Ch, 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 placement during my FSC Trainee Tutor Scheme) and was able to get up early to enjoy some time to myself in this amazing environment, as well as catching up with a few old friends. 

I originally visited Slapton in the autumn, when I enjoyed wheeling starling murmurations and winter migrants. In May, the real highlight for me were the vociferous warblers, and I gleefully left made my way down to the Ley at 6 am each day in the hope of an improved picture of my old foe; the Cetti's warbler. 

Like my last trip, the Cetti's proved a difficult bird to snap, but this was more than made up for by the incredibly showy male black cap that greeted me by the humpback bridge every morning. There were plenty of Cetti's singing, though, and cirl buntings haunted the roadside hedges around the caravan park. There was plenty of food around for young birds too, with large numbers of adorable grasshopper nymphs.

Of course, having spent so long out of the field, I wasn't going to waste this time away. I also put the moth trap out every clear night and went a little mad on poop and pellets, managing to collect both otter spraint and owl pellets and dissolve them in biological washing powder to examine the prey remains. 

I managed to get a couple of new moth species, such as the gorgeous muslin moth, and some old favourites like the flame shoulder.

From the prey remains I found, it seemed like the otters around the Ley were happily snacking on eels, and the barn owls were fond of bank voles.

In June we were up in Scotland, this time on the track of the dream job. A great location, a fab uni and a chance to settle in one spot for more than 12 months. Obviously, the destination of choice was Chez Berry (who we will be staying with during the first year of my new role as we track down a suitable place to live). Chrissy and Bez's new place is well away from anyone else, a welcome change from the bustle of Portsmouth, and we settled in for a few days of fraught interviewing interspersed with lazing beside the stream in the garden with a cold beer.

Dipper pair 5 minutes from the new pad.

Around my interview, I took every opportunity to explore what I would be settling into. The campus is amazing! Built in the 1800's as a mental institute and now home to (amongst other things) a number of universities, a college, a spa (a SPA!), and a fantastic garden...  I was instantly hooked, and the possibility of not being able to work there almost led me to fluff my presentation.

Building from the teaching garden

The teaching garden

Rock garden

Luckily, I got the fateful call as we were driving down from Dumfries on the way to visit my folks. I was able to get back into Portsmouth in a much more optimistic mood and spent the last weeks of my contract in a much better mood than the preceding ones. I'm already planning what I'm going to get up to when we move. I've got my eye on a moth trap of my own and some long walks in the hills. My first book chapter will be published in August, and I've signed up to write two more. I'm going to get some time with my godson and the chance to actually get out birding. 

Between then and now I need to shift all my stuff again, then I'll have two weeks to settle up north before I jump into my new role. It might be a little while longer before I manage to get back to the blogging, but when I do, you'd better watch this space!