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My Wildlife holidays.

Zo

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. 

Parents

  • I wont put alot of details for now cause im so slow today. il do the next segment after this. I didnt take much pictures here at this nature reserve iv started with this first. I suggested going to this nature reserve with the big massive pond it is also famous for the rare dragonfly called the white faced darter. 

    Mum and Dad kept stopping to look at the map at first but Dad only had the trail map and struggled with seeing where to go to get to the pond I showed them the way there with the map on my phone which has a compas navigation on photos so he used it for referance next to the trail map. I held the dog for Mum at one point when we were almost there cause she has a bad wrist and has a bandage to keep it in place. 

    I did offer again later but she was ok. 

    I was hoping to see the dragonfly I didnt see it this time but I saw other things. we couldnt stop at the pond much cause there was lots of dog walkers and the dogs dont like them and I ddnt have long. i only had time to film the birds so Iv taken a screenshot of the birds i saw from the film of them i filmed.

    canada goose 

    after this I carried on telling them where the map says where we are going and what path to take. Dad wondered where the forest holidays is when we got to a certain point. Dad thought we were lost but I looked on the map and we were heading towards 2 paths one that carrys on and one that goes up and goes to a car park so I told and showed  Dad the car park and said we need to go there Dad had doubts and so thought we needed to go the oposite direction when we were on the way even though the map clearly said what the path is to go to the car park and said that the car park is the way out after some time when we had to go out the way cause of a dog and went back out and Dad considered where to go I had to reiterate again and even though he wasnt sure he started to think I was right so he checked his map and compared but I told him it is and he said yes I think we should go this way to Mum and that he thinks im right so went down there and we found the car park and the car and went back to the cabin. 

    at the cabin before i had been wondering who took the fat balls on the bridge banister and I suspected the crow. I also partialy suspected squirrel but wasnt sure and had also put some seeds out on a leaf for the small birds cause the crow was only interested in the fat balls and it ignored the seeds i put out. 

    so before i went to the nature reserve i set my camara to film where the fat ball is like a security camara and it caught the crow and then later on it caught the gray squirrel looking for them on the banister where i origionaly put some other ones. so I found the suspects. later on a flock of small birds came to eat the seeds on the leaf. unfortunatly I had managed to pull a muscle before going to the forest ranger activity but I still went. that will be in the next part I got alot more photos and more things talk about in that one for instance i was lucky enough to see a un common fungi thats called artists bracket cause you can write on it in ink but like I said il tell you about the trip in the next part 

  • in reply to Zo

    That's a shame about not seeing those dragonflies. You sound good at directions. I am terrible at directions and maps. I love that you used your camera as a security camera! You found the suspects like a wildlife detective!

    (I am on a short holiday later today for a long weekend. I will still look here on my phone but will find it harder to find the time)

  • in reply to SpikeyMark

    It is rare so there wasnt any guarantee I would see them but the liklihood is higher than before the reintroduced them cause they used to be absent from Cheshire and the liklihood is higher than if I looked where they cant be found it but they arw there you just have to really look hard which I couldnt do cause I couldnt stop for long enough 

    https://www.cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk/news/home-sweet-home-white-faced-darter

  • in reply to SpikeyMark

    thats ok. cool. yes there will be young about now summer is peak breeding season for gulls June, July this is why when gulls become adults and have fully developed there adult plummage there hormones tell them when its time to mate by changeing there appearance Herring gulls and black headed gulls as examples. Black headed gulls are probably the best example cause there change of aperance is more noticeable. they start dveloping a black hood and they will usualy of developed it by summer when there ready or during the summer months at some point depending on how old each black headed gull is and timing of when they hatched from there eggs back when they were chicks. after breeding season there hormones tell them breeding season is over and as a result it decreases the black hood until there only left with spots. im not saying yours is a black headed gull im just useing it as an example for the abouve. 

    that one in the photo isnt a chick but its still considered a young one cause its at the adolecent stage the stage before adulthood as hasnt yet developed its adult plummage. at this stage the goal is to become independant from there parents and forage by themselfs or with a flock so will be less relient of there parents. there parents are still protective of them but there job is to teach them independance so they must leave there parents. as they het older they will become less relient on there parents and by adulthood will be fully independant able to forage for themselfs andwill of learned nesacery skills for survival and by then will of fully developed there adult plummage then of course when the time is right they will breed and have young of there own to teach the same skills

  • in reply to Zo

    Thank you, Zo. We also saw metallic blue ones, but they didn't land so I couldn't get a photo.

    We saw lots of young seagulls in Eastbourne today

  • in reply to SpikeyMark

    one of the biggest tell tail signs that help distinguish between Red Darter and Ruddy Darter is the part that looks like a tail its  actualy its abdomen in dragonflys unlike humans its thorax is the section between the head and the tail. 

    Red Darter has a flat abdomen - the part that resembles a tail. 

    the Ruddy darter has a club shaped abdomen 

    so next time you see one see if it has a club shaped abdomen or not and that will help you tell the two apart 

  • in reply to Zo

    Hi Zo.

    Today on the first of our days off, my wife and I went to Hampstead Heath. We saw this dragonfly in one of the gardens. Do you know what it is?

Reply Children
  • in reply to SpikeyMark

    thats ok. cool. yes there will be young about now summer is peak breeding season for gulls June, July this is why when gulls become adults and have fully developed there adult plummage there hormones tell them when its time to mate by changeing there appearance Herring gulls and black headed gulls as examples. Black headed gulls are probably the best example cause there change of aperance is more noticeable. they start dveloping a black hood and they will usualy of developed it by summer when there ready or during the summer months at some point depending on how old each black headed gull is and timing of when they hatched from there eggs back when they were chicks. after breeding season there hormones tell them breeding season is over and as a result it decreases the black hood until there only left with spots. im not saying yours is a black headed gull im just useing it as an example for the abouve. 

    that one in the photo isnt a chick but its still considered a young one cause its at the adolecent stage the stage before adulthood as hasnt yet developed its adult plummage. at this stage the goal is to become independant from there parents and forage by themselfs or with a flock so will be less relient of there parents. there parents are still protective of them but there job is to teach them independance so they must leave there parents. as they het older they will become less relient on there parents and by adulthood will be fully independant able to forage for themselfs andwill of learned nesacery skills for survival and by then will of fully developed there adult plummage then of course when the time is right they will breed and have young of there own to teach the same skills

  • in reply to Zo

    Thank you, Zo. We also saw metallic blue ones, but they didn't land so I couldn't get a photo.

    We saw lots of young seagulls in Eastbourne today

  • in reply to SpikeyMark

    one of the biggest tell tail signs that help distinguish between Red Darter and Ruddy Darter is the part that looks like a tail its  actualy its abdomen in dragonflys unlike humans its thorax is the section between the head and the tail. 

    Red Darter has a flat abdomen - the part that resembles a tail. 

    the Ruddy darter has a club shaped abdomen 

    so next time you see one see if it has a club shaped abdomen or not and that will help you tell the two apart