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My
Blog
An interesting monthly
update about local wildlife and issues affecting it, from the
perspective of the Website Author. Relevant photography will normally be
included too.
...23/4/2011, by Alex
Have you noticed the new
look of my blog? Nothing much has changed to be honest! I now have a
newer version of Microsoft Frontpage so I should improve the slightly
old-school design of the site over time...
Well, I hope you've donned
the walking boots and got out in the glorious weather we've had for a
while. It's not going to be here for much longer, hopefully we'll have a
dry, warm and long summer because I'll be off school for 10 weeks so
I'll be able to get my camera full of pictures and I will have plenty of
time to do lots of things I've not had the time to do like stalking
badger setts and go on late-night walks to spot and hopefully photograph
badgers, foxes and owls etc. But for now, I've been out on plenty of
runs, walks and bike rides. Last month, at 7pm, I was on a run near
Frodsham (training for the Sandstone Run 10K trail run which I did on
the 10/4 and came a reasonable 78 out of 224 along a section of
Cheshire's Sandstone Trail). I saw a private but overgrown mixed-species
woodland going up a hill side. I noticed some big rocks at the top of
the hill, and as a keen rock climber, I ran through the brambles and
nettles (ouch!) and reached the top to find the rocks were mossy and not
good for climbing. Suddenly, I heard footsteps and rustling. It was like
a horror movie- all alone in a dark forest! A large orange tail stuck up
from the brambles. A large fox, probably male, stopped about 5 metres
away and stared at me. I froze still- no camera on me. It then ran off
up the hill, stopping every few metres to look at me and then carrying
on. With a smile on my face as it was my first close encounter with a
fox- I carried on running. This is what I want to do in Summer, with my
camera on standby.
  
What else have I been
doing? Well I've been doing quite a bit of photography, and this has
been hampered by a broken lens which shall be fixed eventually. I've
also been hugely involved with the Save Our Forests Campaign. The 17th
of February (a date I shall always remember) was a BRILLIANT day because
it was announced that our forests would 'basically', be saved from being
sold off! This is what we (the huge public opposition against the
sell-off' were aiming for. We well and truly WON! David Cameron and his tory-chums were well and truly outnumbered, and the plans were so
ridiculous that some of his own party rebelled. I've just published a
large report about it- with an update on what happened, why we won, what
I did to help and what's happening next with pics etc. There's also an
article
which I wrote about what my local Forestry Commission forest which was
endangered, meant to me, along with information about the Save Delamere
Forest group which I was involved campaigning with. Anyway, I remember
cycling up to the top of the Old Pale hill monument, the highest point
for many miles round which looks over the beautiful horizon of Delamere
and it's many sparkling meres and mosses. With broken, sunny skies
around me, and all alone as the sun setted- I punched the air and said
'Yes'. Months of anguish (I'm an environmentalist so the plans really
got me in a twist, I probably did at least 40-50 hours of campaigning
work- which is listed in more detail in the
article.
Some slightly more
exciting news! I've got a couple of Blue Tit's who've moved into the
property for lease in my dense garden Laurel Hedge! After 3 years of
having my box, and it's £50 mini nestbox camera inside on a tree with no
birds using it, I decided to clean it out and put it in the hedge in
January, where I thought the denser, more shaded and more camouflaged
surroundings would increase it's price at the estate agents. After
wiring my camera up to the TV in my bedroom, I checked it 2 weeks ago.
There's a nest! I didn't see the removal vans! It's been really
interesting, the nest has been progressing every day. I have seen a
couple of Blue Tits in my garden (well, there's loads of them!) and I've
seen two going in there or hanging around it for a while. I do
occasionally see one nip in with a twig or piece of moss in it's beak.
The birds have been bringing more and more leaves, hair, dead moss etc.
A few feathers have accumulated. Earlier on today, after checking no
birds were watching TV inside, I superglued the box to the branch, as
sadly my road is heavily populated with young children, and my old
birdbox last year ended up appearing on next door's fence. I don't
really want my Blue Tit's coming back to find their home gone. It was
slightly annoying how the tube of glue split all over my hands but
anyway: Job done. I've checked the camera about twice a day and watched
it slowly build up. The female, who looks rather plump, has been
roosting in the box overnight for a couple of days which is a good sign.
I've done an awful lot to protect the box so hopefully the couple will
safely raise lots of healthy chicks to adulthood. When I first saw a
bird go in the box- I ran downstairs saying 'We have a mouse in the
birdbox!'. I got a lot of confused looks. It was in fact just the Blue
Tit roosting- they do look very large on the mini-cam!
So- check out this
page
and you can see the pictures, videos and factual updates about the
stages in the Blue Tit's pregnancy, and hopefully, you will soon be able
to see the eggs, the hatching and the chicks literally 'flying the
nest'! I WILL keep you all updated! Visit the How To Help page for info
on how to help newborn chicks and nesting birds. Please, please, please
don't trim your hedges now- it's illegal!
Bye for now....
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