Trip to Slimbridge

 

 

For those that follow my blog over the past few year's will know that I often visit WWT Slimbridge.  To be honest I have lost count of the amount of year's I have been going and do my best to go every couple of months.

 

Why when there are so many places within just the Cotswolds that I live, a place where thousands of people come to, would I want to visit the same place so often.

 

To me Slimbridge is not only a short drive from home, but a place you can escape and be in nature.  I live in a "typical" housing estate where the houses could be the same anywhere in the country and am overlooked in my garden from every angle.  I am slowly developing the garden to be more enclosed, but you can not escape the urban environment.

 

However Slimbridge you can just go and sit and be surrounded by nature.  Along with knitting, my other passion is photography and I can just sit for ages just watching birds and nature, enjoy the changing light and the peace of the site.

 

There are nine wetland sites spread throughout the UK and I have now visited eight of them.  But to me Slimbridge is hands down my favourite.

 

Over the past year I have watched the developement of a new area that used to be home to Flamingo's outside the coffee shop, it is now an oasis not just for wildlife but a collection of a huge variety of flora and fauna.

During the summer months you can walk down along a path that runs parallel to the Seven Esturary, it is such a great place to just go and watch the river eb and flow.  

Alongside the site the area is also farmed and I just loved watching this cow quietly chewing away. 

I sat by the river which is the second highest tidal river in the country for what turned out to be an hour!  When I first sat down you could see the sandbanks on the river, by the time I got up to leave the water had covered them and the river had rapidly filled up.

So if your ever near Slimbridge do call in, you won't be disappointed.

Scotland Trip - Day Two

 

So following on from my first post about my trip up to Scotland.

I then carried on up the M6 and stopped off at Tebay Services.

It is so interesting that you reach a certain part of the M6 and not only does the traffic suddenly reduce massively.  But the scenary becomes far more open and less built up and freeing. 

I absolutely love having my little van and being able to stop off in my home from home.  Tebay is the perfect place for an overnight stop on a journey up North.

Incredibly this was the child's size dinner and was delicious.

This has to be the best view I think there is for a motorway services!

I then treated myself to a lovely breakfast the next morning aswell as you are given a complimentary voucher for eating in the restaurant if you use the campsite.

 

As well as being an avid National Trust visitor, I am also a member of WWT Wetlands Trust, of which there are ten sites around the country.

 

I only have three sites left to visit to have visted them all.

 

I love using the Merlin All About Birds app, just stopping and listening to what is around you and letting the app identify them.

Every wetlands is so different.  For me my local Slimbridge Wetlands has always been my favourite.  But Caerlaverock centre is just a whole different experience.

It reminded me partly of being in Norfolk, just huge open spaces with big expanses to view and just take in the sights and sounds around you.

But the highlight had to be the observatory where I got to see Swallows flying right next to the hide was just incredible. 

 

 

 

 

Another pastime I really enjoy is just watching the clouds and wow what a view and incredible sky which changed every minute, I could have just sat for hours watching this sky.

This table is made from the oad of RRS Discovery, the ship used by Robert Falcon Scott on his journey for the British National Antarctica Expedition also known as the Discovery Expedition.

She was a traditional wooden three-masted steamship built in 1901 in Dundee, specifically for Antarctic resear.

She is now back in Dundee where she can be seen in a visitor attraction.

One of the many things I enjoy doing is being able to see in to the night sky.  

Sadly where I live is very urban and full of street lights so you have no chance of seeing any galaxies!  But I bet it would be magical to stay here where there is literally no night pollution right next to the red deer park. 

This is such a wonderful place to stop at.

If you bring along some apples the deer come right up and take them out of your hand. 

My good friend who was so kindly letting me stay has moved to Galloway Forest.

She is in absolute heaven!

This was the view on our first walk when I arrived at her's, which was literally on her doorstep! 

Next installement coming soon.

RSPB Arne

 

For various reasons I suffer at times badly with anxiety, which is massively heightened in environments

with a lot of people.

Yet stood at the welcome desk of RSPB Arne where Juliet created me welcoming me to the site, 

she had an incredible ability to put me at ease.

She asked about my trusty crochet bag that I made and be so interested to learn about the blogs I write. 

I found myself happily chatting away and sharing the information on the mindful TikTok I create of me 

crafting in as many places as I can and sharing my passion for the outdoors.

 

So thank you Juliet for making the trip a much more relaxed and great day out with all the tips you gave me

of  area's to go. Although I did not even manage half of where I wanted to go, so shall have to have a revisit.

 

Part of my reason for wanting to visit was due to watching BBC Springwatch 2024 Everything you need to know for many years.

 

They chose RSPB Arne as a base for a year and it just looked incredible. 

 

 

I do love to have a variety of pictures not just all colour as sometimes seeing things in black and white I find just highlights the details more.

 

I loved the moss growing on this tree stump.  To me it just looked like a minature forest somewhere in Canada!

 

Foxglove's are such elequant flowers I think. 

One of the routes Juliet suggested was going to the Shoreline.  

I am so glad I did as what a place.Round Island Cottages I love the names of the three cottages.  Pier, Curlew or Sandpiper Cottage.

 
Brownsea island National Trust ferry to the island is from Poole harbour booking information, at time of me writing this Adults £14.50 and child £6.

 

This is where I sat and ate my packed lunch I had made.  It would have been lovely to just sit for a couple of hours and soak up the location.

However I had an hour's drive back to campsite and the site shut at 4.  So I  made my way round past the dragonfly pond.  

Oh my goodness aren't dragonflies just the most incredible insects to watch.

 

 Then it was on through the Big Wood which was welcome shade.

All around the site I used the Merlin bird identifying app.  

Such a brilliant free app, I can not rate it highly enough to just listen to the birds and watch it identify them. 

 

I of course had to stop off again at Hive beach, but this time turned right to just sit and enjoy the beach.

 

It was eye opening to see the recent erosion that had happened to the cliff face and more worrying that not 50 yards from the cliff face two people where just lying sun bathing and if the cliff face eroded, they may have been in real danger. 

 

I wanted to try and give a sense of scale so show how high the cliff is.   

 

Although the beach is almost all shingle, there are a few bigger rocks and I just loved this one that looked like a heart. 

 

One of the things I love about the sea apart from the rythmical sound is just watching as the waves crash in.  If you look closely at the gap before the wave breaks you can see the calmness of the water beneath.  

 

I also love to look on Google maps to get a bearing of what the area is in the distance and save the image to compare to what I am looking at.

So before heading back, just a few more rounds on the sock!