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

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

A few hours by the Crown hotel

Last week we decided on taking a bus trip to an area I've seen while on route to Wales for our cottage holidays. The area in question is small beach/pebbled area with some rocks and plenty of muddy for lots of waders, Geese and duck species. There were a large number of birds including Godwits a first sighting for me. There is only access via a bridge over the railway and when we arrived the tide was just coming in pushing the waders ever closer to us.

To the keep the weight down my brother brought his camera and I left mine allowing me to have more room for food supplies. As it was quite overcast and we only intended a quick visit it seemed the best plan. It was our last visit over the Welsh border till December. To make this Winter holiday more special we have decided to book a cottage with a view and hopefully if the weathers bad we don't have to leave the cottage to spot Dolphins, sea birds, seals and who knows even Whales have been known to visit the coast in December.

A little tease of the cottage below

Regards

Mike

Cheshire Badger cull :-(

Where science and facts have been pushed aside the Badger cull has once again started and has now come to Cheshire. I know a few people involved with legally disrupting the cull shooters and making sure they follow the rules where they can.

Those people out there fighting the injustice have my respect I would love to be involved but as I can't drive and the cull area in Cheshire is in the middle of a no bus area. Instead, I have decided to keep an eye on all my local setts and try to check 10 every other day including poo pits for traces of peanuts and sett disturbances as in early 2017 sett diggers were disrupted on my local patch. At nearby Blakemere I spotted these dodger diggers which I reported to Cheshire hunt monitors.

We only the second week of 6 weeks of shooters being allowed to trap and shoot Badgers and hopefully, the quota they won't be met. We will only know that once the 6 weeks are over if the hard work of the sabs (Badger defenders) who are sacrificing their time and own money pays off.

You can donate to them here:

If you can donate anything to there fuel fund they would really appreciate it!
https://gogetfunding.com/badger-cull-fuel-fund-2/

Regards

Mike

"Stay safe Badger warriors, for you are the last stand against the death in the darkness"

A suprise encounter :-) :-)

 I know I said I would not be posting but last week on the first day of my week off I got the opportunity to get something I've been trying to photograph for a while. If you have followed my blog over the past few years you will know how long I have been trying and all though the shots are not the best they mean the world to me. Last Monday I headed out early with wellies, umbrella and camera in my back pack as I left home the rain poured down and as it was very warm it was quite pleasant. I saw the Otter in an open part of the river stretched out swimming down river diving and surfacing but getting further away and not having my camera out at that point I had to think fast to get anything on my camera. I decided to run further down river to an Open spot where I new the water was shallow and the Otter would have to emerge from the water to enter deeper water. And it did I watched as it left the water skulking low using the balsam as cover it entered a deeper pool and dived for a minute then came to the surface where I got my second shot before it disappeared into the more overgrown parts of the river.

 First photograph I took from under some trees and not wanting to scare I turned the flash off

 Color close up to show this beautiful creature up close a few meters away

After this encounter I returned home elated and with the rain still pouring down I decided I had earned a few more hours in bed after finally getting this close encounter and with a few blurry shots to record the moment was a perfect start to my last week off of the summer season.

The beauty of my local patch on a sunnier morning

Later that week I went to check out some countryside an hour away from home at a town called Macclesfield which is close to some hilly and large areas of forest but we could not stay long due to having to get back to pack for a 2 day camping trip to Wales.

Kind regards

Mike