A selection from Wingham

The first few photos follow on from my previous post quite nicely, with a bee posing on the allium. There are also still some bluebells still hanging on in the wooded area near me. Not in their best form but their shadows in the small patch of sunlight on the tree trunk in the 3rd photo down made it look almost magical. 

Bombus lapidarius (I think)

Helophilus pendulus on some hawthorn blossom

I wasn't working at the pub on Saturday so my mum and I decided to take a trip to Wingham Wildlife Park (formerly Wingham Bird Park) because I was thinking of applying to volunteer there. When I was much younger, maybe 4 or 5 I was taken there with my cousins, I think we got chased by a peacock. Well in 15 years or so it has certainly changed and expanded considerably. They now have tigers, lions, wolves and a variety of small mammals, reptiles and birds. So it's basically a small zoo.

Most of the enclosures were pretty good, with places for the animals to hide from the public and things for them to do. However, we weren't impressed with some of the living conditions for the birds of prey... They have a huge kids play area which has clearly had a fair amount of money spent on it, and I just wonder why they haven't spent their money on improving the aviaries which, although we are not experts, could clearly be deemed inadequate. I don't disagree with zoos, they are great for exposing children to incredible animals that otherwise they may only ever see on the TV, and I understand that captive animals wouldn't survive in the wild, but seeing 2 beautiful owls in approx 7x7x5 foot cage with just one perch and isn't acceptable.

Rant over and other than that it was a good day. A fairly amusing moment occurred whilst walking through the flamingo enclosure (you were allowed) when we noticed lots of tiny black fluffy moorhen chicks. The parent bird was hidden in the reeds and a young couple point them out to their small child and said something along the lines of "Ahh look do you think they are flamingo chicks?!" I quickly but hopefully not patronizingly informed them that they weren't.

I took a few photos, but only when I could get one without a bit of wire fence in, or something similar...

Red panda looking like he is trying to whisper something... pssstt

Scrunched up nose

Meerkats having a stretch - funny critters!

Alert!

Heavily pregnant goat - which species of goat I cannot remember

Drake mallard

Pelican

Crested crane - it was so near that I couldn't fit its whole crest in my frame!

Cool hairdo!

Pretty female mallard

Cuuuute mallard duckling

Bengal Eagle Owl feathers

Peacock

Relaxing in the shade

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree

Scarlet swallowtail I think

Owl eye butterfly I believe

 Yesterday I started voluntary work for the Kent Wildlife Trust and helped for a few hours down at Oare marshes. There was a fair crowd looking at the Bonaparte's gull. I took my camera, but upon arrival at Oare, realised that my SD card was in fact still in my laptop. How unhelpful! Not that I probably would have been able to tell it from another gull anyway! Maybe later in the week I'll pop down again to see what all the fuss is about!!

That is all from me for today, thanks for reading :)

Seasalter Beach and The Holy Trinity

On Wednesday we thought we would nip down the road in the car and take Bracken to the beach. Something we should really do more often! My mum and I were saying to each other that if we were walking along a beach like at Seasalter and we were on holiday we would be saying how fantastic it is. We decided that we need to appreciate what is practically on our doorstep!

At Seasalter you can either walk along the beach and turn around and go back the same way, or you can walk along the top, the other side of the low wall and turn around and go back the other way. However, we walked along the beach and then clambered over the wall to walk back along the path! I managed fine, Mum did in the end and Bracken found his inner kangaroo and leapt on to the wall and off the other side!!

Along the shingle beach were hundreds of these jellyfish below. We have no idea what kind they are so if anyone has any idea what they are then please do comment below!! They were pretty darn cool though!

 

Shelduck

 From the photos below I think it is pretty easy to see that Bracken enjoyed his walk immensely!! With the tide out, he had fabulous fun getting absolutely clarted in mud!! He got a taste for seaweed also.

We came across this carcass, probably a seal pup?! It definitely looks more mammal like than fish like.

Once we had climbed over the wall, it wasn't long before we had swallows dancing over our heads! Less delightful - Bracken found many a cowpat to have a snack on! I noticed this wheatear further along on the wall. It didn't mind us too much and allowed us to get pretty close. Then it would float down the other side of the wall when pup got too near. I could never spot it though, they are great at camouflaging themselves! When I so much as glanced over the wall, Bracken had immediately jumped up onto it again. He is going to be great at agility when he is old enough to go to classes!

Wheatear

Wheatear

Shelduck again

Swallow

After a breezy but wonderful walk, we returned home for a nice cup of tea! As soon as we got home the clouds miraculously disappeared and the sun shone while the housemartins and swifts put on an aerial display to rival the red arrows! I made it my mission to try and get a few good in-flight shots. Not an easy task considering the speeds they zoom past at! I was happy with some of them but there is always room for improvement!

I added to my earlier swallow photo, to complete my trio! The holy trinity. Swallow, swift and housemartin! I love these birds!!

Swift

Housemartin

Housemartin adding to his or her nest from last year!

Sunlit housemartin

Housemartin

A trio of housemartins, one fairly in focus the next just about and the last blurry. But I like it anyway.

Collared dove with ruffled neck feathers

Pretty blossom in the evening sun

That rounds up a pretty awesome day. If the weather would like to start acting more like May than October that would be great! Prime example of the wintry weather was yesterday when my Dad and I got caught in a hailstorm whilst down at Oare Marshes!

Thanks for reading and pop back soon to see some photos of the walk, some rain drops and the garden in a brief spell of sunshine :)