Archive for the ‘wildlife’ Category

25/52: Wicken Fen

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

25/52: 17/06/09 [Wicken Fen tree]

On Wednesday I visited Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire, a nature reserve owned by the National Trust and one of the few remaining fen areas in East Anglia.

It’s not the easiest of places to get to if you’re car-less. The nearest stations are Ely and Waterbeach, and it’s a reasonable hike or bike ride from there. You can also get a bus, but the nearest stop is Soham Village, three miles away. I went for the bike option, hiring one in Ely and cycling the National Cycle Route 11 all the way there. It’s a wonderful route: clearly signed all the way (it’s a shame that that should be worth commenting on, but there you go) and mostly car-free.

The Fen itself is quite remarkable: as you would imagine, very flat; seemingly endless in places. I also found it quite eerie — the only sounds you could here were the wind in the reeds and the occasional bird call or human voice floating by.

It’s supposed to be rich in birdlife, but to be honest I spotted more en-route (including what might have been a marsh harrier).

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St. Davids, June ‘09

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

Clear off!, originally uploaded by reynard.

Just back from a week’s camping in St. Davids, Pembrokeshire. The weather was “changeable”, the scenery beautiful and the wildlife wonderful. Hopefully the chronic back pain will lift in a day or two’s time.

As well as doing a few walks along the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path I got the chance to visits the islands of Ramsey and Skomer, both wildlife reserves run by the RSPB and Wildlife Trusts respectively. The weather on Ramsay was spectacular, on Skomer it was utterly dire. It didn’t stop me getting a few shots of the resident puffins however. They’re very used to people poking about and just about tolerate it so you can get pretty close.

I’m not great at my bird identification, but cross referencing what I saw with my Complete British Birds and what the wardens told us we could expect to see, I think I got to see:

  • Meadow pipits
  • Stonechats
  • Choughs
  • Gannets
  • Manx Shearwater
  • Guillemots
  • Razorbills
  • Puffins
  • A short-eared owl
  • Black-backed gulls
  • Oyster catchers
  • Skylarks
  • Swallows
  • House martins
  • Loads of rooks and jackdaws

I also got to see some porpoises, common dolphins and seals too which was pretty cool.

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Of nightingales and cellos

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

Since I’ve got hooked on Springwatch again, I decided to flick through my copy of Birds Britannica by Mark Cocker and Richard Mabey. I was re-reading the entry on the nightingale this morning which mentioned the BBC recordings of the cellist Beatrice Harrison playing alongside a nightingale in her garden in Oxted, made in 1927. As you might expect, I had no problem tracking these down on the Interweb. As well as the clip below, I also came across the website for a US radio programme from 2005, Music and Nature, with more information, the recording itself and subsequent recordings, including one made in 1942 of the nightingale accompanied by the slightly less peaceful sounds of RAF bombers on their way to a raid. Fascinating, beautiful, and in the latter case, a little chilling.

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