30 Days Wild Day 14: Nature On a Train

I absolutely love travelling by train. It has to be my favourite mode of transport. Can you tell I'm not a commuter? I don't think someone working in London and commuting every day would have the same feelings about trains as I do! I just find it a relatively stress-free way to travel, assuming everything is on time, and it allows me to see hidden pockets of countryside that I wouldn't normally get to see if I was driving. 

On Sunday, I took the train from Christ's Hospital to Bournemouth, where I went to university several years ago, to meet up with my friend and old housemate for the first time in nearly a year. The journey was around 2 1/2 hours and had two changes but I wasn't phased as it meant I had plenty of time to peer out of the windows in search of wildlife! In fact, before I had even got on the first train, I was joined on the deserted station by a pair of collared doves and a magpie. 

What is fantastic about the rail lines is that they are all bordered by miles and miles of wild verges, peppered with all sorts of wildflowers. Great swathes of oxeye daisies swayed as the train passed, wild foxgloves stood to attention and I even spotted a single poppy plant actually growing straight out of a stone wall somewhere near Southampton. There were plenty of plants/weeds growing right on the tracks too. Nature will always find a way.

We passed a lot of fields on the journey and these turned out to be heaving with wildlife. Several roe deer were quietly grazing on the grass. The head of an adult fox was visible peeping over a tussock. A kestrel performed the characteristic hover. After seeing a green woodpecker only the other day, this journey yielded two more to me. One pecking at the ground in a field and another having just taken off, the bright yellow tail giving it away. What I was most excited about was one particular farming field that we passed which was hosting at least six lapwings! I've obviously seen them before but only in wetland habitats and I know that they are quite often seen in agricultural environments, so this was a special treat. I was glad to be so close to the field too, otherwise I wouldn't have know they were there.

On the return journey, I had a half-hour wait at Barnham station. This was around 7pm and the platforms were pretty quiet, save for a few travellers in the same boat (or train) as me. The humans might well have been quiet, but the resident rooks certainly weren't! There was a very loud rookery directly opposite me and plenty of individuals hopping about the platform and between the rails. A few pied wagtails and sparrows joined the party, darting between the eaves above the stairwell. 

The rookery

You really don't have to look hard to find wildlife. OK, rooks and sparrows might not be your idea of exciting species but they are just as important as the "trendy" animals. The next time you take a train journey, why not leave your phone in your pocket and see what wildlife you can spot? You never know what you might see!

30 Days Wild Day 13: Cleaning up Goring Beach!

Number 13: unlucky for some but very lucky in my family! I'm pretty exhausted as I type this, from a combination of climbing up and down a pebbly beach and being battered by a relentless sea breeze. Today was my second organised beach clean-up event, held on behalf of the Marine Conservation Society; I held the first back in March. When I first woke up this morning, I was slightly dismayed to find that the weather was even more overcast and dim than when I did the first clean-up and even the breeze wasn't particularly warm. Thankfully, by the time I'd driven down to Worthing and picked up the litter pickers from the beach office (while weaving through the children's carnvial/parade thing that was marching down the beachfront), the sun had come out completely and the wind, although incredibly strong, was surprisingly mild and I didn't even have to put on my rain mac for an extra layer!

I had a brilliant team of volunteers again, slightly smaller in numbers than the first but all were eager to go, despite none of them having ever done an organised beach clean before. The only annoying thing we found as we began collecting litter was that the rubbish bags acted like sails in the strong gusts and nearly blew half of us away, as well as making putting small scraps in there very tricky! I think even with bag rings, we would have still had the same issue. I guess that's the risk you take when you're down on the coast! At least the wind/kite surfers were able to make the most of it.

I picked up quite a number of metal drinks cans this time around as well as plenty of pieces of fishing line and rope. Thankfully, we didn't come across any dead animals or pack yokes that are notorious for strangling wildlife. Still, considering the beach had only been cleaned three months ago, the amount of litter about was surprising. It will be interesting to see at the next event in September how it has fared after a summer of picnics, BBQs, fish and chips, and ice creams have been consumed. I like to think that most people are like me; happy to take their rubbish to the nearest bin or home with them. Sadly, I know this isn't the case for many of the UK and it drives me mad. There's really no excuse for it. 

Balloons are not biodegradable

There were plenty of interesting items that were naturally occuring, including a huge abundance of whole cuttle fish. Normally, I only see left-over pieces of these but not today. A great number of whelk egg-cases were scattered around as well as large pieces of crab shell and shark egg cases. I'm quite tempted to come back during the month and have a little beach-combing session actually, to give me a chance for a closer look.

It was lovely being out in the fresh air with the sun beaming down, even with that keen wind! I do enjoy seeing a group of strangers working together to make a difference in such a way as this and it instills a renewed sense of hope in me that there are people who care about our environment and want to take care of it. One of the volunteers actually asked if she could collect some of the fishing line and rope for her textile work at university, which she will recycle and turn into fabric! What a great and innovative way to make a negative into a positive.

Among other categories, we collected: 

25 metal items

20 sanitary items

16 paper items

243 (!) plastic items

The amount of plastic items over every other materials still astounds me. There were quite a few make-up wipes which I have never flushed down the toilet but apparently some people do! I'd love to be able to encourage more people to take part in these events, if only to open their eyes to what happens to the items we put down the loo. Thanks to my brilliant volunteers, we collected over 5kg of rubbish which is great! 

If you are interested in taking part in a beach clean-up for the MCS, visit www.mcsuk.org or sing up for my next event on 19th September here: http://www.mcsuk.org/beachwatch/beach/goring-sea/event/2015-09-19 

30 Days Wild Day 12: Fresh Air and Contemplation

Due to a heavy workload, I've been stuck indoors all day. It's been a very oppressive, stormy one and despite having all the windows wide open, I was feeling quite suffocated by the evening. I've also been having a bit of a low day so of course my motivation for most things wasn't particularly forthcoming. In an attempt to perk myself up and clear my foggy and full-to-bursting mind, I made myself a cup of green tea (apple and pear flavour in case you were wondering) and took it across the road to the field opposite.

This is one of my favourite places to have a quiet moment, particularly on summer evenings, when everything is slowing down and the air is mild. I stood leaning on the fence looking across the field to the line of trees in the distance. I quite often see high numbers of rabbits along the edges, their ears just poking above thick tussocks of grass, but there were none today. The rain was still dripping from the leaves above me after the earlier downpour we'd had and the sky had that funny, stormy colour to it; purple-grey swirled with yellow.

Through the thin mist that hung low across the grass, I could make out a lone roe deer grazing. The six horses that occupy the field during the summer months took no notice of it. The evening soundtrack was dominated by blackbirds, both laughing, chucking and singing their beautiful, clear song. A pair of robins chattered to each other in the bush beside me and I could just make out the silhouette of one preening itself.

Something that did really perk me up earlier in the evening was a chance glance out of my bedroom window. I quite literally did a double-take as I saw what at first I took to be a thrush but once my eyes adjusted through the slightly warped glass (con of a 19th century cottage), I realised it was in fact a Green Woodpecker. I have seen them locally in the past, but never on my home patch right outside our house! It was a wonderful sight especially the Great-Spotted family have stuck around all day too and one of them was visible on the tree behind the Green. Two species of woodpecker in one frame is pretty special in my book. 

Not the greatest photos I'm afraid!

I'll admit that the spell of fresh air did help to lift my mood. I have quite a lot on my mind and I'm juggling lots of things so it's easy to get bogged down. Sometimes the simple moments really make a difference.

30 Days Wild Day 11: Acrobatic Woodpeckers

Today is the first time this month that it has truly felt like summer. I'm aware that I mention the weather quite frequently in my posts but it's an important part of nature and can greatly affect the wildlife we see, so I feel I'm justified. We have all tolerated some pretty blustery days this year and finding the sun blazing when I opened the curtains this morning was a welcome sight. 

It is now just about a month until my 25th birthday and on Tuesday, I purchased my first pair of binoculars as an early birthday gift from my parents. Naturally, I am keen to use them whenever possible now and they proved very useful with the peregrines in Chi yesterday. I decided to take half an hour today to do some good, old fashioned bird spotting from our spare bedroom window before getting on with my work. Our bird feeders have stood empty for the past week or so as I haven't had a chance to buy new food to refill them, so there haven't been the usual numbers of birds in the garden. I restocked them yesterday with suet balls and seed and by this morning, the avian activity was back to the norm. It certainly doesn't take long for these birds to work out where the food is!

I was really very spoiled by the sights I had today. Our male great-spotted woodpecker landed on the feeder pole, letting out persistent clucks and was very soon joined by a juvenile, complete with red cap. The adult pecked away at the suet and then passed this on to the juvy, who hung on patiently. It did feed itself several times too and it's great to see these skills being developed at such a close range. A lot of communication went on consistently throughout the feed. 

Photobombed by a nuthatch!

I could hear more clucking from the trees behind and several times the adult flew up into the branches with her beak full. When I followed with my bins, I saw a second juvenile being fed and after some time, this juvy joined its mother and sibling on the feeder. Ecstatic is the best word to describe my reaction to this as I've seen a pair of adults feeding a single juvenile in the past but never two juvys! You can see in the (iffy) photo below how pale the red of the youngster's underparts are in comparison to the adult's.

Needless to say, my planned half hour deadline came and went and I continued keenly peering at the woodpecker family; what kind of crazy person would voluntarily come away from such a sight, I ask you? My dedication paid off too, as I witnessed the adult flitting about among the branches for a few moments before she flung herself into the open, twisted her body slightly then snatched a bright red beetle straight from the air with her long beak. A remarkable scene!

Caught mid-blink

Later on in the afternoon, I took another half hour after my lunch to lie in the garden and just listen to the birds (I'm still working on those pasty legs of mine too!) I was relatively close to the feeders and could hear the chatter of a mass of blue and great tits, many of which came down to feed. I saw several juvenile blues, their tiny faces still showing washed-out yellow plumage, and one adult which definitely looked as if it might be suffering from feather mites. A juvy robin also landed on our garden table, only a few feet away and enough for me to see its speckled, brown chest.

Jackdaws cawwed above me, a chiff chaff persistenly sung from the deeper trees and the very faint call of a cuckoo drifted across the breeze. I'm certainly going to miss our birds when we move on to a new house so, until then, I'll continue to enjoy them whenever I can.  

30 Days Wild Day 10: Posing Peregrines

Once again, I was in Chichester today, volunteering for the RSPB peregrines. We are slowly approaching fledging time with only 1-2 weeks left before the chicks are ready to leave. It will most definitely be a bittersweet event. I am consoled by the fact that they won't immediately leave the site once they fly the nest; they will hang around on the cathedral for a couple of months, being fed by their parents and taught how to fly, hunt, dive etc. before making their way out into the wide world around September.

The chicks are four weeks old and have nearly lost all of their white down. They're really starting to look like adults around the face, having developed some of their cheek and moustache markings. I desperately want to give them a comb to sort out that remaining white fluff!

Both parents spent most of the morning perched in various places on the cathedral. The male has been bringing starlings in but obviously these haven't got a huge amount of meat on them and don't last very long between three hungry mouths. Interestingly, rather than plucking and tearing the prey then feeding it the chicks herself, the female has been dropping the food into the turret and supervising, allowing her young to develop their feeding skills. Female 65 (the largest of the two females) eventually figured out how to feed herself through this method this afternoon which was very exciting for us! Another milestone towards adulthood. 

I was lucky enough yet again to witness a food pass between the male and female too. I seem to always be looking up at the right time as it's normally easy to miss these occurrences and I have seen two in the past fortnight! Since the adults were on fantastic display for much of the day, I was able to snap a few photos through the scopes, after much lining up with my camera and attempts to steady my hand! These were taken with a regular handheld and cropped a tiny bit so I'm actually quite surprised by how well they have turned out.

 Female

Male

You can see from their feathers just how blustery it was today! I was complaining about the strength of the wind but they were loving it. Falcons fly really well in wind, using updrafts etc. to their advantage and both adults enjoyed some quality flying time over the course of the day. An amazing spectacle.

30 Days Wild Day 9: Lunch on the Heath

I was volunteering at Pulborough Brooks again today. It was pretty busy in the centre, with various tasks occupying my time and, of course, plenty of welcoming the visitors. People were coming back from their walks saying that the wind was really bringing the temperature down so when I ventured out on my lunch break, I was expecting to feel a little chilled. Personally, I think some of them were exaggerating just the tiniest bit as it was actually very pleasant, muggy even, but I guess we all feel the cold differently. I'll let them off!

I headed out to the heath lands which are situated behind the car park and are used a lot by dog walkers. It's an entirely different habitat from the wetlands trail, with lots of inclines and great views of the South Downs. I settled myself on a bench that overlooks the centre of the heath. With my lunch, the latest issue of BBC Wildlife and the air filled with chiff chaffs chiff-chaffing and blackbirds laughing, it made for a pretty relaxing break.

Several hobbies have been spotted at the reserve recently so it came as no surprise when I saw one gliding overhead. I knew straight away that it wasn't a buzzard or red kite purely from the size and looking at the tapered shape of the wings and absence of "fingers", it couldn't have been a marsh harrier either. It's taken a while, but I feel like my bird of prey identification skills have definitely improved.

Talking of buzzards, on my journey back to the centre, I found a slightly tatty feather on the ground which I am fairly certain belonged to a buzzard. I already have a huge one, in better condition, in my feather collection but I'm always happy to add to it, so this was a lovely bonus.* Please do correct me if I'm wrong!

*Whenever I mention my feather collection, I always make a point of saying that they are all feathers I have found on the ground. Taking feathers from the birds themselves is illegal and I do not encourage it. 

30 Days Wild Day 8: Studying in the Park

I can't believe we are already eight days into June! This month is simply zipping by. I was working on portraits for most of today and had planned to do some studying later in the afternoon. I decided to take my coursework with me to our local country park in Southwater so that I could enjoy the outdoors at the same time as getting some more work done. Plus, I need my legs to turn just a shade darker than their current state of milky white!

It made such a great change working outdoors although I kept getting distracted by the various waterfowl, particularly the great-crested grebe which I'm always a sucker for. The coots and moorhens had chicks; some were brand new, just out of the nest, with yellow fuzz on their heads and surprisingly loud cries. Others were much older and near enough adults, awaiting their final molt. 

I'm always pleased to see areas that have been left to go wild and the verges in the park were absolutely filled with a variety of different grasses and wildflowers. There were plenty of these common spotted orchids scattered about, which is great for the bees and butterflies, although I still didn't see any of the latter. I think they must be avoiding me!

Common Spotted Orchid

The resident family of mute swans were sat in the sun, preening themselves. The parents have three cygnets this year who are still relatively young with their downy, grey plumage. They are almost perfect miniatures of the adults, excluding the colour differences. The neck of a swan is a thing of contradiction; it has a very graceful appearance but also looks incredibly strong, and it's easy to see how it could be used as a defense when they are feeling territorial.

I was glad to get out for a bit today, in between work, but I can't say that the environment was particularly helpful when it came to me focusing on my studies. What can I say: I can't help getting distracted by the wildlife!