Tracks in the snow
The snow is a great opportunity to see what animals are running about while we’re not looking…
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- Red squirrel
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- Fox prints
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- I’m fairly sure this small track has been made by a vole
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- Red deer tend to come off the hill and spend more time in the woods in the cold
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- Roe deer
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- In this one the dew claws are visible in the print because the roe deer has just landed after a leap
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- These are grouse prints – I’m going for red (Lagopus lagopus), as opposed to black, because I found them high in the hills, away from the woodland edge.
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- High up on the hills, so probably mountain hare
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- Back in the woods, something from the thrush family, probably blackbird
The day the tour came to town
There were big crowds in Exmouth today for the Devon stage of the tour of Britain cycle race, which finished on the esplanade. The stage was won by Mark Renshaw, just ahead of team-mate Mark “Cav” Cavendish. Some other cyclists also finished the race, or at least came cycling past were I was standing, some 200m from the finish line. I’ve included some cutting edge pictures below, one of which is of a spider.
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- Here they come…
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- Here I’ve cleverly ignored the leader in order to focus on Mark “Cav” Cavendish
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- The riders go by in about 2 seconds, then we get to watch cars with bikes on their roofs. Great.
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- Lars Boom has some help to apply the yellow leaders vest thing
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- The event happened to coincide with a police bikers convention
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- In other news, our gorgeous friend Araneus diadematus has turned around
Severe lack of good form
Hello. Yes, those of you who follow my outdoor antics (all 5, yes, it’s going up – it’s possible to subscribe to emails via the link on the right (Mum!). An email will only be sent when I post something i.e. not that often, and then in bursts…) will know that I’m not very good at blogging in real time. My entries tend to get added to the site in a retrospective fashion. Alas, such is the nature of the beast. If I’m going to spend all my time working outdoors, in remote locations, then I can hardly expect to have access to the world wide web on a daily basis.
Tomorrow I start a new assignment on the lovely Dartmoor. I will, once again, be out of reach of modern digital communications for much of the time. I’m looking forward to it, it’s something of a fillip to be able to see people whilst communicating with them, rather than spending time trying to work out how to insert sarcasm into text.
Anyway, I’ve not finished adding all my Cornwall entries, even though I’ve been staying in a house (!) for a few days, which I’m pretty disappointed about. I’ll do it when I get a chance. The latest news of the lovely Whitebrown and Brownblue, is that they have three beautiful boys, who are, apparently, thinking very hard about leaving the nest. News will be posted here when it happens.
I could be away on Dartmoor for up to eight weeks, during which time blogging will fall to the bottom of the list of priorities. But, there’s so much to look forward to. I am going to stay at RSPB Abernethy over the winter, and I’ve a couple of TFL weeks lined up this Autumn. I have more photos from Cornwall to add, and will, no doubt, see some good stuff on Dartmoor. In the mean time you could read the ramblings of the fabulous Rob Pedley, or the really delightful Heather and Stuart, on their way to New Zealand.
Any comments always welcome, especially where I’ve not been able to, or have miss-identified something.
So, I mentioned Heather and Stuart are cycling to New Zealand…
They now have a blog. It’s here, and is well worth a look, not just because of the magnitude of their trip, but also because it’s going to be a beautiful blog.
http://uppingsticksontour.wordpress.com
Heather and Stuart are the couple that I stayed with in Fort William on my last trip North (as I’ve done on a number of previous trips), having met Heather on a TFL week in 2007, and then stayed with them for a resplendent few days on Harris in 2009. Hmm, I like the look of this trip – it beats flying out there, and I surely have to get out there one day. Good luck guys.
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- We bumped into Stuart in town, “Yeh, I can give you a lift Stuart”, says I, before remembering that the car was full of myself, Manoj and all of our gear…
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- First thing in the morning, I remembered that I’d not got any pictures of Heather… a good recovery, I think.
Spiders are amazing.
Having heard about their photographic competition, I recently checked out the countryfile magazine web site. I was extremely disappointed by the comments concerning one of the winning entries, a fantastic looking (jumping?) spider. More than one person commenting suggest that they would be reluctant to buy a calendar with a spider in it. And some of those even go as far as to say that children will have nightmares on seeing the spider photo. This mindset displays alarming ignorance.
Firstly, it suggests that the best way to overcome people’s fear of spiders is to remove all spiders from sight. This response is an example of why humans, as a species, are destroying the world that we live in. Rather than worry about how we make thousands of spiders homeless every day, assuming they survive us moving into their lives, we can only think of ways in which we can remove them from our homes/crops/outbuildings/vehicles/etc (we don’t just do this with spiders, we do it with every other species on the planet that we don’t call ‘domestic’ or a ‘crop’).
Secondly, it suggests that children are born scared of spiders. This is generally not the case. A large number of people grow up being scared of spiders because they see adults reacting to them when they are young. In some countries spiders can kill you, but in this country, reacting like someone has passed an electric current through the floor when one appears, seems a little extreme (Dad). If children are taught to appreciate spiders, then they invariably do. Exposure, not avoidance, is the way to overcome an irrational fear.
If there was a Royal Society for the Protection of Spiders their strapline would be “Spiders are amazing, let’s keep them that way”. Spiders ARE amazing, I hope these pictures, taken during my last three work weeks (Dundreggan, Balmacara and Glen Affric, see previous entries) will help you to agree.
Creatures of the allotment
Before leaving for Scotland I spent some time up the allotment, with Mum. I hoped to get some shots of insects in action. These are some of the (mixed) results…
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- Harlequins (invasive non-natives) are now a common site in Exmouth
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- This hoverfly is cleaning it’s back with it’s back legs
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- A garden spider. I love spiders.
Lancaster bomber?
There was a plane approaching that sounded different to anything I could remember hearing before. A louder, more clapping sound than the normal single propeller planes that fly over. So, I thought I’d go out and check it out. Just as I did a plane with four props banked around over head and over the houses into the distance. By the time I’d run inside to grab my camera it had finished another curving, banking flight over Exmouth, and I finally caught a brief glimpse of it being accompanied by a much smaller single prop fighter, as it flew back in the direction it had come from.
I’m guessing it was a Lancaster bomber, accompanied by a Spitfire. I just can’t imagine what kind of a noise tens, or maybe hundreds of these planes would have made when taking off. Or how hearing the sound of their engines, in the distance, after they’d been away for hours must have been so emotive. Just hearing one flying overhead somehow left me feeling melancholy.
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- After grabbing my camera I was just in time to see the bomber disappear over the nearby roofs
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- On its way back the autofocus let me down
A new and exciting world?
A great story on the radio this evening. One of the sports commentators had some friends who were going on a stag do. 14 of them were due to fly out to one of the Balearic islands for the event. They were from all over the UK, and were taking a number of different flights from different airports to get over there. One of them made it.
Eyjafjallajokull is the volcano in Iceland that has closed down North European airspace. What a wonderful thing nature is. It’s such a simple way to reduce the number of flights, something anyone with an awareness of the environment, or a house near Heathrow, would like to do permanently.
I love flying. Unlike some people I know I find the process of taking off (and landing, although not to the same extent) a magical, exciting experience. But I haven’t flown for some time now, and having to fly to far away customer sites was one of the many reasons why I left the office. Aeroplanes produce many many times more CO2 per traveller than most other forms of transport do, as well as reducing air quality and increasing noise pollution. Furthermore, the CO2 released by planes is at least TWICE as effective at trapping the Sun’s heat due to the altitude at which it is being released at. For a comparison in CO2 levels take a look at this site comparing plane journeys with Eurostar.
Wouldn’t it be great if this event made people realise that there are alternatives to flying – video conferencing, holidaying in the country you live in, buying local produce, travelling by rail (with an improved infrastructure, if the right party gets elected).
Another story I heard on the radio was of a retired couple, living in Spain, complaining that they were finding it difficult to get back to the UK to see their family. The presenter quite rightly pointed out that they’d hardly put their family top of their list of priorities when they’d decided to move to another country.
So, maybe exciting changes are afoot. There is a chance that this election might see the formation of a government that does care for the environment. And, maybe nature is starting to get it’s own back.
Ok, here are a couple of pictures from the last couple of days. I’ll sort out more when I get time.
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- This Common Sandpiper was feeding in front of the Gullery yesterday
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- First of all I got the wagging tail, then little clicking noises. Finally it just sat there waiting for me to move on…
Some stitched together panoramas
I had a go at stitching together some panoramas from some of the photos I’ve taken recently (15th March). They’ve come out ok. I’m not sure they’ll be of any use to anyone, but here they are anyway.
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- An almost 180deg view from the South beach at Fort George. To the left is Ardersier with the top of the Great Glen being the opening in the hills to the right.
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- Another Kessock bridge in the setting sun picture… Both these pictures are roughly a 16th of the resolution of the originals to get them uploaded.
John & Vic get married
The venue – The Ettington Park Hotel. I liked this place. Mostly because it was covered in snow. But also because no one had a go at us when we were still in the downstairs bar at 4am playing the piano, talking crap and dancing sporadically.
I gave Dave, the best man a lift there (hence the opportune photo of him keeping me awake on the way back), crashed on the floor of the room we shared with the groom the night before, and added chocolate coins to the tables.
One more thing – Manoj lost his camera. It’s an Olympus u1050, or something equally as waterproof. If you find it it’s got the best wedding photos on it, please give it back…
PCV theory tests
Today I sat the PCV theory tests, following a day frantically studying the Official DSA theory test book. Allow two hours for each test they said. My first was at 9.30, I arrived plenty early after having caught a train in from Exmouth, and I’d finished the multiple choice and hazard perception by 10.30. I then had to knock about in Exeter, eating, reading random books in Waterstones, and walking aimlessly about the cathedral, whilst on the phone to RMS, until the case study test at 2pm.
I didn’t like the hazard perception test. I had no idea when I was supposed to be clicking for hazards, so I clicked the mouse every few seconds for good measure. In one question I was told I’d clicked too many times and would receive zero for that question. So, I was delighted to find out that I’d somehow managed to gain a score of 73% in this particular test. Much less than the 100% and 92% scored in the other two, but a pass. Bring on the bus…
Hello world!
My first ‘blog’ entry. I don’t really want this site to just read like a blog, I’d prefer it to be an informative web site about my travels and the things I’m interested in. Now I just need to work out how to add retrospective entries…
Life since the office 
Major endorsements