A walk down the canal

Date:  2 June 2020 (Day 2 of #30DaysWild 2020)

Location:  Jersey Canal, Briton Ferry
Weather:  Sunny, warm...beautiful :)

Today was the first time I ventured out for a walk since lock-down. I feel ashamed as I have a beautiful canal less than 5 minutes from my home and only today I went down there.

Today was also the first time Dan could come around and sit in the garden since lock-down. It was such a great feeling being outdoors among nature. The canal as changed a lot since I was last there. The paths have been resurfaced and even the dirt path towards Neath is now paved. 

We took the path towards the old Wern works and it wasn't long before we spotted our first bird: The moorhen, she was with two chicks walking among the lily pads (that were flowering and look splendid).

Moorhen

Moorhen chick

We walked a bit further and spotted the swans with their 2 week old cygnets. they were really close to the bank and we were unable to see or get good pictures of them, so we decided to keep walking and hoped we would get better views on the way back. We did spot some domestic ducks, mallard and more juvenile moorhens. Plus some horses grooming each other!

Domestic ducks

Female Mallard with juvenile Moorhen

Horses grooming each other

After we walked past the horses I looked back and took a shot of the canal..it truly is a beautiful place. Our next stop was the big rock (nb: trying to find out some history regarding this rock, is it there for a reason? let me know), I always look in here to see if there is any fish or tadpoles.

The beautiful canal

The large rock...why is it here? Is it some sort of sundial or just decorative?

It was nice to see none of the foliage had been cut back so time to explore for bugs...I didn't see many butterflies just a Small Blue and a Meadow Brown. I did see a few dragonflies and damselflies, but couldn't get a pic of either. I also spotted a ladybird larvae on some brambles. 

Small Blue Butterfly

Meadow Brown Butterfly

Seven spotted ladybird larvae

Interesting rock face

Just before the end of the canal is the old Wern Works. There were a few deliberate entrances so I managed to get a pic of the colourful graffiti inside. In March there had been an illegal rave in there where more than 200 people joined together for an all-night rave. You can read the article here: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/briton-ferry-rave-wern-works-17845656

The old Wern factory

The canal pretty much ends here so we turned around and walked back. We was so happy to see the swans were now on the bank and you could see the parents and 7 cygnets clearly. We never brought any food, but it wasn't long before someone arrived and they all made a beeline to her for their supper :)

Check out this video too: https://www.facebook.com/SandraEvansArt/videos/256752082243500/

So this was pretty much the end of our first walk in three months. It was lovely to be out, exploring and taking photos of what we find. I am hoping to pop down once a week to see how the swans are getting on :)

A day out at The National Botanic Gardens of Wales

Date:  28 January 2017
Location:  The National Botanic Gardens of Wales, Middleton Hall, Llanarthne, SA32 8HN

After our bird count on Saturday we decided to venture to The National Botanic Gardens of Wales. The weather was pleasant, a little cloudy, but nice nevertheless. Throughout weekends in January, entry to the gardens was only £3 per person, so brilliant value for money!

The iconic glasshouse of The National Botanic Gardens

Armed with a bag of bird seed (bought at the reception) we went looking for wildlife! Our first stop was the nature reserve and was greeted by several Chaffinches. A inquisitive robin started following us around and almost took seed out of my hand. We also saw some wrens and blackbirds too.

A very friendly robin

Day 16 - 30 Days Wild - Ducklings & my feet!

* Today's random act of wildness - Feeding ducks *

Day 16 - Another disappointing day :(  No boats running to Skomer due to the winds and I forgot there was a Reptile Ramble at Parc Slip, Aberkenfig at 10am.

So to drown my sorrows I went to a local lake to see if there was any activity. There were lots of young mallard ducks that were so cheeky they came out of the water to demand to fed by hand lol! After all the mealworm went, my toes seemed a tasty option! My little ‪#‎30DaysWild‬ mascot 'Wilding' got a bit of a pecking too.

There were also 3 beautiful ducks on the lake which I think were 3 female Mandarins.

The lake near Margam Park, Port Talbot

White ducks

Mandarin ducks

Closeup of Mandarin Duck

Young mallards eating out of my hand...

...then they were trying my toes!

My little #30DaysWild mascot 'Wildling' feeling a bit overwhelmed by ducks!

Cornwall 2014 - Tamar Otter & Wildlife Centre - 26/4/2014

I've always wanted to visit Cornwall so on the 26 April 2014 we decided to venture to North Cornwall for a few days. We were staying in Bodmin and decided to pop into the Tamar Otter & Wildlife Centre on the way.

It is situated near Launceston and even though it was a rainy day we still chose to visit. We got there just before 12pm and there was plenty of free parking - after we paid our entrance fee of £8.00 per adult we were told to head to one of the members of staff who was just about to feed the otters.

The Tamar Otter & Wildlife Centre

They have both British and Asian short-clawed otters living in very spacious enclosures. The employee who was feeding them was friendly and very informative about the otters, she had no problem answering our questions about them. I think she was impressed we embraced the weather and and seeing as it was only Dan and I at one point it felt like our own private tour. We were shown the British otters first who were highly amusing and noisy demanding their fresh fish.

An otter enjoying it's fresh fish

Once we saw all of the British otters she took us to see the giant rabbits and Jack the kestrel. The rabbits had just had kits and got one out for us to see - as you can see by the pic the 'baby' rabbit is huge! Jack the kestrel on the other hand was petite and beautiful :)

A not so small kit

Beautiful Jack the Kestrel

After she showed us around we were free to roam the rest of the wildlife park (nb - you don't have to spend any time with the staff, but it is great and informative). We made our way to the pond where there was an array of different waterfowl including coots with their babies, tufted and white ducks. Around the pond were a few other enclosures including a gorgeous little owl and there were a lot of feeders available for local wild birds to feed on. We were only there a short while watching them but saw blue, coal & great tits, as well as chaffinches and nuthatches.

Little Owl

Coal Tit

Nuthatch

Great Tit

Tufted Duck

...a flock of ducks

From here we headed up to the woodland enclosures, on the way we passed a few more creatures including chipmunks and cockatiels. You pass through a big gate to get to the woodland area where fallow deer, wallbies and muntjac roam free.

Chipmunk

Cockatiel

In the woodland area you can purchase deer food for 50p and feed the fallow deer. Unfortunately the only deer I fed was the greedy male stag who wouldn't let any of the other deers near me. I briefly looked away and all the food and paper bag had gone in one mouthful lol. There's also muntjac that roam free, but I didn't see any (probably because of the rain).

Feeding the greedy deer

Fallow deers look on in the rain.

They have a number of birds of prey in the woodland area including buzzard, tawny & snowy owls. There's also turkeys and wallabies that roam free, in fact we saw both a young turkey and wallaby with a joey which was a treat.

Buzzard

Tawny Owl

Turkey

Wallaby

Wallaby and joey

Turkey chick

The woodland walk is fantastic and there were even traces of Bluebells left giving the woodland some colour. Near an old quarry is where the Scottish wildcat enclosure is - they are Britain's rarest mammal and are there as part of a breeding and reintroduction programme. Unfortunately due to the wet weather we didn't see them :(

We made our way back to the main part of the park and visited the Asian short-clawed otters. They were extremely curious and we glanced at our watches realising it was feeding time again - hence the load screams!

There were also alot of peacocks around, including a beautiful white one - but they had the right idea and most were sheltering in the shed.

Asian Short-clawed Otters

Peacock

Guineafowl

The peacocks sheltering from the rain

At 2.30pm everyday they have a birds of prey talk and we were lucky enough to meet a beautiful harris hawk called Skylar and aa absolutely gorgeous eagle owl named Karulah. We had a really informative talk about the two of them and you could even touch them. Quite an experience to be so close to fantastic creatures like this.

Skylar the Harris Hawk

Dan meets Skylar

Karulah - Bengal Eagle Owl

We had a fantastic time (even though it rained almost all of the time we were there - that's Great British weather for you!) and we would loved to go back and see all of the things we missed like the wildcats, meerkats and otter pups. It's a lovely place and not too big that it would tire you out. They also have a gift shop and tea room there but being so wet we just wanted to get back to the hotel to dry off. Next time though we would love to try some food there :)

Tamar Otter & Wildlife Center was definitely a great start to our holiday and if anyone is in that part of the world and loves animals then this is a hidden gem. We look forward to returning...with nicer weather hopefully! :)

British Otter poses for the camera

Such characters but so beautiful

Check out their website here: www.tamarotters.co.uk