356 Days Wild: Week 5

February has definitely been a bit of a weird one so far. It seems like something really odd is happening every week. Last week, it was all about the tom cats who suddenly appeared on our street – meowing all night and all day – because they were interested in a cat next door. Not ideal for trying to get 40 winks! This week, for absolutely no apparent reason, all of our smoke alarms went off at 5.30am on Saturday morning when there was no fire to speak of. That was quite honestly one of the most horrific wake-ups I’ve ever had.

So, this week, I’m genuinely saying a huge ‘thank god’ for this wild challenge. I think it’s just about kept me sane!

Monday 8th February 2021

I started the week with something very cute. Have you ever seen a great crested grebe chick? I haven’t, but it was the photo story feature in this month’s BBC Wildlife magazine and they are just beyond adorable! The magazine arrived in the post today and I just couldn’t resist having a good look through all of the amazing photos of the grebes and their chicks over my lunch break.

Tuesday 9th February 2021

It was very cold today. So cold that I convinced myself that a 7am run was not on the cards. What I did instead was arguably harder though. You see, I ended up going for a slightly different walk this afternoon. I started off at a fast pace so that I didn’t take too much time out of work. I had no intention of keeping that pace up for the whole walk but I ended up having to out-pace a few people so let’s just say it was one hell of a power walk (6.88km in 1 hr 2 mins). On my journey, I saw lots of robins, a couple of wrens, a fieldfare up close and a squirrel. Big bonus – the fast pace kept me nice and warm – even when snow/frozen rain/sleet poured from the heavens!

Wednesday 10th February 2021

I saw a kingfisher this morning!!! I was out on an early morning walk and, just as I crossed the bridge in neighbouring Honington, I saw a flash of blue come out from underneath. I watched it fly all the way down the river until it disappeared out of sight. I was never going to be quick enough to get a photo of it (and the quality of my phone camera leaves a lot to be desired…!) so, instead, I thought I’d share this photo of the sunrise. It was such a lovely start to the day!

Thursday 11th February 2021

I was supporting an online event at work this evening so it meant it was a pretty long day. In an attempt to break it up a little bit, I grabbed another book off the shelf that I’m dipping in and out of. This one is called Birds in the Ancient World. I only had time to read the introduction, but something I read really made me realise why I ‘bang on’ about birds so much:

Birds have the further connection with us of being not only animate but also mobile and active in a shared physical space. They have always been among the most prominent features of the natural world for humankind, readily visible and audible almost anywhere you happen to be, and so part of our daily experience.

Friday 12th February 2021

I was lucky enough to have a day off work today so I spent my time finishing off a watercolour painting of some snowdrops. I think this piece warrants a blog post all for itself at some point, but, in short, as soon as I saw snowdrops on my walk a couple of weeks ago, I knew I had to paint them. They’ve brought me a lot of hope!

Saturday 13th February 2021

I’m getting quite a bit better at identifying birds these days – especially when I compare myself to a year ago! – but I’ve always been pretty hopeless at identifying trees and plants. I remembered an email that caught my eye a couple of weeks ago about identifying trees in winter and thought I’d take more of a look. I think it’s going to take some more practice, but I reckon I’ve got common oak, horse chestnut, silver birch and common hazel pinned down.

Sunday 14th February 2021

To end the week, I did a mega-long walk. Well, it was pretty long anyway! It’s the last day of the team competition at work that I mentioned last week. I have to be real – I cannot compete with some of the people at work who go out for 10k runs. Daily.

My hope is that I can make it into the top 10 in my team. So I’ve been trying to get a 5k walk in every day and then finish big on the weekend. Today, it was a 12.4 mile circular walk through some of the small villages around Shipston – Stretton, Darlingscote, Blackwell, Armscote and Tredington. It was very cold and blustery at times but we were treated en route to a pair of bullfinches frolicking about in the hedgerow. Such beautiful birds!

And just as a side note: When my partner and I got back from our Sunday walk, I looked out of our kitchen window and saw a fieldfare in the garden, munching on some berries. Seems I can’t escape them at the moment!