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Fantastic Mr Fox; Another walk in the woods 02/11/18
Under a leaden overcast sky the cold air wraps its damp tendrils around every exposed bit of my skin. Jays are making their way across open ground between the plantations with a stuttering flight, white rumps flashing in the gloom, and a Woodcock heads out as the unseen sun dips below the horizon. A last…
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A walk in the woods 01/11/18
It’s been a difficult couple of weeks in the NEWT household. We’d had a week away in and around Glencoe checking locations for a landscape photography holiday I’m leading over Christmas, then a couple of days after we got back home I wasn’t feeling well. Sarah took me to see our GP and they sent…
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Home from home
During our quieter times of the year, I spend much of each day dealing with NEWT’s admin stuff. I try to get out and enjoy some fresh air every day though… It’s mid-January and it really should be cold; frozen ground, a dusting of snow, hoar frost on leaves and branches. Instead, there’s a distinct…
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Rest and recuperation; A walk in the woods 04/11/2013
Goldcrests are flitting tirelessly through the branches just overhead, Jays are leaving the edge of the wood and flying over nearby fields on strange bat-like wings, the thin high seee calls of Redwings mingle with the calls of Blackbird and Song Thrush as they head for the deepest darkest interior of the woods, seeking the…
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The passing of an extraordinary man
Most people adopt children. Somehow we adopted a cantankerous septuagenarian… When we first met Jim, eleven years ago, he was already in his 70’s, but still very active and taking long walks in the countryside and camping most weekends. Retired for over a decade at that point, he became the first Treasurer of the Friends…
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From the office window
I’m easily distracted and always have been, but also quite obsessive. Maybe an odd combination, but it seems to work for me. With an office window that looks over several allotments and gardens, as well as the 76ha of mixed woodland that is Choppington Woods Local Nature Reserve, I’m quite keen on keeping a close…
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Big Garden Birdwatch 2013
Last weekend was the Big Garden Birdwatch and we followed tradition by sitting in our kitchen with a mug of coffee, and a bacon and tomato sandwich, having topped up all of the feeders the evening before. An hour later, we’d racked up a list of 21 species; Blackbird 3, Jackdaw 2, Collared Dove 2,…
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Christmas Eve
It’s become a tradition over the last few years that, on Christmas Eve, the Friends of Choppington Woods have a walk from one end of the reserve to the other. One year we finish at our house and the next at Glen and Karen’s. This year we were starting at our end of the woods…
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Enchanted evening
As the air cools, a pall of pale ghostly mist hangs just above the ground in a wildflower meadow dropping away ahead of me. I’m on a woodland edge, standing on a soft cushion of fallen larch and pine needles. Standing still and blending in, the mist wraps me in its cooling blanket as a…
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NEWT’s Dawn Chorus – 12/05/2012
After 3 years of leading Dawn Chorus walks at Lee Moor Farm, we decided that this year we’d stay a bit closer to home. Choppington Woods is very close to our hearts – it’s the view from our office window, it was the area I walked every day when I was recovering from knee surgery,…