Have You Herd?

Our newest ‘neighbours’ at the glorified shed are a herd of cows that have been moved onto land across the river directly opposite us. We’d been seeing the cows for some time from a slightly further distance, but their new grazing station is that much closer.

We often hear their gentle mooing and watch with a modicum of trepidation when they get too close to the water’s edge, but by and large their presence does add to the whole ‘country appeal’ of our rural home.

However, we know the story of the wayward cow, and are on standby should the tale repeat itself. Many years ago, a somewhat brave (or possibly clumsy or stupid) individual made its way across the river and arrived in what is now our garden. Its distressed moos were heard in the early hours of the morning, alerting people to its presence. It was finally escorted from the premises by a bemused policeman and a slightly red-faced farmer.

One morning recently, we woke to the sound of louder mooing that sounded much closer than usual and for one moment thought that history was repeating itself. It was a false alarm, however.

More on the nature front, I’ve once again spotted a seal in the river. As I sat outside enjoying an early morning coffee, a lone seal swam past. At first I was only able to see its head above water, but then it decided to make a dive for it, treating me to a view of its whole body as it arced over into the water. It was very obliging of if to perform right in front of me, next time perhaps it could be even more obliging and make an appearance when I actually have a camera to hand!

 

Then just yesterday my son was delighted to spot a weasel in the garden – so now we’re all keeping our eyes peeled for a glimpse of one too!

There’s no doubt about it, the wonderful view, proximity to nature and interesting wildlife compensate greatly for the slow renovation of the glorified shed!

Protect Our Rivers

Living, as I do, directly on a riverbank, I’ve become aware of how users of the river don’t always treat it as well as they should. I’m appalled at the amount of old rubbish that gets washed up on the banks and annoyed by people in boats constantly disregarding the speed limit!

There is a speed sign right by our home, informing people of the maximum speed allowed. This is not there for adornment, as some obviously think, but to limit the amount of damage caused to the banks by the wash from passing boats. Natural erosion of the riverbanks obviously occurs, but is greatly increased by speeding boats churning things up. And why does this matter? We need to protect the wildlife and landscape (and more selfishly my home)!

One of the greatest offenders at exceeding the speed limit, I’m sad to say, is the army. They charge past in their little boats, but for what reason? The river narrows when it reaches us, becoming more twisted and narrower still just beyond. Not great for army manoeuvres I would have thought – although, of course, there is a pub a little further up! Surely if the army want to test their speedy boats, they would be better heading in the other direction, where the river widens out into the estuary and on to the sea.

We rarely see the river police enforcing the speed limit and of course there are no flashing signs displaying sad faces like you see on the roads. What I would really like is a ‘Brian-Blessed-Ometer’ – a device that would be triggered by speeding boats and would boom out in the great man’s voice, “What do you think you’re playing at you annoying river hog?”

Of course, many river users do exhibit consideration, and to them I’m very grateful. Those who don’t take as much care may just be ignorant of the potential damage that they can cause, and to them I request that they stop and think about the effects that their actions can have on nature.

And Brian, if you’re reading this, your input would be appreciated!

Keeping Watch!

Since moving to the ‘glorified shed’ last year, I’ve chronicled my growing interest in watching the local wildlife, in particular many of the birds not just in our garden, but also those that frequent the riverbank that I can see from my window.

Armed with a new pair of binoculars I’ve been keep tracking of the river visitors – cormorants, herons, redshanks, lapwings etc – and feeding and watching the garden species too.

I was pleased, therefore, to take part in the recent RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, settling down for a peaceful hour of viewing, and recording the comings and goings of our feathered friends. Some of the birds that I saw came as no big surprise. We always seem to have throngs of starlings in the garden, as well as a few sparrows and blue tits and the odd great tit, chaffinch and robin. However, I was privileged enough to see a bird that I don’t believe that I’ve ever seen before – a long-tailed tit. It was great so see it during that ‘golden hour’, but in all likelihood it may be a frequent visitor that I often miss seeing, as I often only pause for short bird watching sessions during my busy day.

It can be incredibly relaxing to just sit back and watch nature through your window, taking your mind off life’s mundane problems and focusing on enjoying the moment.

I’m fortunate that the computer on which I work is positioned right by the window with its panoramic river view, allowing me to take regular breaks from the screen to glance up and see what’s happening both in my garden and the surrounding countryside.

The building around me may still be very much a work in progress, but the surrounding view is a pure masterpiece!

More Of A Twitch

I’ve previously written about my new-found interest in watching the birds from the comfort of my rural home (Developing A Twitch). With its river view from its expansive windows and tree-filled garden, it makes for great viewing of the local wildlife.
 

My interest has now been given even more of the boost, as I received a new pair of binoculars for Christmas, which have all the right features for bird watching – good magnification, a coating to stop glare and retain colours etc. Needless to say, I’ve been even more transfixed with what’s going on outside, driving my family mad with sudden exclamations of, “Wow! There’s a lesser spotted what’s-its-face!” and “Quick, what’s that over there? Could it be a crested what’s-its-name?”

The arrival of said binoculars has indeed allowed me to see many birds here for the first time – birds that until now had merged in with the mud banks or undergrowth, but that I can now view in all their glory. I’ve been watching the herons, cormorants, gulls etc since we moved in, but now I’ve also been able to watch the lapwings and redshanks and a few others that I still have to identify.

I’ve also become more interested in garden and woodland species of birds too. I was getting a bit fed up that the current bird feeders were attracting a disproportionate amount of starlings, which were scaring off some of the smaller birds. So off I went and bought a ‘small bird’ feeder which I duly filled with ‘finch mix’ and am happy to report that it has had the desired effect of attracting some of the smaller species, which are now able to feed in peace. Goldfinches, greenfinches, blue tits and great tits have already visited the feeder and I’m hoping to see others arrive in due course.

Armed with my bird books, I’m managing to identify many of the birds that I see (providing that I can get a good enough view of them), but what I’d really like to do is to learn to identify some of the birdsong and calls that I hear every day. The books do try to describe the sounds in words, but that doesn’t always work for me. All that I can do is try to whittle the calls down to a few possible candidates and listen to the recordings on You Tube in the hope of identifying them.

Despite this enthusiasm for watching (and listening to) our feathered friends, I’m not about to start looking out for reports of rare sightings and go hurtling off to the other end of the country to join the twitching fraternity in some kind of stakeout. No, I’m quite happy with all that I can see from my own window and garden. I’m just extremely fortunate to be living with so much of nature on my doorstep!

Five Months On

It’s been five months since we moved out of our conventional, suburban home and embarked on our adventure converting an old workshop into a rural, riverside bungalow.

Technically, we’ve only been living in the building for three of those months, as we spent the summer living in our static caravan on its site in East Anglia. We had planned to bring said caravan back down with us when we came, but a few calculations revealed that we couldn’t get it down the bendy lane leading to our home. So since September we’ve been sort of ‘glamping’ in our glorified shed, pretty well making things up as we go along, and trying to work and live in the same space simultaneously.

Up to now living in these conditions has been quite easy, but as winter starts to take hold, things may get a little less comfortable. It’s amazing how quickly living amongst a load of old workbenches, using a small corner of the building as a makeshift kitchen and visiting a relative for a shower has become the new ‘normal’. But dealing with chillier conditions is proving more of a challenge as some of my previous posts have revealed.

However, the landscape and the wildlife are proving as interesting and entertaining as ever – I can observe so much of nature from my window – with even the grey days offering delightful distractions.

Cormorants can often be seen on the riverbank opposite our home, but usually only in small groups of three or four. But one morning recently, we opened the blinds to be greeted by a line of at least 25 of them looking across at us (or so it seemed). Yes, despite the chills and grey days, the wildlife is prolific as ever, which is a cheering thought.

And now of course, we’re preparing for our first Christmas in our new location. Yes we will be entertaining the usual contingent of my mother, mother-in-law, daughter and grandson, in addition to my other daughter and son that still live with us, but arrangements are likely to be a bit ‘alternative’, shall we say.

Still more on that in a future post. I’m off to untie the shoelace that’s holding the washing machine outlet hose over the washbasin and hunt under the workbenches for something that I know I’ve stored in a safe place! Oh the joys of makeshift living!

Developing A Twitch

From the moment that I arrived at my new riverside home, I was very aware of the huge amount of birdlife that surrounded me.

With our home offering such an expansive view over the river and surrounding countryside, there is certainly a wealth of wildlife to watch. Various gulls ride up and down the river on the tides and circle noisily overhead; swans glide gracefully past, sometimes pausing to rest on the opposite bank; cormorants sit drying their wings on the mudbanks; a lone heron can often been seen on sentry duty at the water’s edge, and was for a time, joined by a couple of egrets.

When all this is playing out right in front of your nose, it’s hard not to develop at least a passing interest in nature. I did wonder whether the novelty of watching the birds would soon wear off, but I’ve become keener than ever, to the extent (and surprise of my husband) that my Christmas list for this year includes a new pair of binoculars!

For me, I suppose this is actually a return to birdwatching – revisiting a pastime that I was encouraged in as a child. We spent many a family holiday, drifting round the Norfolk Broads with my Dad eagerly pointing out various feathered species. I just couldn’t ignore his enthusiasm. I soon learnt to identify the grebes, moorhens, dabchicks etc, and was given the ‘I-Spy Book Of Birds’, which became a holiday staple.

I’ve now progressed to a couple of slightly weightier bird-identification tomes, but remain quite childlike in my excitement when I see something that’s a little unusual. I’m now eagerly trying to identify birdsong, something that’s currently proving a slightly frustrating experience, but hopefully I’ll learn.

So compulsive twitcher I am not, but I do enjoy spending some happy interludes enjoying the constant comings and goings of the birds around my new home.

Strange Sounds And Swirling Mists

A change in location has certainly meant quite a change in the sights and sounds that surround me.

I no longer live my day to the background hum of traffic punctuated by sporadic squeals of emergency sirens. The view from my window is no longer of a similar house opposite, with the residents’ actions mirroring my own – that old suburban routine.

My new lifestyle largely runs to the soundtrack of nature, with the occasional hum of boats drifting by. OK, some of their engines can be a tad noisy, but as we live on a tidal stretch of river, the times when these pass are restricted. I’m much more likely to hear birdsong (though screeching gulls can be less restful) and animal calls than the hustle and bustle of human life. Sometimes it’s almost silent.

This said, I did find the nights a bit unsettling at first. Not only did the building creak and groan in ways that I wouldn’t have imagined, keeping me alert to every noise, but I was hard-pressed to identify the sounds piercing the darkness outside.

Even I, as a lifelong townie, could recognise the bark of a fox, but other strange chattering and squealing sounds had me flummoxed. The strangest I’ve heard, I could only describe as a duck being throttled – actually in view of my former comments, let’s just not go there.

The first day that I spent alone in our makeshift home, there was the most awful commotion on the roof. I was rather startled and at a total loss as to what on earth could be happening. Answer – a sparrowhawk had landed and caught a pigeon.  I’ll spare you the details, but I thought to myself, “Welcome to country life!”

To add to the atmosphere, we have experienced frequent episodes of river mist since we arrived, some so dense that the river itself seems to disappear completely. The whole effect can be quite surreal.

So all things considered, I don’t think I chose the best time to read ‘River of Destiny’ by Barbara Erskine, a story of a couple who move to a converted property by the river. When the mists roll in so does a ghostly ship and strange things start happening all around them. Oh well, at least my new circumstances meant it left less to the imagination!