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

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

A new local find :-)

With local wild places becoming crowded and closer to becoming developed with housing and various other plans. I decided to search in some new places outside of my usual wild places to find some quieter and more undisturbed places. I spotted this Fly agaric Mushroom at Shakerley Mere last Tuesday and the area is becoming one of my favorite weekly places to visit.

I have even found this perfect picnic bench by the lake with a perch where I can place some bird food and enjoy the birds coming back and fourth while I relax and enjoy the outdoors.

 I found this hidden spot which I will be exploring more the next time I visit and I will take a few more photographs of my wildlife findings and habitat.

I love wooden bridges over trickling streams

 Tonight I am trialing a new WiFi camera setup tonight in the garden. I am powering on 12vt mobile backup battery which is nearly lasting an hour which is perfect. I may even see some of the 16+ hedgehogs that pass through my garden looking for food each night which may be a record. A few are hibernating in the hedgie houses in the garden already but more are visiting lately. Luckily not many get squished very much on my concrete island and there main predator the Badger whose numbers are 0 on my local urban patch. As well as filming wildlife I'm hoping to use to catch a few poachers out with this new kit if I can run on a 3G network created my Iphone.

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

Mike

Bees under the pond

A few weeks ago my brother noticed a few Bees buzzing around the pond so we decided to watch and see where they were going. We discovered they were going under the plastic of the pond and being no danger and knowing bees are in decline we decided on leaving them to go about there beesiness :-p

I'll try to photograph them to see what species they are as they are quite relaxed especially as the colder evening air comes in.

The entrance to the Bee hive under the Pond

Below is a few photographs of the rest of the garden as the trees we planted have really grown quite big this year and as I added some reeds and willow to the pond and an old fish tank its looking rather beautiful. I have no need to go out into the woods some days as we know have a small woodland in the garden. We should get quite a few birds in the winter now we have some proper branches to hang the feeders from.

The trees in the middle of our lawn are getting quite big 2 are Rowen trees and the other is a....

Our Pond from another angle (Red circle is where the Bee hive is located under the logs)

Our little wildlife area by the shed where Foxes, Hedgehogs and the shier birds can relax

Our little Bee hive Pond with our willow tree getting bigger

Hedgehog houses and bird bath reed area

 Anyway I must be off as I'm going for a long bike ride by the river Weaver where there is a Great crested grebe nesting in the perfect spot to get some wonderful photographs without disturbing, if I'm lucky there will be chicks hatching there soon.