Weekend Walking

After an evening of Guitar Hero into the wee hours of Sunday morning there was little chance of making it to Langdon Lake and Meadows for the work party. So, instead Amy and I took a walk to Gloucester Park in Basildon to see what we could spot. It was a dry day with a fair amount of sunshine but the park was still a bit muddy from the recent rain. We wandered past the lake and saw lots of Canada Geese, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen and a couple of Tufted Ducks. Further on we heard a Great Tit, saw lots of Wood Pigeon and saw a Pied Wagtail hopping about under a poplar tree. Then, approaching the lake on the way back we saw a flash of yellow and green flying low above the ground. The mystery bird fortunately stopped on the next tree and we recognised it immediately as a Green Woodpecker. We watched it for about 5-10 minutes as it moved round the trunk, pecked on the grass, bathed in the sunshine and then eventually flew away. It was a real treat to see such a beautiful bird in my local park. It's made me aware that you really can see a wide range of birds if you keep your eyes peeled wherever you go.

Following a trip to Costa Rica back in 2008 I decided that there was more to life than the 9 to 5 and so opted to volunteer on a more regular basis to get a better idea of conservation issues in the UK. In June 2009 and October 2009 I took part in some conversation work with the EuCAN [European Conservation Action Network] in Dorset and then for 2 weeks in La Brenne in France.  You can read my report on that trip at http://www.eucan.org.uk/docs/200910Fr/Nicola_Shearer.pdf

Anyway, very exciting thing happened on Sunday night - as Joel and I were driving home from Suffolk we saw a badger running across the road. My very first sighting!

Welcome to my blog!

Hi

Welcome to my first ever blog. I thought I'd create something to keep track of my conservation antics. So, more to follow very soon...