Mr O is back back back

Tonight is the night. i have just spoken to Bob who was out watching the badgers last night and they saw a whooping 4 badgers, 2 roe deer, a fox and, of course, the customary rat. Good times. Lets hope tonight is just as successful (please please please). Oh, and, in true style, Bob has been on yet another DIY spree and constructed a wee wall along the edge of his part of the Ouseburn river. More exciting than this is the fact that the Ouseburn Otter has deemed this wall mighty enough to claim for himself and has left some lovely fresh spraint to taunt us all. I fear the hunt may be back on. Who would've thought that some poo on a wall could get me so riled up. There's no plan as yet, but mark my words there will be. And hopefully, this time, it will be a successful one.

Picture of the newly filled pond at Byker too, as promised. Not as exciting as an otter or badger I know but just as important to WildPlaces. Didn't the volunteers and the firemen do a lovely job!

Now this bit is only for the most adventorous of readers ....

How do you fancy whooshing across the Tyne River on a really thin piece of wire with nothing but a harness holding you in place? Sound good. It's going to be! Northumberland and Durham Wildlife Trusts are doing a spot of fundraising and we need you to help. On September 11 2010, there will be a sponsored zipline taking place from the top the Baltic and over the Tyne. It costs £30 to register your place and then all you need to do is raise £120 sponsorship and you'll be speeding across the river like a flash of lightening. If this sounds like your kind of thing (and it should), drop me an email (kara.jackson@northwt.org.uk) and I will send you all the details to get you started. And don't worry, this Big Slide is super safe and super super fun. Even if you only do it for the reason that you will get to see Cheryl, WildPlaces project manager, nipping across the Tyne in a badger suit (and possibly me in a squirrel suit but that is still under discussion!). Thats got to be worth it, surely?!

WildPlaces on TV

Lately there has been very little (or none as the case may be) blogging activity from yours truely. This is not down to laziness or lack of exciting things to say but rather down to my favourite favourite pasttime - holidaying! But now I am back and have already had a super busy week. The most exciting part of which was filming for Countryfile. WildPlaces has reached the dizzying heights of television (excluding the features on the news of course!). Please please please check out the feature on urban mammals on Countryfile on 25th April. Its going to be great. Not least because the loveable Bob will be playing a starring role. It was Bob who was my greatest aid in the hunt for the Ouseburn Otter and his garden provided the first images of this elusive creature for the project. Bob built me camera plinths, fish island and became chief spider killer while the cameras were set up at his house so I am really pleased that he got to show off his footage and his garden to Katie (the Countryfile presenter) and the rest of the film crew. It was marvellous. Since my last visit to Bob's, he has taken on the massive task of building himself a hide at the bottom of his garden (which was done in no more than three days) and what a hide it is! Fantastic. Its a perfect spot to watch the kingfisher and roe deer from and I bet you could have a lovely close up of the badgers if you were quiet enough. That garden is a marvel.



On the subject of Bob, he has offered to take me badger watching next week which I obviously said a huge fat yes to. Can you imagine, the girl that has been staking out badger setts (in the non-illegal way of course) and capturing footage of badgers for the last year might actually get to see a real live one in a weeks time. I am so excited. Its laughable really that I'm yet to spot a real badger so maybe by next Friday I will have a little more dignity to hand. We'll see. I of all people know how wildlife loves to scupper the best laid plans and it never ever plays nice, no matter how cordially you may ask.



So anyway, those are my favourite highlights of the past week or so. Ooooooh and the pond here at St Nix was absolutely jumping (literally!) the other week. The pond became a writhing mass of frolicking frogs as they all came to the surface to enjoy a bit of spring sunshine, fun and games (wink wink). The superhero WildPlaces assistant Paul has been filming their antics so I will get that on here as soon as he's done editing it.



So now for some footage ....
Thanks to Val for the use of her beautiful garden - we got some fabulous stuff

And since I will be seeing a real badger next week (fingers crossed), here is some more Geordie badgers having a great old time with only the camera watching.

Dont forget that theres always lots of footage on our YouTube and FaceBook site (www.urbanwildplaces.co.uk for links) and that we always have lots of great activities going on which you are always welcome to attend (hint hint).

HD Cams Away!

So the HD cameras have been tested and I'm sad to say, two of them are not very well. Nevertheless that means that three of them are so I'm hopeful for the StealthCam HD future. This is some of the raw footage gathered at our testing bonanza. Hopefully there will be lots more to come including otter, red squirrel and those loveable badgers in the scary, scary woods!

So did I tell you about all the hard work that went on at Conservation Week? We built and installed an otter holt, chopped down many trees (in the name of conservation of course) and renovated a lovely pond. A great week all in all - thanks to everyone who gave up their time and came along to help! Paul made this cool video of himself and Dan constructing the recycled plastic holt. Check it out. And turn up that volume!

And here it is, installed, waiting to be covered up and just begging for an otter to visit it. The Ouseburn Otter perhaps? It might just grace us with its presence!

And this is the pond ... TA DA!!

It might not look like much at the moment but once this baby is filled up (by hunky firemen no less!!), its going to be a beaut!!

A badger up a tree - almost

Somewhere in the misty recesses of my post holiday mind, I remember promising some new badger footage for your viewing pleasure. Now, I hope you haven't been holding your breath to see this as I know that I have taken a bit of a dawdle getting it on here. Never mind, badgers up trees in all their glory await you.

So tree climbing critters seem to be all the rage nowadays, what with the otters and the badgers, even squirrels are at it nowadays! Has all the never ending snow coupled with the prospect of being famous gone to their heads? I think its more a case of good old animal behaviour, pretty interesting none the less. Some weird animal behaviour for you to ponder ....

Robins in urban areas are now singing at night because it is too noisy during the day.

Or how about a chicken-eating cow in West Bengal. When 48 chickens went missing in a month (thats a lot of chickens for any animal, never mind a cow) from a remote West Bengal village, everyone blamed the neighborhood dogs. But the owner eventually solved the puzzle when he caught his cow gobbling up several of them at night. "We watched in horror as the calf, whom we had fondly named Lal, sneak to the coop and grab the little ones with the precision of a jungle cat." Local television pictures showed the cow grabbing and eating a chicken in seconds and a vet confirmed the case.

Or imagine sleeping on your heels like a baboon or do as some birds do and sleep with one eye open.

Its on the internet so it must be true .....

Yep, animals are pretty strange creatures with some weird and wonderful behaviour but I guess they probably think the same, if not worse, of us.

But now onto the means of capturing this wonderful wildlife. I have a new camera. 5 new cameras in fact. HD cameras. Prowler HD cameras. I've hit the big time. Sadly, I havent had time to try these cameras out (or even to buy batteries and memory cards for them) but I will. Today. As well as my excitement at having new cameras to set up (and thus new adventures to be had), a new WildPlaces Assistant, Paul, started on Monday so one has become two. Oh yeah. I now have faith that between the two of us we have the means to become a wildlife-on-film busting superpower.

I'm not sure who the fat bloke on the end is, but its not me, alright?! Just not to be done on copyright infringements, this wonderful portrait is courtesy (unbeknown to them) of ippiki.wordpress.com. SSsshhh, dont tell.

Hedge Planting and Otter Acrobatics

Well, well, well. There certainly have been many exciting going ons in WildPlaces land these last few weeks. I ventured back into the scary woodland, I got some otter acrobatics on film and I did a little bit of wildlife hedge planting at Moorside Allotments in Fenham.

First, lets talk practical work. The other week, WildPlaces and my super helpful team of volunteers were lucky enough to be joined by Trai Anfield from the BBC and some keen conservationists in the making from Byker Primary. The weather was absolutely freezing (surprise surprise) and at one point I think we all lost feeling in our feet but the job got done, we had a good time (well I did anyway!) and we hopefully saved some wildlife while we were at it. Or to be more precise, we enhanced the habitat and reduced fragmentation for future generations of wildlife. Grow little hedge. Grow with all your might.

Good times. Next up, I'm going all out on an entire week of conservation (aptly named Conservation Week) to take place at the Ouseburn Farm in Newcastle. Check out the website (www.urbanwildplaces.co.uk in case you forgot) and come along and help out if you fancy it. You may become famous like me and the gang at Moorside who were featured on Look North (if you can call 10 seconds a feature!) and in the Go Green supplement in The Chronicle. Check us out. Celebrities in the making.

So, next to the scary woodland. This time, I didnt get lost and I didnt get scared but I did get some cool badger footage. So as not to spoil you, you can see that footage in my next update. I can't have you lot expecting 3 lots of pictures/film in every post. Sorry.

But you can see my little acrobatic otter if you like. I set up my trusty stealth cams on the Derwenthaugh pontoon again but this time it was on the opposite side to where I normally site it. At last, the otter climbed up the ladder and I caught it on film. I have been pursuing this show of agility for ages and am very very happy that it is now in my possession. Maybe its not as exciting as it could be (no baton twirling or somersaults) but I do still think its pretty cute. Hope you do too.

Otter up a tree.

Did you see the photo of an otter up a tree at WWT Slimbridge? Although this is not a new phenomenon its still pretty awesome. Otters never cease to amaze me - is there anything they can't do? This pic is from The Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6994410.ece) and really made my day when it was showed to me. Guess I really am setting up my cameras in the wrong place! Next time I have tales of tall trees to tell, it won't be red squirrels that I was after. Oh no no no.


Oh. And I think the Ouseburn Otter has found a rival to his cheekiness down in Middlesborough. One of my WildPlaces colleagues, Kenny, got some crazy footage of an otter sauntering nonchalantly towards the camera, sticking out its tongue (can you believe the audacity) and then walking away. A real up yours in an otter kind of way.

Kenny, I hope you don't mind that I have put the video up - its really too special not to be shared! What a cheeky little blighter! Check out Kenny's blog (http://wildplacesteesvalley.blogspot.com/) for more cool footage from the WildPlaces team - that way I dont have to steal his to put on here cause you would already have seen it.

And in other news, I had some pretty rambunctious (I don't think thats a made up word) badgers on my hands. I went in search of a particular badger sett in a particular wood all on my lonesome last week. Never mind that I have visited this sett a few times with Barry, my trusty Northumberland Navigator. I can visit a place 100 times and still get lost if I'm the one finding the way. So yeah. There I was. Alone. In the woods. Teetering on the edge of the ravine. It didnt help that it was stupid o clock in the morning (and in this wonderful climate morning = pitch black at the moment). I admit I was scared. Especially as I had already seen this footage from cameras set up on a previous visit.

You don't want to be caught unawares by these sharp-clawed monsters (badgers are lovely really - that was just for dramatic effect). But needless to say, I was just being a wimp. I made it out alive, didnt even catch a whiff of badger although I saw some badger poo with a skull in it. Hmmm what a rubbish story. Lost in the woods and not a wound or a close encounter to speak off. Sorry about that. But at least I live another day to bring you tales of urban mammals in the North East. Don't even think it, I know you would rather I had been attacked and had something exciting to say.

A new years resolution

Another new year and boy has it started with a bang! Snow fuelled chaos has been the highlight of the year so far for many but never fear, apart from snowball fights and Frosty the snowman, the white stuff is pretty handy. Mammals cannot hide. Unless they develop a slick method of floating, you are pretty much guaranteed to see footprints wherever an animal has been. Bonus for me. I have been able to see the Ouseburn Otter's every move and while I still can't find him (typical Ouseburn Otter style), I do know a little bit more about his movements, with hardly any extra effort! However, my new years resolution for 2010 is to be a little more forgiving of Mr O. I am currently reading a book called The Otter in Britain (a lovely present from the legendary Bob Wilkin) and it has definitely given me an insight into why the otter is just so darn camera shy. Never mind the ye olde english style of writing, this poem by William Somerville (called The Chace and written way back in 1735) shows just how persecuted this poor critter has been for a long, long time. I too, would have developed a crafty instinct had a poem like this been written about me. Here we go. It gets quite gory - you have been warned.

On the soft sand
See there his seal impress'd! And on that bank
Behold the glittering spoils, half-eaten fish,
Scales, fins and bones, the leavings of his feast.
Ah! On that yielding sag-bed, see, once more
His seal I view. O'er yon dark rushy marsh
The sly goose-footed prowler bends his course,
And seeks distant shallows.

See, there he drives along!
The ascending bubbles mark his gloomy way.
Quick fix the nets, and cut off his retreat
Into the shelt'ring deeps. Ah, there he vents!
The pack plunge headlong, and protended spears
Menace destruction.

Ah, there once more he vents!
See, that blood hound has seiz'd him: down they sink,
Together lost: but soon shall be repent
His rash assault. See there escap'd, he flies
Half drown'd, and clambers up the slipp'ry bank
With ooze and blood distain'd. Again he vents:
Again the crowd attack. That spear has pierc'd
His neck; the crimson waves confess the wound.
Fix'd is the bearded lance, unwelcome guest,
Where're he flies; with him it sinks beneath,
With him it mounts; sure guide to ev'ry foe.
Inly he groans, nor can his tender wound
Bear the cold stream. Lo! to yon sedgy bank
He creeps disconsolate; his numerous foes
Surround him, hounds and men. Pierc'd through and through
On pointed spears they lift him high in air;
Wriggling he hangs, and grins and bites in vain.

So there you have it. But lets turn to the Haugh otter now. I don't think his ancestors were ever hunted, even back then I reckon they were tough, used to laugh at the dogs if they ever tried to come near them. In fact, the book gives a few accounts of otters actually being 'one of the dogs', trained to run alongside what should be their enemies. One particular pack of dogs even refused to hunt wild otters when their otter-mate was with them. I mean get a load of this bad boy. I certainly wouldn't mess with him!