tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46224566461733881372024-02-07T02:20:26.915+00:00The Happy ConservationistNichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-33596911996961288442012-09-14T11:06:00.002+01:002012-09-14T11:06:47.741+01:00Survey photos...And finally some photographs from my surveying exploits...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnel2QfZu_ex9zwnYAUYOkOL8fLCxAvSQGMctIu_ZI8X4kg_7gYuYSqVoqRfsi3GNmiHxZ9mdpBcIyWvjtb2QW_UaI0MrHG2MpPbmw1JTdYPEwQvXp2xJciIhEtd9bJ1lUt_pc_mMuEw/s1600/Peacock+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnel2QfZu_ex9zwnYAUYOkOL8fLCxAvSQGMctIu_ZI8X4kg_7gYuYSqVoqRfsi3GNmiHxZ9mdpBcIyWvjtb2QW_UaI0MrHG2MpPbmw1JTdYPEwQvXp2xJciIhEtd9bJ1lUt_pc_mMuEw/s320/Peacock+4.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peacock butterfly (<i>Inachis io</i>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Common Darter (<i>Sympetrum striolatum</i>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivRhU_cjhdVdaIIn4gLvbmr940HnUT5RUyOZgnWleC1GLt8IhISdOrNVBf9-Lg7tst6FQK3Nab5UJUC2LKv40gJrf9K4UYDXitN-c3ucEKQszwZL2uWDPWGR6BQ_CH6O9SLpMRDRVI2ts/s1600/Dark+Bush-cricket+4+%2528male%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivRhU_cjhdVdaIIn4gLvbmr940HnUT5RUyOZgnWleC1GLt8IhISdOrNVBf9-Lg7tst6FQK3Nab5UJUC2LKv40gJrf9K4UYDXitN-c3ucEKQszwZL2uWDPWGR6BQ_CH6O9SLpMRDRVI2ts/s320/Dark+Bush-cricket+4+%2528male%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dark Bush-cricket (male) (<i>Pholidoptera griseoaptera</i>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gatekeeper (<i>Pyronia tithonus</i>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3TDNp2xTyrwxgwPjpgLn3JPZA5qQVBk3jVeLmVkGNhAPBNXXAZt62RhGgQN5Quk8IWJQObjCBBB7htpb0aqRsO8mKFYthL26p8cnkQVqRStjja92rxcLLqKsNh6nD8JON4ztZ-Ph2oJs/s1600/Greenbottle+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3TDNp2xTyrwxgwPjpgLn3JPZA5qQVBk3jVeLmVkGNhAPBNXXAZt62RhGgQN5Quk8IWJQObjCBBB7htpb0aqRsO8mKFYthL26p8cnkQVqRStjja92rxcLLqKsNh6nD8JON4ztZ-Ph2oJs/s320/Greenbottle+4.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Lucilia </i>spp.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Southern Hawker (female) (<i>Aeshna cyanea</i>)</td></tr>
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<br />Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-69278409782233204732012-09-14T10:56:00.001+01:002012-09-14T17:31:51.405+01:00Photos from Norfolk....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Next, our college camping trip to Norfolk! A few friends from Writtle decided to have a much needed break after our year of dedicated study(!)... we packed up our tents and headed to the north Norfolk coast for a couple of nights. The stomping ground of one of our group we had a ready-made tour guide.<br />
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We went to visit Blakeney Point one day and saw the Common and Grey Seals basking on the point, plus lots of Terns. We moored the boat and took a walk on the Point which was absolutely beautiful.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blakeney Point</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oystercatcher on Blakeney Point</td></tr>
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We had a trip to Wells-next-the-sea where we did a spot of crabbing and ate an ice cream. We also spotted this rather political van which apparently receives regular paint job updates depending on the current political issues!<br />
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Following that it was back to Stiffkey Saltmarshes which was where we were camping for a wander out to sea! It was a lovely trip and a beautiful place to spend a few days in the sunshine.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Matt the Tour Guide and the Girls</td></tr>
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Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-524878573303742072012-09-14T10:41:00.002+01:002012-09-14T10:43:58.926+01:00Photos from Scotland trip...Ok, so I promised some photographs in my last post... so let's start with my trip to Scotland back in June. I spent almost a week over the Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend visiting my parents in Prestwick, Ayrshire. We had a few day trips outs and about and I visited some of my old haunts. I was keen to get out and see the local wildlife. Whilst I have always loved animals I didn't have an appreciation of UK wildlife when I was younger and therefore totally overlooked what was on my doorstep.<br />
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We visited <a href="http://www.culzeanexperience.org/" target="_blank">Culzean Country Park</a> and its clifftop position overlooking the Firth of Clyde and the Isle of Arran is beautiful. My brother worked here as a Ranger over a decade ago and lived on site.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJ86w-rwR7QsRedKjUAatCFnQMpKTBXy_tzoyB6xDBTIhL8ntV2wpFzlNZ6XDhJTGAC0sj2uQDEgFShHR0388SVtilItgfxp0kUGQUaXE1tK0ttXNlBF_iSFuD9xqN36EUQOluO24XxQ/s1600/DSCF3067.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNJ86w-rwR7QsRedKjUAatCFnQMpKTBXy_tzoyB6xDBTIhL8ntV2wpFzlNZ6XDhJTGAC0sj2uQDEgFShHR0388SVtilItgfxp0kUGQUaXE1tK0ttXNlBF_iSFuD9xqN36EUQOluO24XxQ/s320/DSCF3067.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Culzean Country Park - view across to Arran</td></tr>
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This is the view from one of the footpaths - you can see Arran in the background. It reminded me a little of the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica... but cooler and with fewer mosquitoes!</div>
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We walked along the coast line to a small town called Maidens. From much of the Ayrshire coastline you can see Ailsa Craig which is a granite outcrop in the middle of the sea. Granite was quarried here and Scottish curling stones are made from it. However, now it is a SSSI and SPA and is managed by the <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/ailsacraig/about.aspx" target="_blank">RSPB</a>. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maidens Beach looking across to Ailsa Craig</td></tr>
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We took a trip up to Stirlingshire one day and stopped off at the <a href="http://www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk/" target="_blank">Falkirk Wheel</a> which is a rotating boat lift which joins two canals and is really quite fascinating (if you like engineering!). From the top of the lift there are lovely views across to the Ochil Hills. I used to live at the foot of these hills and it brings back some lovely memories.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Falkirk Wheel - Ochil Hills in the distance</td></tr>
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After Falkirk we carried on to Stirling - another of my old stomping grounds. We visited the old town and walked round the castle. The photo below is the view from the castle across to the Ochil Hills with the Wallace Monument and the river Forth in the foreground.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I used to have this view from my living room window!</td></tr>
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Back to Prestwick and a walk along the sand dunes revealed a bit of erosion between the dunes and Old Prestwick Golf Course.. a somewhat pointless fence!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prestwick sand dunes</td></tr>
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There was however an abundance of bird life along the dunes and on the beach. Dunlin and Ringed Plover edged along the tide line, Skylarks above the golf course and a few Reed Buntings flitting about the gorse.<br />
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I have to say I do miss this beautiful beach and the views over to Arran, and beyond.</div>
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I'm looking forward to going back over Christmas when I will try to take some wintery shots of the beach and the sea!<br />
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Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-50146524252872264812012-09-06T19:11:00.004+01:002012-09-06T19:13:09.142+01:00Where did the Summer go?Cripes. It's the beginning of September. I'm back to college in a few weeks. What happened to my summer holiday? I'll tell you what happened to it.<br />
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My summer holiday was spent doing (at least) weekly butterfly surveys of the college estate; going through the break up of a 7-year relationship (very sad) and subsequently moving house, and; more surveying for butterflies (few and far between). It's been a tumultuous couple of months but I am fortunate enough to count one of my key strengths as resilience. So, onwards and upwards, eh?!</div>
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I have moved to Writtle which is where I am studying. It is super handy for the college and library which is excellent news for my third and final year of hard academic graft. It is also ridiculously handy for the village pubs and student bar which is terrible news for my limited budget but great news for drowning my sorrows!</div>
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Anyway, back to matters of the natural world. As I have mentioned a lot of the summer has been spent conducting point count surveys for 4 species of butterfly: Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Gatekeeper. The inclement weather we've had over the winter, spring and summer has resulted in a pretty poor showing in butterfly numbers, felt across the whole of the UK. The college estate was no exception to this trend. With numbers in the single figures I have a real lack of any interesting data for my hypothesis at the moment. However, what I do have is over a decade's worth of transect and weather data for the estate. This will allow me to look for patterns within that and hopefully draw some useful conclusions. As far as I am aware not much has been done with the combined data before so it should prove to be interesting.<br />
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I'm recording surface and ambient temperatures at each of my point count sites and each data logger is housed within a small length of plastic pipe. These bits of pipe are attached to either end of a 1m plastic stake. A couple of these have gone missing over the course of the summer and it frustrates me that people just rip them out for fun. Yesterday, as I stood quietly counting 2 Speckled Woods (it didn't take me long!) I looked up and spotted my missing stake in the tree above. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing to the college with one of my lecturers, a window pole and a long plank of wood we managed to dislodge it from its leafy home and retrieve the loggers. Each of these loggers had 6 weeks worth of temperature data on it so I was incredibly relieved to have spotted it up there!<br />
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At the end of August I assisted an Ecologist on a dusk and dawn Bat survey down in Brighton. The purpose of the survey was to determine whether there were any bats living within an old ex-convent before the planning application for development was submitted. It was very interesting to hear all about the processes but also to get out and do the survey itself. We discovered some Pipistrelles foraging along the boundary hedgeline, but nothing in or out of the building. It was a pretty spooky place and I was a bit nervous. The dawn survey was fun to do because it was gradually getting lighter rather than darker and it was lovely to watch the sun come up. We also went up into the loft space to check for any signs but there was nothing to report - just spiders!<br />
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More to follow soon with some photographs as well....<br />
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PS I've also added a badge for my LinkedIn profile here as well should you wish to get in touch that way.</div>
Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-64104223695647770812012-05-24T12:14:00.001+01:002012-05-24T12:16:07.190+01:00The end of another academic year... and Spring sightings!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
I'm back!</div>
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It's been a long, hard slog this year but I'm delighted to say my 2nd year is behind me - bar the small matter of the results. I think it is fair to say that we all noticed the upwards shift in academia between the first and second years. Modules completed this year included: Biological Surveying, Principles of Habitat Management; Landscape Ecology and Assessment, and; the utterly dire Academic and Professional Development. Highlights of the year included small mammal trapping, use of GIS software, field trips and landscape ecology lectures.</div>
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In terms of crazy weather - we've had an exceptionally dry and warm March, followed by an exceptionally wet April and now we're into May - currently the sun is shining bright and an Orange-tip butterfly has just flown past my window but who knows what the remainder of the month will hold!</div>
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Following submission of the last of my assignments I took a wander round Norsey Woods to see the Bluebells before they disappeared. It was a lovely day although it was very muddy underfoot. Lots of lovely wild flowers to be seen and a very handsome Buff-tailed Bumblebee (below).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXf3Ju5ajhhO9WCWSoz1LzDw-PW6xNzR6ibtUP7MAUCtqvN8-OQI85Wa8v4j_RiNpj0zF0_NcwrrS8rYwlopPqTAEOiUtQzjzpD9gWtoT167F17aqf8bWwtTQBxLdYKUS-BFxPBicuO5c/s1600/Buff-tailed+Bumblebee+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" qba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXf3Ju5ajhhO9WCWSoz1LzDw-PW6xNzR6ibtUP7MAUCtqvN8-OQI85Wa8v4j_RiNpj0zF0_NcwrrS8rYwlopPqTAEOiUtQzjzpD9gWtoT167F17aqf8bWwtTQBxLdYKUS-BFxPBicuO5c/s320/Buff-tailed+Bumblebee+3.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buff-tailed Bumblebee</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Forget-Me-Not</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbebVmNObjvscmtaRbzRh-8HTkgqETW1gX8-DtmgYfuz_CL6IBg1ijniAAcPVLOryhQHnWqOOyfG4u-nNkXRJngvhyphenhyphenKujXr1LBVmJGk-JYoaxNvbw-DnaY3ARoWg-IlV1c0lF3S-azwiM/s1600/Green+Alkanet+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" qba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbebVmNObjvscmtaRbzRh-8HTkgqETW1gX8-DtmgYfuz_CL6IBg1ijniAAcPVLOryhQHnWqOOyfG4u-nNkXRJngvhyphenhyphenKujXr1LBVmJGk-JYoaxNvbw-DnaY3ARoWg-IlV1c0lF3S-azwiM/s200/Green+Alkanet+1.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green Alkanet</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYve9ycJTCr8i8PFiDMIRdjPtgyE3Vww6ZMW12ULHEdO6WlBRC4gCRf-Z6BnxYTyXt78wVm1ynzoWMXA-KMne3-_sHBTAvkziZr2fYtMjG1mAfhjg9Yf3kqRBYjHFL_XYmrV6sRdChtbo/s1600/Yellow+Archangel+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" qba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYve9ycJTCr8i8PFiDMIRdjPtgyE3Vww6ZMW12ULHEdO6WlBRC4gCRf-Z6BnxYTyXt78wVm1ynzoWMXA-KMne3-_sHBTAvkziZr2fYtMjG1mAfhjg9Yf3kqRBYjHFL_XYmrV6sRdChtbo/s200/Yellow+Archangel+1.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow Archangel</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQk3SZB8Xkb0lECXLprhUNcS56D9ew6mrmRPZUYgFnPjBaWgSK18dInCF3fZ75KhNoQifZWmMkB-VcsCN7wSrCsjC6Y3lA6aYFlb6Xqtqwc1V_n2oaEjHuv4d7LZXbTuvSPbd7gpFsqI/s1600/Gr.+Stitchwort+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" qba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQk3SZB8Xkb0lECXLprhUNcS56D9ew6mrmRPZUYgFnPjBaWgSK18dInCF3fZ75KhNoQifZWmMkB-VcsCN7wSrCsjC6Y3lA6aYFlb6Xqtqwc1V_n2oaEjHuv4d7LZXbTuvSPbd7gpFsqI/s200/Gr.+Stitchwort+1.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Greater Stitchwort</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Campion</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bluebell</td></tr>
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In addition to these there were numerous birds singing in the trees including Blackcap and Chiffchaff - both of which I was delighted to be able to spot in amongst the foliage!</div>
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Last week saw the arrival of our garden fledglings: House Sparrow, Starling, Wood Pigeon and Collared Dove. The picture below shows one of the Starlings attempting to feed itself. It was quite comical to watch as it struggled with when to open and close its beak. Most of the food ended up out of the tray. One of the adult Starlings spent a lot of time singing the most melodious song and looked very much like a bird of paradise with his head raised and his throat warbling.</div>
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And finally, my very first 'Wildlife Diary' has been published in the May issue of the Essex Field Club newsletter. It was a very exciting day when it dropped through my letterbox yesterday. A big hello and welcome to any EFC readers that make it through to my blog!</div>
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Don't forget you can follow my ecological wonderings (and other stuff) on Twitter using the link to the right - or tweet me @NicolaShearer - very original, I know!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_xKZ2khG7IPDZF_TFAx75auJej0dURK8lwknkkP_qk48C9GbFNu1gGo4tg4rblttSM9OTh8the8praPU6PJfjQQ6c0OpYQP-At80VOCHQaG4EFnv9jYE2qBwGeLsBRGaxUDSoD8Pf4U/s1600/Forget-me-not+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-77534948894360635412012-04-24T13:56:00.000+01:002012-04-24T13:56:28.771+01:00Going cuckooIt's official, the stress of my assignments is pushing me over the edge into cloud cuckoo land. So much so that this morning whilst I was out, in the rain, trying to take photographs for an assignment I thought I heard a cuckoo. It was very faint but then I heard it again. And again. I didn't hear one last year so I am delighted to hear one this year.<br />
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Anyway, please bear with me readers. My tales are a bit slim on the ground just now - but soon this semester will be done and dusted and I can get back out and about. Hopefully, by then the rain will have let up a little.Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-24808401724841046532012-03-15T09:18:00.002+00:002012-03-15T09:21:19.994+00:00* * * NEWS * * *<div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>** Finally have a (broad) topic for my dissertation! ** Undertook small mammal trapping and saw my first vole! ** Two assignments down... 4 big ones to go. ** Great Crested Newt bottle traps created ** Hanningfield Living Landscape sections drafted ** Chelmsford becomes a city! ** College prize draw win **</em></strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As you can see - I've been busy. So has the Queen. Let's start with that shall we? Chelmsford has become the first city in Essex. I had no idea that we had no other cities - read what the BBC had to say about it <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-17363701" target="_blank">here</a>. Well done Chelmsford. I hope Lizzy had a lovely time when she went to do her recce.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Onto far more important news. After much deliberation I have finally settled on a topic for my dissertation and yes, I have gone full-circle and am doing a study of c.4 generalist butterfly species in an arable landscape and the affects that climate change and microclimate and land-use change has on them in terms of their plasticity. All with a view to predicting what these changes (climatic and land-use) might mean for other generalist and specialist species over the coming decades. Or something like that! I am <em>very </em>excited about it. There's still a lot to do in terms of the scope of the research but it is still early days. It will be a lot of hard work but I can't wait to get started.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">First though, 4 chunky assignments to get through - habitat management essay; landscape character assessment; biological surveying report and the research proposal for the aforementioned butterfly project.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As part of our couse we did some small mammal trapping last week. We set several Longworth traps along a boundary hedge in an arable setting. We only found two species Wood Mouse (<em>Apodemus sylvaticus</em>) and Bank Vole (<em>Myodes glareolus</em>) but it was useful to get practice of constructing the traps, filling them, placing them in suitable positions, and then checking them. We also got practice of handling them and sexing them. Having owned a pair of dwarf hamsters fairly recently I wasn't too worried about handling them. However, these little critters are tiny and wriggly! It was a great experience though. Pictures following below:</div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bank vole</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Congratulations! It's a girl!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigzFrN337gNAHpj_IwNGDZt6DP0uOzdBTi0R-XCd7avH71HwWf_Tyc_K3NL_9vUcGPoNgZqmXNya7zgs9ZFq0DT4D-KFjBXSR23kyx00okM8-HB7nLI_vsnrGPr-bNR9pWIPyLRqUiAf0/s1600/DSCF2768.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigzFrN337gNAHpj_IwNGDZt6DP0uOzdBTi0R-XCd7avH71HwWf_Tyc_K3NL_9vUcGPoNgZqmXNya7zgs9ZFq0DT4D-KFjBXSR23kyx00okM8-HB7nLI_vsnrGPr-bNR9pWIPyLRqUiAf0/s320/DSCF2768.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wood Mouse</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">It has been quite a hands-on month at college. A small group of us, trying to get our Great Crested Newt licence this year, set about creating bottle traps. It was a lovely hour of arts and crafts as we cut up plastic bottles and then reassembled them "kebab-style" on a garden cane. We put them out overnight at the edge of the college reservoir. It was a bit early/cold and so they remained empty in the morning when they were checked.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The sections Michelle and I were writing for the Hanningfield Living Landscape vision document have been done and submitted. We attended an indicator team meeting this week and it all seems to be progressing on time. The draft document is due for internal review next week and then we'll take it from there. Despite our section being completed it is good experience for us to stay involved to see how it all gets put together. Hopefully we will be able to get involved in the summer in planning the projects that arise from the vision document.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">And finally (no, I'm not one of the Two Ronnies) my name was drawn out of a hat as the winner of the college library survey prize draw. Book token prize. Niiice.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I think that is it for now. Back to the essay writing.</div>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-75197770394871818392012-03-11T13:53:00.001+00:002012-03-11T13:53:50.185+00:00I love TwitterChris Packham replied to one of my tweets. See for yourself. Speechless, I was.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWsRSqfyCNxG3YUWUdA9xJkKwmYH71WpzbRuXzi9x4W3LwUL3TNRAgFzqQl53UztGzq-E5C3TKCQ_gYRap28hwDnTVJ9r94QKcNQ4yfBkTUV6fShbjaUAfYLyy3jNpPE_00pe84b6d2wg/s1600/430145_10150566455277330_644387329_9303853_338535438_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWsRSqfyCNxG3YUWUdA9xJkKwmYH71WpzbRuXzi9x4W3LwUL3TNRAgFzqQl53UztGzq-E5C3TKCQ_gYRap28hwDnTVJ9r94QKcNQ4yfBkTUV6fShbjaUAfYLyy3jNpPE_00pe84b6d2wg/s320/430145_10150566455277330_644387329_9303853_338535438_n.jpg" width="240" yda="true" /></a></div>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-73733200052307355552012-02-29T12:55:00.001+00:002012-03-28T14:18:16.835+01:00Nuclear Nature<div style="text-align: justify;">At the mouth of the River Blackwater at the northern tip of the Dengie Peninsula in Essex lies the defuelled Bradwell Nuclear Power Station. It operated for about 40 years but was decommissioned 10 years ago. Some months ago I pulled a wildlife walk guide from a magazine and stuck it on my shelf thinking 'I'll do that walk sometime'. Well, Sunday was the day. We drove up to Bradwell-on-Sea which is a beautiful little village, with some ridiculously friendly residents, and parked the car in the designated car park near the chapel of St. Peter-on-the-Wall. This restored chapel dates back to 654 (<a href="http://www.bradwellchapel.org/">http://www.bradwellchapel.org/</a>) and it is a lovely little place - always open as well so you can go inside for a look around and to get out of the wind off the North Sea!</div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHHgVqZxM8A8hpk6JNLIdwHJm6Z_yzcSHFZzNCdeS3Uiql8Qsk2mY2chQt-G-c0-Q4p68Chf_8He2k-SEJVo_GcTnut7B-Hji8eUQfefNrPRKShAas3tjS4wsMN9FTYJTva21fiR8vZps/s1600/DSCF2671.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHHgVqZxM8A8hpk6JNLIdwHJm6Z_yzcSHFZzNCdeS3Uiql8Qsk2mY2chQt-G-c0-Q4p68Chf_8He2k-SEJVo_GcTnut7B-Hji8eUQfefNrPRKShAas3tjS4wsMN9FTYJTva21fiR8vZps/s320/DSCF2671.JPG" uda="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Peter's-on-the-Wall</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">The circular walk takes you right round the sea wall of the peninsula and permits great views of a range of song birds near the bird observatory (run by Essex Birdwatching Society) and the chapel and then waders and wildfowl on the saltmarsh and fields. As we were walking round we saw a huge flock of birds flying in over the sea wall. they just seemed to grow and grow in number and then landed in an arable field to feed and rest. They were Brent Geese and there were thousands of them.</div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brent Geese</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">We saw lots of other species of bird but the highlight for me was spotting a common seal just offshore who was looking as us just as intently as we were looking at it. We also saw a couple of hare in the fields on the walk back to the car park.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The species list for the day: Wren; Chaffinch; Skylark; <em>Bombus</em> spp.; Magpie; Reed Bunting; Great Tit; Blue Tit; Greenfinch; Shelduck; Knot; Brent Goose; Oystercatcher; Little Egret; Redshank; Common Seal; Black-headed Gull; Great Spotted Woodpecker; Green Woodpecker; Mallard; House Sparrow; Rook; Wood Pigeon; Carrion Crow; Robin, Blackbird; Rabbit; Fieldfare; Pheasant; Hare and Moorhen.</div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bradwell Power Station</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">It was a lovely sunny day and a very long walk. With all the stopping and starting it took us about 4 and a half hours to walk round but I would definitely recommend it. It was great to be by the sea and seeing the sun setting was really beautiful.</div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset over the River Blackwater</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, UK51.746741301476206 0.9246477409667477351.723427801476205 0.8742832409667477 51.770054801476206 0.97501224096674777tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-1990805528382160802012-02-22T20:26:00.001+00:002012-02-29T11:57:07.806+00:00Busy busy busy...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's been an incredibly busy month or so and my poor blog has suffered. January saw me take the reigns of the Essex Field Club's "A Wildlife Diary" in their newsletter. First article to appear in April. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div>My statistics exam has been and gone - I passed!<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I had a wonderful trip down to Dorset with EuCAN again where we (Amy and I) spent a great weekend in Beech Cottage hanging out at the Kingcombe Centre with Nigel, Kathy, Sarah <em>et al</em>. We did some winter twig ID and looed at bryophytes, learnt about traditional hay making in Transylvania, enjoyed a barn dance (with cider and wine), lots of fabulous food and cake, and then spent Sunday morning clearing gorse and hawthorn on a Butterfly Conservation site at Lankham Bottom.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I've been out and about at Langdon again and this weekend we had a work party from Butterfly Conservation join us to continue in our pursuit of the perfect habitat for the Grizzled Skipper. Not sure whether they are going to "move in" but we can hope.</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The deadline is looming for the Hanningfield Living Landscape information to be written and submitted for review, so once this current assignment is completed that is next on the list.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Oh, and we had 15cm of snow in Basildon at the start of the month. Great fun!!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gloucester Park, Basildon</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFukl0kI9ku5XosRr6Q9pXIeojoYsHdaRJstW-jcs5VRUb5RWttuBV6gYVEL1gYUNU04xK27KopVZF7BUtPYDKw4QCeQq5MpNchW9MKLOf28b3rRr2Ij1v_IPWnYgF1gnbMiY-jA0XYWU/s1600/DSCF2621.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFukl0kI9ku5XosRr6Q9pXIeojoYsHdaRJstW-jcs5VRUb5RWttuBV6gYVEL1gYUNU04xK27KopVZF7BUtPYDKw4QCeQq5MpNchW9MKLOf28b3rRr2Ij1v_IPWnYgF1gnbMiY-jA0XYWU/s320/DSCF2621.JPG" uda="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cormorant drying off</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK4tQz5Wudv6868iaKVggTQnA4lOuno56D68rJ1nZDg_5UhZIbPn9woMcLq0w1TBKjUdSMhPK5wdWIGDnRzCNVGsomgFeWXQ2YpLLPZRZ95Ii7HTg9eGbi7MB8RNNndEjnA6ATrjVW148/s1600/DSCF2623.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK4tQz5Wudv6868iaKVggTQnA4lOuno56D68rJ1nZDg_5UhZIbPn9woMcLq0w1TBKjUdSMhPK5wdWIGDnRzCNVGsomgFeWXQ2YpLLPZRZ95Ii7HTg9eGbi7MB8RNNndEjnA6ATrjVW148/s320/DSCF2623.JPG" uda="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mute Swan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-4308560424317059772012-01-11T09:50:00.000+00:002012-01-11T09:50:35.164+00:00Dissertation topic...In the next few weeks I really need to decide on a broad topic for my dissertation. I'm due to present some ideas about it to a panel at college sometime in February and then my completed research proposal has to be submitted by the beginning of May, ready to commence the real work from then until Spring 2013....<br />
<br />
Slight problem: I haven't got a clue what to choose! So I'm calling for as many suggestions as possible whether it be mammals, birds, butterflies, bats, plants, trees, habitats, landscape ecology.... I just need rough ideas to see what ones might enable me to produce a compelling dissertation!<br />
<br />
Answers on a postcard please.... :-)Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-36342153081244721342012-01-02T18:24:00.001+00:002012-01-02T18:24:27.948+00:00Happy New Year!A very happy new year to my handful of readers! Spring seems just around the corner and I can't wait as I got my very first bat detector for Christmas and I want to get out there and use it.<br />
<br />
Christmas was spent in Scotland visiting my folks and I was desperate to get out and about, but sadly, the weather was atrocious and I just didn't have the right clothing with me. The journey up the M74 was quite exciting as we saw several buzzards in Dumfries and Galloway which I'd never noticed before - mainly because we normally drive up in the dark! So, a walk around Coombe Wood in Langdon Hills was the order of the day on New Year's Eve once we were back in Essex. It was a really nice walk with views over the Thames Estuary. We saw a few Great Spotted Woodpeckers and some Great Tits, but nothing much else. There were some lovely trees though some great gnarly ones.<br />
<br />
So until my next installment... here's to a conservation-tastic 2012!Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-63593955566363681082011-11-26T15:09:00.000+00:002011-11-26T15:09:34.010+00:00Betty, Boar, Beavers, Birds and much, much more<div style="text-align: justify;">Mid-November sees a break in lectures and this year the college laid on three field trips for those of us who were interested. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Monday was a visit to the <a href="http://www.wildwoodtrust.org/">Wildwood Trust</a> in Kent to learn more about their captive breeding programmes. In particular their water vole programme. Water vole populations have declined over the years mainly die to loss of habitat and the alien species American Mink. The Trust often takes in voles which are part of a translocation programme. Depending on the length of time they are going to be in captivity they will breed from the animals to ensure their survival. As such it is often the grandchildren of the original animals which are released into the wild. In 2011 they bred approximately 270 voles there. We met "Betty" who was the first water vole I have ever seen in the "fur". We also had a wander round all the cages. It seems to be a very labour intensive process looking after all these voles but a worthwhile project to ensure their survival. The girl pictured with "Betty" is a Writtle graduate currently carrying out an internship with the Trust.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlITMR8yDN_kgsR9A_C0DhOc_g0RAK9sHlxiJZKR6T8OtxuiP87dbQAwoustgu9Bf-FedkY3Xu-ViUu5UvUFPHq_gFYdnFWCybdaevBWtaLUkGDY7XCDKg3eQB1EI6jRHxWYFgS-trLDk/s1600/DSCF2171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlITMR8yDN_kgsR9A_C0DhOc_g0RAK9sHlxiJZKR6T8OtxuiP87dbQAwoustgu9Bf-FedkY3Xu-ViUu5UvUFPHq_gFYdnFWCybdaevBWtaLUkGDY7XCDKg3eQB1EI6jRHxWYFgS-trLDk/s320/DSCF2171.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Introducing "Betty"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitK_9ZGlo4Pjy_GfJ7LHINy7mBY1DZi4ghNPBCXPWbgfY9GPP7pLTu-sHkHYVlIKcoIKsjlutdg8imxsXZmeZAscy3OhwkJK_PKOmYy9Le4O_5Nsp1M9UvlK8YtXak4uTT2q1iiNvAejY/s1600/DSCF2173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitK_9ZGlo4Pjy_GfJ7LHINy7mBY1DZi4ghNPBCXPWbgfY9GPP7pLTu-sHkHYVlIKcoIKsjlutdg8imxsXZmeZAscy3OhwkJK_PKOmYy9Le4O_5Nsp1M9UvlK8YtXak4uTT2q1iiNvAejY/s320/DSCF2173.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the many enclosures housing the voles</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Following the voles, we were then guided round the rest of the park by a couple of members of the educational team. We were shown some small mammals such as pine marten but then moved on to the boar. it was interesting to see the effect they have on the ground in their enclosure as this would be what it would be like if they were released into the wild. Although they make a mess of the ground with their trampling and snuffling the disturbance can be good for many species. The one species it is not good for is the bluebell. The UK's bluebell woods are the finest examples in the world and boar in the wild could have a catastrophic impact on this.</div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvvDqvWDN_4XqW7XpBEdhmCUxZP0ZbXsfbNJfD8NQgNogSvNaHi3ilWjuABOKKyHOoHNEA3E2O-1xaJxoa9Gk67iQQ3y3Mwd0uGMwdOT4zu4G046KavT8jmBH4fBvVDTReKydmi7qcnA/s1600/DSCF2175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibvvDqvWDN_4XqW7XpBEdhmCUxZP0ZbXsfbNJfD8NQgNogSvNaHi3ilWjuABOKKyHOoHNEA3E2O-1xaJxoa9Gk67iQQ3y3Mwd0uGMwdOT4zu4G046KavT8jmBH4fBvVDTReKydmi7qcnA/s320/DSCF2175.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Harriet" the wild boar</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">We also saw bison, wolves, lynx, Konik horses and some sleeping beavers. The red squirrels were adorable but they don't seem to do very well in captivity showing signs of stereotypies. This is where the animal behaves in a repetitive or habitual way, such as pacing along the enclosure boundary. </div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_o-DcTN6fRwgCzSIuz6Q4r_ELODS55PZmkNij70nJtGvFprZIwB0LBCatDcYlbS7MJBIbfGPM85E1H5yO69_fU99jr58ZOrU-tYgoatyvqpl-T4xG26ZWBWuRG4x_EeShlNlngntJys/s1600/DSCF2176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_o-DcTN6fRwgCzSIuz6Q4r_ELODS55PZmkNij70nJtGvFprZIwB0LBCatDcYlbS7MJBIbfGPM85E1H5yO69_fU99jr58ZOrU-tYgoatyvqpl-T4xG26ZWBWuRG4x_EeShlNlngntJys/s320/DSCF2176.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Konik Horse - another fashionable conservation tool</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqmz5iZ0bYULF-WJmySXgosE7pEMY8AMD8zWkW6iW-fdk4JzFX-rbaL3abTUomN64nyiq4yXw9GsuGPYyqNoGDtwljAA9ILhvkAgsL581ADSATzaaB2LPS5vvieE_hWX5fujUzC6xH0gQ/s1600/DSCF2182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqmz5iZ0bYULF-WJmySXgosE7pEMY8AMD8zWkW6iW-fdk4JzFX-rbaL3abTUomN64nyiq4yXw9GsuGPYyqNoGDtwljAA9ILhvkAgsL581ADSATzaaB2LPS5vvieE_hWX5fujUzC6xH0gQ/s320/DSCF2182.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">European bison</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmS044TGZrn79ADMhg5vljqQ9ROIu_Gb3AwETE-6wmxQCwZmt_G9qfqzaXNHR7vQtc38yVYy6bGAE9ogJHIaBcJlyMlgh7uUWOLwor9rBOCPjBp1cf3vwHZhbqpoDs1PR8s-JiCm7_yM/s1600/DSCF2184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMmS044TGZrn79ADMhg5vljqQ9ROIu_Gb3AwETE-6wmxQCwZmt_G9qfqzaXNHR7vQtc38yVYy6bGAE9ogJHIaBcJlyMlgh7uUWOLwor9rBOCPjBp1cf3vwHZhbqpoDs1PR8s-JiCm7_yM/s320/DSCF2184.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wildwood Trust</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmD-ESBw9mcWSxSYh8qxTlrMxvNkLSFoAt4Ex94c2N_fnwIHq-kq3-hC9ZONQqrh4Ne0ixkxgctmGktY_nta8pWX7FNmLr3b5hZXQq56w5V5FafSdXC9bRNxYNuqNZWPSoToSMITQfmtM/s1600/DSCF2189.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmD-ESBw9mcWSxSYh8qxTlrMxvNkLSFoAt4Ex94c2N_fnwIHq-kq3-hC9ZONQqrh4Ne0ixkxgctmGktY_nta8pWX7FNmLr3b5hZXQq56w5V5FafSdXC9bRNxYNuqNZWPSoToSMITQfmtM/s320/DSCF2189.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAg7tP55A_0lSgHTAIDt8WygX1Z1zMQxD-fWSr-uPvgShzo7Z6ivCMqyia5_7d-A76W_3k8vRTnZfbWAadh5EKOQ_ULGM6fIvQyp30ybdP252419wZZgZG1hLsGwNGg7N4WG3M9GS3SNg/s1600/DSCF2191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAg7tP55A_0lSgHTAIDt8WygX1Z1zMQxD-fWSr-uPvgShzo7Z6ivCMqyia5_7d-A76W_3k8vRTnZfbWAadh5EKOQ_ULGM6fIvQyp30ybdP252419wZZgZG1hLsGwNGg7N4WG3M9GS3SNg/s320/DSCF2191.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4NF-8A96Iu8_Zc8NOseml3zly_dm-xNbYIMGgSYWlmZb22jRowp7f8-IYkCzRow9s2n1NMtB74BPHKpKnjM7DAQdjMsE6ytNM-W03uCmdTJzam37tGpQjJkNSsOpxaLwziwkeuqoTsk/s1600/DSCF2195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4NF-8A96Iu8_Zc8NOseml3zly_dm-xNbYIMGgSYWlmZb22jRowp7f8-IYkCzRow9s2n1NMtB74BPHKpKnjM7DAQdjMsE6ytNM-W03uCmdTJzam37tGpQjJkNSsOpxaLwziwkeuqoTsk/s320/DSCF2195.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the red squirrels</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">After lunch we drove to a Kent Wildlife Trust site called <a href="http://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/east-kent-coastal/ham-fen-2/">Ham Fen</a> where they have released beavers into a secured area for conservation purposes. Surrounded by an electric fence the fen is exceptionally boggy, as you would expect, and there were obvious signs of beaver activity with some felled trees and some well-nibbled ones.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAiA8PE3PpKZ0HX0YMR-n65Q3eMdKVP9bBQo9aIlfJGybKwyCL4E3Gv8yL0FiQvchKosN9ShqDO_ICK3MHOnmpEpvDegQbhZoUqLdaisd9sxozDaa2Jmd3ZhSu6tv4DrxF977XIou8vlA/s1600/DSCF2207.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAiA8PE3PpKZ0HX0YMR-n65Q3eMdKVP9bBQo9aIlfJGybKwyCL4E3Gv8yL0FiQvchKosN9ShqDO_ICK3MHOnmpEpvDegQbhZoUqLdaisd9sxozDaa2Jmd3ZhSu6tv4DrxF977XIou8vlA/s320/DSCF2207.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Further along the river we encountered exceptionally wet ground and in fact I ended up thigh-deep in a badger burrow. Covered in mud and with walking boots full of water I marched on (carefully) to see the beaver lodge and their dam. An impressive construction built in about a fortnight. They are truly amazing animals in terms of their engineering ability.</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXoDrXZZMwoUu8QSRgJtpfzv-SXRM4gL_hQ7r0eG5IQGqsSSlF1blLYMy2mvnvXA8SpGFQnNtb3WRvCefhj7TdWvFfIh35Di5fgdh1BOezKmFMBRmNr75Ununx8t9qrRrjWi_cHG5C4do/s1600/IMAG0042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXoDrXZZMwoUu8QSRgJtpfzv-SXRM4gL_hQ7r0eG5IQGqsSSlF1blLYMy2mvnvXA8SpGFQnNtb3WRvCefhj7TdWvFfIh35Di5fgdh1BOezKmFMBRmNr75Ununx8t9qrRrjWi_cHG5C4do/s320/IMAG0042.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQBvtr1stL2bUWQRpE79kkVkjV52Sv-6YeK-pGy9BfzJLzxkcaU-TyHXUKlzBfxYUvH6evXUtrlAD6wEDwgizO_q7WNmqwV26wMMC2hMQDPJ2r9o5EJgcMykuJSAomiCu_KALmsr4Chpc/s1600/IMAG0040.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQBvtr1stL2bUWQRpE79kkVkjV52Sv-6YeK-pGy9BfzJLzxkcaU-TyHXUKlzBfxYUvH6evXUtrlAD6wEDwgizO_q7WNmqwV26wMMC2hMQDPJ2r9o5EJgcMykuJSAomiCu_KALmsr4Chpc/s320/IMAG0040.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">On Tuesday we headed out to the Dengie Peninsula (a Special Protection Area and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty); a place which inspired films such as War of the Worlds and The Birds due to it's other-worldly, bleak appearance, and somewhere I've wanted to go for some time. We were here to start the Big Birding Bash and we went to a few different sites including arable, coastal and estuarine. Our list of spots (few of which were identified by me!) included:</div><br />
<ul><li>Corn Bunting</li>
<li>Chaffinch</li>
<li>Goldfinch</li>
<li>Carrion Crow</li>
<li>Hooded Crow</li>
<li>Magpie</li>
<li>Skylark</li>
<li>Reed Bunting</li>
<li>Yellowhammer</li>
<li>Brent Goose</li>
<li>Oystercatcher</li>
<li>Redshank</li>
<li>Turnstone</li>
<li>Marsh Harrier</li>
<li>Little Egret</li>
<li>Dunlin</li>
<li>Shelduck</li>
<li>Curlew</li>
<li>Golden Plover</li>
<li>Lapwing</li>
<li>Mistle Thrush</li>
<li>Little Owl (the most exciting for me!!)</li>
</ul><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNqF_m_PVW3Y0cyfofqMZAtWl1jwIsxN7qSCCnyjdh_AMmk1Uwc8F_1ztpODN-Z9LamrE4lmflCt-dsFCY-dGdKjNHQFKetjJRufRxvNfrfxy78ttRHw1IsJ9KVLMt8Pg6mTlj0we4qvo/s1600/IMAG0044.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNqF_m_PVW3Y0cyfofqMZAtWl1jwIsxN7qSCCnyjdh_AMmk1Uwc8F_1ztpODN-Z9LamrE4lmflCt-dsFCY-dGdKjNHQFKetjJRufRxvNfrfxy78ttRHw1IsJ9KVLMt8Pg6mTlj0we4qvo/s320/IMAG0044.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for the owls to show... with some very eerie trees!</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Friday was the last day of the field trip programme and we headed off to Hertfordshire to attend a few talks by staff at <a href="http://www.rothamsted.ac.uk/">Rothamsted Research</a>. Having put a career in research into the melting pot of future ideas I was excited to be going there to find out what it was all about. The place felt very "sciencey" in an old-fashioned kind of way and these people really know what they are talking about. Specialists in aphids, bumblebees and long-term research projects it was fascinating to hear them talk. The focus is very much agricultural research; increasing productivity whilst developing environmentally sustainable solutions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">A trip to the ladies took me back a couple of decades to my Grandma's house when I spotted a little toilet roll doll on top of the hand dryer: fabulous. The staff canteen was pretty fantastic as well. Looks like a good place to work overall!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbSDTgB4NKknQA9LmnYH3E2WwyO8IDwg0NqH6cPG_uYogujYaSJIvhWiWWgTJAs2MXmkVYJ0MndY5fSnae0PPecWNxSmhXrltRYslEuLK9TcClWGGguvpT3D1YWzBFu9xS68fIQ6pw4bE/s1600/IMAG0046-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbSDTgB4NKknQA9LmnYH3E2WwyO8IDwg0NqH6cPG_uYogujYaSJIvhWiWWgTJAs2MXmkVYJ0MndY5fSnae0PPecWNxSmhXrltRYslEuLK9TcClWGGguvpT3D1YWzBFu9xS68fIQ6pw4bE/s320/IMAG0046-2.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">An excellent week of interesting field trips topped off by having to hand in 3 assignments in quick succession. Perhaps I should have stayed home to concentrate on those - only time will tell! I'm happy to trade a few marks for a sighting of a Little Owl.</div>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-2280956249813972552011-10-24T19:09:00.000+01:002011-10-24T19:09:41.849+01:00What a brain; what a man; what a bird!<div style="text-align: justify;">Firstly Autumnwatch has returned to our television screens. Now, nothing beats getting out and about in nature except perhaps the delectable and divinely fascinating Chris Packham on your tellybox every Friday evening for a couple of months... or so I thought.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Saturday, 15th October 2011 was a day I never in my wildest dreams imagined would ever occur. Well, obviously the date would occur but what happened on that day was totally fantastic. I still haven't quite recovered. Michelle and I attended the very first <a href="http://www.wildlifexpo.com/">Wildlife Xpo</a> at Alexandra Palace in London. We were booked in to listen to three lectures; one of them given by the National Trust's Matthew Oates (butterfly guru and worshipper of HIM - His Imperial Majesty; the Purple Emperor) and the other two by none other than the man of the season Chris Packham.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was a difficult task keeping my excitement under control. However under control it remained and the photographic evidence is here for all to see. (In case you can't spot me my hair is now short and red!)</div><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris in action</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitay0U76HekxKWbUIOuMHJuwyx-LdqtxCAT0YKSuQvNGUzNt4F-fgdi3z7bxnAcjSMmaq7oy_3HASsjSP0OWKl6saaodsYUWe-mVWOYnQK-JrLoujFgHy_XF_dRym3l-pnoTWkdDnEsxo/s1600/IMG387.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitay0U76HekxKWbUIOuMHJuwyx-LdqtxCAT0YKSuQvNGUzNt4F-fgdi3z7bxnAcjSMmaq7oy_3HASsjSP0OWKl6saaodsYUWe-mVWOYnQK-JrLoujFgHy_XF_dRym3l-pnoTWkdDnEsxo/s320/IMG387.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Autograph signing</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5-2A6BmaNQhBPWr9hRsfj4ECmVzxYanxH2EiXg-1HkcoEqokLsTim88geNTm8zU2dFiHinJQu6JPnDoEI2npwXl4sLFCob_T70fBGIkOopO0DttQ_4yEpsW90SIz1m9vdpxPA3jfnGTY/s1600/DSCN4922%255B1%255D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5-2A6BmaNQhBPWr9hRsfj4ECmVzxYanxH2EiXg-1HkcoEqokLsTim88geNTm8zU2dFiHinJQu6JPnDoEI2npwXl4sLFCob_T70fBGIkOopO0DttQ_4yEpsW90SIz1m9vdpxPA3jfnGTY/s320/DSCN4922%255B1%255D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Michelle and the girls from Hanningfield Reserve</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">So, there you have it. A day to be remembered. The best thing about it was listening to him talk about so many of the things we are learning at college and to feel really motivated to get out there and do it!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">To add to that excitement, this weekend I was idly looking out the patio doors over the garden and paying particular attention to a row of four chubby little sparrows doing a spot of sunbathing when in swooped a whopping great (relatively speaking) sparrowhawk. It landed on the bush on the other side of the fence and turned its head to give me a fantastic view of its yellow eye. Spectacular. And one of Chris' favourite birds I believe. Picture below is from a BBC website as I was nowhere near ready with my camera!</div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmd_suhEUq3gk923OceT-9Q6wcUuoDch5G-PCvXEFeET2qDNsn4T1Y98CPqSTI3_51raKzFYYrw_f9-1YQasvlsV-AxAE0N3q9XKqzv2IzAYW7SJ-Nli7166NkMxBondGxkaRP-OhfyMY/s1600/eurasian_sparrowhawk_1%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" rda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmd_suhEUq3gk923OceT-9Q6wcUuoDch5G-PCvXEFeET2qDNsn4T1Y98CPqSTI3_51raKzFYYrw_f9-1YQasvlsV-AxAE0N3q9XKqzv2IzAYW7SJ-Nli7166NkMxBondGxkaRP-OhfyMY/s320/eurasian_sparrowhawk_1%255B1%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beautiful sparrowhawk</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-7359538127701658442011-10-06T22:46:00.000+01:002011-10-06T22:46:00.209+01:00<div style="text-align: justify;">Another busy week is almost past. College has been interesting this week but work needs to start on all the assignments that are being doled out. Work has been particularly manic this week but the train journey into London allowed me to finally read Lawton's 'Making Space for Nature' report which has been kicking about my study for months. It is closely linked to the Landscape Ecology module I have just started so it makes for good background reading.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I met with some of the Living Landscapes team on Tuesday and Michelle and I have agreed to work on a few bits for the Hanningfield document. I say a 'few' bits - we are hoping not to have bitten off more than we can chew! I'll be looking at the geology, topograhy and hydrology section(!) and then we'll both be working together on key wildlife habitats and key species AND managing for biodiversity. I'm actually very excited about it all.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">This weekend sees the 2-year anniversary of my trip to La Brenne with EuCAN as a conservation volunteer... essentially what changed my career direction. If you haven't heard about my trip (and I'd be surprised if you haven't!) then you can read about it <a href="http://www.eucan.org.uk/docs/200910Fr/Nicola_Shearer.pdf">here!</a></div>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-48119646726711653492011-10-02T17:41:00.000+01:002011-10-02T17:41:02.919+01:00Hot, hot, hot and back to school!<div style="text-align: justify;">The leaves on the trees have been turning and falling for a couple of weeks now - seemed very early this year. To add to the confusion this week has seen temperatures in the south-east of England soar to 29 degrees celsius. It's October for goodness' sake! On the plus side it has given me some sunny weather to get out and cut down the widlflower meadow in the garden and to have a general tidy-up. Still, I'm looking forward to autumn-proper when I can see the structure of the trees laid bare and the birds jumping about within the branches. Leaves really do get in the way when you are trying to spot long-tailed tits...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I'm two weeks into my 2nd year at college. I'm excited to be back but also feeling quite a bit of pressure to do as well as last year. We hada very exciting and inspiring lecture last week and so I feel ready to dive head first in to the world of landscape ecology and mega-fauna! But my part-time work is pretty hectic as well so it's fair to say I am not feeling very relaxed at the moment. Our first piece of formative work is due in a couple of days. We're doing a short presentation on fen habitats and looking at why they are declining and how and why they are protected. Fortunately we can use our trip to Redgrave and Lopham Fen back in August as an example.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Tuesday this week I'm off to a meeting at <a href="http://www.essexwt.org.uk/visitor_centres__nature_reserves/hanningfield_reservoir/">Hanningfield Reservoir</a> to discuss how I can get involved with writing their Living Landscape document.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, more to follow soon on what I'm getting up to in and out of college - pertaining to nature, naturally!</div>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-84346749408452793882011-09-20T19:24:00.002+01:002011-09-20T19:32:26.072+01:00Summer holidays<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The latter part of the summer this year saw me take two UK breaks: the first a camping trip in Suffolk with college friends and the second, a week in the Lake District with my family.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michelle, Matt & Me</td></tr>
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">In mid-August Matt, Gavin, Michelle and I spent a weekend at <a href="http://www.honeypotcamping.co.uk/">Honeypot Camping</a> on the Suffolk/Norfolk borders. A small but spacious campsite with a couple of lakes and a little "conservation" area of wildflowers, scrub and trees. </div><br />
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</div>Aside from the usual liquid refreshments, camp stove issues and an over amorous pigeon... we managed to get out on the Saturday and visit Suffolk Wildlife Trust's <a href="http://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/reserves-and-visitor-centres/redgrave-lopham-fen/">Redgrave and Lopham Fen</a> which has the Raft Spider as the star attraction. Fortunately for me we didn't see any! It's a lovely big reserve and we had a lengthy walk round looking at dragonflies, frogs, and birds. Stupidly we hadn't taken any lunch and practically ran the last part of the Waveney Trail to get to the pub for lunch.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Redgrave and Lopham Fen, Suffolk</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc5QB1tuhV6FzNoejQaoTkT1Hdu3P-WGqnRbmeR_nJkLaVoAl_Iv746DlW5YycZKvPYtY-zQBcrLj5SfeyYNBhZr6MzafiErf5UaSPsgEVtN5cfeXCOZqzk1u_biDkRCWe55XFuGMOvBs/s1600/DSCF1757.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc5QB1tuhV6FzNoejQaoTkT1Hdu3P-WGqnRbmeR_nJkLaVoAl_Iv746DlW5YycZKvPYtY-zQBcrLj5SfeyYNBhZr6MzafiErf5UaSPsgEVtN5cfeXCOZqzk1u_biDkRCWe55XFuGMOvBs/s320/DSCF1757.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ladybirds</td></tr>
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">At the beginning of September Joel and I drove to the Lake District to <a href="http://www.brockwoodhall.co.uk/">Brockwood Hall</a> where my parents had rented a log cabin for us all, including my brother and his girlfriend. The idea was that we would do many walks in the countryside stopping off at cute pubs before starting off again. Sadly the weather had other ideas. As the tailend of hurricane Katia whipped the west coast, Cumbria suffered from heavy rainfall and high winds. But that did not stop us. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Highlights included:</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Ambleside: pouring with rain; boys watched a football match in the pub; ladies went for tea and scones. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Keswick: pouring with rain; The Pencil Museum, Derwent Water. bumped into friends.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Windermere: rain showers; lunch with friends, Jackdaws jumping around the water's edge like ducks!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Coniston: beautiful waterfalls and rivers.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVpj8DtRj7hqKvJ8iXrZYKFei7rIQVGGeE8vgo1PZhGNZHOMIX28sb_se4Itg62GZ4Zt-7fHNaK8V7Wk48KT-oArKUAB00KK-bNp4GQ80pMskkZqBVZD1GZdTgv0fos0Aa4T9oNQurwHI/s1600/DSCF2084.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVpj8DtRj7hqKvJ8iXrZYKFei7rIQVGGeE8vgo1PZhGNZHOMIX28sb_se4Itg62GZ4Zt-7fHNaK8V7Wk48KT-oArKUAB00KK-bNp4GQ80pMskkZqBVZD1GZdTgv0fos0Aa4T9oNQurwHI/s320/DSCF2084.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">River flowing out to Coniston Water</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Seathwaite Tarn: beautiful sunshine; a decent walk up to the Tarn spotting several butterflies on the way including Small Copper, Peacocks and Red Admirals. Lots of the beautiful herdwick sheep around too.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8XDC_pJK98mD0cWqqtKxedH3DLmHD5-dWj8NKUQX6BYtHasywtglKmlJSWC_AphifMPiITe7DJZMMmOS7CT7lQqUNIbvVzkfgf2n1R1zCJlQWVGJkaXAzo08IdJuB81R-TxDpMSdlM_w/s1600/DSCF1915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8XDC_pJK98mD0cWqqtKxedH3DLmHD5-dWj8NKUQX6BYtHasywtglKmlJSWC_AphifMPiITe7DJZMMmOS7CT7lQqUNIbvVzkfgf2n1R1zCJlQWVGJkaXAzo08IdJuB81R-TxDpMSdlM_w/s320/DSCF1915.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seathwaite Tarn</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJHCFrI9s9gcmPOZXq6COJFdsIjAUod4RGv9qQK_W5wm_L37vz3_Mv6xWESqBieC1FgOyns61HPrmsBewGl6mm-OQF7hUpm46n9X_a3P2Jg7Mmf2QwAV0UlgCUPCLQJcIKH-WxWt8f4mA/s1600/DSCF1927.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJHCFrI9s9gcmPOZXq6COJFdsIjAUod4RGv9qQK_W5wm_L37vz3_Mv6xWESqBieC1FgOyns61HPrmsBewGl6mm-OQF7hUpm46n9X_a3P2Jg7Mmf2QwAV0UlgCUPCLQJcIKH-WxWt8f4mA/s320/DSCF1927.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Small Copper</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckag4aG1iu5BjnHM5zPGfc-d8_0eNdVNDNTBal4PRmRdNb197pQA1w6S6weEI-Yk0r2Ke23ZY6DH4ggs8VPDEv4VmuTYkiGfFPOYqLpy7MwjkZj6FvhElp4zhvhlvSaXDew9pvrzyaKE/s1600/DSCF1964.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckag4aG1iu5BjnHM5zPGfc-d8_0eNdVNDNTBal4PRmRdNb197pQA1w6S6weEI-Yk0r2Ke23ZY6DH4ggs8VPDEv4VmuTYkiGfFPOYqLpy7MwjkZj6FvhElp4zhvhlvSaXDew9pvrzyaKE/s320/DSCF1964.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Admiral</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ihqwsXMXL_pP8vd31M51iywdEvVTWPboPDPMMy1CUOXt84gdbLFxglOkFRfqV3N_8lPVUsbsAiH3JUdbSLQFBUp5DRqr5MUVyK1ugncSgYnDgwBYA2I_B6_yG2giOr4Rgwt4WTnQCuU/s1600/DSCF1881.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ihqwsXMXL_pP8vd31M51iywdEvVTWPboPDPMMy1CUOXt84gdbLFxglOkFRfqV3N_8lPVUsbsAiH3JUdbSLQFBUp5DRqr5MUVyK1ugncSgYnDgwBYA2I_B6_yG2giOr4Rgwt4WTnQCuU/s320/DSCF1881.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The delightful Herdwick sheep</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> Swinside Stone Circle: another walk - this time dryish with strong winds; lots of mud and bog. Standing stones provided us with something of interest at the top of the walk; along with a farmer advertising he was farming for wildlife - good to see!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc5QB1tuhV6FzNoejQaoTkT1Hdu3P-WGqnRbmeR_nJkLaVoAl_Iv746DlW5YycZKvPYtY-zQBcrLj5SfeyYNBhZr6MzafiErf5UaSPsgEVtN5cfeXCOZqzk1u_biDkRCWe55XFuGMOvBs/s1600/DSCF1757.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhjeHbOW2vX5MIpsc_Rv7WgSym8-k9gdyKQeVLtPG5szQxx8HG4Lq-mrA4C1kBTJFthbkkQP1iyj6RAxW0QLDZkBduke7br248EZeUHMD-MxekkcZVIamTXpRRiOLx6fIJUNzUBqzLZU/s1600/DSCF2003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhjeHbOW2vX5MIpsc_Rv7WgSym8-k9gdyKQeVLtPG5szQxx8HG4Lq-mrA4C1kBTJFthbkkQP1iyj6RAxW0QLDZkBduke7br248EZeUHMD-MxekkcZVIamTXpRRiOLx6fIJUNzUBqzLZU/s320/DSCF2003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swinside Stone Circle</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTlEAr69sISk7aOjfol7s25Iv__urGRfHrA8XK3wNFBqPrdNzPBkx5LlSc6aLRIUf8GpKBA8OUred6nm9nJxDG8JulpPSAbGNIsfZbbkjTxTrFXsdkh04R2LwgmdtwEPQgSUZU8iV0WOY/s1600/DSCF2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTlEAr69sISk7aOjfol7s25Iv__urGRfHrA8XK3wNFBqPrdNzPBkx5LlSc6aLRIUf8GpKBA8OUred6nm9nJxDG8JulpPSAbGNIsfZbbkjTxTrFXsdkh04R2LwgmdtwEPQgSUZU8iV0WOY/s320/DSCF2016.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swinside Stone Circle</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div align="left" class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0ihqwsXMXL_pP8vd31M51iywdEvVTWPboPDPMMy1CUOXt84gdbLFxglOkFRfqV3N_8lPVUsbsAiH3JUdbSLQFBUp5DRqr5MUVyK1ugncSgYnDgwBYA2I_B6_yG2giOr4Rgwt4WTnQCuU/s1600/DSCF1881.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;">Although it was wet and windy for much of the week, it was a truly beautiful place. I would love to work in such a remote location - I'd just have to get used to the rain and the tourists! </div><div align="left" class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-7075724989800794042011-07-31T21:00:00.001+01:002011-07-31T21:03:44.021+01:00The Butterflies of EssexSince returning to adland last month and commuting daily to London I've been craving nature - in any way I can get it. One of the books I read in the first few weeks back at work inspired me to go butterflying. <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Butterfly-Isles-Summer-Emperors-Admirals/dp/1847081274">The Butterfly Isles</a> is a delightful book about one man's quest to spot all 59 of Britain's butterflies in one year. He fits this this in around a full-time non-nature job. I was entranced throughout.<br />
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The first opportunity I had to go was a few weeks ago when Joel and I took a trip to <a href="http://www.brentwood-council.gov.uk/index.php?cid=323">Thorndon Country Park</a> (see previous post); then I took myself off to <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/w/westcanveymarsh/index.aspx">West Canvey Marsh</a> one sunny afternoon. My impromtu decision to go there was rewarded immediately when I spotted a Marbled White as soon as I left the car park. This was the first time I had seen one of these so was really pleased. I was, in fact, to see several of them over the course of the next two hours. Whilst walking through the first meadow the noise of the insects was incredible - giving the adjacent busy road some serious competition. I stopped at the first bird hide but there wasn't much to see - only a heron in the distance, a fishing cormorant, a lapwing or two and several black-headed gulls.<br />
<br />
So, I focused my attentions on the butterflies. I saw several Essex Skippers, notable by their similarity to Small Skippers but with black tipped antennae rather than orange.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik1zGA7vUXYIcEDqRHWbSXkZ0V8YfR6vtQHYf6XmJOsAz_CwzLCc-r1D7O87-LZ0HB9_QTixkOfFmF2Tf9eplsBg8LuN9FW-spDyaQx3eIKdGkokc2Tw_mBSxn9oowpt0sqs5fSUKCQKY/s1600/DSCF1639.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik1zGA7vUXYIcEDqRHWbSXkZ0V8YfR6vtQHYf6XmJOsAz_CwzLCc-r1D7O87-LZ0HB9_QTixkOfFmF2Tf9eplsBg8LuN9FW-spDyaQx3eIKdGkokc2Tw_mBSxn9oowpt0sqs5fSUKCQKY/s320/DSCF1639.JPG" t$="true" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Essex Skipper</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Several dragonflies were flying around, including a few large Emperors. Then I came across a dragonfly perched on a bush at the side of the footpath: A Common Darter.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4NHHLzF5h_ixwEtDJ4zFzbNE5J5YhpOagkrX-8pjOAxDS8U1J8fo7rEYwk7cQTjAfw8KPBKb8rJtgHkFg2TC8zZJPhpykEKCllwx_Y5TI9eyEq6efq5hEN33qtZNdpIFdqjnifJ8QhA/s1600/DSCF1648.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4NHHLzF5h_ixwEtDJ4zFzbNE5J5YhpOagkrX-8pjOAxDS8U1J8fo7rEYwk7cQTjAfw8KPBKb8rJtgHkFg2TC8zZJPhpykEKCllwx_Y5TI9eyEq6efq5hEN33qtZNdpIFdqjnifJ8QhA/s320/DSCF1648.JPG" t$="true" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Common Darter</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
The ubiquitous Gatekeeper was all around - with some really fresh, beautiful specimens showing well:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi078PDqrfWgiFJ0CgzZo-_ihnH6z4Hb3mMC6zciqz51C9GNqkLgQ9_wxGsZrkr_8gfGjY3Q1hMS0SK0bTGJnmurM4D2FhKH82CYg_xYAOeNiQRiTNb4L_ZsNRSAC2Z6Mpndbbh33E5Tsw/s1600/DSCF1664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi078PDqrfWgiFJ0CgzZo-_ihnH6z4Hb3mMC6zciqz51C9GNqkLgQ9_wxGsZrkr_8gfGjY3Q1hMS0SK0bTGJnmurM4D2FhKH82CYg_xYAOeNiQRiTNb4L_ZsNRSAC2Z6Mpndbbh33E5Tsw/s320/DSCF1664.JPG" t$="true" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gatekeeper</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
There were several Marbled Whites feeding on thistle throughout the reserve:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQD_NcAXFZWk5pVtyDU42CRh7sL44wqcm7rUCQoDZniSJ2OJOyRV-Ejr681hgVv5KtodrmkUIn_pl3JDP2yNdokjrCMU4xHp0tSmJk9BTs4ICaDURzVV3hBwCMcidppPjPtfob4hZQ_cM/s1600/DSCF1681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQD_NcAXFZWk5pVtyDU42CRh7sL44wqcm7rUCQoDZniSJ2OJOyRV-Ejr681hgVv5KtodrmkUIn_pl3JDP2yNdokjrCMU4xHp0tSmJk9BTs4ICaDURzVV3hBwCMcidppPjPtfob4hZQ_cM/s320/DSCF1681.JPG" t$="true" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marbled White</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I stopped at the next bird hide along the route to have my lunch. I ate whilst watching the heron in the distance. It was fishing - slowly stalking and then thrusting its neck forward and coming back up with a fish in its beak. I was just about to move on when I spotted another heron right in front of the hide. This bird was fishing as well and I became a bit snap-happy! I also spotted a coot, a little grebe and an egret flying overhead.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPnvDk-nu7fSdtQu_wZGIjtNBAfAKzlHYeE3Zfg-6byw-GridH7qvODtPYEoUcBVdirgNG-aojQ0mDcRn0F-nWXpOo-AwJjPwGjmFWixpbGUBGLgs59MMGJDCKwr87k7iC04az4E46leQ/s1600/DSCF1695.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPnvDk-nu7fSdtQu_wZGIjtNBAfAKzlHYeE3Zfg-6byw-GridH7qvODtPYEoUcBVdirgNG-aojQ0mDcRn0F-nWXpOo-AwJjPwGjmFWixpbGUBGLgs59MMGJDCKwr87k7iC04az4E46leQ/s320/DSCF1695.JPG" t$="true" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grey Heron</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I spotted several more butteflies including a Comma and a Red Admiral:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9zvkfrt0bpmEXym6qHdSYUTLoDdrir5Sbg3pnh5r5mjR-991Vmt6GVdEQQRIvPVZXzVtpz5dgpvkdgmdvnofwxIvPo7WqXmMeDtCFquefuJKa31PrZcajHwIYudnusgMyWwGO3206kX0/s1600/DSCF1708.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9zvkfrt0bpmEXym6qHdSYUTLoDdrir5Sbg3pnh5r5mjR-991Vmt6GVdEQQRIvPVZXzVtpz5dgpvkdgmdvnofwxIvPo7WqXmMeDtCFquefuJKa31PrZcajHwIYudnusgMyWwGO3206kX0/s200/DSCF1708.JPG" t$="true" width="200px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Comma</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY29WUrVJicsfuajfgWeCC2IS5L674LtiI_hsp1Qfe622l_5FFPZ5fQCjJ7ZsQvkKQ9jgyFLpuVQxMwrOvyJrmkADZzGyFqUPJVJ8zqmEMp8KEZkEgJN7eSn1Fz2IgN7MQSAkYPuHKEq8/s1600/DSCF1713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY29WUrVJicsfuajfgWeCC2IS5L674LtiI_hsp1Qfe622l_5FFPZ5fQCjJ7ZsQvkKQ9jgyFLpuVQxMwrOvyJrmkADZzGyFqUPJVJ8zqmEMp8KEZkEgJN7eSn1Fz2IgN7MQSAkYPuHKEq8/s200/DSCF1713.JPG" t$="true" width="200px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Admiral</td></tr>
</tbody></table> West Canvey Marshes is a relatively new site managed by the RSPB and it is closely linked to the SSSI <a href="http://www.buglife.org.uk/conservation/currentprojects/Habitats+Action/Brownfields/Conserving+brownfield+invertebrates+in+the+Thames+gateway/canveyislandrainforest">Canvey Wick</a> - one of the next places I must visit soon!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZJT5zA3OhHY0baLlX4zFI8kTyFBWImYWyBDgItw62uHBYNoX0f1Q69vCOgJO53wEzp9J-veXgm8rPyLFHkDw0bYLcFFAZbVowqWRkNmkJ_-882DAr6TtqD1KVUCgGzZUC-PDc6cXErw/s1600/DSCF1718.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYZJT5zA3OhHY0baLlX4zFI8kTyFBWImYWyBDgItw62uHBYNoX0f1Q69vCOgJO53wEzp9J-veXgm8rPyLFHkDw0bYLcFFAZbVowqWRkNmkJ_-882DAr6TtqD1KVUCgGzZUC-PDc6cXErw/s320/DSCF1718.JPG" t$="true" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">West Canvey Marshes</td></tr>
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Today, Joel and I took a trip to Northlands Wood, part of <a href="http://www.thurrock.gov.uk/countryside/langdonhills/">Langdon Hills Country Park</a> in Basildon. Aside from enjoying the walk on a lovey sunny Sunday, I wanted to survey for butterflies for the <a href="http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/">Big Butterfly Count</a>. The course of walk took us through woodland, meadows, paths between grassy fields and hedgerows. It was really lovely and we chalked up the following sightings:<br />
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Gatekeeper - 39<br />
Whites - 23 (Lumped together because I am not yet able to differentiate between them!)<br />
Speckled Wood - 15<br />
Meadow Brown - 27<br />
Peacock - 1<br />
Ringlet - 2<br />
Skippers - 3 (either Small or Essex)<br />
Six-Spot Burnet Moth - 2<br />
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I purposely didn't take my camera - which I am pleased to about as I would still have been there until dusk!Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-13701763995988615972011-07-16T10:54:00.000+01:002011-07-16T10:54:27.823+01:00*** B R E A K I N G N E W S ***<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div align="left">July's news is as follows:</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">** Exams all passed!!! **</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">** Got involved with the draft of the Danbury Ridge Living Landscapes document ** </div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">** Found 4 dormice during a survey at Norsey Woods **</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">** First day of decent butterflying at Thorndon Country Park **</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">** Garden wildlife habitat "maturing" **</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">** Back in the rat race **</div><div align="left"><br />
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</div><div align="left">Ok, so they're the headlines. Clearly I'm delighted to have passed all my exams and I can't wait to get back to college in 9 weeks...!</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">Whilst waiting for our exam results, Michelle and I got involved in writing a small section of the Living Landscapes document with Essex Wildlife Trust. We wrote about lotic ecosystems and the importance of protecting such habitats. It's not been published yet, but once it does I will post a link to it here. </div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">The next week we went along to help out at Norsey Woods in Billericay with their monthly dormouse survey. They have a number of boxes throughout the wood and it took about 10 of us 3 hours to check them all. The very first box that I opened had a dormouse nest so I was delighted, and quite excited by the likelihood of seeing one of these elusive creatures.</div><div align="left"><br />
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</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9l19YPsM1HICH42vr2m0RZSv35FGcTd1kOL96ggHzdu6urB9-KkRO6HGgWbju-RUOzfqBY6g4h5lFdlbn-DmI8dw6yEw5FjO8TxFDcAKvAORdBXLbfOqsGbxybKs-kDOlroHdYu7SS_0/s1600/DSCF1509.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9l19YPsM1HICH42vr2m0RZSv35FGcTd1kOL96ggHzdu6urB9-KkRO6HGgWbju-RUOzfqBY6g4h5lFdlbn-DmI8dw6yEw5FjO8TxFDcAKvAORdBXLbfOqsGbxybKs-kDOlroHdYu7SS_0/s320/DSCF1509.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dormouse nest</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Whilst Michelle and I were looking at slow worms in an open area of the woodland some of the other volunteers found a dormouse. We abandoned the little legless critters and ran towards the nest box. Sure enough here was the cutest mouse you could ever hope to see (although harvest mice are up there too...) The picture below does not do him justice. He was popped into this little bag to be weighed quickly and then he was carefully put back in the box. We saw another three dormice during the survey. One of which escaped out of the box as we tried to remove him - ran up my sleeve and jumped off my shoulder into the tree.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRrT_1WkPKHaDufhPtWcWAWlg8uOwIA3nEmbtUgBZB421QlaCdfUkRtLiw3ohyxGhOQVij0RmM07fw0UV3ery-OKK5g-15q4nbv6DkKf2pCc2oEx1iP1a36itVet0O7MGHe-OHHmZvvs/s1600/DSCF1512.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRrT_1WkPKHaDufhPtWcWAWlg8uOwIA3nEmbtUgBZB421QlaCdfUkRtLiw3ohyxGhOQVij0RmM07fw0UV3ery-OKK5g-15q4nbv6DkKf2pCc2oEx1iP1a36itVet0O7MGHe-OHHmZvvs/s320/DSCF1512.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The very first dormouse</td></tr>
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A couple of weeks later, on a beautiful sunny morning Joel and I set out for a walk in Thorndon Country Park. We didn't have too much time and we'd never been there before so we thought we'd just have a brisk walk round and then head home. I didn't count on catching a glimpse of what I believe was a Silver-washed Fritillary. It was beautiful but just didn't stay around long enough to get a proper view, not did it settle so that we could get a picture! However, we ended up spending a lot of time standing at the edge of the paths looking into thickets of bramble and nettle at the other species around. A beautiful female Meadow Brown and a gorgeous chocolatey brown ringlet.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3MUsHgCkEzRifH1D2LBdEw2Lf5sOmw7PvFozSc5edfaKiMTklVuWUsDMHaouuVlobZJowE_Nb6WdvNF_E_X-sTibKd_fUyTToS08EmvBuTW439Ey7focJ7hyVRVkGkqfrU-t10wrrQM/s1600/DSCF1522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150px" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3MUsHgCkEzRifH1D2LBdEw2Lf5sOmw7PvFozSc5edfaKiMTklVuWUsDMHaouuVlobZJowE_Nb6WdvNF_E_X-sTibKd_fUyTToS08EmvBuTW439Ey7focJ7hyVRVkGkqfrU-t10wrrQM/s200/DSCF1522.JPG" width="200px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Female Meadow Brown</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEXYFGuax4q6dcrRJxY5FLjTTXm3wWp0g58ybm_bz9iDjQfoiKnE2BxF7UvVzSmBYsQ1l1IxO3N25lRaxpcuitdtCRFwYgASOND1zJLLdaA-n1HPGj9bvURUqvRyEjjruGNcauCM_Z-EQ/s1600/DSCF1527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150px" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEXYFGuax4q6dcrRJxY5FLjTTXm3wWp0g58ybm_bz9iDjQfoiKnE2BxF7UvVzSmBYsQ1l1IxO3N25lRaxpcuitdtCRFwYgASOND1zJLLdaA-n1HPGj9bvURUqvRyEjjruGNcauCM_Z-EQ/s200/DSCF1527.JPG" width="200px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ringlet</td></tr>
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Trying to keep the garden an attractive place for wildlife whilst what we want to do with it. So here is a glimpse at our wild flower meadow..... with the recent addition of a new bird table. Essentially we have just left a strip of flower bed at the side to grow. We've got some lovely plants: feverfew, wood dock, pink-sorrel, sneezewort, self-heal, red dead nettle, opium poppies and a variety of grasses. The sparrows are loving the new bird table as well. Looking out at them now and they've just scattered as Alfie the Jack Russell next door has frightened them off with his barking. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczVsiM-j5ufMdBAo7jEqEzCI17gJYk4Lwo5rKqOBHEV5svtEREfo6g3EP4jRse6zMxUatdloXgmTV0XS2K9xbMHhrXM0lQTYgtJ6BiddOKRZ0psPa_v1-Ey0ZbxaJCZXypmYyLDh7op0/s1600/DSCF1574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" m$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczVsiM-j5ufMdBAo7jEqEzCI17gJYk4Lwo5rKqOBHEV5svtEREfo6g3EP4jRse6zMxUatdloXgmTV0XS2K9xbMHhrXM0lQTYgtJ6BiddOKRZ0psPa_v1-Ey0ZbxaJCZXypmYyLDh7op0/s320/DSCF1574.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our "Wild Flower Meadow"</td></tr>
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Sadly, I only get to look at my nature garden now at weekends as I have re-entered the world of work. Back in HR at another advertising agency for the summer. Hopefully the money earned here will go some way to funding my continued studies...Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-48181915555479909262011-06-21T14:56:00.003+01:002011-06-21T17:23:40.958+01:00Conservation's Dirty Secret<div style="text-align: justify;">Last night I watched Channel 4’s Dispatches programme entitled “<a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-95/episode-1">Conservation’s Dirty Secrets</a>”. It proposed to examine the way in which big conservation charities are run and questioning whether the conservation movement has got it wrong by focusing on charismatic ‘megafauna’ and by putting animals before people.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Personally I enjoyed the programme as there are often concerns about how and where donations are spent and the interrelations between charities and big corporations. The programme uncovered rather unsavoury links between conservation charities and big polluting oil companies and the charities gave poor responses to the reasons behind these links. However, this is journalism and many people felt that it bordered on sensationalism (comments via twitter).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">To berate a charity for using cute, fluffy animals to get the money in is not, in my opinion, the travesty it was made out to be. If the charities in question are ploughing the donations into a range of conservation challenges across the world then I am happy for them to have a flagship species to help them raise awareness. In terms of educating people overall however this “disneyfication of conservation” is not ideal and a more holistic approach should be taken; more effort made to show why it is important to sustain a variety of ecosystems and species.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The programme also showed the very murky side of putting wildlife before people. Groups of indigenous people in Kenya were shown to be being evicted from their homes and aggressively pursued by armed government officials; resulting in rape and murder. All in the name of a new reserve for the African Wildlife Trust. This is not acceptable under any circumstances. Local people must be considered and involved in these projects for them to work. It is essential for them to engage with conservation, and for them to benefit. This is not a new concept – but it seems an elusive one to many.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Overall I think it raised some important points but it did not give the charities in question much right to reply. It is a reminder to people to check (as best they can) where their donations are going before they give their hard-earned cash and that applies to all charities not just conservation. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As a student of conservation and a member of conservation charities I will not be changing any of my donations as for me the money that is spent on the projects and the good work that is carried out far outweighs any concerns I have about where and how it is being spent. Currently I donate to local and national charities and am not involved with international organisations. This programme will not stop me from donating to, or working for a large, international charity but I will certainly think more carefully about it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But don't take my word for it follow the link in the first paragraph and make your own mind up!</div>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-47819826153665849292011-06-19T22:21:00.000+01:002011-06-19T22:21:09.581+01:00This season is all about the little black caps.....A sad weekend for me now that Springwatch has ended on television and I can no longer indulge in my Chris Packham adulation on a nightly-basis... however on the advice of the man himself I decided to get out there and experience it first-hand.<br />
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It has been a while since I last volunteered at Langdon - about 2 months. Shockingly remiss of me, however I needed time to prepare for my exams etc and then a month to unwind! Anyway, I went out this morning to assist with the work party and spent the first hour brush cutting the edges of a Public Right of Way. Whilst fixing a wobbly blade on the brushcutter Mick received a phone call to advise that one of the cows had escaped from the meadow. These clever cows manage to squeeze themselves through the kissing gates to make their escape. They are only young cows but still - it's a tight fit. We all went down and managed to herd it back through the main gate fairly uneventfully. <br />
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Whilst we were down there I had my first birding experience of a Common Tern (<em>Sterna hirundo</em>) flying around the lake. At college a tern was described to me by a tutor as "a gull which has died and gone to heaven". As soon as I saw the tern I understood exactly what he meant. From a distance it looked very much like a black-headed gull but upon closer inspection it was slender, elegant and simply beautiful to watch. Potentially, a new favourite!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Common Tern (c) Wikipedia</td></tr>
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">To top it all however I had another birding first - a blackcap (<em>Sylvia atricapilla</em>). This was a male singing his heart out at the edge of the bridleway we were clearing. Fairly common on the reserve yet I had never seen one. A truly beautiful song, and attractive little bird too. An excellent day for my bird spots!</div><div class="" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRoi-1mfMYvBR4Sa1D9l2_25_hNAb981Yj6VnPpf01uA0axJgtz0b9vnSCL1kYHRYrOcLbtc8nH9YhA067y3CUV6wc9c2V9kw93zhBvEx4XPzLox1Tm_e3Pa7-DnwYzXWykKB_vwFMQQ/s1600/blackcap_male_300_tcm9-139613_v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" i$="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRoi-1mfMYvBR4Sa1D9l2_25_hNAb981Yj6VnPpf01uA0axJgtz0b9vnSCL1kYHRYrOcLbtc8nH9YhA067y3CUV6wc9c2V9kw93zhBvEx4XPzLox1Tm_e3Pa7-DnwYzXWykKB_vwFMQQ/s320/blackcap_male_300_tcm9-139613_v2.jpg" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blackcap (c) RSPB</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-25765555782596737762011-06-08T16:43:00.001+01:002011-06-08T16:45:03.823+01:00Moth trapping.... Mosquitoes 4 - Nicola 0At the end of May I participated in <a href="http://www.essexwt.org.uk/eventsactivities/basildon_natural_history_society_events/">Basildon Natural History Society's </a>records evening. We were moth trapping at Marks Hill. The evening started with the regular members setting up 3 moth traps connected to a generator. We had a table and chairs set up with a magnifying lamp and several small plastic pots and lids. The object of the night was to capture whatever flew into the traps or indeed flew around our heads!<br />
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I was off to a bad start when before the traps were even switched on I was bitten by a mosquito or other such horror. I realised I had made a school-girl error, foolishly not considering that I was going to be in woodland at dusk, I had failed to apply a single drop of insect repellent. Being allergic to mosquito bites this was a huge mistake. So, with that attractive "rambler" look of trousers tucked into my socks, my scarf woven tightly about my neck and the velcro on my jacket fastened tightly around my wrists I set about the all-important task of moth capture.<br />
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Armed with a few plastic pots I investigated the first moth trap. My only experience of moth trapping has been to leave the traps out overnight and then examine the contents in the morning. It is fairly easy to put the moths in the pots then as they are cold and not moving around much. This was a whole new experience for me. Trying to catch a fluttering moth in a small plastic tub, whilst avoiding touching, or looking directly at, the bright hot mercury bulb is no mean feat! We spent several hours doing this and once I got the hang of it I was capturing moths on the ground, on blades of grass, flying around me and from the inside of the traps. Each pot was taken to Peter who identified them and made a note of the species. Once we had a collection of about 10 pots we took turns to walk away from the lights into the woodland to release the moths. My two favourite finds were Pale Oak Beauty and Green Silver-lines (pictures below)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNSqqXvaMjz4nT9ey8xh2tAayRwkCP_5RNjTcWxiIXEwDP4F8ebSnnJ76Lxean6N7xtApAEppMqGwg2VD-lT0v3ZG0MBneNC0dtGl7OSNRPSNGZYgt0_5iLhIAhve8YDqxLIgFOf_B5qw/s1600/DSCF1277.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNSqqXvaMjz4nT9ey8xh2tAayRwkCP_5RNjTcWxiIXEwDP4F8ebSnnJ76Lxean6N7xtApAEppMqGwg2VD-lT0v3ZG0MBneNC0dtGl7OSNRPSNGZYgt0_5iLhIAhve8YDqxLIgFOf_B5qw/s320/DSCF1277.JPG" t8="true" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pale Oak Beauty [<em>Hypomecis punctinalis</em>]</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3l87Avuv9Q2N9zFzNpzwsexeWhSlzPuI_CWcg0hh1lsSMrvEC9j32yjpUBMRGwH_oVthMaC9kHOmtpVxlS2sFr1kht4ZGFrl7XnTp-YOnNeRcu2Lqr1RgAJirmLDh4dHJvF4QNVChpQM/s1600/DSCF1278.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3l87Avuv9Q2N9zFzNpzwsexeWhSlzPuI_CWcg0hh1lsSMrvEC9j32yjpUBMRGwH_oVthMaC9kHOmtpVxlS2sFr1kht4ZGFrl7XnTp-YOnNeRcu2Lqr1RgAJirmLDh4dHJvF4QNVChpQM/s320/DSCF1278.JPG" t8="true" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green Silver-lines [<em>Pseudoips prasinana britannica</em>]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The next moth recording evening is in a couple of weeks and I would love to go again - but this time I will be head-to-toe in repellent and may even fashion a bee-keeper-esque suit from a mozzie-net...Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-57120356823856972292011-05-22T22:49:00.000+01:002011-05-22T22:49:49.618+01:00In search of Ratty...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK7C4gbSK4H6H_u3sxhoQZzfZvXFu4qI8hXeRA3JkXLPZTyhc6idOPDl2wmPDfge1ZP88GAuE8lJcSmCFuooCT4xqYdtkKlSMz642SVP_RXm7W9Wr_oLtbT_bIR-_QVTJ3IszY2zZ7wxM/s1600/DSCF1156.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK7C4gbSK4H6H_u3sxhoQZzfZvXFu4qI8hXeRA3JkXLPZTyhc6idOPDl2wmPDfge1ZP88GAuE8lJcSmCFuooCT4xqYdtkKlSMz642SVP_RXm7W9Wr_oLtbT_bIR-_QVTJ3IszY2zZ7wxM/s200/DSCF1156.JPG" width="200px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">People-watching</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Feeling a bit worse for wear following the college Summer Ball, Michelle and I headed up to <a href="http://www.essexwt.org.uk/visitor_centres__nature_reserves/abbotts_hall_farm/">Abbotts Hall Farm</a> to take part in Essex Wildlife Trust's Water Vole training course. This course would enable us to survey areas looking for field signs of water voles and feedback our findings to the Trust for their records.<br />
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On the way in to the course we spotted a little sparrow peering out of a nest box. He was there for quite a while just watching the world go by. After a morning listening to Darren Tansley, an incredibly articulate and knowledgeable man responsible for the Riversearch programme, telling us about the basic ecology of water voles and showing us pictures of habitats and field signs, we headed off to see for ourselves. First stop was a hide looking out across a man-made lake on the reserve. We looked to see if we could see any water voles from this area. We saw lots of birds including coots, moorhens, little grebes, tufted duck, mute swan and cygnets, pochard and mallard.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9RSR1RR3Jpw44m89ZFoDYzIT4JMOCJq-iZY3SMc-YZ5xxG2gfUOTx7BzLqoGPXwXWv7LX4OQlID5bvWNoGuQfteukTAgpv5Csl_4BtDtqy8W63KOsZOHjZMu72EXc5-oeM2NFcVqaNA/s1600/DSCF1158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9RSR1RR3Jpw44m89ZFoDYzIT4JMOCJq-iZY3SMc-YZ5xxG2gfUOTx7BzLqoGPXwXWv7LX4OQlID5bvWNoGuQfteukTAgpv5Csl_4BtDtqy8W63KOsZOHjZMu72EXc5-oeM2NFcVqaNA/s200/DSCF1158.JPG" width="200px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The view from the bird hide</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MHbZeKdYQgQBI3OujfAbSXx6jcl94IWIz08LykGt6Al8kgJQ-l8vb5YjrEUzmuYrJ58mQGm30kt_pkDlQKVsKF7l9EDCd9Qd3mb3Izh035oWuOXDdRWTnsc_vtnlyYniE5fjmKuJhoA/s1600/DSCF1159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MHbZeKdYQgQBI3OujfAbSXx6jcl94IWIz08LykGt6Al8kgJQ-l8vb5YjrEUzmuYrJ58mQGm30kt_pkDlQKVsKF7l9EDCd9Qd3mb3Izh035oWuOXDdRWTnsc_vtnlyYniE5fjmKuJhoA/s320/DSCF1159.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Water Vole burrows in the bank</td></tr>
</tbody></table>From the hide we were able to see water vole burrows in the bank on the lake. The holes in the picture show some above where the water line had previously been, and some were below that water line. They use the ones below the water line to escape from predators.<br />
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Water voles are rather unfortunate to have numerous predators who will attack them from the air, the land and the water. The voles have evolved a range of escape tactics which can often be successful; they also breed very effectively and quickly. Populations of water voles in Essex, and across the country, have dropped considerably and the biggest culprit is believed to be the mink. A female mink is small enough to get into the voles' burrows and take any animal living there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF5T-EFn-3jfpGQT6SlhDUxQJTQY0QwE32_5nzGDPK7LV99efo3MRQKu1U86zkgILKcgJFZSaLY56GyfT8_7XZG1riYh2oJJNk3XYIo2NRJkzvE0rw9Hae19QWpvG7CKz6CUG9d23DNew/s1600/DSCF1166.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF5T-EFn-3jfpGQT6SlhDUxQJTQY0QwE32_5nzGDPK7LV99efo3MRQKu1U86zkgILKcgJFZSaLY56GyfT8_7XZG1riYh2oJJNk3XYIo2NRJkzvE0rw9Hae19QWpvG7CKz6CUG9d23DNew/s320/DSCF1166.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Darren telling us about feeding stations</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixB-ys_hIcPfaYoZMs1ACHUSDqyp6u3AsW8_2545XEuTv7VMIoczPDbRSfWDmc41fCht5m-B2wrnASd5pxRSRJ7xAL3rZNzXwBdsXmvl6f5QC_t2c4FDvZmw9iaOKO8_mAnvJ-kdtbNlw/s1600/DSCF1171.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixB-ys_hIcPfaYoZMs1ACHUSDqyp6u3AsW8_2545XEuTv7VMIoczPDbRSfWDmc41fCht5m-B2wrnASd5pxRSRJ7xAL3rZNzXwBdsXmvl6f5QC_t2c4FDvZmw9iaOKO8_mAnvJ-kdtbNlw/s320/DSCF1171.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Water Vole poo - like brown tic-tacs!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We found a few field signs of water vole presence around the lake. Some feeding stations, where the voles chop down the sedges, rushes or grasses that they are feeding on and leave little piles of vegetation. They are quite distinct in that the edges are cut at 45 degree angles.<br />
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We also found a few latrine sites where there were small piles of vole poo which look a lot like brown tic-tacs. One site we found had a feeding station, a latrine, and just above it there were 3 burrow entrances. Unfortunately we didn't hear the familiar 'plop' sound of the voles vanishing form our footsteps.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrtrnZ9ix_43PqN3oUgT-q0WGt241TL5gGoD6iMcwEzdOrjIIpyagYIdgGsuN3N-NYr5hbthoHhqbf_EsbJePYmeO4T7wRTts4nXQshkOXi-POANpNmAQyf6yGGpKhyphenhyphen2DvCqo8iLSEHE/s1600/DSCF1172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="187px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrtrnZ9ix_43PqN3oUgT-q0WGt241TL5gGoD6iMcwEzdOrjIIpyagYIdgGsuN3N-NYr5hbthoHhqbf_EsbJePYmeO4T7wRTts4nXQshkOXi-POANpNmAQyf6yGGpKhyphenhyphen2DvCqo8iLSEHE/s320/DSCF1172.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue-tailed Damselfly</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFpZ4MV213Klct1v0xrKNgKjwhnHpPkyJRGZsruIR8H5QtLuypn8tgL-QSvHUUriseEGmkPs3_cq3OyIDnNYF9MmC8egEUDpDHY4sK_gWdVMlebCmqYbf_jSnaCn-ugSuji_sRiTQcwT4/s1600/DSCF1175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFpZ4MV213Klct1v0xrKNgKjwhnHpPkyJRGZsruIR8H5QtLuypn8tgL-QSvHUUriseEGmkPs3_cq3OyIDnNYF9MmC8egEUDpDHY4sK_gWdVMlebCmqYbf_jSnaCn-ugSuji_sRiTQcwT4/s320/DSCF1175.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More vole poo - latrine</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipg8BVcotDSS41_Y0znvccE_AZhMdh1L08wF84R-btDOL4C6YDf_41L7qwT29Gsy3bIrOCIvTRQMBXKACe4ZjsrmtUU0PBWGcECZ0xuYzCDYpNh5BoMejUakakdK_PgSbWo38HFZtgTSo/s1600/DSCF1176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipg8BVcotDSS41_Y0znvccE_AZhMdh1L08wF84R-btDOL4C6YDf_41L7qwT29Gsy3bIrOCIvTRQMBXKACe4ZjsrmtUU0PBWGcECZ0xuYzCDYpNh5BoMejUakakdK_PgSbWo38HFZtgTSo/s320/DSCF1176.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abbotts Hall Farm</td></tr>
</tbody></table> On the way back we to the centre we had a wander round the gardens which were really beautiful. An excellent course and I hope to use my new-found tracking skills during the summer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicBHFuYrEzEz5fc9B9FTKm11EApsxqTrFbFVP1n59Fox8poO0-dl4iT-4NngR1KULk7gIkmBhJK1PGJbkIWRXkuDY23MXZO3DgKsnrUYi27myZWEpfKxuFSwexWsdPw9-scFIuLXP3XWc/s1600/DSCF1179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicBHFuYrEzEz5fc9B9FTKm11EApsxqTrFbFVP1n59Fox8poO0-dl4iT-4NngR1KULk7gIkmBhJK1PGJbkIWRXkuDY23MXZO3DgKsnrUYi27myZWEpfKxuFSwexWsdPw9-scFIuLXP3XWc/s320/DSCF1179.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abbotts Hall Farm - pond</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJng4tuGZn6lHEM2KCqyaJJ4a82wAabxY4VsgIr5Qmzx4nZ5EZdMDBrVVL4lTL8vyZtWuO3LakdJBZuLT9WPFQApsyXnIRuCnkfzUwhGVusrbt4C-dBfRPvSieBraJe9OA4FB1XUzvV9M/s1600/DSCF1182.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJng4tuGZn6lHEM2KCqyaJJ4a82wAabxY4VsgIr5Qmzx4nZ5EZdMDBrVVL4lTL8vyZtWuO3LakdJBZuLT9WPFQApsyXnIRuCnkfzUwhGVusrbt4C-dBfRPvSieBraJe9OA4FB1XUzvV9M/s320/DSCF1182.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abbotts Hall Farm - beautiful poppies</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-83167662800658425222011-05-19T23:14:00.000+01:002011-05-19T23:14:23.831+01:00And breathe....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ciiI_ypKoJROr7o1bDU3IWRQf5JK7UxSMyC922vGDLcLQPxwyCY_7ParlnEr2YK513Tk0-ZDzXlxf13liKEfgFYY_131OetlMzo17Ll_2oVO_mmxl5O9DZNfAH8Dn9kMkV6PVwPkKEU/s1600/Robin.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ciiI_ypKoJROr7o1bDU3IWRQf5JK7UxSMyC922vGDLcLQPxwyCY_7ParlnEr2YK513Tk0-ZDzXlxf13liKEfgFYY_131OetlMzo17Ll_2oVO_mmxl5O9DZNfAH8Dn9kMkV6PVwPkKEU/s320/Robin.JPG" width="233px" /></a></div>So, my exams finished today and the relief is palpable.... I am already dreaming of walks in the countryside, making full use of my camera, reading novels and the all the other things you can do when you are not totally absorbed in study. I'm sure I will be desperate to start again by the time we get to August though!<br />
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Anyway, I have updated my new Natural History Diary page with some pictures of my recent assignment which saw me scribbling furiously in a notepad and dragging out all my watercolours, pastels and pencils. Perhaps a little too much time was spent dabbling with the brush and not enough on the writing... <br />
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In all seriousness, it was a fun (albeit immensely time-consuming) exercise which saw me learn a great deal about 30 different species and the management surrounding many of their habitats.Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622456646173388137.post-7610610287615821892011-05-18T18:42:00.002+01:002011-05-18T18:44:56.930+01:00Study Tour of the New Forest<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Last month a delegation of 12 <a href="http://www.writtle.ac.uk/">Writtle College</a> nature afficionados descended upon the New Forest in Hampshire to commence a week-long study tour. 10 students and 2 lecturers intent on discovering all the Forest and surrounding counties had to offer.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We left the college on a beautiful Monday morning in our little minibus of mayhem. Stopping at the <a href="http://www.ottersandowls.co.uk/index.htm">New Forest Wildlife Park</a> we were somewhat disappointed by the lack of animals on show, but Gavin got to see lots of owls, Kara and Michelle made friends with a little deer and there were some very pretty exotic butterflies. We then stopped off in Lyndhurst for a wander and a some lunch. The New Forest Visitor Centre provided us with an insight into the history of the area. Although for others it was a time for dressing-up...</div> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQDEOZCT0DFA8Gbe1nSrsMRMSNPS-xDPwm-0qQTT2od7tH6NzlaZDVwWFtcXXfRClwH9ThdxrzHChccpTsKuVcHoGPYoTO0pPKDq_i3NNYGs_tbj_JHvvfcGwQriM2sM1KNwfkP7XfhgI/s1600/DSCF0660.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQDEOZCT0DFA8Gbe1nSrsMRMSNPS-xDPwm-0qQTT2od7tH6NzlaZDVwWFtcXXfRClwH9ThdxrzHChccpTsKuVcHoGPYoTO0pPKDq_i3NNYGs_tbj_JHvvfcGwQriM2sM1KNwfkP7XfhgI/s200/DSCF0660.JPG" width="200px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dressing up time..</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF53i824G7S05z2ewuQT15vlxym4oQAuBzHOhc5uNiy5ppNMQTr00fxE4Myq5YNzf6GhbzGVugAIh8ZH3bgId_sA66-LdoNDvikrvMhKplEVDZP_VUJOZIA5Hwfrj0nquUwJrXKrTWXDc/s1600/DSCF0749+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF53i824G7S05z2ewuQT15vlxym4oQAuBzHOhc5uNiy5ppNMQTr00fxE4Myq5YNzf6GhbzGVugAIh8ZH3bgId_sA66-LdoNDvikrvMhKplEVDZP_VUJOZIA5Hwfrj0nquUwJrXKrTWXDc/s200/DSCF0749+-+Copy.JPG" width="200px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burley YHA</td></tr>
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We were staying at <a href="http://www.yha.org.uk/find-accommodation/south-west-england/hostels/burley/index.aspx">Burley YHA</a> which was pretty good and in a nice location. Very close to lots of heathland and New Forest ponies roaming around. We spent a fun evening in one of the village pubs and walked home through the golf course/woodland by torchlight back to our bunkbeds.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">On Tuesday morning we had a tour of an area of the New Forest by the Forestry Commission which was very informative and it was a beautiful area. We learnt about the conservation issues in the area and the history of the forest. We also visited the <a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/recreation.nsf/LUWebDocsByKey/EnglandHampshireNoForestNewForestNewForestReptileCentre">New Forest Reptile Centre</a> where we were able to see species of native reptiles (inc. adders, lizards, frogs and toads). </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Learning about the conservation of the New Forest</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We then drove down to Lulworth Heritage Centre and took a walk round Lulworth Cove and took the beautiful cliff-top path along to Durdle Dor. This path offers some spectacular views across the Channel but also of the cliffs themselves - a geologist's delight! I started off dressed in t-shirt, jumper, jacket, hat and scarf but by the time I was half way along the path I was reduced to a t-shirt. A very steep climb but worth every breath.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The whole group at Durdle Dor</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb0vfX_F7IXELk_whxDhtnvEkPDnm7aTTKU8cf-kEH23BmJSCXbUctHvpB2I5mzwyksuXK0FiyZm5WURL1kMDDzpRemtm-Dwpa5QIHVz68AUAZD99_xDoFFydDoq6SEYjWXq6sPL4lLtc/s1600/DSCF0698+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb0vfX_F7IXELk_whxDhtnvEkPDnm7aTTKU8cf-kEH23BmJSCXbUctHvpB2I5mzwyksuXK0FiyZm5WURL1kMDDzpRemtm-Dwpa5QIHVz68AUAZD99_xDoFFydDoq6SEYjWXq6sPL4lLtc/s200/DSCF0698+-+Copy.JPG" width="200px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The next day we visited <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/r/radipolelake/index.aspx">Radipole Lake</a> which is an urban RSPB reserve in the centre of Weymouth. A very difficult place to manage as it has public footpaths running through it, and offers seclusion to wayward teens looking for a quiet spot to quaff a few cans!! Lots of birds to be seen and heard including Cetti's Warbler. We had lunch looking out over Chesil Beach which was beautiful.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyrWj1XoVHcRCcbC8sw41HGDLvNCEHrGxXBwlQLdz0__th3c9LC-K2xunuaFb0unfcGeBYLd86vr8cPbWFm77PjRTLEUVWR4pYxB7s8yKw1IO8cLVLFtrV7wQrppE666x8EeY-2CYZ7Vs/s1600/DSCF0780+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyrWj1XoVHcRCcbC8sw41HGDLvNCEHrGxXBwlQLdz0__th3c9LC-K2xunuaFb0unfcGeBYLd86vr8cPbWFm77PjRTLEUVWR4pYxB7s8yKw1IO8cLVLFtrV7wQrppE666x8EeY-2CYZ7Vs/s320/DSCF0780+-+Copy.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On Chesil Beach</td></tr>
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG0R9_sSZ4aHl8Jn0TgFMiOYgkeTrxHADweYozwmnz_GSTKPl64b5i_kvoS6nVJdFAZbvmozKc-gTDPn7EIZQ9L-9Ve4t6Msv3PT6uW3Z4W4Adh70geEykg8yASmhEDJ9OL2oCUyZR0m8/s1600/DSCF0798+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG0R9_sSZ4aHl8Jn0TgFMiOYgkeTrxHADweYozwmnz_GSTKPl64b5i_kvoS6nVJdFAZbvmozKc-gTDPn7EIZQ9L-9Ve4t6Msv3PT6uW3Z4W4Adh70geEykg8yASmhEDJ9OL2oCUyZR0m8/s200/DSCF0798+-+Copy.JPG" width="150px" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6M_0NowEfNFPf4uKNahVEU20H5bj0xB908NpVQZbPwEEE1tokFdsM7AIRWifzGPuprDa6P-Zc7ZgtmNVf71nqCpqjMmo5Rz-tz9k7-apT_JjdpsPut0TYsCfd8u3dZHlI9dqmLLZqykk/s1600/DSCF0801+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6M_0NowEfNFPf4uKNahVEU20H5bj0xB908NpVQZbPwEEE1tokFdsM7AIRWifzGPuprDa6P-Zc7ZgtmNVf71nqCpqjMmo5Rz-tz9k7-apT_JjdpsPut0TYsCfd8u3dZHlI9dqmLLZqykk/s200/DSCF0801+-+Copy.JPG" width="150px" /></a>Next stop was the internationally important <a href="http://www.portlandbirdobs.org.uk/">Portland Bill Observatory</a> where we were afforded a tour around the garden to see the mist nets and habitats available to the birds there. Many birds stop here to refuel or rest on there way up through the UK from their breeding sites in the tropical south. Whilst we were there we had the priviledge of watching a Willow Warbler being ringed. We also had a trip up to the top of the observatory to look out across Portland and the sea. [Only two weeks later Chris Packham (my idol and inspiration) would be stood at the very same point presenting for the </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> Springwatch Easter Special.]</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAoNSSc4FEwHMyQYDb-Ic5AtstkUvvc_FnWVGuvf_bMyw6xAv6k7g8M6FFEGUnnuHXC5o-s51jDUJ4Cb2l8Fb9DJPsB75KD9N8kFOdJPkqXviuRSSL27Me0_WWHN3y-UBEAw_Bgd0pZQM/s1600/DSCF0804+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAoNSSc4FEwHMyQYDb-Ic5AtstkUvvc_FnWVGuvf_bMyw6xAv6k7g8M6FFEGUnnuHXC5o-s51jDUJ4Cb2l8Fb9DJPsB75KD9N8kFOdJPkqXviuRSSL27Me0_WWHN3y-UBEAw_Bgd0pZQM/s200/DSCF0804+-+Copy.JPG" width="200px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bedraggled, but happy!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We returned to the hostel via <a href="http://www.maidencastle.com/">Maiden Castle</a>, an Iron Age Hill Fort which I had visited before. By this point it was very wet and windy, but a few hardened souls braved the weather and took a walk around the site. On the way back to the minibus we were fortunate to see a flock of Linnet, some corn buntings and a couple of stonechat.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iC-DXKPho4aRqATBl4bNJZEzPpaAY72OY1StSoYwvQcXVTdju86CbiYXqZsb24fRXfhs9HhxAyFW_ko8ONcqETwPbVgNdR42ZIWgyvUNvevqYPP7XJ8IusiNv5mPTiP0SMEyjB6O86s/s1600/DSCF0843+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iC-DXKPho4aRqATBl4bNJZEzPpaAY72OY1StSoYwvQcXVTdju86CbiYXqZsb24fRXfhs9HhxAyFW_ko8ONcqETwPbVgNdR42ZIWgyvUNvevqYPP7XJ8IusiNv5mPTiP0SMEyjB6O86s/s200/DSCF0843+-+Copy.JPG" width="200px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The charismatic Fergus</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Thursday, and our last full day of activities. Time passes so quickly on trips like these. The day was spent a bit further north in Andover and Salisbury. We visited the <a href="http://www.hawk-conservancy.org/index.asp">Hawk Conservancy Trust</a> first to meet with Fergus, the Great Bustard. The trust are involved in a conservation project to re-introduce these magnificent birds back to the wild in the UK. Following our visit here we taken to their release site and home of the <a href="http://greatbustard.org/">Great Bustard Project</a> on Salisbury Plain. We were able to see a couple of the birds in their release pen, and also a stone curlew. Unfortunately when we went out onto the plain we didn't spot any.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiqepXgUeQC8gVQGRjmx_ZcMA4g39gfpE7F1ivDdM6t8SCd_5c7mj2RrZMM6pDZVTkhE8mNV78-AubgklyBxAliZyZ5ULRtotDEoCi5hyphenhyphenUaBTAFEmjiHKRwe4_AfBVDuOXR2jIYAA_EVE/s1600/DSCF0859+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiqepXgUeQC8gVQGRjmx_ZcMA4g39gfpE7F1ivDdM6t8SCd_5c7mj2RrZMM6pDZVTkhE8mNV78-AubgklyBxAliZyZ5ULRtotDEoCi5hyphenhyphenUaBTAFEmjiHKRwe4_AfBVDuOXR2jIYAA_EVE/s200/DSCF0859+-+Copy.JPG" width="200px" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Our visit here was followed up by an afternoon in the company of the Conservation Officer for the Ministry of Defence. We learnt about the conflict involved in managing a SSSI site alongside have it used for target practice and military operations. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Our trip home on Friday was broken up with a visit to Stephen's Castle Heathland in Verwood. A SSSI this was a very sweet little oasis in the middle of a town. Lots of botanical interest here including the exquisite sundew.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtvk7pcqrflQkNDsfjHyxRYrRUbjb8ExW4chIWO_79JZOqrO_BuCTF4LYphQyp47D_QUGIxFKESKDZ-St7GCE72RONfMtCX3zjBzqwRC2mNKVrktTbcYMUH3OwC50tsxk8okOaH71PW2I/s1600/DSCF0920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtvk7pcqrflQkNDsfjHyxRYrRUbjb8ExW4chIWO_79JZOqrO_BuCTF4LYphQyp47D_QUGIxFKESKDZ-St7GCE72RONfMtCX3zjBzqwRC2mNKVrktTbcYMUH3OwC50tsxk8okOaH71PW2I/s200/DSCF0920.JPG" width="200px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Botanising at Stephen's Castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDnGYHnlu9s7hf_veORh1BYQl69bNfvZjlbcmwVdOQrVp2kMgkGi4cbIVRoTIRIbUqPpUPGUDAhDFe8-TfmfNxF-vZLYyAYUBLHLNGJpbH0IECoJr4RoE8l2hpxw-bO4a8Y4BaS7GgDJg/s1600/DSCF0934.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDnGYHnlu9s7hf_veORh1BYQl69bNfvZjlbcmwVdOQrVp2kMgkGi4cbIVRoTIRIbUqPpUPGUDAhDFe8-TfmfNxF-vZLYyAYUBLHLNGJpbH0IECoJr4RoE8l2hpxw-bO4a8Y4BaS7GgDJg/s200/DSCF0934.JPG" width="150px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful sundew<br />
[<em>Drosera rotundifolia</em>]</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">A thoroughly enjoyable week of learning and getting to know my fellow students that little bit better through ridiculous drinking games and animal impressions....</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Nichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08402863986748701258noreply@blogger.com0