AudioBoo - Bird Boo.

More memories. This time from 35+ years ago.

A Walk In The Woods.

I have mentioned in previous blog posts about how much i enjoy living and walking by the sea.

Walking along the beach is something i especially enjoy and something that i've been doing quite a lot of recently. There is something irresistible about walking along a sandy beach, when both the tide and the sun are out.


I enjoy walking in many different surroundings. Most of the time i seem to find myself walking in wide open spaces. The beach, the South Downs etc. So, it is nice to go somewhere a little more enclosed for a change and today was one of those occasions.

Brede High Woods are only a few miles from my house. But, a million miles away in terms of surroundings. The woods, which are partly ancient woodland, cover an area of 647 acres. So, there is plenty of room to be alone.

They are owned and looked after by The Woodland Trust, an organisation that i am very happy to be a member of. The Woodland Trust only acquired Brede High Woods, a few years ago, after an appeal. The fact that these wonderful woods were saved from being broken up into smaller parts, or worse, shows how valuable a charity like The Woodland Trust is in protecting and conserving our natural heritage.

I have walked in many woods before. But, i must admit that these are probably my favourite. Partly because of the sheer diversity of the woods themselves. The huge size obvioulsy helps with this. As does the fact that there is also a reservoir amongst the woods. This helps add a little something extra.

I  actually only discovered Brede High Woods a year, or so ago. Although i knew of them, i had never got around to visiting them. A big mistake and how often do we do that? We have a place close to home and we just don't seem to find the time, or the inclination to go there. And yet, when we do, we suddenly realise what we've been missing and we can't wait to go back again.

I have now walked there during all four seasons and, just like walking on the beach, there is always something new to see every time you go there.
I certainly noticed the difference between todays visit and my previous one. Paths that i had taken a few months back were pretty much impassable. The abundance of butterflies, dragonflies and many species of birds was noticable and also very good to see. They are sorely missed during the winter months.

Walking in the woods is, for me at least, a completely different experience to walking in the more open spaces that i mentioned earlier. There can be an almost claustrophobic feeling at times. The trees seem to close in on you, the sunlight disappears and the darkness descends the deeper you venture into the canopy of trees. If you dare!

Of course, you could keep to the beaten path. But, if you're anything like me, you like to explore and just can't resist trying to find out what lies beyond the tree line. There is also something special about that feeling of walking through years worth of the fallen leaves and twigs, which litter the ground. You just don't get that on the pathways.

One other aspect of walking in the woods, is that you are never quite sure what you might come across, or disturb. Apart from the many birds and insects that i have already mentioned. I have also disturbed deer.
I vividly remember one occasion, when i suddenly came across a deer. Which i only noticed when i was quite close to it. Luckily, i saw the deer before it saw me. When it finally spotted me, we both stood there looking at each other for a while, before it finally decided to run away.
And i haven't even mentioned the wide variety of plant life that you are likely to stumble upon.

But, with both the flora and fauna, you do, of course, need to keep your eyes and ears open. This is one of the main reasons why i tend to walk on my own. You can miss so much by not paying attenttion to your surroundings. And, of course, you can miss even more by scaring away anything that might hear you coming. Especially, if you are talking loudly!
It never ceases to amaze me how many walkers, whether in the woods, or more open spaces, pay little attention to what is often happening right under their noses.
What is the point of going to these wonderful places, if you then don't fully take in what is all around you?
Each to their own, i guess?

I like to think that i fully appreciate the sights and sounds that are around me and i certainly intend to experience more of them in the future.
I am very thankful that i live in an area where i can do that and very easily too :)

Last night i dreamt of cats...

Last night i dreamt of cats.

But, as with most dreams, by the time i'd woken up i couldn't really remember exactly what had happened in the dream itself. However, it did get me thinking about another aspect of cats that i do know & have experience about.

I live in an urban area & in my small patch i have noticed a major change over the past year.

Up until approx a year ago we used to have a number of garden birds that populated the area. That's apart from the obvious seagulls that you would expect, due to the close proximity of the sea.
Now, these garden birds were not exactly exotic. Just sparrows, blackbirds, blue tits, thrushes etc. Although we did get the occasional more interesting species. But, it was good to see & hear them anyway.
We used to have a big family group of sparrows that lived in a honeysuckle bush out the back of our house. You could hear them frolicking in & around the bush & in a strange way it was comforting to hear them.

As a birthday present, a year ago, i was even bought a nice, new bird box to fix on our wall. In the hope that the birds might be tempted to use it to build a nest in there. This had happened in the past, before the old box fell apart that is!

That box has never been put up. Why?....

Well, approx a year ago, some new people moved in down the road from us & brought with them their two cats. At around the same time, more cats arrived with another family.
Within a matter of weeks, all the garden birds had disappeared. Frightened off presumably?

Now, i have absolutely nothing against cats & actually like them & for some strange reason, they seem to like me too. My wife thinks it's because i tend not to make too much of a fuss about them. Maybe they consider me a challenge? Who knows?

Domestic cats kill millions of birds every year in the UK.
Now, if they were wild animals & killed them for food, as a means of survival, i wouldn't have a problem with that. But, domestic cats are, generally, very well cared for & have no real need to kill for food.
They tend to kill birds because it is in their nature & you can't really blame then for that i guess. They also kill them as a weird kind of present for their owners.
How often have cat owners been presented with a dead bird, or animal? I've seen it happen on a number of occasions.
I vividly remember being at my in-laws house when their cat caught a garden bird. The noise from the bird as it was being played with before it was killed was distressing & upsetting for all who heard it. Including the cats owners.
But, if you own a cat, what do you expect?
It's a bit like us humans killing for sport & we all know how that is generally viewed don't we!

Now, i don't blame the cats for this garden carnage. As i said, it's in the cats nature to do this.
So what can be done?

As with any pet, the owners should give careful consideration of what owning the pet will actually mean for themselves & for their life as a whole.
For example, what will it really mean to your valued garden bird population when you get a cat?
These things are so often not thought of before acquiring any pet. And the blame for that can be laid fairly & squarely at the door of the pet owner, nobody else.
This is obviously part of a much bigger discussion & one i don't intend to go into here.

So, please give some consideration for what you are potentially doing when you think about getting that pet. That decision can often have far bigger implcations than you might imagine.

All i know is that in my garden there are now no birds, or birdsong & i have a brand new bird box sitting idle in a cupboard.

Here's hoping i'll be able to put that bird box in it's rightful place one day.