I sometimes wonder what I’ll do if I came across a madman in the forest at night. If he were to become aggressive, I imagine I’d want to flash him at full intensity with the flashgun, right into his face: HA! I BLIND YOU! Although… any form of confrontation probably wouldn’t be wise. And some [...]
Posts under ‘The Naturalist’
South England
The British transport system’s a bit of a hit-and-miss, I find. Nothing goes according to schedule and reality never follows the virtual planning that the National Rail website so proudly does for you.
Two destinations down south on Monday; a whole day of travelling.
Ducks, geese and swans at the WWT Arundel Wetland Centre. Something [...]
North East England, Scotland and the bits in between – Part 2
We bought a sporting kite from the shop at Seahouses. Lovely beaches, strong breeze, deep blue skies, so why not? Had some great fun tagging at the strings after we returned from the Farnes.
Bamburgh, capital of the ancient city of Northumbria, was most famous for its imposing castle. Mucked about on the hills behind [...]
The Farnes
Finally, after years of yearning. This was a far more accomplishable trip, unlike my other dreams of going to South Africa, Madagascar, South America and the likes.
We made it off the coast from the Seahouses harbour, and spent a good four hours circling the handful of Farne Islands. Thousands of seabirds – gannets, terns, [...]
North East England, Scotland and the bits in between – Part 1
The day after checking my sis into Oxford, we went down to the New Forest National Park last Monday. The deer enclosure there wasn’t all that exciting, but the area had some really lovely and calming woodlands, humble little streams, and moors. Managed to sink into some deep thought while dozing on the prickly grass, [...]
Aborted bat foetus
I like to keep my eyes to the ground as I walk from the carpark towards the office. There are, from time to time, interesting things to be seen. Dead things, usually. Like dead shrews and snakes, and sometimes really gross sights.
This is the second common fruit bat (Cynopterus brachyotis) foetus that [...]
Running into stickies
Blackadder:
We’re in a sticky situation all right. This is the stickiest situation since Sticky the Stick insect got caught on a sticky bun.
A last-ditch attempt to un-pooh another pooh-ey weekend wrought by Things Gone Wrong and emotional hijacks saw brief respite in a night prowl at Lower Pierce last night.
A keen-eyed duck spotted [...]
A stretch of wild grass
On Monday – new grounds for exploration. A bumslide down a slope onto the undisturbed banks of a canal, knee-high vegetation and hidden pits. A little tame on the faunal side, lots of butterflies, skippers and about two dozen species of spiders – the coolest one we found was this dung spider which I overlooked [...]
Back to Venus
Last night’s foray into Venus Drive was a much-needed break from civilisation. I am starved for such trips, which have become a luxury in these months of late. Fumbling over my set-up and missing critters along the path at the beginning, it took a while to get back into the swing of things. Hearing the [...]
The great snake stink
My hands smell a combination of rotting flesh and latex gloves, hours after exhuming a sludge of a month-long-buried Oriental whip snake to pick out its skeleton: its skull pieces, much of the vertebrae, and some ribs have been retrieved with some assistance from a colleague (she had previous experience in sorting caterpillar frass, which [...]
