Trip to Bridgnorth, Shropshire UK 30Nov2020

 I was in a frustrated mood when I woke up with a yearning to be in sunny weather as today was very dull and miserable. Also a yearning to be in woodland somewhere. However I started counting my blessings and thinking about God and how great he must be if he created Zander , Pike, Rattlesnakes, Tigers etc. not just the soft cuddly animals some people think about. As I started meditating on this and singing little songs quietly on bus to Shrewsbury about God creating Zander I started cheering up !! 

Anyway previous to getting the bus I hung up two teapots in my parents garden for my mum who wants to attract robin's nesting in the garden. Robin's sometimes nest in old teapots. 

Anyway back to the bus ...the original plan was once I arrive in Shrewsbury to get another bus from Shrewsbury to Bishops castle . This plan was scuppered as the bus wasn't till 2pm ... a two hour wait. So I decided to go back to Bridgnorth. My second ever visit, the first one only being a week or two ago. 

I headed to the castle this time which is situated high up on the high half of town looking down onto the river Severn, quite far below.

I was amazed to see as I rounded the corner a huge tall, thick,  slab of castle wall leaning over at a very steep angle .  Apart from this there isn't much else left of the castle just a few scattered small bits of wall Apparently Cromwell destroyed most it. 

 I then looked around the gardens , there were some good topiary bushes in the shape of a tank, a battleship and a bomber plane. 

Above: Topiary in Shape of Plane and Battleship , Bridgnorth

Castle Gardens. 

There were also plenty of other pleasant ,mainly evergreen plantings of shrubs. At the edge of the garden are railings with views overlooking the lower part of town including the stream railway station. In the corner of the castle gardens was a small red caravan selling coffees. The paper cups came with paper caps instead of the plastic ones ... everything, including the stirrer, was compostable. I bought a coffee £2.10 not bad price either. The pleasant young chap who served me is the proprietor and we had a good chat about saving the environment . He told me there was a compost heap in the corner of the gardens where I could put my cup when it was finished. Some people threw them in the council litter bins, which to me is a waste as they will just go into landfill instead of being recycled into compost.    

I headed back into town stopped and looked again at the steep railway track that brings people up from the lower part of town and vice versa. It's close at the moment due to Covid . 

Before getting on the bus back to Shrewsbury I purchased a sheaf saw made by Wilkinson sword which will be ideal for use at camp ibex when I get back to Cornwall. 

There were several students on the bus coming back to Shrewsbury and even more on the bus from Shrewsbury to Oswestry. In the evening I downloaded Spanish music and did a water colour which I was only half pleased with..  boats on the river Fal with a Cornish cottage and woods in the background. 

Isle of Mull Sept 2nd to 15th 2020

 To get from Cornwall in the far south west of Britain to the remote village of Bunessan on the Scottish Island of Mull is quite a trek... taking me two days ( not including my time in Cheltenham) . I headed up from Cornwall to Cheltenham by train where I stayed with my friend for three days to catch up with life there. I then headed down to Bristol airport where I flew up to Glasgow.

This was the first time I had flown up South to north through England. Although it was mainly cloudy I did manage to get get good views of the Bristol channel, South coast of Wales, a couple of mountain peaks poked through the clouds in North Wales possibly Snowdon. Then later a good view down onto Preston where there was a break in the clouds, Morecambe bay , lake Windermere and a couple  of other lakes of the lake District. Then it went cloudy again until we got to Glasgow . 

Although the flight was only one hour in duration the late time of the flight meant I had to stay overnight in a hotel in Glasgow . It was called Charing Cross Hotel and was a pleasant clean hotel. 

Next morning, early, I caught the bus from Buchanan bus station to Oban . This was a three hour trip. I don't really like cities and was relieved to leave the conurbation of Glasgow. We then went through some stunning mountain and loch scenary.  Unfortunately it was a very rainy day and visibility was very poor in some places eg along most of loch Lomond I could see the loch through the trees but couldn't see the mountains on the opposite side. 

A particularly memorable part of the bus journey was between Ardgarten and Cairndow. The bus followed the valley of the Croe Water burn , up from Loch Long. A wide forested valley with high mountains on each side culminating at the pass between the two high peaks of Beinn an Lochain and Beinn Ime .

We passed several other lochs on the way to Oban, plenty of forest and high mountains. An interesting town was Inveraray on the coast of Loch Fyne.  Most buildings were painted white and there were expensive looking restaurants and shops... catering for the obviously large tourist industry here . There was an arch over the road which the bus only just squeezed through and signs for Inveraray castle. I was pleasantly surprised as I had always thought Inveraray was in Ireland!! 

Above: Inverary on the banks of Loch Fyne

I arrived at Oban around mid-day. My first impressions were a very pleasant Scottish harbourside town. Gayle my friend I would be staying with gave me a big shopping list of things to buy in Tesco , as it's not easy to get certain foods on the Isle of Mull, there's no supermarkets. I found the big Tesco in Oban and purchased a couple of bags worth of shopping. After having a coffee I lugged the shopping along with my huge rucksack to the ferry terminal . 

Above: Oban, where I had to do a big food shop for Gail in Tesco ...

there are no big supermarkets on Mull!  

The ferry crossing was at about 2 pm . It was still rainy so visibility on the crossing wasn't too good, but good enough to see I was in a beautiful part of the world. We headed out onto the strait  in the direction of Craignure. We passed Maiden Island on our right and the Kerrera lighthouse on our left. Around this area there was a strong current clearly visible and the ferry rocked more than earlier in the trip.A few Gannets flew past singly or in pairs on their way to feeding sites where they would dive from a height into shouls of their prey fish. 

The crossing from Oban to Craignure on the Isle of mull took approximately an hour. When I arrived at three pm ish there was another wait of an hour for another bus which travels down to the South West end of the island terminating at Fionnphort. Bunessan is the penultimate bus stop before Fionnphort. I noticed a small oak tree near the ferry ticket office that was absolutely festooned with shield ferns (Polypodum) living epiphytically on its branches.

The bus took over an hour from Craignure to Bunessan . The weather was still very rainy and misty . I could see halfway up the mountains. Water was everywhere. Silver waterfalls ran in torrents down the mountain slopes. These joined to become peaty brown burns ( rivers)  and we crossed over several bridges which spanned these numerous burns. One or two of these burns were raging torrents due to all the rain we were having.

 There was a considerable amount of broad leaf woodland and conifer forestry to be observed on  the first half of the journey .. ie the area nearest Craignure, but as we got into the Ross of Mull the countryside opened up into mainly moorland. 

We came to Loch Scridain on our right and the road followed fairly close to the loch all the way to Bunessan.  It was still mainly heather moorland right up to the loch with many rocky outcrops.

At last we came to Bunessan a quiet village not much more than a Hamlet by the side of a pleasant horseshoe shaped natural harbour . There was a hotel where Gail worked and two or three shops ... Gail also worked in the spa (and still does at the time of writing). There were of course quite a few houses , some terraced nearest the harbour along  the main road and further back a few detached houses scattered up the hillside.

Gail was waiting at the bus stop to meet me and carry the shopping . We greeted each other with a kiss and hug . She was once you could loosely say my girlfriend for a couple of weeks. It never lasted due to the interference of another girl. I seem to have a curse where when I meet one girl I meet another girl at the same time and things get confusing which one to stay with. Up till now I usually choose the wrong one and regret my decision.

Trip to Ivybridge and Totness stopping at Bodmin parkway and Plymouth on the Way.

2nd August 2020 

Trip to Ivybridge and Totness stopping at Bodmin parkway and Plymouth on the Way.

As Sundays are my worst day especially at the moment with the Corono crisis and no church i decided to fill it up by going from Redruth (where my flat is) to Plymouth by train. This soon evolved into a more elaborate tour of the southwest. As the train travelled up through cornwall I had an impulse to get off and explore around Bodmin parkway on the way up , looking for possible wild camping spots as i am planning on using my disabled bus pass to tour the country  .

A track takes you  bodmin parkway station under the railway bridge and  towards Lanhydrock house through the estates woodlands . You soon come to the gorgeous Fowey river and i took a righthand track that went past the stagnant and shady railway pond and continued along the river in an upstream direction. I noticed how very pleasantly quiet these woods were, with no nearby traffic, only the sound of the hourly train. There were a few walkers about and  I chatted at the bridge to a man from st austell aged about 60 accompanied by his two dogs . Was general chit chat about fishing and he likes football. when he was younger  he had a friend called "John the fish" who went out on the trawlers from newlyn onto the irish sea. He never drank out at sea but on land John drank large amounts hence "the fish".  

I spotted a lot of small brown trout in the fowey river and i may try and catch one or two next time using maybe a freelined worm .

I caught the next train and got off at Plymouth. I caught a bus to the city centre and then after a quick snack from Taco Bell i got on the Stagecoach Gold bus which runs hourly , even on sundays,  towards Torquay stopping at Ivy bridge and Totness.

After about 30 minutes of travelling out of plymouth and through lush devon countryside we got to Ivybridge where i disembarked . I looked around ivybridge and i could soon see that this was a small quiet town with not much open on sunday (no cafes open) . The best thing about Ivybridge is the River Erme which tumbles down  from Dartmoor and is strewn with numerous cascades flowing over mossy boulders and bedrock even in the town centre . Its a really picturesque river . I followed the river upstream using a road at times and along the riverside walk at other times. I went past a large old mill thats grounds are being turned into a posh housing estate and i expect the mill itself will become flats.  Then i came to a woodland park that follows the river and goes under the railway viaduct built by Brunel . I follwed the stream through these woods for maybe a mile . the river continues having many rocky cascades and pools as you head up  all in the shade of a wooded valley. I saw some suitable spots for camping especially higher upstream on the opposite bank where there was a conifer plantation  . If one were continue up this river you would end up high on Dartmoor at the River Ermes source . One of the Tors could be seen from Ivybridge... possibly Butterdon Hill or one of its neighbouring hills .

Altogether I spent two hours in Ivybridge . I also has a quick look at the town park  which had a covered bench that might be usefull for overnight sleeping . I also went into the costcutters looking for shrinkwrap or bin liners i could use as a tarp and stay the night camping high upstream in the woodland park . I decided to postpone buying these and continue by bus on to Totnes . I could buy them on my return later on if i decided to sleep the night in Ivybridge.

The bus went on to Totness through more rolling green countryside  with some high Dartmoor tors on the left . After maybe 40 minutes we arived at Totness . I got off craving for a coffee as id had no caffeine since i left Redruth in the morning . Iv only been to Totness once before about 17 years ago to a friends wedding. I never noticed before but it seems to be a rather upmarket town with some nice bistros etc and the river Dart running through it . THe wide river gives it  a nautical feel although its quite inland. I went into a pub to order a coffee but it was quite a palava with form filling (coronovirus) before i could be seated and quite a palava to pay the three pounds once i had finished the coffee ( i wasnt allowed to pay at the bar (Corono)) and was worried i would miss my bus one of the waitresses got to me in the end.

Back at the bus stop an attractive blonde lady of maybe 40 struck up a conversation with me after i double checked with her about the bus time . She was from London and was about to start a weeks treck across Dartmoor, Solo, camping for part of the trip. I said i was impressed and told her i was thinking of camping that  night in ivybridge however the conversation didnt go much further she wished me a good trip and i wished her the same.

I decided to go back that night to Redruth as i felt i needed a few more things with me for wildcamping eg torch  , knife/saw , tarpaulin but i have some new ideas about using clingfilm to do wildcamping as its only £2  for 25 metres in costcutters . Bushcrafters on youtube use clingfilm in various ways eg on benders and teepees . I am thinking cover one of the  picnic tables in the wooldland park with clingfilm and sleep under it or make several triangular panels using straight branches/cut saplings  as the framework and wrap each panel with clingfilm. then join three or four of the panels into kind of pyramid and hey presto a tent .

The trip home was fairly uneventful i meditated on Gods awesomeness .. especially as there were very good cloud formations and nice red orange and pink colours due to the sunset as we travelled through Cornwall  . Very High up were beach ripple type clouds with more solid clouds lower .... all lit up by the sunset . I also mediated on Gods greatness in creating Zander fish, Mackerel , Oak trees Spruce and pine trees , various bird species and so on . I saw a lovely deer run across a field somehere around liskeard i think . 

Coronovirus ...Stranded in the Spanish mountains !

I arrived in Spain to spend a month where I usually go in the Spanish mountains.
The day I arrived up to my abandoned cottage was the same day I was told Spain was about to go on lockdown.
I had to make a choice, try and get back down to the airport and head to uk or stay up here. I decided being as coronovirus was already also in UK i might as well stay up here as it would be warmer and I had plenty of things to do out in the forest rather than cooped up in my cold flat in UK.
The next day I was told buses were no longer running down to the train station and so the only way to get to supermarket was a long walk to Ardales 9 km away. I decided that I probably had sufficient bushcraft knowledge to survive even without supermarket.

5th April 2020

Well my friend Jill says I should be keeping a diary of my time stranded in Spanish mountains so thought I better get back into my blog. So it's been nearly 4 weeks since I found myself stranded up here. The days have been a bit frustrating not being able to get back to UK.
I planned to use my survival skills to survive up here and go fishing most nights for bleak. Then supplement this fish diet with wild plants such as nettles, bramble leaves, fig leaves etc. This I did for a short while until my Fishing rod was confiscated by a security guard. Thankfully another security guard has been bringing me food out of kindness of his heart. The restaurant here has been letting me charge my phone and keeping me fed with toasted jamon sandwiches and various cakes and snacks. Every day I sit in the restaurant and keep up to date with friends and family on WiFi Facebook etc.

Being here has allowed me to watch the wildlife. Yesterday I think I spotted a Roller ( a  colourful blue Mediterranean bird) flying near the dam. However I only got its sillouette and couldn't see it's colours but seemed the right size and shape.
Down in my abandoned cottage iv made a bird table in the garden and have been getting 2 great tits, a robin , 2 black caps to the table. I'm just giving them scraps of bread. A grey heron flew from the lake below and landed in the top of the tree near my cottage. At night I often hear a tawny owl hooting nearby in the woods.
Some days several Griffon vultures soar overhead on their way somewhere.

Mammal wise there is a brown rat in my garden that's getting quite tame and I spotted the resident tame red fox near my cottage one evening. Two days ago the third of April a herd of Ibex were on the water shoot of the dam and later that evening I disturbed them up in the neighbouring gardens possibly feeding on people's ornamental plants while everyone is on lock down. One of them ran incredibly nimbly through the bars of the fence and into the side of the cliff at great speed. If that had been me I would not have been able to stop with such momentum and tumbled over the cliff but not this Ibex there so incredibly sure footed.

As I sit here now in the restaurant I am looking across the lake at two great crested grebes fishing.

The house Martin's have recently returned in a big flock two or three weeks ago.. They build their nests on the dam wall under the overhang.

texts I sent to parents and friends

Text to dad. 13 march 2020: ( I had just found out I'm stuck in mountains due to buses stopping)

I'm probably in the safest place here, the more I think about it. You can eat  fish for months before getting the disease with bow legs and there's pine cones  galore with pine nuts in plus plenty of wild spinach and asparagus growing in the woods. So that's all the nutrients you need  Xx

Parque Ardales through the seasons.

Parque Ardales is a beautiful mountainous area North West of Malaga , Andalusia. As well as mountains there are large reservoirs and large areas of forest making it a wonderful place for wildlife .
 I have been regularly visiting there and sometimes living there for the last 9 years I have decided to keep notes about wildlife and fishing at different times of the year.

Great Crested Grebes on Conde del Guadalhorce 5th April 2019 10:30ish
These Grebes were doing their courtship display ... Shame I didn't get longer footage I think the battery ran out.

16 April 2019 - Hundreds of carp spawning Guadalteba reservoir.

From my viewpoint on the dam I could see three separate congregations of carp spawning near the surface on different parts of the reservoir.

Carp spawn when the water temperature is between 18 and 24 degrees c (or 73 Fahrenheit). Large females can produce over 1 million eggs and spawning can occur several times in a season. Males develop white spawning tubercles on their head , as it's the case in many fish species. 

28 August 2019 - Cicadas.

Cicadas out in force , I found this couple mating. 

Cicada orni 28 Aug 2019 Guadalteba Reservoir 

Teusday 11 Feb 2020
Narcissi

Spotted a large patch of beautiful  tiny white narcissi growing in the pine woods between the old dam and the new dams . They were in full flower and had trumpet shaped nodding white flower heads about two or three inches above the ground and fine bootlace like upright leaves but half the  thickness of a bootlace.

Largemouth Bass and Carp near surface

Two or three days previously I was at Parque Ardales with my parents and I noticed below the "Conde"dam four  or five very large Bass near the surface . This was interesting to see as I had previously thought the bass went much deeper in winter in these lakes but obviously not the case . Perhaps in very cold prolonged spells they head deeper. Also I didn't spot any smaller bass so perhaps they feel the cold more and head deeper. Neither did I see any pumpkinseeds.
There were plenty of big Carp cruising at the surface and taking bread. Therefore water temperatures in Andalusia in February must be similar to summer lake temperatures in the UK as that's the only time we regularly see carp at the surface.

March 2020 coronovirus time

Adult Bass averaging two pounds are forming large shouls by the dam . The bleak are in the very shallow water when it's sunny and the bass are patrolling around them ready to round the bleak up for a meal.

Large carp are also patrolling the dam near the surface taking bread.

Saw a pike maybe 4 lb again near the surface lurking amongst these other fish, waiting for a bleak no doubt.

Saw a tiny baby crayfish in the shallows at night whilst I was fishing for bleak.

A grey  heronr  regularly sits at the dam in the shallows again waiting for bleak .

No sign yet of any percasol (pumkinseeds ) or young bass. Perhaps they stay in the warmer deeper water as we're still in march .big bass probably have more cold resistance with greater body mass.

Wine reviews

Castillo San Lorenzo

28 Feb 2020

A very pleasant aroma . Slight tingle on the tongue. Fairly smooth and fruity rioja. Plummy and quite  fruity. I would definitely buy this again good value for six quid from Tesco.

List of Dragonflies and Damselflies of Britain

I noticed that I couldn't find a compact easy-to-read list  list of all 57 of the Dragonflies and Damselflies species found in UK . Therefore I have compiled one myself . Most species has a link to wikipedia so you can gain further knowledge easily .

Dragonflies: 35 species

 Left : Vagrant Emperor Dragonfly  

- Libellula quadrimaculata - Four-spotted. Chaser - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-spotted_chaser

- Libellula depressa - Broad bodied chaser - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libellula_depressa

- Libellula fulva - Scarce Chaser - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarce_chaser

- Orthetrum cancellatum - Black-tailed Skimmer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-tailed_skimmer

-  Orthetrum coerulescens - Keeled Skimmer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeled_skimmer

- Sympetrum striolatum - Common Darter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_darter

- Sympetrum sanguineum - Ruddy Darter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruddy_darter

- Sympetrum fonscolombii - Red-veined Darter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-veined_darter

- Crocothemis erythraea - Scarlet Dragonfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_dragonfly

- Sympetrum vulgatum - Vagrant Darter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagrant_darter

- Sympetrum danae - Black Darter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympetrum_danae

- Lencorrhinia dubia - White-faced Darter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-faced_darter

- Sympetrum flaveolum - Yellow-winged Darter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-winged_darter

- Aeshna mixta - Migrant Hawker - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migrant_hawker

- Aeshna caerulea - Azure Hawker - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azure_hawker

- Brachytron pratense - Hairy Dragonfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairy_dragonfly

- Aeshna cyanea - Southern Hawker - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_hawker

- Anax imperator - Emperor Dragonfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_(dragonfly)

- Aeshna juncea - Common Hawker - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_hawker

- Aeshna grandis - Brown Hawker - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_hawker

- Aeshna isosceles - Norflok Hawker - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeshna_isoceles

- Anax parthenope - Lesser Emperor - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anax_parthenope

- Cordulia aenea - Downy Emerald - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downy_emerald

- Cordulegaster boltonii - Golden-ringed Dragonfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden-ringed_dragonfly

- Hemianax ephippiger - Vagrant Emperor - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anax_ephippiger

- Gomphus vulgatissimus - Club-tailed Dragonfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomphus_vulgatissimus

- Somatochlora metallica - Brilliant Emerald - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_emerald

- Somatochlora  arctica - Northern Emerald - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_emerald


Also migrants or extinct :

- Aeshna affinis - Southern Migrant Hawker -

- Anax junius - Green Darner - migrant

- Stylurus flavipes - Yellow-legged Clubtail -  Migrant -

- Oxygastra curtisii - Orange-spotted Emerald - Extinct in UK -
- Leucorrhinia pectoralis - Large Whte-faced Darter - Migrant -

- Pantala flavescens - Wandering Glider -  Migrant -

- Sympetrum pedemontanum - Banded Darter - Migrant -

Damselflies: 22 Species

- Lestes sponsa - Emerald Damselfly -https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lestes_sponsa

- Lestes dryas - Scarce Emerald Damselfly -https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lestes_dryas

- Platycnemis pennipes - White-legged Damselfly - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-legged_damselfly

-  Ceriagrion tenellum - Small Red Damselfly - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_red_damselfly

- Pyrrhosoma nymphula - Large Red Damselfly - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_red_damselfly

- Calopteryx virgo - Beautiful Demoiselle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_demoiselle

- Calopteryx splendens - Banded Demoiselle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banded_demoiselle

- Coenagrion mercuriale - Southern Damselfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coenagrion_mercuriale

- Coenagrion hastalatum - Northern Damselfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coenagrion_hastulatum

- Coenagrion lunulatum - Irish Damselfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_damselfly

- Coenagrion puella - Azure Damselfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azure_damselfly

- Coenagrion pulchellum - Variable Damselfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_damselfly

- Erythromma najas - Red-Eyed Damselfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erythromma_najas

- Erythromma viridulum - Small-Red-Eyed Damselfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_red-eyed_damselfly

- Enallagma cyathigerum - Common Blue Damselfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enallagma_cyathigerum


- Ischnura pumilio - Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarce_blue-tailed_damselfly

- Ischnura elegans - Blue-tailed Damselfly - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue-tailed_damselfly

- Chalcolestes viridis - Willow Emerald Damselfly -

- Lestes barbarus - Southern Emerald Damselfly -

- Sympecma fusca - Winter Damselfly

- Coenagrion armatum - Norfolk Damselfly - ( extinct in uk ) -

- Coenagrion scitulum - Dainty Damselfly -