Published on 12, July, 2020
Iv decided to do a forum on my wildlife holidays where I can tell you about my holiday rather than just sending pictures
cause iv been on lots of them this year rather than only sending photos. also proper trips il tell you about and add photos to go with it on this post aswell. cause it will be easyer and better for me but is also for holidays cause im going on lots of holidays this year and it deserves its own thread in this sense.
my first holiday I went on this year was Wales. I went to Snowdonia near the national park
we saw a lamma and a pony
with the view we got from the cottage we stayed in was of the sea
Jackdaws perched on the buildings when we watched tv we went for a walk and I got great pictures of the moutains
you could see them on the beach outline at the beach the waves I saw a literally called gray heron fly past
the waves crashed against the rocks and became fully submerged until they broke and forced its way over. my long lens saved my life by getting me up close enough to photograph the waders and I saw Great crested grebes.
back at the cottage herring gulls at Jackdaws
the next day we went to the waterfalls I saw yellow gorse.
the water level was high but not flooded. it was a adventure and the gorse made it look colourful
it was massive then we went down the mountain the next day we went to the sea again and I saw a cormerent. there was lots of bladder wrack which is a type of seaweed.
seaweed are actualy a type of algae. some can surve out the water for a certain period of time. others dont survive as well it depends on the type cause theres different types of seaweed.
this one is normaly mistake for seaweed but is actualy a type of animal instead
in July
im very used to wildlife watching in the uk and while I have been to menorca I havnt wildlife watched there cause I didnt have an interest in Wildlife then so this was my first time wildlife watching in a different country.
I allways have to wear ear defenders when i go to the air port but they had disability asistance. I had to improvise cause the person that supports me that went with me hasnt gone on holiday with me before and didnt know what to say or do with my sensory challanges at the airport. the person that was with me said she thinks il be fine but I knew cause of my autism cant deal with crowds so I said I have autism and I dont like crowds so would it be ok to go where its less busy or quiter and so she took me through. there was a point where we wernt sure if I had to take my ear defenders off at the part where you have to walk through and them see if you got metal on you so I asked the lady there if I could keep them on and she went off to ask the person behind the thing you have to walk through. I was very anxious at this point. it was time to put our items on the coveyerbelt and walk through the metal thing. The person with me for the holiday and me still didnt know so I was panicing inside and i was told to take them off by the person taking me which i was reluctant to do but the plaine lady came over and thumbed up us saying not to take them off and that i can keep them on and we went through. the flight was delayed by an hour. but it was no ones fault cause they had to help somone who couldnt walk onto the plane. so we walked and stopped every 5 minutes so people were joking about that and inpatient at the same time. eventually we got on though at last. I filmed the take off and we went over the bay of biscay on the way to Tenerife
when landing I saw mount tede from above the clouds.
the next day I saw a canarian chiffchaff
and I saw a Spanish sparrow for the first time. they were breeding at the hotel.
but one of my biggest highlights was snorkeling for the very first time
and the dolphins which i got to see for the very first time
and mount tede a active volcano with many species only found on that mountain I saw crystal on a rock
that was the last day. the next day we went on a trip but when it came to packing bags for the trip. I put my bag with the plastic bag on it ontop of my suitcase then gave it to her with the plastic bag on it but took it off and thought that she was going to put the bag in cause it didnt only have my stuff in the bag and as far as I knew the plastic bag was in the boot but at some point in the journey I wondered where the bag was and thought it might be in the boot cause i couldnt see it in the back. we checked the boot and it wasnt there.
my ear defenders got left behind which was problomatic cause the person with me wasnt willing to go back and get the ear defenders and soon we had to go to the air port. I was highly anxious and I found it diffucult getting her to understand the why it is important enough that we do have to go back anf get them we bought some silenceing headphones as an emergancy cause otherwise I wouldnt of been able to get on the plane. we went through disability asisstance. the plane was delayed by a couple of hours and we wernt able to get on until midnight. a teenager had a go in a wheelchair and a little boy was going up and down a slope behind me which i found acted as visual stimulation and made my anxiety worse. it isnt thetre fault its just cause im autistic but thanfuly things did cam down and at 12 o'clock we lined up and got on the plane and came back to the uk by 4 or 5 oclock in the morning.
the reserve was rather overgrown so we couldnt see much of the lake but the walk through the woods was still interesting and we saw the signs that the beavers were present.
Mum said I picked a good place particularly since there wasnt any people for the romanian rescue Wilber and willow and non romanian rescue ziggy to react to due to there bad exsperiances in romania after that we went to a cafe which wasnt exactly the best for the dogs cause of the dogs even though it was for dogs but I liked the Bumblebees
after that we came back and I did more squirrel and wildlife watching.
I was mainly looking for birds but I only saw gray squirrels so I ended up Squirrel watching
there was a den made of sticks outside and I watched them from in there
I dont feed birds bird food throughout the year and instead just encourage insects and wildflowers for them and other wildlife so that they dont rely too much on bird food but my parents do cause dad likes feeding his Robin who he is trying to tame so that it feeds out of his hand and is feeding birds mealworms instead of fat balls so lent them to me which i was going to use for the winter which is when i normaly feed them and took them on holiday with me which i dont normaly do. none of the birds came down and this is now Wedesday and only 2 days left so I wondered if if i put any fat balls out what would come and while watching tv I caught a carrion crow picking a fat ball up off the ground from falling on the floor
then I found out where all the 10 fat balls went which was on the banistar all round the treehouse and cabin
that evening Mum asked me if im going to the treehouse again tonight that me and wilber liked. and i said maybe. she said if i dont she will cause she likes it and said ok. again I was very nervous cause of being away from Mum and Dad and being on my own but I knew that I had wilber.
now as nice as it would be to not be scared of anything at all after overcoming my fear of wildlife I do have other fears cause my autism gives me high levels of Anxiety and i developed lots of phobias some i still havnt faced and overcome yet and I have learned that there are many I still need to face and overcome. theres a differance btween just being scared of somethhing and having a phobia and theres different types of phobias I have specicfic phobias that i devloped over my childhood and teen years so i still got a long way to go fear wise and still got alot of things to achieve and its going to be diffucut maybe even challanging like it used to be when i had a phobia of wildlife but when i am ready to face and overcome them I will do and one of those fears Is not just needles but a fear of the dark. both my phobia of needles and phobia of darkness it goes without saying triggers panic atacks and I used to be better with the dark last year and before that than this year I didnt mind being in the dark as much and panic attacks reduced and almost stopped entirely even though iv allways had that fear and even went on a noturnal forest ranger trip once and im usd to going out in complete darkness to walk the dogs with my family if it were last year I wouldnt of felt so nervous but something happened this year that worsened my fear that I was gradualy overcoming and doing well with and when I went in in the hot tub in the dark exspecting to be fine I wasnt and while I was in the hot tub I had fun but I was scared of hallucinating in the darkness and something bad happening in the forest while im oblivious in the hot tub or walking in the dark with mum and dad with the dogs and while I was in the hot tub I gave it alot of thought that my fear of the dark is something i need to work on. so this holiday has taught me something cause I didnt realise my fear would afect the walks and being out in the dark.
apart from being paranoid that something bad is going to happen in the forest or while walking with my parents and even getting scared of real people in the dark after the hot tub before going to the tree house for my 2nd night there I did enjoy it I like being in the really warm water with all the birds calling out across the forest floor both from far away and nearby and sound carrys far in the forest i also allways get exited about the possibility of hearing a tawny owl.
after the walk with my family I went to the tree house cabin where i were to sleep away from mum and dad in the dark on my own but wilber was with me that night to look after me and he is like a guard dog so would protect me if anything strange was to happen and i also have had a close bond with him since he was a puppy. he liked the treehouse better than the room both me and mum wanted origionaly that i went in before this one un planned. wilber prefered stiting both bed and floor whereas with this one he just stayed on the bed all night and curled up and slept alot better he was also not restless either compared to the other room and as usual I had a lamp that helps me relax cause it changes colours. I found i had nothing to worry about after that night and there was no banging and i knew what to exspect aswell and even if there was to be banging that night knew it was just it starting to rain and the banging will ane down. the next day i went on a pond trail walk and a forest ranger activaty and wasnt scared in the treehouse at all as of that night. I will do part 3 next after this