They say a change
is as good as a rest so in June (still not getting faster at writing posts) I
went for the first time on an adventure to the Peak District. Anyone who knows
me will know that I am quite fond of living in the Black Country, but sometimes
I need to retreat to a more rural landscape and escape the murmur of traffic that
comes with living in an urban environment, as well as my monotonous routine of
volunteering, endless application writing and interviews.
First stop on
route to where we were staying was Staffordshire Wildlife Trust reserve the
Roaches. I thought it might be a good
start to my break because I remember watching a feature about the reserve on
Midlands today a couple of years ago and was aware that peregrine falcons have
been known to breed on the reserve, plus it was on my lists of places that I would
like to go to but have never got round to it. It took several U-turns and
recalculating satnav moments but we managed to get to the reserve, the views
were spectacular, the holiday had begun. Not being familiar with the reserve we
followed our feet and some signs and saw a kestrel hovering overhead. We wasn’t
quite sure where the best place was on the reserve to catch a glimpse of the peregrines
but as many birdwatchers will know if in doubt walk towards the crowd of people
with scopes staring in the same direction, and you are bound to see something
interesting even if it’s not what you was expecting to see. On this occasion I
looked through a scope that had been set up by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and
saw a couple of peregrine chicks in their nest, it was the first view I have
ever had of peregrine chicks and would have been impossible for me to find them
with my binoculars. I didn’t see the adult peregrine, countless times I have thought
I have been looking at a Peregrine on a rocky ledge just to find out that I
have been staring at a rock. We was limited on the amount of time that we could
spend at the reserve because of needing to get to our accommodation but during
our visit we managed to see a Kestrel hunting for its prey and we think we
might have seen a Stonechat as well. I think I will definitely visit the
reserve again it’s only a short-ish journey up the M6 and cross country from
where I live and was a good retreat for a townie like me.
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| The Roaches |
Good things happen
when you least expect it is something that I find myself thinking when I have
seen some wildlife that I have never seen before and I haven’t got my
binoculars with me or wasn’t even purposely looking out for birds etc. I was
sitting having some dinner and looking out of the window of the cottage we were
staying in when I saw a bird that I have never seen before. I clambered to get
my binoculars and could only describe it as a mixture of a Robin and a Nuthatch
(that’s what it looked like to me anyway) I thought it might have been a Redstart
so I looked it up and it was. I have been to the Forest of Dean a couple of
times because I know that they can be seen there but have never been lucky
enough and all it took was for me to sit down, gaze out of a window and eat a
veggie chilli. It is a fantastic bird with a bizarre black mask, it turned out
that there was a pair of Redstarts nesting in the office on site, there was
also a Great tit nesting in one of the outside buildings that made countless
visits to the nest to feed its chicks.
Another bird that
I have always wanted to see is a Dipper seeing this bird is another case of
having to be in the right place at the right time. Fortunately luck was on my
side and as I was walking along the River Dove I again saw a group of people
staring in the same direction before seeing what they was looking at first.
Walking towards them I saw a dot standing on a rock and then it dawned on me
that they were looking at a Dipper, my
accent suddenly went even more black country than usual with excitement. I was
expecting it to fly off before I had chance to have a proper look at it through
my binoculars but it didn’t it stayed on the rock for quite a while. I was able
to see the fine details that you can read about in the description in a bird
identification book but seeing the bird in its natural habitat is completely
different. It was two shades of brown with the characteristic white bib and a
white eyelid, it was enough to rival seeing the Redstart and seeing a Peregrine
flying around the valley where we was walking, it was definitely one of those
bird watching moments that I will always remember.
Whilst in the Peak
District we also went for a walk at Lathkill Dale National Nature Reserve, it
was a lovely walk along a river and the weather was beautiful. Whilst walking I
saw a Nuthatch, Treecreeper, a Clouded Magpie moth and Jacob’s Ladder which is
a plant that is rare in the wild, whilst walking we saw a man who had purposely
taken time out of his lunch break from work to take a photograph of the plant.
I knew there were ‘twitchers’ in the birdwatching world but I didn’t realise
there was an equivalent in the botany world. I think it is quite strange the
lengths that people go to when they have a passion for something but wildlife
has that effect on us doesn’t it?!
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| Clouded Magpie moth |
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| Jacob's Ladder |
I returned home
from the Peak District feeling refreshed after doing some good walks and seeing
some fantastic wildlife along the way, although I did have that post-holiday
feeling of having to readjust back to reality. I might have been back at home
but the unexpected wildlife moments continued as I spotted a Red Kite flying
overhead at Sandwell Valley whilst I was watching Swallows and House Martins. A
couple of days later whilst I was doing my BTO Garden Birdwatch my jaw nearly
dropped into the kitchen sick when a Rose necked parakeet appeared on a cherry
tree in the garden, I was drinking black coffee at the time but surely it
wasn’t that strong?!. I know that there is a colony of Rose-necked parakeets at
Sandwell Valley because I have seen them many times flying overhead when I’ve
been volunteering at RSPB Sandwell Valley. I don’t live that far from Sandwell
Valley but I never thought I would see one in my garden. My mom had never seen
a Rose-necked parakeet so I thought it was good that she was able to get a
close up look at the bird in her own garden, it was fascinating to watch and
definitely brought a bit of colour into the garden. I also saw my first ever
Yellow hammer (I think it was a Yellow hammer anyway) whilst boating along the
Shropshire Union Canal, it was well worth standing on the back of the boat in
the pouring rain to see it, but it would have been even better if I hadn’t have
left my binoculars inside the boat. I think the morale of this blog post is to
always have your binoculars with you AT ALL TIMES because you never know what wildlife
you will see in both rural and urban places either way it is an escape from
reality for me.
