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

FIRE at Chester Zoo a week after I visited!!!

To findout more about the Incident at Chester Zoo and how you can donate in the link below. The best thing you can do is visit them as its well worth the money even with the Monsoon Forest out of commision for a while.

- CHESTER ZOO FIRE UPDATE - 
CHESTER ZOO DONATION PAGE ON JUST GIVING

My brother got some wonderful close ups of these loyal creatures and painted dogs were recently featured in BBCS Dynasty series which can be seen on BBC iplayer for a month or two.

To findout more about the Chester Zoo painted dogs click here
Below is a few photographs that I took on my visit Chrismas visit to the zoo.

 Feeding naturally is great to see

Well I just managed to finish this blog on Christmas Eve eve as I start these blogs and add to them when I get chance. with 2019 on its way and Im already thinking about next year. I plan to do more more wild camping around Anglesey and North Wales to hopefully photograph the rare Pine Martens in the area as well as sleep in some beautiful locations. My blogs in 2019 will feature more Wild camping content like where I camp, what I pack, preperation and more video clips but don't worry I will be continuing with more of the wildlife tales from my encounters and adventures.

Stay wild and protect Nature

Mike

A Local Family out in the meadows

A few months ago at the beginning of summer I was treated to a wonderful British wildlife encounter that I always await for over the long winter months. While out walking through a freshly cut field by a local river  as the sun was about to set and the wind dropped leaving wonderful conditions for an encounter with Fox cubs. We watched as the adult left an area where the Fox cubs were waiting for the all clear to come out into the open. One brave cub followed the adult into the open field to look for an small mammals killed by the grass cutting machinery.

The adult moved off while the young cub explored alone so we decided on seeing if we could get a little closer without disturbing the family. We got quite close using a dip in the field to get about 10 metres away for a couple of shots before a dog walker disturbed the adult Fox which made the cub follow the adult into the safety of the undergrowth.
One of the photographs before the dog walker disturbed this wonderful family

 Cub and Adult Foxes

 The Fox cub is left alone

A few months later I visited the area again and saw the whole family including 5 teen cubs sunbathing and bounding around in the early hours was an amazing and beautiful thing to watch. I could not get any photographs as I was on my bike without my camera so I decided on just watching the family until the sun went behind the clouds that blew in from North.

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike