Week Ending 28th June 2015

It's just a little warm outside! Summer has without question arrived down here in the south west, and for once we find ourselves actively trying to get out of the sun rather than into it.

In fact for the last week Vicky and I have been in holiday mode having taken a bit of time off work. We started the week by dusting off the tent and heading to a campsite just a few miles up the road from where Vicky works at Chesil beach.

"The Palace" (as named by Tim on our round the world trip) back in action

Typically when you have had hardly any rain for weeks on end, it decided to pick that one night to absolutely throw it down. Despite the weather's best efforts our tent was still standing in the morning, and we set off to seek refuge in Dorchester for the morning until the weather gave itself a good talking to.

Our campsite for the next couple of nights was just down the road from Corfe Castle, and was situated right next to the Swanage steam railway line.

The Swanage Steam Railway running right past the field that we were camping in

Using the campsite as a base we were able to visit some lovely parts of the south coast like Lulworth Cove, Durdle Door and Studland Bay. The weather was already back on song on the day we hiked from Lulworth to Durdle Door, and the bright sunny day was bringing out a tremendous number of moths and butterflies for us to enjoy. Considering it was midweek and not during the holidays the route was incredibly busy, and it left us wondering what it must be like in the middle of peak season.

Corfe Castle on a sunny afternoon

Studland Bay was our final port of call before we headed back to Kent for a few days. Again it was a baking hot day with little to no wind, and so we decided there would be few better ways to explore the bay than by hiring a kayak for a few hours. The water was incredibly clear and surprisingly shallow in places, and it made for a very enjoyable early afternoon. 

By the stack at the very far corner of Studland Bay

The late afternoon was less enjoyable however as the strike in the port of Calais meant that getting back down to Dover took a lot longer than expected. We spent most of the next 4 days trying to see as many friends and family as physically possible, and all things considered we did pretty well. The Thursday was my Birthday and so a BBQ very kindly organised by my parents was just the ticket to enjoy both the weather and some excellent company.

As with most holidays the time flew past, and before we knew it the time to head back down to Somerset was already upon us. One of the most exciting pieces of news recently is that my job at Magdalen has been made permanent (up until now I have been working my way through a 6 month contract), and I am really over the moon to be able to stay at the farm for the longer term. It's great to have a job that you genuinely enjoy, and when you combine that with how brilliant all the other staff are the decision was a "no brainer" really.

No blog would ever be complete without some kind of wildlife photo...so he is one :)

As a result Vicky and I have started to renovate our little caravan to make it a little easier to live in for the future. More info on what we have done will be posted in further bulletins.

Have you ever thought you have seen a picture staring back up at you from the froth on your coffee, in a similar way that you can make pictures out of the clouds...? Well this week's amusing news story shows that from now on you will be able to have any picture you like "printed" on top of your coffee!
http://news.sky.com/story/1507752/looking-hot-gadget-puts-your-face-on-a-coffee

See you all next time!

Week Ending 24th May 2015

So it's nearly the end of May already and doesn't time fly when you are having fun!

The first signs of summer are starting to appear, including us turning off the heating more and more frequently! This late spring period is one of my favourites, with all of the young birds starting to fledge, plants taking on more and more colour as well as a constant colourful display of butterflies, damselflies and dragonflies.

This Broad-Winged Damselfly was one of many out in number down by the river this week

Now that the weather has warmed up it is great to spend more and more time outside enjoying what nature has to offer. For me it's hard to beat the feeling of relaxation when I sit quietly in the woods or by the river and let nature come out and play around me. 

The only way the motto on Vicky's new water bottle could be more accurate is to say that Nature is Therapy

In the last installment I mentioned that I was tempted to buy a wildlife camera, enabling me to watch animals that are either normally too shy or nocturnal. In the end I decided to go for it and placed an order, and while I am still getting used to setting it up in the right ways some of the results have already been fairly impressive.

Mum and Dad came down for a 5 day visit while Vicky and I had some time off the week before last. We spent each day touring some of our local hang outs, including seeing all of the sites where both Vicky and I work. We even managed to enjoy an ice cream on Lyme Regis seafront without attracting the unwanted attentions of the resident Herring Gulls! I didn't really take any photos during the week, however there are several on Facebook if you want to take a look.

In the absence of any other photos here is another one of our friend Stubby the tame Robin

During the last 2 weeks I have also decided to learn the ukelele. Over 10 years ago now I tried to learn the guitar, but never really got anywhere fast. Several of the guys that I work with are in a band and suggested that I should try the ukelele as a good instrument to start with. Already I have started to master some of the basic chords and learn a few short songs, so hopefully as the weeks go on I will be able to report some further progress in this department!

I couldn't resist the one with the Union Jack paint job!

Moving on to my news stories of the week. This one made me smile rather than laugh. While happiness can never be measured in material goods, I am more that sure that this guy will have been more than grateful for what he received in an act of good karma...

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/05/24/sikh-man-harman-singh-furniture-_n_7432672.html?1432501730

And as it seems to be wedding season, you probably wouldn't expect this to happen if you booked a Gary Barlow lookalike to perform at your wedding...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-32857832

Week Ending 26th April 2015

Since my last update around a month ago, life continues to be good down here in Somerset and Dorset (Magdalen actually sits in both counties, and as Vicky works in Dorset I thought it best to be inclusive!).

I have well and truly settled into my job at the farm and am really enjoying what I do. Working with large groups of children is something I never thought I would do a few years ago, but to spend so much time with them in an outdoor environment, and to see the difference it makes to them makes the work extremely satisfying.

Vicky has now started her new role with the Dorset Wildlife Trust, and she is working at 2 main sites; Chesil Beach and Lorton Meadows. Her role is technically a lot more varied than mine, working in the visitor centre, developing new events and items of stock for the shop, leading a team of volunteers on practical conservation as well as looking after school visits.

Looking over the Fleet Lagoon to the visitor centre at Chesil Beach where Vicky is based

We are very lucky to be living in such a beautiful area at the moment, with such a wide range of wildlife living all around us. Having a mixture of woodland, open grassland, farmland and the River Axe all in such close proximity allows us to have a huge range of wildlife to admire during our spare time.

The River Axe winds it's way along the north border of the farm. Otters and Kingfisher are among the highlights of what can be found

In fact when we woke up yesterday we were lucky enough to have a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the bird table that I have built, and there were also several deer around when I went for a walk shortly after. Unfortunately though, neither stayed put long enough for me to be able to whip out my camera!

I was able however to catch "Stubby" on camera. Stubby is our friendly resident Robin who is missing his tail and is often in the garden looking for food at the bird table

This month I may well invest in a wildlife trail camera to catch some of the other animals at the farm on film. We have a number of badger setts, fox holes and even the odd otter that turns up on the farm, so it will be a great way of seeing what's around, especially overnight when I am not!

These Willow Tits have been frequent visitors to the garden since we started putting out food

This weekend our friend Emily, who we used to work with at Occombe Farm, came down to see us. The weather unfortunately wasn't as it had been for the past couple of weeks with the colder temperatures and rain closing back in, but we still had a great time exploring for fossils down at Lyme Regis, and walking part of the Coast Path between the Golden Cap and the Anchor Inn (for a pub lunch and a little refreshment of course!).

A Barrel Jellyfish had washed up on the beach at Lyme Regis. Vicky's foot is included to give you an idea of scale!

Last weekend Vicky and I went for a little explore around Portland Bill. The weather at that point was still beautiful and perfect for exploring the coastline. We saw plenty of sea birds including a raft of Guillemots out at sea, while spring migrants like the Swallows and House Martins were flocking back over to England for the summer. Portland has had some great birds come in it's direction over the last few weeks (including 2 Hoopoes), but unfortunately we didn't see any of them during our visit.

Us by Portland Bill lighthouse

Now with the General Election looming next month plenty of us are trying to work out exactly who we are going to vote for. But with all those policies floating around on immigration, education, the environment, the economy and so on, it makes me wonder how politicians can remember all of the things that they have promised? It seems quite often whoever is in power simply "forgets" to do all of the things that they said that they were going to do, and so this weeks funny story looks at David Cameron and his amazing memory coming a cropper...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32463038

See you all next time :)

It's Been A While!

To say that it's been a little while since I last posted on here would be a little of an understatement! The last 6 months have contained a mixture of times; times when I have been simply too busy to write, times when there has been so little going on that there seemed little point in writing, and other times where my motivation was simply missing.

But here I am, back in the digital world and ready to bring you back up to speed with the wheres, whens and whys of what goes on in our crazy little lives!

Back in September (when I last wrote) we were just about to embark on a holiday (our first since the epic trip around the world) to Iceland (no...not the frozen food supermarket famous for it's £5 prawn ring).

The 2 of us swimming between continents. One one side is the Eurasian continental plate and on the other is the North American continental plate. The visibility is awesome and the water a constant 2 degrees celcius!

Traveling through the "Land of Fire and Ice" was an extraordinary experience. Based at our friend Siobhan's house in Reykjavik the 3 of us explored the south and west coasts of the country, taking in Volcanoes, Mountains (occasionally through the mist), Geothermally heated water pools and Glacial Lagoons to name just a few things.

Nothing like "chilling out" at a glacial lagoon on a Friday afternoon! You can see the glacier (just) in the background and all of these icebergs have carved off of it

Just a few weeks later the snow came to Iceland, making many areas I am sure unrecognisable from how we saw them during our stay. A trip back to experience an Icelandic winter will at some point I am sure become a reality for us.

From a work point of view, both of our contracts with Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust came to an end in November. A few frantic weeks toward the end were eventually completed by me actually having to finish all of my training course work during our leaving party! As far as we know both of our work has met the grade, and has gone off to be externally verified by the examining body.

Occombe Farm is no longer our home and work. While we do miss it we have merely moved on to the next step on our little adventure

When we arrived back in the UK following our lengthy travels nearly 2 and a half years ago, we made the promise to ourselves that we would do everything we could to make our goal of working in the outdoors a reality. After 2 years of working full time without pay, putting in endless hours in front of computers and in books and sticking to a strict budget I am proud to say that both of us have finally seen our dream become a reality!

As of 6 weeks ago I joined the team at Magdalen Farm (near Chard in Somerset) as an Environmental Education Officer on a 6 month contract. The 132 acre farm is organic and promotes sustainable methodology and technology. As well as receiving a full salary, Vicky and I are also given a caravan on site to live in which means we have no housing or fuel costs associated with my job.

Literally surrounded by countryside, you can just about see the end of our caravan in this photo. A 15 metre commute to work means I can hardly blame the traffic if I am late!

I mainly work with primary school children (typically aged 7-11) who come for either day visits or residential stays. We spend a lot of time with the children (on occasions up to 12 hours a day) and we cover everything from learning about organic animal welfare, organic food production, sustainable fuel sources, wildlife tracking/spotting, outdoor survival to team building and campfires.

Why's it all gone dark?! Damn these big ears! At the farm children really get to understand where our food comes from, and that means telling them that in 7 months time these new piglets will become the meat products they eat when they stay at the farm. As far as practical the farm tries to provide itself with as much of the food that it uses as possible. Local and organic. I think I will stick to my lentil loaf and salad thank you very much :)

Vicky has just managed to land a 9 month contract with the Dorset Wildlife Trust based at Chesil Beach. She starts her job on Monday next week, and so I will save further details for this on my next update.

While as yet neither of our jobs are permanent, we are both so pleased to get our first paid roles within the industry. The step from being an unpaid trainee to a "proper" member of staff in someways seems small, but in other ways it can be one of the biggest and hardest steps to actually achieve.

The largest downfall we have found to our new location is our connectivity. Rural Somerset is a little like the land that time forgot in terms of technology, with phone signals varying on a (sometimes daily but sometimes by the minute) basis. As a result sometimes we can go days without a mobile signal. There is therefore of course no mobile data to access.
The farm's wifi network barely reaches our caravan, and so the internet is also an unknown quantity. I actually went to start this blog last night, but part way through the internet disappeared for around 22 hours. Had it not been for the dreary weather I may even have considered sitting outside to get closer to the signal.

I was astonished to find that some small towns and villages here still do not even have broadband, demonstrating how much the technological revolution left them in the shadows. I will try and make regular contributions to my blog as I did in the past, but I am conscious that given the circumstances this might not always be possible.

Spring is certainly a time for all things cute on a farm!

As was always traditionally the case, I would like to finish the entry with a news story that made me either happy or laugh. 
In a week where good news seems to have been thin on the ground I was tempted to go with one member of One Direction having enough and leaving the band ;)
However with Spring in the air and Easter around the corner I had to chuckle at one Scottish butchers contribution to the season...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-32069147

See you all next time :)