My Wildlife holidays.

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
  • just wondered if you might find this interesting 

    in relation to the compulsive behaviors I mentioned it doesnt does make things diffucult at home and here. when im at home I dont like things that waste any amount of minutes away from my family and I cant be away from them for half an hour otherwise thats time taken away even if there busy and i find it hard when they have to leave and do stuff. alot of this is based on Anxiety and also that i have no friends and due to events that happened at college and after.

    so I dont like being away for a long time but my compulsions do do that. I have almost got into trouble cause of them

    for instance I have been told to hurry up lots of times Iv also been told I need to come when asked and been told things like your never going to end up doing this or that at this rate.

    here in the care home i have got into trouble with the manager for lateness and alsi been had a word with for not wanting to do certain things i can do and things like that 

    after I started here I developed these compulsions that I didnt understand. that I have now after I started here where I tired myself out by haveing to constantly repeat certain actions for as long as half an hour or an hour which made me feell more stressed 

    I went through a period wherw i literaly completley went off writeing and swore not write again cause it was too stressful 

    in 2014 every time I wrote I had to write the same thing over snd over again or write a certain way over 

    or my brain would tell me what to write and not write but there was some things i needed to write and so if I wrote I would have to scribble some words out even though they arnt mistakes to make me feell better but it made me stressed and I would keep doung it more and every time I wrote but if I didnt my mind thought something bad would happen. it caused so much stress I got stressed every time I had to write something so stoped writeing entirely and got other people to do it for me if i had to say sign my name at doctors or dentedts snd things like that cause of it . but eventualy got back into it again. 

     I also got  stressed out about the repetitive nature of personal care cause these triggered or worsenef my compulsive behaviors. some every day things were aswell like haveing to open and close a cuboard to put things in or haveing to open and close a draw to put cloathes in or whatever. it wasnt absoloutly everything but only certain things like that. 

    people mis interpreted this as just refuseing to do things i can do myself cause i just cant be bothered and thinfs like that i did tell them im not but they didnt understand 

    I have had to tell Mum also when in a rush im not doing things on purpose 

    I have since developed new compulsions based on more anxietys and stresses i deal with in the care home  even though i cam still do the old compulsions if triggered 

    new ones were haveing to switch the tap on and off a certain way repeatedly a certain way and I would get more and more anxious and feell more compeled each time until it feells right 

    another new one that came up is switching my light on and off. if i did it wrong i had to do it again and again and again amd again and usualy count how many times 5 normaly needs to be the number of times for most of mg compulsions if i went past that I got more anxious cause it had to be 5 but if i did it wrong i would have to do it even more times idealy 5 but 10 at the most although i have done it 30 or 40 times before as I normaly count and it makes me more anxious until it feells jist right once iv done that it provides temportary relief until i feell like i need to do it again either later or the next day and the next day after that. if i do it correctly i dont need to keep doing it and if i manage to do it 5 times but if i do it more than that i have to keep doing it. 

    thankfuly iv managed to go down to 1 now but if i do that wrong it triggers the compulsion of i need to do it 2 times if that goes wrong i meed to keep doing it over and over until it feells right. its almost like i hope it will take my anxious thoughts and feellings away and its like a way of trying to get rid of the anxietys that are usualy based on the care home. but can also be other things and that if i do it just right it will get rid of them but they come back cause my mond thinks unless i do it something bad will happen

    anothet one i have which is more recent is avoiding the tap at home in the kitchen cause i get too stressed out cause i cant stop switching it on and off ovet snf over so I ask Mum to do it so the compulsions dont set off 

    so certain things trigger the behaviors usualy stressful events or things that you require me to do an action that triggers the behaviors. particularly if i notice patterns and due to my autism noticeing patterns around me is something im very very good at. 

    im not asking for others exspeeriamces as before when i brought it up but shareing my exsperiance just like I do with my autosm amd everything else on this thread. 

Reply
  • just wondered if you might find this interesting 

    in relation to the compulsive behaviors I mentioned it doesnt does make things diffucult at home and here. when im at home I dont like things that waste any amount of minutes away from my family and I cant be away from them for half an hour otherwise thats time taken away even if there busy and i find it hard when they have to leave and do stuff. alot of this is based on Anxiety and also that i have no friends and due to events that happened at college and after.

    so I dont like being away for a long time but my compulsions do do that. I have almost got into trouble cause of them

    for instance I have been told to hurry up lots of times Iv also been told I need to come when asked and been told things like your never going to end up doing this or that at this rate.

    here in the care home i have got into trouble with the manager for lateness and alsi been had a word with for not wanting to do certain things i can do and things like that 

    after I started here I developed these compulsions that I didnt understand. that I have now after I started here where I tired myself out by haveing to constantly repeat certain actions for as long as half an hour or an hour which made me feell more stressed 

    I went through a period wherw i literaly completley went off writeing and swore not write again cause it was too stressful 

    in 2014 every time I wrote I had to write the same thing over snd over again or write a certain way over 

    or my brain would tell me what to write and not write but there was some things i needed to write and so if I wrote I would have to scribble some words out even though they arnt mistakes to make me feell better but it made me stressed and I would keep doung it more and every time I wrote but if I didnt my mind thought something bad would happen. it caused so much stress I got stressed every time I had to write something so stoped writeing entirely and got other people to do it for me if i had to say sign my name at doctors or dentedts snd things like that cause of it . but eventualy got back into it again. 

     I also got  stressed out about the repetitive nature of personal care cause these triggered or worsenef my compulsive behaviors. some every day things were aswell like haveing to open and close a cuboard to put things in or haveing to open and close a draw to put cloathes in or whatever. it wasnt absoloutly everything but only certain things like that. 

    people mis interpreted this as just refuseing to do things i can do myself cause i just cant be bothered and thinfs like that i did tell them im not but they didnt understand 

    I have had to tell Mum also when in a rush im not doing things on purpose 

    I have since developed new compulsions based on more anxietys and stresses i deal with in the care home  even though i cam still do the old compulsions if triggered 

    new ones were haveing to switch the tap on and off a certain way repeatedly a certain way and I would get more and more anxious and feell more compeled each time until it feells right 

    another new one that came up is switching my light on and off. if i did it wrong i had to do it again and again and again amd again and usualy count how many times 5 normaly needs to be the number of times for most of mg compulsions if i went past that I got more anxious cause it had to be 5 but if i did it wrong i would have to do it even more times idealy 5 but 10 at the most although i have done it 30 or 40 times before as I normaly count and it makes me more anxious until it feells jist right once iv done that it provides temportary relief until i feell like i need to do it again either later or the next day and the next day after that. if i do it correctly i dont need to keep doing it and if i manage to do it 5 times but if i do it more than that i have to keep doing it. 

    thankfuly iv managed to go down to 1 now but if i do that wrong it triggers the compulsion of i need to do it 2 times if that goes wrong i meed to keep doing it over and over until it feells right. its almost like i hope it will take my anxious thoughts and feellings away and its like a way of trying to get rid of the anxietys that are usualy based on the care home. but can also be other things and that if i do it just right it will get rid of them but they come back cause my mond thinks unless i do it something bad will happen

    anothet one i have which is more recent is avoiding the tap at home in the kitchen cause i get too stressed out cause i cant stop switching it on and off ovet snf over so I ask Mum to do it so the compulsions dont set off 

    so certain things trigger the behaviors usualy stressful events or things that you require me to do an action that triggers the behaviors. particularly if i notice patterns and due to my autism noticeing patterns around me is something im very very good at. 

    im not asking for others exspeeriamces as before when i brought it up but shareing my exsperiance just like I do with my autosm amd everything else on this thread. 

Children
  • Hey Zo

    Hope you find a way to at least reduce the amount of times you do these things with a view to perhaps not having to do them at all. 

    It seems like a temporary fix to do these things repetitively. I don’t do things in that way personally but I do similar in other ways. I pressure myself with time for example if the microwave is counting down I try to do something before it beeps and tell myself something bad will happen if I don’t make it in time. Even if I do make it in time it still causes me stress as I’ve just rushed my ass off to do it. I have done this since a very young age. Also if I don’t do something perfectly I will make myself do it again, my mind doesn’t give me a break until I do and again this can really make a mess of my day sometimes. 

    Take care Zo 

  • It is really interesting, Zo. You have a lot of self-awareness about these compulsions, so I hope that you can learn to overcome them more.