15/06/2011 Monkey Forest

I will get there honestly, I have to balance the catch up work I am doing on my blog with my University work. The photographs of the barbary macaques are from a trip to Monkey Forest in Staffordshire.

University can be a little annoying sometimes, but I do enjoy it, I am currently working on an assignment looking at what has made the red squirrel decline in the UK and it is bringing up some interesting facts. It is not just the parapoxvirus causing the decline, the other major factor is the red squirrels being killed on the road. I'll keep you updated on this. 

Pensthorpe - June 4th 2011

After having a few further problems with uploading photographs on here it looks like the issue is finally resolved, thankfully. Back to the business of getting up to date with all my day trips on here.

These photographs are from a trip to Pensthorpe back in June (that's such a long time ago now). 

Ruff Philomachus pugnax

Blue Tailed Damselfly Ischnura elegans

Common Blue Damselfly Enallagma cyathigerum

Redshank Tringa totanus

Cygnet

Rutland Water - 1st June

A trip to Rutland Water, on the 1st of June 2011, was rather rewarding. A total of 57 bird species, 3 species of butterfly, 3 mammals, and 1 insect. It wasn't a fantastic day for photography though unfortunately so I just focused on taking notes of what I had seen. I have just 1 photograph here, but it's not great. The Forest Bug Pentatoma rufipes nymph isn't particularly in focus but I thought it was a good photograph to show the nymph of this bug.

Forest Bug nymph

Mint Moth

I took this photograph of the Mint Moth Pyrausta aurata in my garden at the beginning of May:

Mint Moth

Blog is back.

Tawny Owl 1

After a lot of hard work and help from Blogger my blog is now fixed so I can start adding photographs again and tell yourselves about my journey.

I've missed writing on here an awful lot, and I've got a huge back log of things I've wanted to write on here, but I'm sure over the next few days I'll be able to get back on track.

I've been bird ringing for about a year and a half now. At the beginning of May 2011, I went out with my ringing trainer and checked owl boxes where tawny owls Strix aluco may be breeding. There were approximately 10 owl boxes to check, three of these boxes had tawny owls in, and 2 had eggs. The eggs were left, but the chicks couldn't be rung because they were too young, so it was arranged to come back in 2 weeks to check.

Tawny Owl 2

Tawny Owl 3

So 2 weeks went by and I went back out with my ringing trainer. The next boxes with eggs in hadn't hatched unfortunately, and one box now had 1 chick not 2 so it was assumed due to the lack of food sources one owl had eaten the other. Looking back at past records of tawny owl ringing there has been quite a decline in the numbers this year due to the bad winter we had here in the UK.

The photograph (Tawny owl 4) was taken at the beginning of May. The Tawny owl 5 photograph is the same chick 2 weeks later.

Tawny Owl 4

Tawny Owl 5

Problems

Please bare with me, I'm currently trying to resolve an issue with my blog (my photographs will not load onto the site). I will try and get this sorted as soon as possible. Thank you.

The Chestnut Centre: Owl, Otter and Wildlife Park

A fantastic day out yesterday, I visited the Chestnut Centre in the High Peak in Derbyshire. The aim of the trip was for a day out but also in preperation for my dissertation in 2 years time. My next aim is to visit again within a few months and to speak to the keepers about possibly studying the otters for a few days. Chestnut doesn't just focus on otters, it also focuses on owls and other native british species, and for anyone who has a passion about the native wildlife this is a recommended place to visit.