EEk can’t believe how long it’s been since I last posted. *slap wrist*

I’ve taken some time off work to concentrate on my thesis. So far this mainly seems to involve sunbathing in my garden while watching a blackbird carry worms back to his nest.  Although my armchair nature geeking has seen a lull, I’ve grabbed any excuse to get outdoors since the spring.

Yesterday was a beautiful and sunny day here in England, and I managed to snap a couple of close up shots of the dragonflies that have thrived in our pond this year. This is the first year we’ve had so many of them hatch, and as you can see in one photo-they’ve wasted little time before playing hide-the-sausage themselves.

Any ideas as to why this year has been such a successful one for them? Might just be as simple as the fact that we have s few more reeds left unkept this year.

Last Thursday was my birthday, and I celebrated with a trip to Blean woods, a RSPB reverse. We had an amazing picnic which attracted the attention of a very bold Robin. Look how close he got!

All credit for the above photo goes to my mystery photographer.

Am I the only one wondering how on earth he balances all his weight on those teeny little legs?

After that we went over to Broadstairs for the greasiest fish n chips we could find. I tried to take a nice photo of the bay but some pesky seaguls got in the way.

I’ve left my midlands University town now, and headed back home. It’s sad in a way, but I’m certainly a lot closer to the countryside now. Plus, I’m seeing a much more diverse range of birds here in Kent. Just this last week I have learnt to recognise starlings and chaffinches.

Here’s a photo of the avenue that I lived in:

I do prefer living outside of towns, but this street had a really cute feel to it.

The first sign of spring I saw, just weeks after our last snowfall, was these crocuses battling for survival on the cobbled floor:

It really makes me smile to see nature fighting back like this. In my last student house our garden was newly concreted and encased in paving slabs, and six months later you could barely see the concrete for the weeds and grass. I have this fantasy that as soon as we turn our backs for a second, suddenly all roads and paths and houses will be completely overgrown and taken over by wildlife.

Usually this fantasy ends with me realising I’d have nowhere to take a hot shower.

I’ve been incredibly slack at updating this blog recently, if someone could please explain to be how March can possibly already be here I’d be most grateful..

Thankfully I haven’t been as slack about getting out of the city depths. Last weekend I went to visit my fairy godmother in Shefield and we went for a drizzly walk on the peaks which was still spectacular. Saw almost a whole field of snowdrops-really quite breathtaking.

I’m so happy that spring is finally round the corner, and that daylight saving time starts in 2 weeks! I recently bought a bike and have been testing out its off road skills, and treading tons of mud into my house to celebrate.

This saturday I headed out of town to some outlying villages and farmland. Followed a river for a while, and then sat and read under a hedge overlooking a valley. Got a tad frozen after a while, but when the sun was shining it was warm, and I even saw a hare! No boxing though I’m afraid.

In two weeks I’m off home for the Easter holidays and I’m determined to cart my bike home on the train so that I can get some fresh air when I’m back. For someone who doesn’t drive this bike has felt like a life saver! Finally I’m not tied to the subburbs. Does anyone have experience taking bikes on trains? I’ve already just booked a normal ticket but I’m starting to get nervous that I need to make special arrangments.

I’ve been learning tons guys! I felt incredibly smug the other day, as I walked through my local park and saw two redwings, a couple of pied wagtails and a chaffinch

And all this just a few feet away from my University campus, so very exciting. Also, after moving our peanut feeder to the front of the house it’s become a constant site of battles between the local blue tits. At one point today I even saw 3 blue tits fighting over it. In a way it’s sad to see, especially as there’s space for all 3 to feed simaltaneously, but I’m hoping as the novelty of it wears off they’ll begin to share.

Anyway, it provides a very tempting distraction from my coursework. Spring is starting to show a few signs of coming, there’s a few buds on the tree in our front yard, and a pair of crows nearby repairing their nest.

I’m hoping to get the chance to do some volunteering next week, visit one or two urban beauty spots in London this weekend, and I’m still planning my trip to Scotland this summer, so tons to look foward to. What is everyone else most looking forward to most about spring? For me it’s got to be the bluebell woods near my home in Kent.

Just finished my Big garden birdwatch, decided to watch the front garden as it’s usually much more lively than the back. Only had out one peanut feeder, which I’ve probably put too close to the ground (I’m a short arse) as it was mostly deserted.

I also captured the neighbourhood cat and kept him prisoner for the hour too! Felt a bit exposed, as passers by probably thought I was an extremely dedicated branch of the neighbourhood watch..

Saw 2 sparrows, 2 blackbirds, 1 robin, 1 bluetit and a great tit. Not bad for my tiny urban garden

What did everyone else see? I think I’m going to start watching more regularly and see what else I can attract by feeding.

I’ve finally got my life back, after handing in a couple of essays this past week so I decided to celebrate by going for a walk with my cousin yesterday afternoon. She’s a fully qualified nature geek and has already got experience in environmental education so she fully understands my new obsession.

When we were younger I’d love visiting her family on the south coast of Cornwall, and I’d spend hours staring out to sea convinced I’d someday see a dolphin.

To make up for the lack of sea here we followed the river out of town for a couple of miles, ending up at a countryside park. We saw coots and ducks and Canada geese and swans and then just as the light was fading I spotted a heron! Only the second I’ve ever seen so was chuffed to bits.

After the sun had set a full moon rose and lit the river up in such a beautiful way, it was really special, and reminded me that this city isn’t quite as lifeless as I sometimes think. We found some ponies and fed them polos, it never fails to crack me up at the way they stick their tongues out in surprise afterwards! It did make me sad to see how they were tethered on quite short chains though, and one of them was really very porky.

Just as we were leaving the park we came across a couple who were chucking tons of white bread out to the swans and geese. I got the impression they were getting rid of out-of-date bread from a shop, and that they come fairly regularly. It was great to see so many birds this way, and one cocky swan even grabbed a piece out of my hand, but I can’t help wondering whether all that white bread is good for them? Especially as they are already in a countryside park. What does everyone think?

We left the park and caught a bus back to the city, but just as we were walking through the car park we heard some loud noises coming from some undergrowth. From the clumsy snapping of branches and a white nose I glimpsed, I first hoped it was badgers, but as we got closer we realised they were small ponies with had been tethered amongst some bushes.

I wish I’d had a camera on me to capture the light of the moon, and the way clouds were strewn across it, but I doubt my panasonic lumix would have been up to the job!

Tomorrow I’m going to do the rspb bird watching hour, I hardly seem to see any in our back yard but I’m hoping to be surprised. I missed the bird watching event I was hoping to go to this morning as I didn’t end up rolling home until gone 5am last night….well I can’t be geeky all of the time can I?

I’ve been stuck inside most of today, and so earlier this afternoon I decided to get out of the house to avoid going insane. Off I went to my local park for another run, or as I like to call it, a stumble. Anyway, halfway through I decided to have a quick rest at a pond-type feature set back amongst some trees.

While I was trying to recover the ability to breathe, I had a look around me.

The pond is about 30 foot long and 10 foot wide, with some reeds and other water plants, and is surrounded in the winter by some perpetually wet and boggy ground probably ripe with worms.

In short, it should be a sanctuary for wildlife. And although I did hear a couple of blackbirds in the trees, and one ‘plop’ from the pond, the most noticeable signs of movement came from a collection of plastic bags waving in the reeds.

Now I know I’m new to this nature lark, but I think this is really sad. I know that there are other dedicated ‘nature friendly’ parks and retreats outside of the city, but not everybody has easy access to them. Whereas this park is central and filled with kids at the weekend who would probably love to see some fish and frogs. Plus there’s tons of primary schools nearby that could bring their pupils for a nature walk, or even help maintain it.

The park does occasionally get vandalised, and isn’t particularly safe after dark. But surely if city parks are left to look grotty and abandoned then we can’t expect them to be treated with respect right?

raahhh rant over! When my deadlines are passed I’m gona get in touch with the council and see if they at least run any cleaning volunteer type programmes there.

Happy Friday everyone

I’ve not had an awful lot of time for nature escapades so far this week.

Although my weekend did involve a trip to Lakeside shopping centre in Thurrock. An old schoolfriend of mine in Kent used to think Lakeside was in the Lake district, even after she had been there..

I did jog around my local dingy park this morning, which I’d almost be stretching the truth to call green. It does however give me the excuse to feel smug for the rest of the day exercise wise, and I’ve already casually worked it into about 10 conversations today.

So that’s something.

Problem is, without a car a trip from the city centre to anywhere rural takes a huge chunk out of my day. And with an essay deadline looming next week the guilt would be overwhelming. I’d be completely whelmed in guilt.

Perhaps I can afford a jaunt at the weekend if I get my butt in gear.

In the mean time I’m comforting myself by reading Britian’s Best Wildlife and planning a trip to Scotland for this summer. I want to run the Ilse of Coll half marathon, as well as visiting Mull, Skye and perhaps Rum.  Anyone got any advice for places to stay/Wildlife watching tips etc?

Since the volunteering session I’d thought about going to was canceled due to the weather, I took a stroll to my local park yesterday instead. I went just before dusk to see if I could spot any large groups of birds roosting, but I ended up getting a little creeped out at being out in the wilderness in the almost-dark.

I’m starting to see this could be a real issue for me as a young woman stalking around nature alone. I want to go out in the dusk to try to see badgers and owls and all sorts of creatures, but it does feel quite unnerving to be out in the dark on the edges of built up areas. Does anyone else seem to have this issue?

This is the only solution I can think of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSrL2T4IbcY

I love that woman Anyway, I did manage to spot a couple of different ducks and waders, and recognized a couple of different bird calls from the trees, but no signs of any starling roosts. For a spilt second I thought I’d managed to spot a water vole but it turned out to be a rat. ek. But still, slowly but surely right?