Lots of lovely cold Nature walks in the day and at Night

I've done it again and not blogged for a month as the only time I get to sit down to write is on a Sunday night.  I've been designing my brother a website for his own photography and his Swan Project which can be found below: www.RyanMottramswildlife.co.uk

I've been getting distracted recently watching this webcam www.westshorebeachcafe.com setup outside at a cafe at Llandudno on the Westshore beach.
Perfect for watching the sunset at the end of the day

It makes me miss the place even more but it inspires me to keep saving and searching for that perfect home on the coast. I can't wait to see it snow on the webcam and I will be definitely be using this camera to check the weather when I visit.

Ryan checking on one of the Hedgehogs that frequently visits our garden to feed under the trees

 Really enjoying going to different places to watch the stunning sunsets on the clearer nights

Prepping my backpack light/phone charge mount for when I get back late

A full moon and a clear sky perfect for Nighttime wildlife watching

 This weekend I decided I wanted to stay close and explore a new area of my home patch a few miles away. I discovered the area while picking up an undelivered package from the post office. The area we decided on walking was called White gateway which lies close to the river Weaver and starts off from Winsford to Cuddington. The walk runs along an old Railway line for about 10km/6miles but on the whole day, we probably walked over 26km/16 miles getting to the walk and returning home. There's more information on the walk here http://www.gps-routes.co.uk/routes/home.nsf/routeslinkscycle/whitegate-way-walking-and-cycle-route not much to see but a good long walk to blow away the cloudy day cobwebs.

Next month I have a week off for a personal celebration and were heading off to Wales for a week to stay in either a little cottage by the sea or a big cottage by the sea but that depends on....

Thanks for reading

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

Blogging takes a back seat but were back!!!

Had a few weeks off blogging but I am going to try again but with keeping an eye on local wildlife mainly toads and keeping watch on Badgers setts as baiting has been seen in the area. With better weather coming in my business has been busier than usual so it's been hard to keep up with posting new content. In early February we headed off to Wales for an afternoon by the sea and a nights camping but as I got rid of my larger slumit pop up tent it was quite cramped in a smaller beach tent.

For a couple of week's we ended up relocating Male and female Toads off the canal Towpath from danger and into the water where there respected others await.

 Over the past few day's I've seen and heard so much from Green Woodpeckers to Otters and even Frog spawn up a tree but I'll post that in my next blogs.

 Appreciate spring as its only just the beginning of the wildest and best 2 seasons
of the year in my opinion.

Thank you for your continued support

Mike

Watching wildlife - A busy month so heres a few updates

It's been a busy few weeks since I last posted and having not taken many photographs. I decided to rest a little this Christmas and just enjoy watching wildlife and the outdoors rather than focusing on photographing and filming wildlife. I've also had a birthday, a week on the coast, checked out a holiday home and started work on a new conservation area hopefully your enjoy the updates below.

  My huge piece of triple Chocolate birthday cake from a tasty Conwy bakery near the harbor

Here's a link to their shop Facebook page if your ever in the area

Having sold a few bits of my own kit and my wildlife watching supplies this year to pay for one of my other favorite passions. In 2017 I will be hopefully doing more wild camping in the North Wales and Anglesey area once I get my new light camping gear soon. As I have a few days off work in February I'm hoping I can be ready for a few nights camping on the coastal mountains if I can find the best gear to keep warm and comfy as I'm sure Spring won't be arriving that early next year.

Updates to follow in my next blog post

Thank you and keep watching wildlife

Mike

A new opportunity...

One from this years trip to North Wales on a summers evening watching the sun fall below the horizon. At the minute I am looking into possibly getting a holiday cottage that I can use myself and rent out to holiday makers in the area in 2017. Fingers crossed I've covered all my bases and calculations are correct. I'm going to view the property in December :-) and If all works out I can possibly keep some kit there which will allow me to do more Camping/sea kayaking when I feel like it.

Gannets at Llandudno

After recovering from my 24 hour cold we were up and out relaxing in the warm late Summer sunshine. It felt like it was June not September as the weather was beautiful and even the sea was warm enough to take a dip in. 

While there I checked out a few areas where I could possibly live when it comes to move there in a few years depending on my financial situation. The main reason I want to live there is the stunning natural beauty in the area and the amount of first time encounters I have had there has just been amazing. The other good thing is the thought of a view over the sea and as North Wales is only an hour so away it would be quite easy to visit my current wildlife patch every now and then.
While walking down from the Great Orme one afternoon the tide was reaching its peak and while walking down we noticed lots of Gulls and 4-5 Gannets coming in close and diving a few meters away from the sea wall.

A Gannet just hits the water below the marine drive on the west shore side

My favorite photograph from the encounter

A lovely portrait shot I managed to get from the landscape shot above

Thanks for reading my blog
Stay wild, be happy and be safe

Mike

A Mermaids purse found on Llandudno beach

While on our late summers break on the coast of Wales we ended up having cooled down in the sea after a long coastal path walk you would have thought it was June by all the sun worshipers on the beach. As the tide came in my brother noticed a Mermaids purse or a shark/Ray egg case in the shallower water. Usually, we find them hatched or predated but the special thing about this one was that inside there was a small embryo growing inside with a small amount of liquid and it's food sack I think.

After a quick photograph we placed it back in the same place we found it and added some extra seaweed to give this precious creature a chance.
 In 2014 I found 3 Nurse sharks caught by the fisherman and thrown behind a kiosk on Llandudno pier and to see them so small and fragile in there see through protective cases just makes the killing of these sharks more sickening. Every time I visit I always check to see there are none there.

2014 BLOG POST

I have sent my photograph to some Shark experts to see if they can identify the species as I have tried but I'm not sure. See what you think here - http://www.sharktrust.org/en/eggcase_species

Thanks for reading my blog
Stay wild, be happy and be safe

Mike

A short week by the sea

Last week I spent Monday to Friday in a caravan on the North Wales coast and as I usually spend my weeks in a cottage but as it takes to long to clean a larger property I felt like a smaller rented property would be better.

Our heavy 100 Litre back packs full of much needed gear

On the way there I developed a 24hr cold and by the time we got there and had a quick walk and did some shopping I was worn out. By 6pm I was ready to go to sleep and rest up for the next day of walking on the coast and it was lucky I did as the next few days were very interesting.

More on that soon....

Thanks for reading my blog
Stay wild, be happy and be safe

Mike

Summers end...

With September approaching and the end of Summer with it I thought it would be time to post some of my summer posts which I've been holding back so I can publish on the bad weather days.

My brother Ryan enjoying the late evening sun by a local river

The moon sinks below the horizon as a thick mist forms

View from my kayak on a summers morning

 Hopefully in the Autumn I can get out more with my camera more than I have this summer. I have not had much motivation to take my camera out with me this year very much as I have chosen more of a enjoy the Nature through my own eyes rather than through a lens.

 

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

Last week off until Spetember :-(

Unfortunately last week I had my last week off of the summer so I decided to have a few days out walking in the local countryside and a overnight trip camping on the coast. As I had to drop off a plug we accidentally took when we stayed  at a cottage by the sea in early June rather than post we thought we would make it into a couple of days camping to detox from technology except my iPhone of coarse as playing Poke Mon on it made the 5 hr bus journey to the coast and back so much easier.

 We stayed one night camping in the mountains but as I chose cooking kit instead of comfort so we decided to stay one night instead of 2 to but as the weather got cooler I was not to bothered about returning home early. As I had a few days off once I returned home we decided to go out on foot to explore some more of the local villages surrounding my local patch and we found some lovely places we never new existed.

While walking to a place Ive visited before by car we decided  to use Google maps to explore the area on the way a local duck lake. We ended up finding a Nature area by the river Dane close to Holmes chapel which had a pond, woodland, bird hide and plenty of space for Nature. The place is about 30 minutes walk from home so perfect for when I want to enjoy a few hours peace in a place set aside for Nature. As we only passed through the area I did not get chance to explore or take to many photographs except for a few of the lovely nature boards.

One place we visited twice was Shakerley mere where we found a bench by the lake and enjoyed the sun, food and the geese and ducks coming over for food which was very relaxing.

One of the moody looking Geese came over for a photograph

I'll be visiting here over the winter months as there's a lovely bird feeder setup there and I will be taking my camera. Its quite a pleasant walk down some lovely country lanes to get there and at a leisurely pace I can get there in less than an hour. One other place we visited was the River Weaver and we decided to walk from Winsford to Davenam on the edge of Northwich. The walk goes along the river and passes through various habitats. I'll explore the area more over the next year if all goes to plan as I think there is a good chance of seeing Otters there especially in the winter months.

One thing we noticed was Great crested Grebes are doing well along the weaver due to the nests we found being sat on by the adults. We got to see the birds swap over incubation duty's as the rained poured down onto the small ponds along the river weaver.

One Grebe nested on some Lilly pads which is a great idea as they rise with the water

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

Late post from April trip to N.Wales 1 of 2

I totally forgot to post about this a few months ago when I had my first week of the year on the North Wales coast. We had a lovely week at my favorite cottage where we have been going for a few years. The location is perfect as its close to the little Orme with views of the sea and gets the most amazing sunlight first thing in the morning. On one of the days we spent a day walking from Conwy to

Llanfairfechan to see if the local swans had nested on a marine lake but unfortunately they had not started. No Swans nesting on the lake but what we did find were some lovely rivers flowing into the sea perfect for photographing and filming Sea trout later in the year. The bird we ended up finding at the lake was a female Goosander who was quite happy to let us close to get a few photographs. There were a few kids around chasing the ducks so we had to wait till the bird felt comfortable to stay still. If somebody got to close she would jump back on the water for safety.

The female Goosander getting blown around on the windswept lake

 
One female Mallard gets totally mobbed by her suitors

As the sun went down it cast a stunning golden light over the lake reflecting from the sea onto the area

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike

Things people Do for a selfie #idiots

In April we watched a group of 4 people disturb 40+ Seals beaching on Angel bay at the Little Orme, Llandudno just for a few Seal selfies. This got me thinking if they had published the photographs online.  I ended up finding the photographs on the #littleorme on Twitter and Instagram. I searched for the photographs so I could try to find out why they would do such a thing as I cant understand why anyone would. We took a few photographs from above Angel  bay as they pushed closer to the Seals which got forced into the water just so these idiots could get a selfie.

Off back up the cliff after disturbing the Atlantic Grey seals from there safe haven!!!

 I looked on Instagram and below is what I found...

 It angers me what people will do for a photo especially when there is a sign stating to not disturb the Seals when there on the beach. Here's a few links to there accounts

and when they got closer the seals went and did not return all day!!. I thought I would ask them on Twitter why they thought it was worth it. I got no reply from RM or SB which I think means they don't care about disturbing animals or are they ashamed of what they did and had no idea they would be caught out.

In the first photograph you can clearly see seals in the background and in the last photo all the Seals are in the sea meaning they disturbed the Seals just to get some photographs which in my eyes and a few others is selfish and disrespectful.

 Here's a close up of the Seals in the background of the photographs

And when they pushed to close the Seals were disturbed!!!!

One Seal out of 40 remains on the beach hidden behind a rock

.PLEASE DON'T DISTURB WILDLIFE JUST FOR A PHOTOGRAPH ITS NOT WORTH IT.

.IT MAY NOT SEEM LIKE NOTHING TO YOU BUT IT CAN HAVE BAD EFFECTS ON NATURE.
THE ATLANTIC GREY SEALS ARE RELEASED HERE FOR A REASON TO KEEP THEM SAFE AND UNDISTURBED SO PLEASE DON'T DISTURB THE SEALS AT ANGEL BAY, LITTLE ORME LLANDUDNO.

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike