Boggycreek Boat Tours 2013

Watchtree- Summer

Watchtree is our local nature reserve this I've previously spoke about here, so I'll not go into how amazing the place is again but just show you some lovely photographs from out latest walk here from a week ago.

I love foxgloves, the hues of colour always in-trance me, more sun when a rare blast of sunlight shines through them.

They were shooting up everywhere in the woodland area, a shot of colour amongst so much green. Although the Summer has been a let down for us it looks like the trees and shrubbery(love that word).
It was sad to see walking round at the nest notes (little messages left by staff about nearby nests) that a lot were washed out by the rains. 

For a frugal day out with family this is amazing, it costs nothing to go in the reserve but donations are welcome and well deserved. You an take a picnic but there is a cafe onsite at various time. They do various talks, special walks and nature investigation sessions, check out their website for further details.

Even though this Summer day was overcast and we had 2 very noisy smalls with us I managed to spot a Hare, Dragonfly, various lovely birds and a group of dear running off into the woods.
I love the meadow setting left free to go wild under the whoosh,whoosh of the wind turbines; showing that even if people don't want to live near them nature isn't so fussy.

You'd not know it was Summer around here but we're not letting that stop us, Lucas loves this place as we can run round like a mad thing, although that doesn't help when looking for wildlife. 

When out on day trips lately we seem to pack for every weather prospect, I think our car boot contains coats, wellies, hats, macs, shorts,t-shirts and suncream.

It's always best to be prepared.

I hope you're finding lots of lovely activities to do during the holidays. Feel free to link your posts about them in the comments section below.

Love Amanda.x.

Wordless Wednesday - Droplets

Longleat: Revenge of The Monkeys

Half term holidays over again, we loved Dorset so much last year we booked the same holiday house again to visit.  However this year the weather was against us again, but minus the snow and power cuts it worked out better than our other holiday this year.

Thankfully the holiday house had a swimming pool to drag (literally in my case) the children into when the weather was really bad.  

Also having been here before, we knew some places which were weather friendly. 

I love Longleat, you can use Tesco vouchers to get free passport tickets, and it has a great mixture of covered things to see and do for all ages. Although we did have some ticket issues they were quickly resolved, see Claire's post here for another take on this attraction.

This is my post from 2010 Day 1 and Day 2, quite a bit had changed since then. Much to Maisie disgust the teacups were no longer there, but everything else was and it's all been given a facelift to theme everything together in a Safari look. Previously the attractions all looked completely separate, I like that it all looks more cohesive now and can't wait to go back in a year or so when it's all completed.

I won't write everything again so feel free to look up my old posts. 

I loved seeing these guys really close up this time, you could almost here her purring over that bone.

Anne the Elephant came to give us a lovely welcome to, she doesn't always come outside as she's a little shy so this was a good treat. You can read her story here.

 So the last time we went the Monkey Enclosure was closed, but not this time. I will point out we have had our lovely car less than a month and although not brand new is still fairly shiny, the gates hanging with car parts were enough to put us off driving through. 

However Stu's Sister wanted to go with her kids as it was closed last time they came, and then Dave my Father-In-Law started to say how he wanted to see the kids looking excited at the monkeys close up. 

We were forced into it, we drove through...

This monkey owes me £8 which is the cost of a new antenna for my car, Maisie completely freaked out hearing the monkeys climbing on our roof; whereas Lucas was laughing like a loon. 

Ahh, however we were distracted from our car eating monkey by seeing, so close this lovely Mummy and her baby sitting on Claire's car in front.

As it then educated it's young in car chomping, beware the cute monkeys if you like your car. 

At this point it started to rain and there was no way we were putting the wipers on; we saw what they happened to other cars. 

We survived to go round the rest of the park though and had a great day.

What you been up to in the half term? 

Have you survived the monkeys?

Amanda.x.

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

During the holiday we headed to Lindisfarne, taking time to check out the tide times as you have to drive across a strip of land which is submerged during high tide.  

Maisie was quite disappointed as she thought we'd be driving through the water. 

 It's quite a long walk from the car parks to the actual castle, especially for little legs.

 We were one child down due to the "lurgy" although at this point we just though Ben had eaten something bad and not that it would take pot shots at us all. These 3 are hiding from the sun and probably sweating in the 15 layers they're wearing, as it was supposed to rain and we dressed them for Arctic conditions.

 To break up the walk we wandered along the beach side looking for shells, we were lucky enough to spot a seal on the walk back.

We never made it inside which was a shame but one of the necessary evils of travelling with small children, their attention span for old things is not really the same as ours. 

Lindisfarne is certainly a beautiful and peaceful pace and I'd love to return there and spend longer visiting the rest of the island.

I hope you've had a happy holiday.

Watchtree - Winter

Watchtree is a local nature reserve, but one of those places that although I knew were it was I'd never actually been there.

It's always the way that you forget the beauty that's just on your doorstep.

During the Foot and Mouth crisis in 2001 Watchtree became the final resting place of many infected cattle, the site was chosen due to it's proximity to many infected farms, but also for its bedrock geology that would prevent further contamination from the buried cattle.

It's story could have just ended there, leaving the site a barren wasteland, however the ecological consultants assigned to the restoration of lands after the outbreak choose to turn the space into a community asset and a positive feature to local wildlife.

In 2003 Watchtree became a nature reserve, water areas were created with wildlife in mind, huge areas reseeded, 80,000 trees planted to enhance local woodland and create extra habitats.

They have educational programs for  school visits and run Watchtree Wheelers and cycle group for people with learning or physical disabilities. 
This amazing site is free to visit but has a donations box.

When we visited the site it was a cold frosty but clear Winters day, most of the ponds still had ice skimming the top of them. 

Maisie and Lucas enjoyed running around the wide open pathways of the site, trying to spot any wildlife which was unfortunately in hiding for us most the time. Maisie took to hiding in the wooded area while Lucas and I looked out for the Guffalo, of which we didn't see any.

We did however find this awesome wooden spider in the wooded area.

These insect holes are all over the site providing homes for little beasties, quite a lot had spiders in them when we were looking, and I think we may make some of these for our next garden project.

Maisie was map holder while we were there, she has her no one is listening to my command face on here, and took around the site to find the hides which look out onto various wetlands and feeding areas for birds. We saw a few sparrows, a finch and some ducks. The hides are very comfortable, with carpeted seating and one has a telescope too much to the children's delight. They all had posters inside to say which animals and birds were in that location.

The area is also the site for several wind turbines, I know that they get a lot of stick for being ugly and a blot on the landscape but I'll admit I find them hauntingly beautiful. Stood underneath one listening to it slow thrum thrum sound was a simple kind of peace and meditation.

I think will be regular visitors to this wonderful site, and hope to do another Spring time update. You can find out more about Watchtree Nature Reserve here.

Amanda.x.

Photographs courtesy of Stuart Ryan. 

I'm a little obsessed with...

..Fungi.

I see growth everywhere, spring into light tucked away in corners, growing on logs, in tree, popping up from the dewy grass.

Life, nature, growth. 

Circles, rhythms, patterns.

Amanda.x.

Blowing Off The Cobwebs

 Stuart and I had the chance to go for a long walk to Wreay Woods, without the children, we had a lovely morning meandering along the river bank and seeing all the signs that Spring is not far away.

 Stu got a great camera for Christmas, a Canon EOS 550D which means we got some beautiful shots of the new growth.  I especially loved the Fungi pictures the one below being my favourite.

He managed to sneak a couple of me too, but this one is not too bad.

Take some time out this week to look around, the world around you is waking up from it's Winter snooze a little early, let's hope the mild weather stays.
Amanda.x.