Someone's got to do it

One of the most rewarding aspects of my job involves preparing and working on residential programmes with my students,

Today, a colleague and I went to recce a mountainbike trip round Grizedale Forest Park, sorting out a route, sussing out health and safety issues and other logistics.

As you can see, this is desperate work. More pictures from the day on My Flickr Page.

Spider monkey mum

This is one of the shots I posted to my Flickr page after visiting Chester Zoo. Caradoue thinks that the monkey's expression is so sad. Perhaps this sums up your feelings about zoos.

We've been to the zoo

Chester Zoo to be exact.

I have mixed feelings about these places.

On the one hand, caging wild animals for amusement is terrible and I have, in some zoos, seen signs of distress in the animals kept there.

Pacing tiger at Chester Zoo. See more images at my Flickr page.

On the other, many of the animals are bred in captivity and, to some extent, habituated to their circumstances. Good zoos are increasingly involved in conservation, education and captive breeding and release programmes, without which some species would be extinct. Good zoos go to great lengths to ensure the welfare of the animals they keep.

On balance, I'd much rather see efforts invested in conserving wild habitats, without which there will be nothing to release captive bred wild animals into. Zoos may be diverting attention from the "real issue". However, "we are where we are" and zoos seem to have their place in this imperfect world.

How about you?

A climbing trip

It's raining today so, aside from doing my coursework, I'm occupying myself with updating my blog.

For the first time in a while, I went climbing at the weekend with a novice friend at Ilkley, Rocky Valley. Though he was nervous on Cooper's Slab he managed well on "classic of the crag" Long Chimney.
The route takes the broken cleft in the middle of the face and is a lot of fun.

More feeding signs

These are hazelnuts eaten by Wood mouse. The fine, tooth marks round the edge of the hole are characteristic.

These are pine cones gnawed by squirrel.

It's not easy being green

Last night I went for a dusk walk with a friend to find Barn owl which I knew were in the area.

We lucked out on the Barn owl but saw Short-eared owl instead, which are also fantastic birds to watch. I also found this pellet under a well used fence post. It's about 4 centimetres long and you can see the bones sticking out of it.


When I got it home I took it apart to see if I could find out what bird it came from and what it had been eating.


The bones seemed to come mainly from frogs (there was evidence of at least 3), but there were also lots of beetle wing cases among the grisly remains. Above you can see humerus (upper arm), radio-ulna (lower arm), tibio-fibula (shin bone) and vertebrae (back bone). Though no skull. Anyone know why?

Above is a frog's tibio-fibula (shin bone).

All things considered it seems likely that the pellet came from Little owl which I know to live in the area. I also now know that they give Kermit and his mates rather a hard time.

Day of the long ears

I went out to a number of locations around the Washburn and Nidd valleys on Sunday helping Wharfedale and Calderdale Wild Bird Ringing Group.

I get to climb trees and handle fantastic owl chicks while my friends ring them in order to monitor their movements for the British Trust for Ornithology. All in the name of science.

Our best "haul" of the day was a nest containing four Long-eared owl chicks.


Long-eared owl chicks. Photo by Sean Gray.

Hoping for Barn owls, we also found a Kestrel, a Tawny owl, a Mandarin duck and a squatting Grey squirrel (which we evicted) in nest boxes erected by the group.

A Tawny owl photographed by Sean Gray. Please visit his fantastic site at Grayimages.

Punch drunk

Mr Punch performs at Rothwell May Day Fete

It's been a while since my last post.

My dad dying, the end of a relationship, work and my wildlife course have all taken their toll over the last few months and I've not felt like I've had the time or inclination to post here.

There have been some highlights though:

• Learning to kayak at Bradford and Bingley Canoe Club with trips on the Brathay, Swale, Crake and Tees.
• Shooglenifty at The Victoria Hall, Saltaire and the New Rope String Band at The Priestley.
  
• Fieldtrips with my wildlife course, seeing a Marsh harrier catch a Red-legged partridge.
  
• Trips to the Lleyn peninsula (seeing Chough) to London (The Eye) and Sicily (San Vito lo Capo).

Llandbedrog Beach on the Lleyn Peninsula

The London Eye

Monte Cofano, North-west Sicily

• Teaching primary school children outdoors at RSPB Fairburn Ings.
• A snowy walk round Ogden Water with kids from Bradford children's services outdoor activities club
• Time spent with old and new friends and on my own at Northcliffe Woods and at Bradford Ornithological Group's reserve.
  
• Paid outdoor instruction work with Bradford Met Adventure Activities Unit
• A new special relationship
  

All these normal and extraordinary things have helped and things now seem to be returning to an even keel. For that I'd like to thank everyone who's been so supportive of late.