2011 a quick wildlife year review

I nearly forgot to post this but here it goes my five best moments there have been so many but below are the five most memorable moments of the year. So I begin my 5 best wildlife encounters over 2011 with  my encounter with Grey seals on the North wales coast and it was my first time seeing a large Seal colony with pups playing in the shallow clear waters of Angel bay, Llandudno in North Wales and it was a beautiful wild scene that I will always treasure.

 Number 5 - Grey Seals of Angel bay

 http://cheshirewildlifewatcher.blogspot.com/2011/03/filming-at-north-wales-pt-1.html

 Number 4 - Badgers of Brock wood

A first for me this year was seeing the local Badgers at Brock wood feeding out in the day light over the summer months and after spending many days there I was accepted and the whole family came up to feed and that was at about dinner time when the sun was at its hottest so lets hope the recent news does not affect my local sett any time soon.

http://cheshirewildlifewatcher.blogspot.com/2011/07/closer-to-badgers-with-new-food-mix.html

 http://cheshirewildlifewatcher.blogspot.com/2011/07/closer-to-badgers-with-new-food-mix.html

 Number 3 - Flamingo on the flashes

This was a unexpected treat over the summer when I was surprised to see a Flamingo on a flooded part of my local canal feeding right next to a Grey Heron plus it got in the local paper.

http://cheshirewildlifewatcher.blogspot.com/2011/07/surprise-on-canal-flamingo-at-flashes.html

 Number 2 - Oystercatchers on a car park
On a weeks filming in North Wales in June I spotted this pair nesting on an unused car park by the sea and as we walked past I noticed the nest with eggs so I decided to leave my camera and back off and as they were in busy urban environment they came right back to the nest unbothered by my presence.

http://cheshirewildlifewatcher.blogspot.com/2011/06/2-weeks-in-north-wales-pt-2-of-6.html

 Number 1 - Coastal Red Fox family on the Little orme

My most memorable moments was filming a coastal Fox family in June and as it was so late the cubs were getting very confident and beginning to grow up fast and venture off into they own territory's but I was lucky enough to capture footage of the family together as they sunbathed on a cliff edge with the Irish sea behind them a wonderful experience that I will hope to have again over the summer in 2012 but hopefully I can follow they from earlier in the season this time.

http://cheshirewildlifewatcher.blogspot.com/2011/06/2-weeks-in-north-wales-pt-4-of-6-foxes.html

Not forgetting a big thank you to all the people I have met through the blog and some of you have become friends and when I have been out filming and we have chatted over wild encounters or life in general I hope I get to meet more of you in 2012 as well as catching up with some of my wildlife watching friends I have met up with in 2011 so I can show you some of the amazing wildlife and countryside on my local patch and some hidden gems I have found in the UK over the past few years bring on 2012.

Thanks for reading

Mike Mottram