Cottage with a wood burner and Marine watch

At the beginning of November, I had a last-minute trip for 2019 to spend some time back on Anglesey as this year I have really fallen in love with the island and next year I hope to explore more of Wales as well as revisit Anglesey as the wild camping this year gave some beautiful moments in Nature. Rather than wild camp, we decided to book 2 Airbnbs one at Amlwch for 3 nights and one at Newborough for 2 nights. At our Almwch cottage which was located right next to the coastal path and one of my possible living locations with some amazing views and close to some really good marine mammal spotting locations at high tide the creatures are pushed a few meters from viewing areas thanks to the deep water. We were up before the sun rose to get as much light watching the sea especially as the wind was fresh and the days are shorter.

 The paths were quite muddy but as always with these trips, I prepare for everything and thanks to our new walking boots our feet were well protected. While laying against a rock and watching the sea the seals caught fish and kept us entertained for many hours.

Seals and Porpoises were great things to see but the one time a mother and calve popped up my lens blurred and I just missed my best shot of a Porpoise.

On our second part of the holiday, we decided to get the bus from Amlwch to Menai bridge for a cup of tea I made before leaving the cottage for the last time and some chocolate digestives we sat by the straits near the Britannia bridge and watched the sunrise higher in the sky let the 9am rush pass by before getting our next bus to Llangefni where we bought some.  breakfast and supplies for the day.
We ended up walking from Llangefni to Maltraeth to Newborough via one of the Red Squirrel forest areas, one thing I had not noticed before was a rope over the road from the larger Newborough forest to the smaller area of forest opposite allowing squirrels and maybe pine martens a safe route across avoiding the road.
View of the hills/mountains of North Wales

On our only full day at Newborough we headed through the forest along the sun-soaked yet empty beach to the Island and I ended up getting impatient waiting for the tide to go out I walked through the shallow water soaking my shoes through but it proved to be worth it. We walked to the further point with the highest unused lighthouse and less than a half a mile away we spotted a large pod of Dolphins I was hoping Rissos but they ended up being Bottlenoses and the closest I have seen through my camera for a while. One had a very unique cut in its fin but seemed very straight and long unlike the other members of the pod but as you can see below they were very active.

A great week and the last week away till April 2020 as I have got lots of things to do over the winter.
A lovely Autumn kayak was a lovely first trip out once I returned home this year I hope to kayak in the snow which would be amazing on this river.

Enjoy the beginning of Winter and hopefully plenty of frost and snow to come....

Regards

Mike

A month well 2 weeks of Summer nature 1 of 2

With a busy month gone by and Summer in full flow albeit a bit wet but that does not put a dampener on things as Ive been out and about enjoying Nature as usual. I spent one week wild camping and week in a cottage on the coast of North Wales and on the island of Anglesey. I discovered a few new places a visited a few that I visted of the winter as the greenery really looked stunning with all the beautiful wild flowers in colours of the rainbow. I will post of few that stood out to me as I will use this blog post next year when planning my summer trip. We found a lovely new Fulmer nesting cliff where you can get quite close without disturbing and away from the crowds.

Along the coastal cliffs we ran into a Raven family with a brood of five fledgeling young learning navigate the winds and cliff edges. As well as the Ravens a family of Peregrines were hid in a rocky outcrop as you could hear the young getting excited when the parents brought in pray.

I was hoping to revisit South stack but decided to visit a Nature reserve on Holyhead that has a secret beach and we also found Red Squirrels nearby at 2 feeding stations. I love watching them stick there heads out from the feeders checking if we had come any closer.

These Gulls had made use of the cliffs where the fulmars nested and the 2 babies looked very safe.

Porth wen was a place to revisit as the difficulty getting to it and open sea below with access to a secludded bay make this a real gem on the coast of Anglesey. The old brick works looks like a set piece from Harry Potter. A pair of Robins must have nested there as there were young on the beach and the parents kept coming to us and collecting any crumbs we dropped on the floor.

Perched on some of the old metal work it waited for a crumb

Before the tide came in I wanted to see what was in the rock pools from the last tide and what was coming into the pools with the rising tides. I took my snorkeling mask in my already overloaded bag but was worth it as I ended up swimming through a shoal of Sand eels and these small fish make this area so poplar with the Terns in the area. I'll visit these colonies when I am on holiday in July. There was also some stripey fish that came in with the tide as well as a few other creatures like crabs and shrimp.

Inbetween our two sepertae breaks we visted Burton mere RSPB reserve which costs £5 to visit if your not a member as there are some wonderful birds making themselves a home there including Bearded Tits which we did not see but our main bird was the spoonbill and as we arrived walking a cycle route from Chester in heavy rainfall abd high tempreturs it was nice to arrive and get comfy and as we arrived at the hide a Spoon bill landed rested, preened then got a moody with the local birds. After an hour on the lake the bird took off with a stick/reed for one of the nests that they have begun to build in nearby trees where Egrets have a colonie.

I also saw Bar tailed Gotwits and Avocets which I have only seen passing views of in the past

 I'll post more of the last 2 weeks in my next blog as I have run out of time plus I have just heard a cuckoo in some nearby trees as I write this on my Ipad.

Stay wild

Mike

Paddle boarding takes an usual Tern

Summer is nearly here for me well my summer weeks off are just around the courner but at my paid job my hours have been slightly reversed for a couple of weeks from mornings to nights. This change of working hours has enabled me to get out more in the mornings.

One morning I decided to headed to the river and I love to kayak/Paddleboard depending on my energy levels and what the rivers condition is dictates the craft I use. On this day I used my paddle board with no chair to save on carrying to much weight basically the set up above without chair.
On my way down river I spotted many Grebe nests and on branches next to them were Black backed gulls waiting for there chance to feast on the eggs which looked like it had happened as there were a few failed nests including a few flooded out. As I approached the bank where I pack up I heard that sea side sound I only normally hear on the coast in the summer and only noticed when I was right next to them, I jus wish I had my DSLR to photograph them well maybe sometime soon.

Common Terns pair on the river weaver

After doing a test night shift I finished at 6.30am and after 10 hours work I decided not to waste my day sleeping and headed off up into the Macclesfield hills to get some fresh air.

I love warm misty mornings and the new growth coming up by the canal

On my bank holiday walk to work I found a culvert by the canal where I could rest as its about 5 miles from home and on this day I found some Otter spraint which I've not found there before.

A few photographs from my brother at Ryan Mottrams wildlife as he has had a few encounters himself one being one of his friend has a swan nest in there garden every year and the owner has a bench nearby to there nest so mybrothergot some wonderful photographs of them hatching.
One of my favourites

Wild in his friends garden he alsospotted this escapee an Australian ringneck feeding in his seed feeding table. Not a clue where its come from maybe Chester Zoo and my brother is currently looking for the owners.

Stay wild and enjoy as it's the best time of the year for British Wildlife

Mike