My World Of Wildlife

Today I went to Wakehurst Place which is in Ardingly, Haywards Heath. It is a Royal Botanical garden and is home to the world's largest seed conservation project. I spent most of my time in the Loder Valley Nature Reserve which was very, very muddy!  Before reaching the first hide I saw two Great Crested Grebes. I noticed they were beginning to start their courting behaviour; bringing their necks together to make a sought of heart shape and calling to each other. In the first hide there was 5 Mallards, 2 Coots being very territorial as usual and 4 Cormorants drying their wings in the bright sun. On the way back I saw and heard quite a few Pheasants. Lastly I went to the Kingfisher hide, which has specially built banks for their nests. According to the sightings board in the hide there has been a male and female going in and out of the nest holes. Although I didn't see any I hope to go back there in the spring and see if they have had any young.  There were...

Hi Everyone! Today's post is about the Linnet. I saw 4 at the weekend at Pulborough Brooks. The Linnet is a small, slim finch which is widely distributed, although it is on red status according to the RSPB. Once they were kept as cage birds because of their melodious song. Males stand out with red foreheads and breasts and females are a much browner version. In winter they can be seen in large flocks. Linnet numbers have dropped dramatically over the past few decades, unfortunately the UK population is estimated to have declined by 57% between 1970 and 2008. Although populations in England and Wales are decreasing, numbers in Scotland and Northern Ireland are currently increasing, according to a recent breeding bird survey. Quick Facts They have a rapid twittering flight call which similar to the Greenfinch and Redpoll. Linnets feed on mainly small seeds such as dandelion and oil rape seed, but in summer they eat insects as well. They nest on heaths, scrubland, hedger...

Today I visited RSPB Pulborough Brooks which is one of my favourite reserves for birding. Firstly I saw 4 linnets which was a first for me. They were all perched up high in the tree singing, that was the thing that drew my attention to them in the first place. Being the first time I had seen them I didn't recognise what they were straight away, but with the help of some onlooking birders I found out that they were Linnets.  Linnet Next, I went to the first hide (west mead). There were a flock of about 50 Wigeon, 20 Teal, 5 Pintail and 10 Shoveler. Suddenly a huge flock of Lapwing lifted into the sky, I think they were probably spooked by a bird of prey.  There were also a group of about 20 Black-Tailed Godwit which kept getting chased around by the Lapwings.  On the way back to the visitor centre I spotted a female and male (most likely a pair) Stonechat which were perched on top of some reeds. A wren also flew into the bottom of the reed...

Hi everyone! Today I visited Chesworth Farm in Horsham. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great with only a short spell of sunshine and a shower of rain. However I did manage to find a Kestrel and chase it all around the farm most of the time I was there. It tended to sit up on a electricity line and when I got close enough for a decent photo it flew further away. I think it was a female. As I walked along the river the bird song was really amazing with songs from a variety of species. I heard the drumming of a Woodpecker and the chatter of a flock of Goldfinches. Other species I saw were 5 blackbirds, 2 robins, 10 fieldfare and 2 moorhen.

Hi Everyone! Today I thought I would share with you a fiction story I wrote for an English test at school. Its about a boy who loves wildlife and ends up saving extinct animals. Anyway on with the story... In a world of modern technology and destroyed habitats, there was an animal-loving boy called Patrick. He loved learning about rare, near-extinct, extinct and animals that are just about surviving on this destroyed planet. Patrick was a very caring, clever and was one of the best students in his school in Pensthorpe, Norfolk. One foggy, cold morning Patrick was out in his huge garden which was in among beautiful hills and thriving woodlands. The trees looked like hands dancing in the wind, making creaking and squeaking noises like a mouse. The smell of fresh grass and mist surrounded him, whilst he strolled through his flourishing, flower-filled garden something caught his eye. It was a bird, not just any bird but the bird he had been wanting to see forever. It was a glowing blu...

Hi Everyone! Today once again I visited WWT Arundel as I heard that there had been a lot of kingfisher activity.  Going into the first hide I saw that there was a lot of photographers sitting in there waiting for something.. they were waiting for the kingfisher! Although I didn't get a good photo of it today, I did see a lot of them. In the first hide I had a fly-by of the kingfisher, as well as it perching quite far away from me. There were also a few shoveler, lapwing and teal around as well as about 20 shelduck. There were lots of mallards, coots, moorhens around as usual. As I waited to get on the boat ride, in the corner of my eye I saw 2 kingfishers chasing each other. There was also right in front of me a Mediterranean gull. In the other hide there was a grey heron which was looking for fish. Other species I saw were long-tailed tit, robin, dunnock, blue tit and chiffchaff.

Hi everyone! Today I am going to post on the wonderful little wren. The Wren is a tiny, brown bird, which is slimmer, although heavier than the Goldcrest. It is dumpy, has a fine bill and has quite long legs and toes. With a short tail that is normally pricked up, it has a surprisingly loud voice. It is the UK's most commonest breeding bird however it suffers declines in the long, severely cold winters. It is found all across the UK in a wide range of habitats. They can be seen all year round and they have a diet of insects and spiders. There are 8.5 million breeding pairs in the UK. At dawn males sing to stop others from stealing their territories. I took these at the weekend at Warnham:

Hi everyone! Today I thought I would post a bit of a different blog, so on with it... At school today, in our P.E lesson we got to go up to the forest (Tilgate Park) which is only a 2 minute walk from my school. It is great because it is such a brilliant outside environment to learn in and we are lucky it is so close to us! We had to go round in groups trying to find different objects or do something which we took photos of to prove we had done it: List of thing we had to find or do We had to find objects such as a Green and brown leaf, a pine cone, a tall tree, rubbish (which unfortunately was easy to find) and more. We also had to make a shelter. This we all had to complete in under 20 minutes which was quite hard to do. I found it really fun because I was out in the forest (my favourite place) and we also won the competiton! Our Shelter we made in about 2 minutes! Flower Trees                       ...