Summer days are shortening....

It's been a while since my last post and with the government brain reprograming I knew things needed to get better soon. As in the photograph below the clouds parted and the sun shone well in terms of annoucments towards Wales unlocking and holidays allowed once more so I booked a cottage in Wales and waited anxiously for the unlocking of my second home so I could return to visit a few of my most loved places.

On one of my walks on the hotter days at the end of June I sheltered in a woodland glade and ended up getting the best encounter with a hunting grass snake as it slithered through the leafy woodland floor.

Tasting the air

Rising up over a fallen branch which really made the snake hiss

I also put my new Google wifi camera to work although my new mammals gate got a few visitors the the Foxy guests I am trying to attract never showed up.

It may only be July but I see and feel the changes of the summer fading and things becoming scraggy and the cooler nights and mornings bringing wet grass and browner leaves at ground level.

-In my next blog The first holiday after lock down with some surprising encounters-

Thanks for reading Mike

Memories from Summer Badger cubs bounding

With Spring and Summer 2016 well behind us and Winter not far away, I took a look back to my memories of summer and one wild encounter I don't like to miss. On many a warm evening during the months of May to August I would head off through the countryside by canals and lakes to my secret Badger glade where I have spent many years protecting and photographing the clan here.

This year was so special as a pair of fluffy cubs seemed to be always out playing and looking for food while there parents slept and would often come out four a minute or two then return to the safety of the sett. Sometimes the sow would call the cubs underground if they started to go to far from the sett.

 Here is a few of my favorite summer photographs of the cubs before they became wary of these 2 legged creatures around there sett which I am always glad about as I know that human dangers may never be to far away.

 Sometimes they would stay hidden and a Badgers arse would be the only view as the sun fell

 They came close enough to film on our phones some days which was Amazing!!

I love the image below as it captures the Teen Badger cub on a moonlit night just emerging for a few hours of mischief and fun plus learning all the skills it will need to become an adult Badger.

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

Mike