Wildlife, nature and me!

I was born and grew up in a semi-rural, semi-urban area of Worcestershire, about 15 miles South West of Birmingham and 10 miles North East of Worcester.

Map of area I grew up in

My earliest memories of wildlife and nature was looking out of my bedroom window across the 2 fields that contained ewes to a small coppice. This small sanctuary encompassed many species including foxes, buzzards, owls, birds of various varieties, etc, as for the M5 motorway hugged it.

In 1993 (Yep! I’m getting old!), the BBC showed an animated children’s tv programme called ‘The Animals of Farthing Wood’. At 12 years old I became quite engrossed and addicted to the show (even recording it on VHS to re-watch plus subscribing to the magazine that accompanied the show).

As a result of this I became infatuated with all things wildlife related, asking for books for birthdays and Christmases, making a hole in the hedge (it was supported by a small, wired fence so no chance of sheep entering our garden!) to watch the foxes meander across the fields looking for their evening dinner, which should be noted that in fact was several of our pet rabbits (we were taught that’s how nature worked and I have never had an issue with that element).

Wildlife books my grandparents bought me as a child

I would go for walks alone with my pet dog Lassie on a search for all manners of wildlife, flora, fauna and the like. I would notice footprints, tracks, droppings, dens and burrows, etc. I would know an owl had been around as I would find their pellets of fur and bones, I would be able to tell if an area was part of a foxes territory as the long grass would give away their shape as they walked through it and I would be able to tell if birds were nesting as there be ‘white-wash’ on leaves. Unfortunately, most of my favourite wildlife haunts were ruined by the need or greed for development, mainly a pointless hotel (it has changed ownership so many times in the last 3 decades) and unaffordable houses for that particular area (it was surrounded by a council estate). Again, I grew up and my childhood was being swallowed up by annoying career service appointments with the “What do you want to do for a career?” spiel. As my qualifications had been hampered and affected by parental issues at home, I chose to drop out of my A-levels in biology and physics and join the army. Leaving Worcestershire for the even more wild counties of Hampshire and West Sussex inspired me to continue with my love of nature and wildlife. Whilst on exercise (Salisbury Plain for example) I would note birds of prey hovering overhead, see badger dens in daylight hours and hear their calls from far away at night (being ambushed by badgers would be funny!). Having issues with my feet required me to go to Bognor Regis hospital and I could stay out for an extra few hours instead of returning to barracks (thanks Sgt Ross, RIP) as was normally warranted. This allowed me discovered many seabirds etc as I had only been to the beach once before in my life.

Fast forward at least 10 years and several serious leg and spinal injuries later compelled me to have more free time to enjoy my past hobbies and interests. One of them being sitting in the dining room and watching the birds plus the exciting discovery of a vixen and her collection of 6 cubs (We did name them after the cubs and other foxes from Farthing Wood!).

Some of the fox cubs that have visited our garden in the previous years

Watching the cubs grow up from tiny little fluffballs with their eyes barely open, watching them learn to become a fox (stalking, pouncing, jumping on top of each other, digging countless holes, wandering a little close to us when we were sat in the garden at twilight) became an addiction. We made sure they were as healthy (the father dog fox had a case of mange which we treated) as could be, even putting out little scraps of food out for them each night. These fluffballs grew up and soon parted ways to find their own territory but it wasn’t the end of the countless litters of cubs that would come along. In total we’ve had at least 5 sets of litters, each cub having their own personalities. One particular sad year was 2019 when I was putting washing out and noticed what looked like to be a head, upon a closer look and advice from Iolo Williams, it was a fox cubs head (the body was nowhere to be found). We had had awful weather the previous few days before so perhaps nature made that call. As my photography skills became more developed and of a higher quality to start venturing from the back garden and into wilder areas of the West Midlands and beyond, notably Wales. Highlights have included seeing new wildlife species previously unseen by myself, notably crossbills in Gwynedd, otters in Powys, puffins and Atlantic grey seals off the coast of Anglesey, fallow deer in Shropshire, lapwings in Shropshire, kingfishers in Shropshire and Gwynedd plus my favourite bird the red kite. Not only have I had the wonderful pleasure of seeing them in their stronghold of Powys but over Oxfordshire (whilst driving down the A34), soaring over the South Downs in West Sussex and most incredibly less than 10 miles west of Birmingham city centre!

A selection of wildlife I have seen in the last 5 years!

Whilst this current lockdown has forced me to stay at home, it has given me the opportunity to study both my identification and photography books so that when we’re finally allowed back into the open, I can be much more confident in recognising species and capturing more clearly. Future endeavours once the pandemic is well and truly over include a trip to the Isle of Mull to capture white-tailed and golden eagles, red deer, otters and so forth. I will be a writing more blogs in the coming months.

In the main time, stay safe and be awesome!