tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685495011741131182024-03-13T10:05:54.082-07:00Natural(ist) BlondeA place for me to show
to the world all the things
I saw when out walking,
canoeing, boating etc. and
said "damn, I wish someone
were here to see this..."Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-41783071596050219762021-12-04T09:05:00.000-08:002021-12-04T09:05:14.817-08:00Naturalist Blonde: UpgradeIt has been a little quiet on the NB front, I know. But, then, it's been an odd year and a bit. While I don't want to jinx us all by suggesting that things are back to normal, for us at NB towers, a new normal is starting to develop. So, focusing only on the good parts of the pandemic period, we moved! To what we hope will be our forever home in rural Dumfries and Galloway. We've even Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-1852696730357329312020-06-04T01:53:00.001-07:002020-06-04T01:53:17.228-07:00The view from the hill: wildlife during lockdown
For the past two months, we have felt luckier than ever before. As the restrictions came in I have been able to move my teaching online, continuing to work alongside my fantastic, adaptable colleagues and persevering students.
When not teaching or marking, Jack and I have been trying out hand at brewing and winemaking (as well as flavouring some gin), as well as focusing on the gardenNatural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-63227709629305330322019-09-10T10:43:00.000-07:002019-09-10T10:43:28.225-07:00Catching up - the view from the hill
I love my home, moving to Dumfries has been one of the best decisions I've made. In addition to being able to work in a fantastic location, I am surrounded by amazing wildlife. So amazing that I spend much less time at my keyboard and much more time outside.
So while there are fewer blog posts now, I hope that I have much more to show. So, let me catch you up on what has been going on Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-61299736471297852222019-06-05T11:51:00.000-07:002019-06-05T11:51:05.178-07:00Three lazy weeks in China...
Oh, boy am I tired. Over the past month I have been living
and working in China, teaching at Nankai University. Now this was always going
to be part of my new job, somewhere along the line, but changes in staff
availability meant that I had the opportunity to get there this year. So I’ve been
all kinds of outside my comfort zone, environmental ethics and behavioural
change is not something I’veNatural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-57446494973623044292019-02-17T14:10:00.002-08:002019-02-17T14:10:40.016-08:00Flying into February
03/02/2019
Last month I renewed my efforts to reach 400 birds before I get to forty. Starting the year on 262 and ticking off ring-billed gull, common crane and taiga bean goose in January. Of course, with the annual flock of bean geese still lurking around Slamannan, Tom decided that he had to tick them too (as if he needed to get further ahead of me...). After a flurry of messages, a Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-24321693710983626532019-01-13T07:30:00.000-08:002019-01-13T07:30:35.714-08:00Watching Winter Wane
Since returning from our round robin of parent's houses over the Christmas period, I've been longing for warmer weather, longer days and time outdoors. There is still plenty going on around the house (as you'll see below), but my thoughts are turning decidedly to spring. With another birthday gone I've also been kicking myself about my lack of progress regarding my 400 before 40 challengeNatural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-22363284266589706292018-12-07T09:43:00.002-08:002018-12-07T09:43:51.305-08:00One day birding in Arrecife.
As usual, I headed off to Lanzarote intent on getting in some birding alongside the workshops and talks of MICRO2018. But, yet again, it wasn't to be. I only managed around a 2-hour stroll along the front at Arrecife, staring longingly at the distant gulls and up at the surprisingly green slopes. My one day off, a particularly lovely Thursday, was spent marking. You're welcome, students.
Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-56964998113943446462018-12-07T08:52:00.000-08:002018-12-07T08:52:21.347-08:00New Toys: Camera Trapping
A few months ago, I cracked and bought myself a trail cam, deploying it haphazardly around Kirkland. Since moving again, it has hung from the back of the door making me feel guilty, but last week I got my act together. I chucked it on a tree in the back garden with some bird food tucked behind a stump and promptly forgot it for a week.
When I checked it today it was stocked with footage and Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-45441332447674349172018-09-10T12:00:00.002-07:002018-09-10T12:00:50.157-07:00Date with a dipper
After ID'ing my moths and placing the camera trap yesterday, I was out with a cuppa on the garden bridge. As I moved to the upstream side a dipper zipped from beneath me to the bottom of the waterfall.
Usually, the dippers near the house vanish as soon as they're disturbed, but this one hung around as I finished my tea and went to get my camera. Remaining as I happily snapped away Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-1467946958042389102018-09-09T14:40:00.001-07:002018-09-09T14:40:23.796-07:00Sooooo I bought a moth trap - Kirkconnel moths 08/09/2018On Friday I returned from a field trip to Harris (more on that another day) to find two new toys waiting for me. A shiny new trail cam, and Skinner trap from NHBS. I've been looking forward to getting the trap since moving house, so, with a warm evening, only ten per cent chance of rain at between 2 and 3 am and a relatively low wind, I deployed the trap in the back garden.
I woke at Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-10395811079443269352018-08-19T05:10:00.001-07:002018-08-19T05:20:37.604-07:00Happiness is....
The Beatles say that happiness is a warm gun. Far be it for me to contradict the Fab Four, but they are - in fact - wrong. Happiness is diving off down the valley for a few hours between rain showers to spend some time with the dippers.
During a visit from the parents a few weeks ago, and a very rainy walk down the burn, I had spotted a few fledgling dippers that were very confiding. SoNatural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-36944849574059974852018-07-01T07:08:00.000-07:002018-07-01T07:09:06.198-07:00Ch, ch, ch, changes!
We're on the road again. This time in my longest move, from Portsmouth to Dumfries. I'm ending my short-term contract with Portsmouth to join the University of Glasgow's School of Interdisciplinary Studies.
Over the last couple of months, I have been fairly short on opportunities to get out with the bins and camera. Fortunately, I was part of a field trip to Slapton Ley FSC (my Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-32800312369916875932017-11-11T13:25:00.004-08:002017-11-11T13:25:58.520-08:00Hunting the Unicorn
One of the joys of my new job is working on animals and habitats I find really interesting, either with students or without. Next month, I will be responsible for taking 50 second year's birding at a site that was, until Tuesday, a complete unknown to me. Farlington Marshes is a Wildlife Trust reserve in the Langstone and Chicester Harbour protected area. An amazing mix of grazing land, mud flatNatural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-20281034267645796742017-11-05T09:07:00.001-08:002017-11-05T09:07:36.475-08:00Short stays in the South
So I've moved again, this time to take up a teaching fellowship at the University of Portsmouth. I'm back living by the sea, but now as far south as I've ever called home. Living in a city again feels stifling, no garden, a good ten minutes to the shore (which is concrete and shingle). It all feels very un-inspiring.
After the first mad month of moving in, sorting out the bills and getting toNatural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-60251140565442961992017-08-05T14:26:00.000-07:002017-08-05T14:26:47.958-07:00Back to the birds: a week of writing and a week off work
I have been escaping work for a while. A week writing in the peace and quiet of North Yorkshire followed by a week at home, using up holiday. For the first week, I had a couple of reports to clear and a book chapter to write, tucked away in Hebden with limited internet, some beautiful scenery and a laptop.
I spent five days waking up early and taking the camera down the River Wharfe. Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-83859821952393298272017-07-18T14:14:00.000-07:002017-07-18T14:15:27.383-07:00Tom terns 30
Last weekend was Tom’s 30th
Birthday Party (the much anticipated Birthday was the week before), I think my
liver has almost recovered. More importantly, a few weeks before Tom, Jack and
I had bundled into the car in hope of Tom’s all important 300th
bird.
With it being such an important
tick, we had our eyes set on one of the UK’s scarcest breeding birds, the
thought being that we could be Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-44434045531751483272017-06-12T11:06:00.000-07:002017-06-12T11:09:36.973-07:00Menai to Milton Keynes - via Shrewsbury
On Sunday I was driving from Mitlon Keynes to Menai Bridge and back to pick up Jack from his first ten day trip on the Prince Madog research cruise. With the long staying night heron in Shrewsbury a mere 20 minutes out of the way, it seem rude not to pop in.
This was one of the briefest twitches I've done. Jack and I pulled up on a side street at 15:45 and asked some locals if they'd Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-35563321334596813302017-06-05T12:30:00.000-07:002017-06-12T11:11:34.028-07:00Blonde Birders go south on a Sunday
Tom had been having all the fun, and was just five birds away from his target of seeing 300 birds before age 30 (6 weeks to go); meanwhile, I have been languishing at my desk or in the lab, and had only managed one new species since January. In fact, I’ve barely been birding at all. So after watching all of Tom’s lovey reports from his trip to the Scotland (and having had some stress-related Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-78041478769332932842016-12-28T10:55:00.000-08:002017-11-12T03:27:37.503-08:00Delayed Post from October: Blonde Birders Ride Again
Leaving work on Friday - now at the Open University - I
headed to the station to catch the train to Birmingham. Tom had some talk, or
mime act, or something... I forget; I was going along to be supportive. I
stepped onto my super cheap, excruciatingly long train to be met with a wall of
commuters and, joy of joys, a stag do travelling from south of London to poor,
unfortunate Brum. I dragged Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-6451737526495381052016-07-09T08:59:00.000-07:002016-07-09T09:10:40.369-07:00Here Endeth the Hiatus
For the past few months I've barely been out. Its been papers and work, work and papers. Weekends have generally been spent going to and from Nottingham - with hardly a bird in sight - and I haven't been checking the alerts or meeting up with any birders. If it weren't for the great mix of breeding waterfowl on the lakes at the University I think I'd have gone doolally.
Life after theNatural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-44406382452605045352016-03-24T05:39:00.000-07:002016-04-06T23:52:47.642-07:00Scottish Island Birds at FSC Millport
This weekend I was up north again, leading a group for at FSC Millport. Two days of birding around the island, looking for winter specialisties and the odd migrant bird. Having not been birding on the island for 6 months I wasn't quite sure what was around, but I was determined that we could hit every habitat and maximise our chances of a decent species list. After an introduction to Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-16224180203281244062016-02-05T11:31:00.002-08:002016-02-08T02:14:31.396-08:00Northumberland provides againOn Thursday RBA was showing three "starred" species for the north east; long-billed dowitcher, Coues' arctic redpoll and black scoter... I wasn't going to pass up on this one. Unfortunately Tom wasn't able to come up for a run around in the north, but James of Common by Nature was well up for a twitch.
After a hellish drive up, I finally picked up James at 9 am (practically dusk) and we Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-7683688347044118542016-02-03T06:35:00.002-08:002016-02-04T04:11:03.655-08:00Guest post by the other BlondeBirder: Thomas ChristianNat's note: I have to guiltily admit that Tom sent me this over a month ago and I've not gotten around to posting it. I can only apologise to both he and you... Enjoy!
Although I love Christmastime, through all the turkey, chocolate and comatose family members I couldn't help eyeing the RBA and Birdguides updates thinking “I only have a few days left off work...” so at the first opportunity I Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-91042510911210859252016-01-09T11:14:00.001-08:002016-01-09T11:14:09.371-08:00Days with James: Naturalist Blonde meets Common by Nature
A few months back I wrote a post about the Blyth's Reed Warbler in Aberdeen, I had chatted to a few birders during the day, one of which turned out to be a friend of a friend (birding can be a small world). Well, I've never been one to miss making a new birding buddy, and now we're both back down in England-shire, a twitch seemed in order.
On Friday James came to Yorkshire. After swinging by Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-668549501174113118.post-40057300253064678862016-01-01T06:27:00.001-08:002016-01-01T06:27:40.267-08:00New Year, New Gear!
This Christmas I've finally decided to upgrade my kit. The old eos 450 just wasn't cutting the mustard any more, so - with I little help - I have moved on to a lovely second hand 7D. The 450 will be retired to landscape work. AND, to stop myself dying as I carry both scope and camera, I have purchased a brilliant Black Rapid sport strap. I have already noticed the difference, its made lugging Natural(ist) Blondehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00640436336729027598noreply@blogger.com0