Busy Busy Busy

Well both Christmas and New year have passed and I haven't posted in well over a month! I do hope all my regular (and not so regular) readers are well and that 2014 is treating you well so far!!

Due to my absence of late I still have photos from the Christmas period to show you so here are some of them...

Christmas Task with the Monday Volunteer Group!

Wet chalky nose

Lovely goldy munching birch catkins

Hurtling around with his deflated football

My Cousins chasing Bracky - such fun!

Flooded marsh

Bye bye football - Brack was too much of a wus to go and get it. The water was quite deep though!

Looking unimpressed with his Christmas neckerchief on!

Out walking along the Test Way - From Romsey to Mottisfont

LTTs on our friends feeders!

They are lucky enough to have 2 nuthatches visit!

...and cute little coal tits!

Frosty moss

Frosty grass

View out onto the lane

Box Hill

Box Hill

Setting sun from Box Hill

Plane trails and the sun

My Auntie Ruth and Cousin Tom came to stay the first weekend of January and it absolutely poured with rain the whole time. A huge shame because a nice long dog walk would have been perfect. Instead we went into Canterbury and had lunch with my Godmother and then went to Canterbury Cathedral. I hadn't been in since I was quite young, so it was lovely to go into this magnificent cathedral and appreciate it's beauty. So we still had a lovely time :)  

I have now begun my new venture as Volunteer Trainee Water for Wildlife at Kent Wildlife Trust working on the 'Vole Reversal' project. As many people know, our cute little Water Voles are in trouble. With a loss of habitat over the years and additional predation by the invasive, non-native species, the American Mink, some intervention is vital to protect the remaining populations of water voles.

I started my post last Monday and volunteer 3 days a week. I have been planning my training programme, getting to know the other staff and have been out on many site visits. I have already been made to feel like part of the team and it has been interesting to see how funding from various companies is allocated to different projects and how it is managed.

I haven't taken my camera out with me much but when the weather is nicer I will post some relevant photos to the project. I wish I had it last Tuesday though... after we had attended a meeting where Sam talked to local important people about the project, we went down to the marsh and had a fantastic view of a Kingfisher! We also found some water vole droppings which is encouraging. After the tidal surge at Oare Marshes it was uncertain how the water voles had coped, so finding fresh droppings was a very positive sign :)

I love that I am able to spend a considerable amount of time outdoors on the marshes - the best office around in my opinion! 

I'm not really sure how much information I am allowed to disclose about all aspects of the project so won't go into much detail at the moment. Once I have asked what I can and can't say I shall put another post together. I also have some photos from Sevenoaks NR from the weekend so keep an eye out for another post soon!


I'm sure I always apologise for lack of reading others blogs so I will carry on that tradition! When I get some spare time I will try and catch up with you all!

Things are Starting to Fall into Place!

Right well not sure where to start! Had a busy hectic few days and some good news!

I'll start with the weekend. I actually finished a knitting project - quite an accomplishment for moi! I volunteered myself to knit a tea cosy for the teapot we use for our teas on our Monday tasks. Below are a few nearly finished photos and the finished article!

The last row...

Blue butterfly (adonis blue) representing the KWT logo

The teapot ready to be dressed

A quick break for a dog walk....

Then taaaadaaaaaa....

I wanted to finish it before volling on Monday. Everyone was impressed and I must say I am fairly impressed too!

Everyone working hard - probably in need of a nice hot cup of tea!

Tea cosy in a more natural setting!

Everyone said how much hotter the tea stayed - in my eyes that is a success!

Anyone know what this is??? Edit: Cobalt Crust (Terana caerulea) a saprobic crust fungi

After the task, we went to check on Oare Marshes after the tidal surge last week. I didn't see the damage on the day but it is still very much under water compared to how it usually looks.

Evidence of the debris washed into the marsh from the creek. Water was flowing so quickly it dragged reeds as well

Water pouring from the ditches

Excess water gushing from the marshes back into the creek via the sluice

A beautiful calm day

On Tuesday I went on an Emergency First Aid at Work Training day. A really handy qualification to have when applying for jobs etc. It was a very informative and hands on day. I feel confident that I may one day be able to help someone if they were in trouble.

Yesterday We had our first proper frost. It still wasn't a proper proper one but the heaviest we've had yet.

Not too sure about that ice...

Give it a little sniff...

Then eat it!

I took Bracken down to the marshes with my camera and tripod slung over my shoulder. I needed an hour or so to clear my head because later on in the day I had an interview. The interview was for a trainee post with KWT and I was told to prepare a 3 minute presentation about a habitat or species group. I decided to talk about falcons! What better way to learn a presentation than go and give it to a falcon! We always see kestrels down at the marshes so that is what I did. A nice hovering kezzie listened very well to me rambling on about him!  I really wanted a nice photo of me and Bracken down there in the lovely morning light, hence why I took my tripod. I got a couple of shots that I quite like...

Anyway I went for my interview, it went okay but I was quite nervous. It obviously went better than I thought because I received a phone call when I got home and they offered me the job!! Truly ecstatic! The position involves working on the water vole project which I have already been doing for a while. I am just happy to be able to have a more formal role in the project!

This morning we went on another lovely walk. Well a normal kind of walk apart from the fact I saw my first little owl!! I wish wish wish I'd had my camera because it was no more than 2 metres away from me and looking directly at me!! I'm sure most birders see lots of these stunning little birds and I'm not quite sure why it has taken me so long to see one. It was well worth the wait though! I will always remember my first sighting of this smart little owl!

Right now I must apologise again for taking so long to catch up on blogs, that is my task for the next few days! I hope you are all having a great week! I couldn't wait to share my good news with you all!

Daily Life

December already! Although it is still feeling quite mild here in this part of the country. I'm eager for a nice frost as I've missed a nice crunchy walk!

Yesterday after I took Bracken for a walk I spent some time catching up with blogs and watching the birds who were coming and going in the garden. I have been inspired by Mike Dilger's new book to watch the behaviour of the birds who visit the garden and I've been writing a little bird diary. Something which I am sure most naturalists do.

Over the weekend I had a go at making my own birdy fat treats. Ages ago I bought one of those coconut halves and obviously they demolished the contents within a few days, however it was the perfect vessel to refill. I bought some white vegetable fat and melted it down, firstly putting a layer of mealworms, then some of the melted fat, then some oats and some more mealworms until it was packed with yummy bird treats. I also used a plastic pot which was destined for the recycle bin, and filled that with the same selection of morsels. The garden birds are still checking it out, making sure it isn't going to jump off the tree and eat them. There were 5 blue tits all inspecting it from afar, but still just a little too scary to nibble.

The weekend before, we went and explored some woods nearby which we hadn't been to previously. The walk was okay, but it was quite difficult to follow the woodland path. We encountered some lovely free roaming piggies which luckily Bracken didn't notice, so I was able to call him back and pop him on his lead. Probably not a footpath we shall use again, but that is what is great about using the OS map - we can find which places we like and which we aren't likely to return to. My camera's battery died after a few minutes so that was quite irritating.

Usual volunteering activities have been taking place, along with a dormouse check which resulted in just one wood mouse which had taken over the intricate dormouse nest. We then made a hasty retreat back to the truck as it started to tip down. Hopefully all the little dormice gained enough weight to survive the winter and have found a nice little hidey hole to hibernate in.

Anyway that is probably enough of my ramblings. Here are a selection of photos from the last few weeks worth of walks.

21st November

21st November

21st November

23rd November - Walk along The Saxon Shore Way
 

Bracken having enormous fun with a plastic sheet.

Kestrel

Flock of  roughly 170 brent geese

Flock of linnets and goldfinches

Linnets and goldfinches

Another shot of the finch flock

Reed bunting

Poignant pose

Sanderling

Last Monday I took this cake along to our volunteer task for the Warden's Birthday. Usually no more than 10 people turn up so I cut the cake into 10. You can guess how many people turned up to that task....

Delicious Birthday carrot cake

The changes in the sky on today's afternoon walk...

Lime tree leaves

I am playing catch up with all your blogs, I haven't forgotten you I promise! I hope you are all well :)

Thanks for reading and any comments you take the time to write, I truly appreciate what you have to say!