Friday before last found us scrutinising the wind forecasts with a little more urgency then normal. That day had seen sailings to Skomer cancelled as a result of strong northerlies and conditions didn’t look much improved for the next twenty four hours or so. Now for someone who freely admits Read more…
Way back at the beginning of July I heard that our neighbouring village had really upped the ante when it came to urban birding. Regular readers will probably recall that my own local patch often sees Dippers and Grey Wagtails but Kingfishers? Now that would be a first. After work Read more…
After all the excitement of Fairford it was back to reality on Monday with a long drive home and an afternoon spent brushing up on my presentation skills for work. Hardly the way to round off what had been an excellent few days and come early evening I was itching Read more…
With an entrance flanked by a line of Typhoons, Tornados and MiGs, this year’s Royal International Air Tattoo certainly knew how to make a big first impression. We were there from the moment the gates opened, and a little before in fact, and left only to the nagging tones of Read more…
So here we are. The main event. RAF Fairford. Royal International Air Tattoo 2015. Three days of air displays, static displays and sun, yet, for me, I only ever had eyes for one old girl. As soon as the gates opened we headed straight down to the opposite end of Read more…
I’m a big proponent for making the most of any time we have to spend with nature and the best way of doing that is to chose accommodation with as close a connection to the great outdoors as possible. Ideally that would mean that we’d be camping every weekend but Read more…
Last Saturday found us a few miles north of Castle Combe in the south west corner of Cotswold Water Park. Better known for its sporting and leisure activities the area also offers miles of walking routes stretching between several high quality nature reserves. One of these, Lower Moor Farm, is Read more…
If you’d mentioned Castle Combe to me this time last week then the only image which would have sprung to mind would’ve been the circuit on classic Playstation game TOCA Touring Cars (still one of the best racers ever made in my humble opinion – it’s a generation thing). I Read more…
For those of us who primarily blog about birds, June and July can often prove to be a little sparse. Thick vegetation obscures even the most persistent of investigations and once those fledglings have left the nest and their parents care, the whole family seems to go in to hiding. Read more…
One of my surprise finds during the Swansea Bay airshow (other than a passing Peregrine Falcon) were the emerging remains of an ancient submerged forest. Located behind the large outflow pipe in front of Singleton Park they serve as a stark reminder that the current city’s existence is just a Read more…