A Challenging Challenge

I’ve set myself a bit of a challenge in the last few weeks. Instead of the normal pictures of spring, I wanted to photograph one species of each category of mammal, bird, amphibian, reptile, wildflower, butterfly in a spring setting, but one of each species that you don’t see too often. I gave myself a deadline of today.

Initially, I thought I had bitten off more than I could chew, but looking back, I’ve actually not done too bad. Unfortunately, the only one I couldn’t ‘collect’ was the reptile. The weather just hasn’t been warm enough for them to sun themselves. It’s still a little too early for dragonflies around this area as well.

I was worried that I would be stuck with the usual picture of a deer for the mammal category until, as luck would have it, we had a visitor to the garden yesterday and I managed to snap this little Bank vole eating some seeds.

 

The piece de resistance came when I photographed what I thought was a slightly different form of cowslip in Park Woods. When I showed it to our wildflower expert from Essex Wildlife Trust, he identified it as an oxlip. This is now a scarce flower and only found in this area of the East of England. The flowers are bigger and paler than the cowslip and haven’t got the predominant red dots inside the flower. I’ve since identified quite a few patches around the locality.

Erratum: The previously posted picture was of a cowslip which is very similar. The picture above is definitely an oxlip.

I was lucky to photograph this Sawfly lifting off from some Lesser stitchwort and together with the ladybirds, I deemed that to satisfy the criteria for the insect category.

The pendulous sedge isn't at all scarce but is a good indicator of ancient woodland.

As for the choice of birds, I opted for this newly hatched wren. The nest has been made inside an unused external electrical box. Don’t worry, the electricity is off.

I’ve combined amphibians and pond life. There’s literally thousands of tadpoles in this large puddle.

I saw this Common frog not too far from the puddle. I think it’s still quite young and was very pale.

Not a great picture of a Speckled wood butterfly.

Bill and I have had great fun on this quest. Most of the time he’s come along and seems to have developed a nose for unusual events.

He spotted this young rook that had fallen out of the rookery.

If the rook remains hidden, he may well stay out of the foxes reach until he’s strong enough to fly.

Thanks for the visit.

A Challenging Challenge

I’ve set myself a bit of a challenge in the last few weeks. Instead of the normal pictures of spring, I wanted to photograph one species of each category of mammal, bird, amphibian, reptile, wildflower, butterfly in a spring setting, but one of each species that you don’t see too often. I gave myself a deadline of today.

Initially, I thought I had bitten off more than I could chew, but looking back, I’ve actually not done too bad. Unfortunately, the only one I couldn’t ‘collect’ was the reptile. The weather just hasn’t been warm enough for them to sun themselves. It’s still a little too early for dragonflies around this area as well.

I was worried that I would be stuck with the usual picture of a deer for the mammal category until, as luck would have it, we had a visitor to the garden yesterday and I managed to snap this little Bank vole eating some seeds.

 

The piece de resistance came when I photographed what I thought was a slightly different form of cowslip in Park Woods. When I showed it to our wildflower expert from Essex Wildlife Trust, he identified it as an oxlip. This is now a scarce flower and only found in this area of the East of England. The flowers are bigger and paler than the cowslip and haven’t got the predominant red dots inside the flower. I’ve since identified quite a few patches around the locality.

Erratum: The previously posted picture was of a cowslip which is very similar. The picture above is definitely an oxlip.

I was lucky to photograph this Sawfly lifting off from some Lesser stitchwort and together with the ladybirds, I deemed that to satisfy the criteria for the insect category.

The pendulous sedge isn't at all scarce but is a good indicator of ancient woodland.

As for the choice of birds, I opted for this newly hatched wren. The nest has been made inside an unused external electrical box. Don’t worry, the electricity is off.

I’ve combined amphibians and pond life. There’s literally thousands of tadpoles in this large puddle.

I saw this Common frog not too far from the puddle. I think it’s still quite young and was very pale.

Not a great picture of a Speckled wood butterfly.

Bill and I have had great fun on this quest. Most of the time he’s come along and seems to have developed a nose for unusual events.

He spotted this young rook that had fallen out of the rookery.

If the rook remains hidden, he may well stay out of the foxes reach until he’s strong enough to fly.

Thanks for the visit.

Karrimor Predator Patrol 45 Rucksack Review

View Full Album

Take a look at the new Karrimor Predator Patrol 45 rucksack. Some bill this as a replacement for the Sabre 45 litre; but is it a worthy contender and suitable for bushcraft use?

Watch the video to have a look round it and find out my opinion.

By the way, you can get these form Lakeland Bushcraft.

Karrimor Predator Patrol 45 Rucksack Review

View Full Album

Take a look at the new Karrimor Predator Patrol 45 rucksack. Some bill this as a replacement for the Sabre 45 litre; but is it a worthy contender and suitable for bushcraft use?

Watch the video to have a look round it and find out my opinion.

By the way, you can get these form Lakeland Bushcraft.

Woodlife AGM at Mark’s

On Friday I went off to Mark’s in Berkshire. Mark was kindly hosting the Woodlife AGM, where the volunteer Network Management Team get together once a year and have a chat about the ever increasing success of the Woodlife Network.

We were a couple of people light, but there was a lot to chat about especially with the changes in service coming up on the network. More about that later.

It wasn’t all talk, in fact it turned out to be a great weekend for wildlife.

Mike and Adam went foraging finding amongst others Comfrey and Pignut while Andy, Mark and I went out looking for snakes. Only Mark saw a fleeting glimpse of brown adder, but we did see several Common lizzards. The refreshingly lemon taste of Wood sorrel leaves was available.

The birds were active and we saw a pair of buzzards and a Greater-spotted woodpecker. The cuckoo was very vocal in the vicinity of the camp.

On Saturday evening Adam and Mike reported back with no less than 6 Muntjac and 2 fallow sightings, while earlier, Mark and I had a good view of a Roe doe.

We spotted these tracks which I’m sure are stoat, but I will double check and confirm.

Later, Andy and I watched a couple of Badgers at the local sett through the night vision monocular before they went off to the field to forage.

It was a good chance to test the new Karrimor Predator Patrol 45 from Lakeland Bushcraft. I’ll do a full video review later on in the week.

As the weekend whiled away in the brilliant sunshine, I suddenly noticed that everyone else was whittling away. I realised that I hadn’t done any woodcraft for a good while. so I quickly joined in making my first spoon of 2010.

This morning we had a bit of rain. It wasn’t a down-pour by any means but still we had to put our tarps away wet. Mike reported his shelter was comfortable but more importantly, waterproof.

Thanks to Mark and everyone for a great weekend as usual.

Woodlife AGM at Mark’s

On Friday I went off to Mark’s in Berkshire. Mark was kindly hosting the Woodlife AGM, where the volunteer Network Management Team get together once a year and have a chat about the ever increasing success of the Woodlife Network.

We were a couple of people light, but there was a lot to chat about especially with the changes in service coming up on the network. More about that later.

It wasn’t all talk, in fact it turned out to be a great weekend for wildlife.

Mike and Adam went foraging finding amongst others Comfrey and Pignut while Andy, Mark and I went out looking for snakes. Only Mark saw a fleeting glimpse of brown adder, but we did see several Common lizzards. The refreshingly lemon taste of Wood sorrel leaves was available.

The birds were active and we saw a pair of buzzards and a Greater-spotted woodpecker. The cuckoo was very vocal in the vicinity of the camp.

On Saturday evening Adam and Mike reported back with no less than 6 Muntjac and 2 fallow sightings, while earlier, Mark and I had a good view of a Roe doe.

We spotted these tracks which I’m sure are stoat, but I will double check and confirm.

Later, Andy and I watched a couple of Badgers at the local sett through the night vision monocular before they went off to the field to forage.

It was a good chance to test the new Karrimor Predator Patrol 45 from Lakeland Bushcraft. I’ll do a full video review later on in the week.

As the weekend whiled away in the brilliant sunshine, I suddenly noticed that everyone else was whittling away. I realised that I hadn’t done any woodcraft for a good while. so I quickly joined in making my first spoon of 2010.

This morning we had a bit of rain. It wasn’t a down-pour by any means but still we had to put our tarps away wet. Mike reported his shelter was comfortable but more importantly, waterproof.

Thanks to Mark and everyone for a great weekend as usual.

The Forest and the Wood

I took a long weekend to visit my parents. After a great day with them, Mrs P and I went headed to the New Forest.

The Forest has a special place in my heart. As a kid we used to cycle down there (and later take our motorbikes) and spend a weekend there every summer until I joined the Army. Even then, I used to love the wilderness feel of the ancient forest and its special inhabitants.

The Forest was said to have been set aside by William the Conqueror for hunting purposes, although it’s known that people inhabiting bronze age settlements cleared parts of the north side of the forest for agriculture. The soil isn’t particularly good so much of it was left and it went to heathland.

Because of the lowland features there is a huge variety of different and even rare plants and animals in the Forest. Unfortunately, being a wonderfully warm day, it seemed many people had the same idea, and I really didn’t have the time to go as deep into the Forest as I would have liked.

Instead, I paid my respects to the Queen of the Forest; the 600 plus year old Knightswood Oak, the oldest tree in the forest, and I headed straight for a number of guaranteed deer sightings. Unfortunately not the Red or Sika deer I was looking for, but at least a few close-ups of Fallow.

Today it was back to the humble woods of Essex. But they are no less spectacular, perhaps not in looks, but in inhabitants.

The last three days of warm weather has seen some quick growth:

Germander speedwell

Common dog violet

Lesser celandine

Blackthorn

Primroses and Dandelion

Ladies smock or Cuckoo flower (tasty leaves)

 

Bluebells not quite open.

Next weekend I visit Mark’s wood in Reading.