World Record at Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre

On Saturday 24th September Dan and I took part in creating a new world record to celebrate 20 years of marine conservation in New Quay, Ceredigion. We (Dan, I and over 300 others) created the world’s largest human superpod in the shape of a dolphin at New Quay Harbour. We were joined by the lovely Iolo Williams and the whole event was orgainsed by Staff and volunteers of the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre which is part of The Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales #Superpod

Here are some pics from the memorable day...

Juvenile Herring Gull on New Quay Beach

The shape of the dolphin on the beach #Superpod

Black Headed Gull

Me before the world record on New Quay Beach

Dan and I with the wonderful Iolo Williams

We were all given dolphin masks to wear for the World Record

This is part of the dolphin's tail!

A pic of everyone getting ready with their dolphin masks

Steve Hartley (founder of CBMWC) giving a talk along with the Mayor, Pal the Puffin & Finn the Dolphin

Iolo starts the countdown

Below is a pic and post from the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre facebook page showing the human #Superpod we all created. They wanted around 300 people, but I think it was over 350! I have never been part of  a word record before :)

The whole day was full of fun and interesting displays including what they do when they rescue a dolphin. It's amazing what they do for marine conservation and learnt a lot.

A very interesting and informative dolphin rescue demonstration on the beach

The view of New Quay from the Marine Centre

Another Juvenile Herring Gull

Comma butterfly

Sparrow

Male &  female sparrow

We finished the day with a boat ride around the bay to see if we could spot any dolphins. The boat company was called Dolphin Spotting Boat Trips and you can purchase tickets on the main pier. The ride was a bit choppy and we managed to see quite a few Bottlenose Dolphins and a gannet! Unfortunately I have a really rubbish camera at the moment so I couldn't get any good pics - but seeing them in the wild was magical.

A windy boat trip to look for dolphins

Dan made a new friend on the boat

Bottlenose Dolphin in the sea

The tail of the dolphin

A terrible pic...but it's a Gannet!

When we got of the boat we stayed on the pier for a bit and watched the dolphins from there, a counted at least three jumping out of the water.

New Quay harbour from the Pier

A Bottlenose Dolphin viewed from the Pier

For more information check out the CBMWC website

P.S: So sorry I haven't posted a blog for awhile I have had such a traumatic couple of months concerning the possibility of being made redundant at work I just couldn't find the time or motivation to blog. Also my camera broke so I have had to go back to my old camera and I apologize that some of my pics are a bit on the iffy side. 

30 Days Wild 2016

What a month June was! I had been excited about doing the Wildlife's Trust 30 Days Wild for ages and had a few things already lined up for it. Unfortunately it was only a few days in when I got really bad news regarding my best friend's mum - she had past away unexpectedly from an heart attack.

It was a very sad time and I could relate to the grief my friend was going through (I lost my dad many years ago). Despite it being a very heartbreaking start to June I carried on 30 Days Wild and I found comfort in surrounding myself in nature.

These are some of my favourite photos and experiences from the 30 days (click on the link under the pic to read more)

Goldfinch in Swansea car park

Scarlet lily beetles destroying my lilies

Painted lady Butterfly - the first one of 2016

Common Blue Butterfly on a cycle path

Beautiful Puffins on Skomer Island

Juvenile Starlings in the garden

Monty the Osprey at the Osprey Centre

Lizard closeup on the boardwalks

Lifetime achievement! Spotted Kingfisher

Lazy fox in a local graveyard

Squirrel at he Swansea Vale Nature Reserve

Swans and geese on Fendrod Lake, Swansea

So as you can see I did and saw lots. I also learnt loads too and with the help of the 30DaysWild Facebook group and Twitter account I got lots of answers to my queries and everyone was so helpful and friendly.

On a rainy Day 26 I decided to dig out my paintbrushes and tried to paint a kingfisher that I had seen a few days earlier. I was happy with the result and have now got my creative mojo back - thanks 30DaysWild!

You can read the whole of my #30Days Wild here

Day 30 - 30 Days Wild - A look back over the month

* Today's random act of wildness -  a lookback over #30DaysWild

So today is the last day of #30DaysWild - what an amazing 30 days it has been. When i started I set myself a few goals to achieve in the 30 days they were...

1. Spot a kingfisher - Check :)
2. A visit to Skomer Island - Check :)
3. Plant wild flowers and see what they attract - Check :)
4. Go camping
5. Listen to dawn chorus 
6. Go star gazing - Check :)
7. Making my own suet coconuts for the birds
8. Litter pick to create a better environment for wildlife
9. Make a tasty moth syrup and see what shows up - Check :)
10. Do a reptile survey for ARC - Check :)
11. Trip to see the Ospreys at Dyfi - Check :)
12. Create my own bird table
13. Beach combing - Check :)

I only managed to do 8 out of 13, but I am very happy with what we achieved. The main one was seeing a kingfisher - that was a pretty awesome day to finally see the one bird I wanted to see all my life. The other great day was seeing the puffins at Skomer, I have been before but I never get bored of seeing those lovely little birds.

Some interesting facts from this month's #30DaysWild:

• Spotted over 100 different animals (including 60 different species of birds)
• Visited over 15 places
• Saw my first kingfisher (did I already mention that?)
• Met lots of lovey people through #30DaysWild Twitter & Facebook Pages.

Even though #30dayswild have now ended I will still continue to 'Stay Wild' and will document it on my other blog http://sands-walks.blogspot.co.uk/ :)

Roll on 2017, until then 'Stay Wild'!

Day 29 - 30 Days Wild - Fledglings in the garden

* Today's random act of wildness - Fledglings in the garden *

It's the last but one day today - it has gone so quick! This evening was spend in my shed looking at the birds in the garden. I noticed we are getting a second brood of starling fledglings and a few younf sparrows show up too.

I haven't just fed these birds for the last 30 days I have been feeding them for years and will continue to do so for many years to come.

Cute Starling fledgling

Starling fledgling having a drink in the bird bath

Starling fledgling with adult

This is what I feed them - suet pellets and mealworm

Suet cake (I also feed them fatballs, peanuts etc...)

Sparrows, the one on the right is a fledgling

Male sparrow

Cinnabar Moth caterpillar

Cinnabar Moth caterpillar

Day 28 - 30 Days Wild - Pond dipping

* Today's random act of wildness - Pond dipping *

Day 28 and what horrid weather - it had rained almost all day! Finally at around 7.30pm the sun began to come up so we decided to go to Penllergare Valley Woods, a local woodland to see if there was any activity in the small pond there. Earlier in the year when we visited there were lots of tadpoles, so hopefully we would see some frogs or toads.

This is what we discovered...

The small pond full of lilies

A young toad in the grass

Young frog with water boatman 

Damsel Nymph

Newt Larvae - you can tell it's a newt tadpole because of the feathery gills around the head, distinguishing them from frog and toad tadpoles.

An adult newt, the water was too murky to tell if it was Palmate or smooth (definitely not great crested)

Another newt larvae

Young frog...

...this one still had it's tail

A huge dragonfly nymph

The sun starts setting and we decided it was time to leave.

Wildling enjoying climbing trees!