A common garden tick and some scummy individuals

I've been struggling to get some creative blog writing time in recently but with it being a rainy Spring day I have finally got time to get going again. I'll begin with this which happened a few weeks ago when I returned home from an afternoon walk to the old Oak which is a new spot I've recently found. I ended up looking out of the window to see 2 young women feeding a male and female mallard at first they fed the birds and I thought that was innocent enough and went on with cooking dinner. About 10 minutes later and the women had started leading the ducks out of the cemetery gate and to the nearby main road with it making the ducks nervous they stopped following the food trail so one of the women started lunging and scaring the ducks. I thought enough was enough so I shouted at them to leave the ducks alone the young women quickly ran away and I thought to keep the ducks safe it would be best to bring them in the garden so they could be safe away from the road. I got some bird seed and they followed me into the garden as we have a pond they settled in and got quite cozy.

They stayed for a few hours and left at last light, I thought that was the last we would see of them but over the last 2 weeks, they have returned each day. At first, they would arrive at the gate and quack until we let them in but now they circle each day and land in the garden to feed and bathe in the area we made for them including some straw as I thought the female may want to nest in the garden.

On the 23rd April, the male returned alone to see if his female had returned but she did not so I'm guessing she may be nesting somewhere nearby probably by the river as I noticed sand in there clear feeding pond we set up so they would have some deeper water to wash in. All I hear now a few times a day is Drake quacking to the sky in the hope his lady Daffodil would return so now he keeps coming back to feed in the water seed tray then he heads off to where he came from. A common bird but a wonderful addition to the garden even if they defecated everywhere the enjoyment was to see them sitting in the sun in the Nature area we have created in the garden.

I'm glad they stayed for a while as I've been out and about photographing spring wildlife I've bumped into 2 individuals in camouflage going up and down the canals targeting birds(Doves/Pigeons) nests in the tops of trees with catapults. I think in order to knock the babies out of the nests for some reason whether for sadistic killing satisfaction or to feed themselves or a pet they have is still unknown. I have more investigating and evidence to gather as and when I see them. I have seen them a few times on weekend evenings and one evening I followed a line of feathers where they was blood and a clear trail to a dead baby pigeon by the Big lock a local canal pub in the direction they went. I was informed by one of my local informants who keep an eye for the same suspicious things I do which is rather handy as I have quite a few people keeping an eye out for wildlife crime locally and on the North Wales coast.

I'll update on this soon once more information is gained. There are more people like this locally that I have also caught out and they are ongoing cases which are slow going but once they make that one mistake hoepfully I'll be there to capture it as this will be the year where wildlife survilence cameras will come in handy to show local people what goes on in there local countryside and the local people that commit these scummy activities from illegal Hare killing with Dogs to Badger baiting, it happens in my local town of Middlewich and if I can disturb and disrupt the senseless killing of our wildlife and the stunning countryside we have then I feel like I have done my part.

Regards

Mike

End of Summer a few days camping on the coast

I am not doing very well with blogging as I've found myself enjoying the last of the summer sun and with the light disappearing earlier before 8pm now.  My routines changing from a long evening walk to a last light walk then before I relax for the evening. My rule is my PC goes off at 9pm so I don't get stuck into work tasks a few hours before bed and from 8pm onwards it will now be blogging hour to get my thoughts and encounters on here. As I have a week off this week I have a few secret projects in motion that are nature based but I probably wont be blogging about them anytime soon to keep the wildlife/habitats safe. You'll probably be able to read about them in 20 years when I release my own book :-p called "Secrets of a Cheshire wildlife watcher".

But back to my week off and as I had my last morning at work on Friday last week me and my brother packed our bags grabbed the tent with a few supply's but without DSLRS!!!. But why leave your cameras at home I hear you ask well because it was a camping chill out weekend where we needed to keep our bags light yet have a few thick covers, slumit pop up tent, fresh clothes and food/hygiene products to stay fresh. As we dont drive we hopped on the buses to llandudno and Conwy for long walks and breakfast by the Quay which was a little burnt.

Not much wildlife but the sea was calm and migrant birds were increasing probably as the insects were still in good numbers.

Once we left North Wales and returned home the Dolphins suddenly arrived and put on a show next to the Little orme and if your on facebook you can see the photographs one observer took.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/91560190640/permalink/10159255458790641/

Its taking me a few days to write this blog post so I thought I would better publish it before its out of date and as I have so much to blog about especially from earlier in the year I'm sure I'll catch up.

Thank you

Mike

Quick Camping trip to Wales

A few days ago I managed to get a couple of days on the coast to chill out away from technology. I went with my brother and we camped in a tent and took no DLSRs so we could not take any wildlife photographs!!!.  It was quite warm in the day and night but rather misty in the day so we could not see very much on the sea or any of the beautiful views. We stayed one night rather than 2 as on the second day the mist remained, we had some breakfast and left around 9am on Wednesday morning. It was a short but refreshing stay by the sea and I love roughing it as when you return home you appreciate the small things like a comfy bed, warm water and toast.

We saw and heard plenty of Ravens calling and doing there aerial displays in sync with each other. There were plenty of Seals down in the bays near the Little Orme and you could feel the beginning of Spring as we walked around the wilder areas of Llandudno. I can't wait to get back there in April for a week when I can get more filming and photography done at my favorite place on the North Wales coast.

 The only thing I photographed on my Iphone was this dead Octopus I found on the promenade, I had no clue they could be found on the coast here so I will be keeping an eye out when I am using my easybreath mask.

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

All photographs except the last one were taken in February last year

A few days on the coast

I have a few days off this week so I am hopefully heading off to N.Wales for 2 nights of wild camping. I have packed sleeping bags, emergency foil blankets and lots of warm, fleece type clothing just in case it gets too cold. If we don't need them then they will make a comfy mattress. I have included lots of high energy snacks and some tasty comfort food as we will be walking quite a few miles of coastline. We are not taking any cameras as we only have one full day there and as our DSLR's are quite weighty with lenses included. I thought that we can have more important supplies instead of taking our cameras such as extra phone battery's and water. The weather is looking better this week and less chilly but as it's very changeable there I am hoping for abit of sun. 

Usually I stay in a local cottage on the North Wales coast which I had to cancel a few weeks ago as I have been up and down health wise and was unsure whether I would be better in time. Plus I ended up having to work an extra day in the middle of my week off so I would have had to go Tuesday morning and come back Thursday afternoon which seemed a little pointless. Now I am feeling stronger I maybe going for a few nights. I need my Coast fix and having not been since early December when I got food poisoning on my 30th birthday it's been a while since I last enjoyed myself there so hopefully we shall have a nice few days roughing it on the coast.

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

 Mike

Overnight trip to the coast

I headed to North Wales last weekend for a lone camping trip to clear my head and checkup on a few things I spotted on my last trip in June. As I had work on Friday morning I wanted to have all my gear packed and ready to go but luckily my boss let me have an early finish at 10am which gave me a great head start on the 5 buses I had to get to make my way to Llandudno. I new I would not get there till 3pm if I made all the connections and no buses broke down in the heat but luckily I got off one bus straight onto the next and I arrived at 3.20pm to a very busy promenade and I was so glad to get some fresh sea air. The nice thing about the buses in North Wales is every summer they get new buses and this time they were pretty modern called "Sapphire buses" they had plug and usb inputs which is perfect to charge any gear from phones to camera battery's. The most comfy part was the new cushioned seats and as I knew I was going to be camping in a very small tent near a cliff edge I thought I would make the most of the comfort while I could.

http://www.arrivasapphire.co.uk/a-new-way-to-travel

Luckily I got off the bus right next to the place where I wanted to visit first and that was the little Ormes beach on the North shore. I was under the Little orme crag on a quieter part of the beach I found a dodgy fishing net wrapped around rocks with 2 bottles on and there were 2 sharks in the net. I suspected this net was illegal as it was in a place where seals and sea birds hunt and as there still breeding nearby plus it could have been taken out by the tide and caused issues for cetaceans. I began to cut half the net out to remove and dispose of and let the sharks go. As I removed half of the net I spotted a foreign gentleman coming over with a large red tub. I asked the gentleman if they were his nets and he said no then I asked again and he said yes. I asked him to remove the as there not allowed to be used due to the harm they caused to wildlife he apologized many times and he took the nets and sharks with him and his wife helped. I also said I phoned the warden so he better take the nets and not return to the area to try again as I would be checking daily. He was obviously catching for his restaurant and I understand he's trying to make a living but we can't take that risk as the nets were so dodgy. If anyone is near the pool area and could check the area for nets every now and then to stop this illegal activity that can do so much harm to our North Wales wildlife. Sometimes a bluff is all it takes to stop this type of activity's but thanks to Facebook I have alerted the locals who are checking out the area each day to make sure that they are not put back.

Photograph below is where the net was (red) and blue is the only access to beach. But if anybody is friends with the person whose house over looks the beach below then you ask permission to use there land as there is a donkey field next door which looks right down over where the nets were place and this takes away any danger and gives a safe location to use binoculars or a zoom lens to gather evidence plus takes away the long walk down the rocky beach.

 
What constitutes ‘Illegal Netting’
Well, a whole list of things including:

- Netting with the intention of selling the catch from an unlicensed powered vessel.

- Using mesh sizes less than byelaws allow

- Taking undersized fish

- Taking fish in excess of bycatch allowance for which quota is not held

- Taking migratory fish such as salmon and trout (and eels) without a special licence

- Netting where fishing is restricted, maybe at certain times of the year

- Using a fixed net when and where no enabling byelaw exists

- Not having properly marked nets, fishing nets unattended, not having the correct depth of water above the headline at all states 

of the tide, all according to local byelaws.

- Not having pingers attached to prevent cetacean entanglement where this is a requirement

I don't have much faith in authority's in this day and age and I've become the sort of person who sorts things out themselves directly and community action is a better way to sort things out by forming small groups to keep an eye on places like my Badger group does and it works. In this case the best action is a small group to check there every so often and gather more evidence if they carry on doing this. They can only put out nets and retrieve at low tides so gives a small window of when the area would need to be checked. I have reported issues like this before and nothing as been done to police, wardens and those who manage the prom. Direct community action is best and some sort of patrol would be a great way to keep an eye on the area. I will mention to the stones to sand Llandudno beach group as most people are local and they can keep an eye out on the beach, I am not saying to directly apprehend this person but take photos and film is needed to take matters further. As I don't live there I can't put much time into it so leaving in the community's hands is all I can do. I will check area when I'm back in September as I have no problem apprehending somebody for doing something wrong as these people are quite ashamed and often walk away and never return.

I shall post more tomorrow about overnight camp-out by the sea

Thanks for visiting

 Mike

Panorama of the beach at sunrise