Our favourite time of year. More light, more sounds, more life!
Spring is by far our favourite time of year. We as a family enjoy spending more time outside, watching, searching and enjoying wildlife.
We recently were allowed into a friend’s woodland to watch some busy woodpeckers forage and then feed their chicks. The boys were quiet and respectful of the birds, and enjoyed hearing the woodpeckers’ loud ‘ peep’ sound, as they have a small collection of RSPB bird toys, which make bird calls.
Swimming with Puffins
For my 40th birthday, I was treated to a puffin snorkel trip in Skomer, west Wales. It was absolutely magical! Thousands of birds everywhere. Razorbills, guillemots, puffins, seals, gulls and more. My brother-in-law Trystan and I travelled to Pembrokeshire to do a trip with the wonderful Celtic Deep, snorkelling with the pint- sized puffins. Everything about the trip was perfect, the weather, the boat, the people and of course the birds. I would come back in a heart beat and next year Zoe and the boys shall be returning to Wales with me.
To get the puffins attention, we were given puffin decoys tied to our wrists, and our heads. The welfare of all the birds was paramount, but the curious nature of the puffins would allow us some close views of these lovely auks. I was attempting to photograph them using an 8mm fish eye lens, so I could try some half and half shots. I was pleased with my results on the whole, as it was my first time seeing puffins, and as they are such a small subject, I needed to be really close. Some of the photos ended up catching the medias attention, getting in The Times, The Telegraph, The Express, The Mirror, My Modern Met and The Cornishman. As we were snorkelling in south Haven, Skomer, we heard the unforgettable cry of , ‘Chee-ow, chee-ow!’ 4 choughs are resident on Skomer, making us feel even more at home. After the trip, we went to another incredible place, Stack rocks, on MoD land. A huge rock rose out of the sea, plastered with thousands of guillemots. A sight to behold!
New Life
My camera trap projects have been getting interesting results. A family of foxes were captured for a few days, and then at midday on one sunny day in May, an adult fox walked past one of my cameras carrying a cub in its’ mouth. This behaviour shows the foxes have possibly moved dens. The cub then ventured back in front of the camera a few hours later, but they haven’t shown since.
We enjoyed a family trip to Helston, watching and feeding the birds, in particular a family of coots. We were impressed with how attentive the parent coots were, passionately defending their young against a volatile male swan.
Whilst looking for kestrels on the coast, I photographed some choughlets, who’s numbers seem to thankfully be soaring along our coastlines. I reported my sightings to Chough Watch, who were thrilled with the successful fledglings.
During one of my early chough watching expeditions, I found an injured male roe deer, at the bottom of a cliff. There was blood splatters, and the deer couldn’t fully weight bare on its’ front right leg. I had no phone signal, so called the Coastguard and eventually, a National Trust ranger took the deer to a Vet’s in Penzance. I’m unsure of the outcome, but was proud of mine and of the local community’s actions, as I was given lots of sound advice on social media.
I spent a few evenings scoping out a friend’s lake with an aim of adding a camera trap for the visiting kingfishers. Unfortunately due to the high water levels, it wasn’t practical to set up my kit, but I did manage to capture a nice image of a juvenile kingfisher whilst I was sat on the river-bank under a camouflage net. The young bird dived 8 times for a fish but with no success. I visited the evening after but didn’t see the bird. I hope it improved its’ skills.
Zoe and the boys are busy enjoying the ’30 Days Wild’ challenge, now we are in June, encouraging the boys to do at least one ‘wild’ thing each day.
After a cold, wet winter, there is nothing better than getting out into nature, hearing and watching wildlife, with the family in the warm Spring air. Spring brings new life, joy and hope.
We hope you have been enjoying the Spring as much as we have!
Chough Rock 