! So we decided to change course, move away from the tarn and get our exploration of Little Langdale underway!
We passed through this wood. Charlotte & Scott leading the way 🙂
We were getting closer to a known part of Little Langdale, Slater’s Bridge! Which relatively, is a short walk from High Hallgarth.
A Common Toad – which was on the path just before the bridge! 🙂
We passed over Slater’s Bridge.
Taken looking back at Slater’s Bridge.High Hallgarth is the small white spec above the cottage you can just make out.One could Lichen this to a map 😉
We’ve walked a fair distance now 🙂
Taken more or less on the other side of Little Langdale Tarn.
Day 29
We’ve walked over Slater’s Bridge again, for another walk! 🙂
The view from Elterwater BridgeLooking down!Quite a nice bridge… I’m going to go under it! 🙂Under-a-bridge-Selfie!A bit of the view from the other side.
We’re some way away from Elterwater now, within Great Landgale. I came across something I knew would interest the others 😉
Ermine Moth Larvae!Almost an entire hedgerow was covered. I’ve seen similar in Frankley 🙂Cocoons!Ahaha! I believe they’re waiting for me 😛 …What a great view 😉
We eventually passed by these hills and later came across a little stream, that I sadly have no pictures of… But below is what Scott found! 😀
A Newt 🙂I’m holding Caddisfly Larva! Or it’s casing at least…
Later on – on our way back, getting closer to Little Langdale – Scott finds something rather special!
The last day of 30 Days Wild! We went on a Ten Lakes Spectacular Tour! My highlights/things I managed to take pictures of:
The tour bus! Kindly modelled by Nick 🙂 Behind Nick is Chris, our jovial Mancunian tour guide and his assistant for the day, Tess. (By the way, that’s not a ghost in the window, that’s a patiently waiting Charlotte) 😉I believe down there is Yew Tree Farm, formerly owned by the brilliant Beatrix Potter!Brothers Water is down there in the distance.The weather was lovely at Ullswater!Ullswater is a great place to go boating.Derwentwater and the Catbells 🙂
A cruise is part of the tour! 😀
It felt almost as if I was in a scene of a film, Jurassic Park for example 😉
Derwentwater is near Keswick. It was funny feeling like I was in a film and then disembarking to a recently arrived Film Crew! They were setting up for a remake of Swallows and Amazons, I hear it’s a BBC Films production.
Looking down at Derwentwater from this spot is called Surprise View!More of Derwentwater from above.Ashness Bridge, one of Britain’s most photographed bridges, just down from Surprise View 🙂Honister PassNick in awe of Honister Pass 🙂Buttermere
Today my friend Gary (mentioned in previous posts) and I visited the Wolseley Centre – Staffordshire Wildlife Trust HQ!
We’ve had great day, the weather was wonderful. We both hadn’t been before. I was impressed by the variety of habitats (grassland, lakes, rivers and woodland) and species.
Today’s challenge was “invite a friend into nature”, but it was also chance for Gary to brush up on his photography skills (I shall document what we saw below!) And in line with the challenge, I did my best to teach Gary about all the various creatures we came across and the bird songs we heard.
We saw Swallows and House Martins flying above the centre.And this Bee and Bumble Bees on the Purple Wallflower at the entrance of the centre.Not seen Honeysuckle in such a deep yellow before 🙂Gary and myself before our wild walk. Photobombed by a Mallard! 😉Whilst Gary looked through my binoculars, I told him about what he was observing (nice shirt!)A wild sculpture!This time we were photobombed by a Canada Goose! 😉If you remember, I love Oak Trees! This individual has been adopted by Philip Rainsbury and Sue Haycock 🙂Can you spot the baby Rat?Gary’s first ever Chaffinch – to his knowledge 😛One of my favourites of Gary’s snaps, a Great Tit in flight.Some grassland management (I have the camera now)We were watching a male Blackcap.A disheveled Peacock Butterfly (by me)A Common Blue Butterfly (Gary has his camera back)But who took this one?!Willow seeds settled on the pond.Giant Leaves, Giant Snail!A Terrapin?! I was surprised to see this. Taken by Gary with a lens kindly lent by a very friendly chap from Stoke (walking past)St. John’s Wort.A stunning sculpture – very talented work!
There’s still a little bit more for us to explore, looking forward to the next visit! 😀
Today I went a 30 minute walk along the Worcester & Birmingham Canal from Selly Oak, heading south towards Bournville 🙂
I’m not against cyclists, at all, but it would have been a lot more peaceful – and easier to take photos – if I didn’t have to get out of the way of people on bikes every 2 minutes! 😛
A person on their bike in the distance.
Along the way I heard plops in the water, a couple times I hoped it was a Water Vole, but it turned out to be fish. I didn’t see much Wildlife, the odd Moorhen and Mallard – so I decided to focus on the flora I came across and just before I came to end of my walk I came across something I deem as special. Below is what I saw:
Urban art, with a crumbling wall and wildflowers – I think it looks beautiful.I love seeing plants growing out of walls, likes this Fern and Buddleja.Look! Red hot pokers! (Kniphofia)I also love seeing strips of Wildflower like this – Poppies, Plantains and DaisesI’m used to seeing this at Wetland Reserves, such as Upton Warren – Yellow Flag Iris.I had to pass under a couple of bridges.Honeysuckle – one of my favourites, unusually growing out of the side of the bank.And here it is again, this time growing somewhere more typical.A closer view for you.Forget-me-not (and Cleavers to left)
Just as my allocated 30 minutes was coming to an end, I came across this beauty below! 😀
A Purple Orchid (unsure as to specific species/variety).
People can sit and watch it grow.Had to end on a closer image.
Yesterday was a very long day… The Beach Clean only lasted two minutes, but there was the early start, the traveling and finding somewhere with WiFi (the connection was awfully slow) not far from the beach – so I could finish yesterday’s blog and do a blog for that day – to share what I had done before the journey back home. Getting to grips with my friend Gary’s video editing software and waiting for the video to upload to YouTube was very time consuming. We both got home very late!
More positively; this morning I caught up on Countryfile! Which funnily enough was in Somerset for yesterday’s episode! I decided in the afternoon I would venture a little into the South Birmingham/North Worcestershire countryside (which I grew up next door to) 🙂 I came across three discoveries, one more exciting than the other!
1. An old brick bridge that is part of a Public Footpath – which leads from suburban greenspace into the countryside – has been cleared underneath, revealing it fully and making it a lot more accessible to walk under.The tree lined path that leads away below the bridge had been tidied as well!
Fly tipping removedTrees cut back etcPrincess Diana Way
2. Two flights of steps have been created/installed! On either side of Princess Diana Way – a short walk down from the bridge. You walk up into a meadow (unfortunately not pictured below) with the Farmer’s field going round it.
Easy accessCountry Park Chic
I followed the steps leading up the other side, to pass over the old bridge and come back on myself – to follow another Public Footpath which leads you deaper into the countryside, through an underpass to the other side of the M5 Motorway. I took a few snaps before that.
Field of Wheat with Lower Hill Farm in the distanceOn the bridge facing away from the farmOn the bridge facing the farm
3. I’m a fair distance away from the bridge now on the other side of the M5, I’ve just had a brief explore of Doctor’s Coppice and have come back into the meadow I’ve just walked across. The pictures and captions below will end the tale 😉
Said meadow, full of ButtercupsSomething’s hiding in the middle…It’s a Roe Doe!Gracefully prances to the coppiceImpression of where she lay
Canned Wildlife 
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