Snow - oh -oh-oh-oh

And so the snow has arrived. Earliest widespread snowfall in 17 years you know. And early snow means early footprints so get your wellies and camo gear on and start tracking! Seriously, this lovely thick snow is just awesome to discover whats been out and about in your garden. Footprints never lie. But beware, objects can appear larger than they seem - snow melts and voila! you have a yetti or, better yet, a gigantic otter mooching round your garden. Unlikey, but you may just have a badger or average sized otter coming for a snoop.

One such footprint excitement occured not so long ago. As the theme goes, I set up a camera to capture footage of the Ouseburn otter. And as the theme goes, I haven't caught anything since the last spider-covered triumph. Buuuut we did have some (pause) footprints! Yes, my mate Bob called me in great excitement to say that otter tracks had miraculously appeared on the walkway (that he built. Obviously.) along the Ouseburn river. So we had footprints and we had a camera watching that walkway. Recipe for Mr O to be caught on camera. Right? Wrong. Bob had moved the camera to see if he could get his badgers on camera. Nothing wrong with that. Otters aren't the be all and end all. But, typically the few nights that the cameras were trained on the badgers was super windy. And super windy means lots of movement which means lots of false triggering of the camera. So anyway, the camera was dutifully placed back on its post on the Ouseburn (once the risk of flooding was over) and promptly ran out of battery. Super. One Ouseburn otter. One stealthcam HD. No blooming power. Story of my life. But still the struggle goes on.

However, its not all bad news. Quite often something cool, other than an otter, is picked up. Take this pouncing fox for example. Drainage pipe. A field covered in lovely long grass. I cant think of a better use for it. It seems to do just the trick (if you have sound, turn it up - some definite squeaking going on here).

And while waiting for the otter at Bob's, these little critters all turned up. Like I said, Mr O is not neccessarily the star of the show.

Golf balls keep falling on my head.

About a week ago or so, myself and a few intrepid volunteers marched into the not so hostile territory that is otherwise known as the golf course. As some as you may know, this particular golf course is Ouseburn Otter territory. And what the otter wants, the otter gets. Mr O has made my life an utter misery yet there I was building him a palace on a prime bit of real estate. Sounds like Stockholm syndrome to me. So yep, amidst flying golf balls and horror stories of irreparable golf ball skull damage, myself and the vols soldiered on. Luckily we remained unharmed and upbeat. This picture tells it all. Just look at those happy faces.


They say that forewarned is forearmed so on one of my more obscure google searches I came across this "On a more practical note, if you hear the distant call of "fore" and you find yourself the only one not ducking for cover, then perhaps it's time to start taking notes." Okay, fair enough. If you hear FORE! then expect there to be a pretty good chance of being smacked by a golf ball. Except I never heard the call of 'fore', distant or not, and let me tell you, some of these golf balls came pretty darn close. However, it was ladies day so perhaps this was understandable. Horror of all horrors, could I possibly be suggesting that ladies aren't much good with a ball and a stick? I wouldn't know, seeing that golf has completely passed me by thus far. BUT I am a lady (no comments from the peanut gallery please) so I can say such things.

Now, I'm pretty sure I regaled you all with tales of more otter holt building along the Ouseburn not so long ago? We have had a visitor there. Its not Mr O as one might expect but still, a visitor is a visitor.

What a lovely chappy. Luckily, he couldn't actually fit inside the holt itself, so it lives another day to welcome the webbed feet and slick coat of an otter. Hooray. And now you see why it is imperative to have not one but two tunnels - an escape route is never a bad thing.

10 salmon a leaping

Jump salmon, JUMP! This was my mantra when I accompanied an otter whizz kid on a survey last week. We were out hunting for the Ouseburn Otter's elusive cousin, the Northumberland Otter. Not as city smart as Mr O, this country otter left us plenty of signs to show he was about but didn't dare show his face. This dirty, wholly unnecessary teasing must run in the otter family. Country bumpkin or not, all otters seem to carry the sneaky gene. Otter lovers worldwide call this trait 'elusiveness.' Rose tinted glasses me thinks. Elusive my a***. Conniving and out to torment me is far more likely. The behaviour (torment perhaps) that I have seen over the last 18 months does not stem from something as sweet as being shy. Grrrr otters. Perhaps you can tell its a Monday morning? Perhaps you can tell I have just whacked my head on the shelf above the desk. Perhaps you can tell that Bob Wilkin (my partner in crime from when the hunt for Mr O first started) has reported tons of activity along the river near his house. The river that I don't currently have cameras on! This is more than shyness. This otter behaviour is planned, calculated and executed with the utmost precision and hilarity on Mr O's part. He certainly is spreading the word. And I kinda love him for it.

And here is photographic evidence to prove that I'm not an otter-hating philistine (just rather grumpy this morning). Ok, so I realise that I'm not actually in this picture but I was present. Promise. This is Mike, ranger (he too has an obsession with otters), along with vols who were kind enougth to help out, and our cunningly disguised otter holt.

You may too have seen me on Countryfile last night digging my heart out for a holt at Lowe Barnes nature reserve. I was the one looking go-ood in waterproof trousers and wellie liners. Or perhaps not. But you see my point is that I do care. I really do.

But I digress. Back to leaping salmon. Have you been witness to a salmon run? Awesome, is what it was. These salmon (and trout) were absolutely amazing. After travelling for goodness knows how long, they were being met by a pretty intimidating weir. In fact, I would go as far as to say that it was the steepest weir that I have ever laid my eyes on. And boy did these guys jump. Besides the fact that they had to propel themselves meters in to the air, the rains had come a calling and the river was flowing pretty fast. It was a veritable Niagara Falls out there. I felt really sorry for the poor things. Up they jumped, never making it to the next level. Those that did make it up the first three steps of the weir, then let themselves down by jumping clear over the wall and ending up back where they started. It was like their own personal video game. Poor poor salmon. In desperation, myself and Kev (the aforementioned whizz kid) refused to leave until we had seen at least one salmon make it all the way. And that we did. One lone, beastly-big salmon succeeded where others had failed. He defeated the weir and made us both feel slightly better. On a brighter note though, they sure look like they tasted good (they really were thiiiiiiiis biiiiiiiig). Next time I'll be there with a net.

badgers galore!

I seem to have lost a post or two. Surely it is an impossibility that I have not written a smidgen since July. Can't be. However, I have been busy busy busy. First off, there was holidays. Not any old holiday mind, a badger-filled holiday. A busmans holiday some have said but a fabulous time nonetheless. Badgers galore!









Now I can happily say that I have seen a real live badger, in the flesh, up-close. Now for that pesky otter...

I still have not been able to check for footage of frolicky otters and whatnot on the Ouseburn. Along with my posts, I am losing everything else. Not me personally mind, but I sense another otter conspiracy. Somehow (lets call it magic), the screen that I need to view the footage (and hence check who or what is appearing in it) has disappeared. How a big fat 80s style monitor (flatscreen it is not) vanishes off the face of the earth is beyond me. Like I said - conspiracy with a capital C. I smell an otter.

The otter is also up to his old tricks on another part of the Ouseburn river. Its a familiar story by now and I am not really surprised. Take one stealth camera in position on a river bank and I bet you know the rest. Fresh spraint abounds but no footage of an otter. YET. This is getting pretty ridiculous. Responsibility for this one has been handed over to Michael, dene ranger, and I have complete faith in him. He has not yet been jaded by the wiley games of the otter and I believe he can do it. While I will not be able to claim that I captured the Ouseburn otter on film, the victory will be a moral one. Mr O will be captured, in full technicolour, with no spider legs to protect him. At this point in time, I couldnt care less who gets the shot, as long as it is got.

Raccoons in Durham. Whatever next?!

Well, Paul A has rudely scarpered off to America (a holiday - how dare he!) so there may yet be a dancing otter waiting to be discovered on my cameras along the Ouseburn. I'm just going to have to wait til he returns and checks the cameras out. Oh how I wish I had the time. The suspense is killing me!



Despite the atrocious weather, the good old WildPlaces wildlife has been out and about, providing some very cute footage for the cameras. Check out our youtube channel WildPlaces NE for some wonderful footage of badger cubs that was taken by my colleague Kenny. Adorable (the cubs, not Kenny - no offence Kenny). And have you all seen the latest addition to the mammal count in the North East? A racoon. Yep, the cameras have captured those rarest of British mammals (well, perhaps just a resident mammal rather than a true Brit) - the raccoon.

He is quite a charming little fella although some of the papers describe him as a Nazi raccoon. Im sure you can all guess the calibre of the papers that print headlines like that! And, yes, I know this opens a whole can of worms of non-natives in Britain etc etc but just lets not go there. I am not open for some serious debate. Im not sure that I can cope with something like that after months of dawn bat surveys (think getting up at 2am for work) and seriously sugared up kids in their last week of school. A party just isnt a party without a hyperactive gardening club!

WildPlaces does practical work too!

Thanks to everyone who voted for WildPlaces. Unfortunately we didn't make it through to the next round but I think it was a great effort by all. To come in the top ten for such a relatively small project was fantastic and who knows, there might be a next time!

So what has been going on in the last month? I wonder. There's been a little bit of hedgehog action, a lot of fox cub frolicking and who knows, maybe a stealthy otter has been in on the act.



The big boy cameras are finally up and running along the Ouseburn River. Whoop. Whoop.
A few weeks ago, I spent a very uneventful (but miraculously sunny) day setting them up. I say uneventful because I couldn't get the ridiculous things to work!! Vision loss. Vision loss. Vision loss. Who ever heard of a camera having vision loss? Isn't it their jobs to see?! But all they needed was the magic touch (and technical brain) of Mark the camera technician and bham! otter- catching cameras away! Sadly Paul A hasn't had time to check them yet so who knows, there might just be a dancing otter waiting to be discovered.



As Paul has taken over much of the camera work for the moment, I think its high time that the wonderful WildPlaces volunteers get a mention. They have been working hard at making the north east a better place for creatures great and small and have done me proud. Its always excellent when the time for practical habitat management comes around but willing, able and fantastic volunteers make my job that much better.

First up, the kids at Byker Primary have been amazing - you guys rock (and no, no slave labour was involved here)! We have been creating a wildlife garden at the school and now have a smashing bug hotel, wildlife hedge and sensory bee garden to boast about. We've still got our pond to make and new fence to go in over the summer but check out this amazing bench I got commissioned from Chainsaw Creations.

Yes, the gardeners look chuffed with it (less excited than me and the head teacher though I think) but the highlight of the time we've spent working hard (for all involved!) will almost definitely be our end of project party in a couple of weeks. Chocolate cake, crisps, fizzy drinks. I think I'm going to have some hyper kids on my hands next Monday!

And from hard working children to business-suited adults (still hard working I hasten to add!). Over the past 6 weeks, the Quorom Business Park in North Tyneside has had one heck of a wildlife project going on. We've been clearing out the letch that runs through the grounds of the business park, turning it into a wildlife haven. Who would've thought that pulling out a few reeds would be such hard work? A jolly it is not. Through rain (seriously icy, pelting-down rain) and shine we have worked tirelessly to turn the letch into something resembling a river. Rather than the overgrown, impenetrable jungle that it started out as. It looks good. There have been a few incidences of ferocious mud monsters trying to suck us under and more than a few 'relics' pulled from the river but overall the hard work has paid off. Once the arduous job of river clearing is done, the volunteers will be rewarded with the relatively easy task of planting some wildflowers and possibly even a wildlife hedge in the winter. Fun times. How I love practical work. Really I do.

As an aside, thank-you to everyone who reads my blog and leaves comments. Its always great to read them :) BUT, I have recently discovered that there have been inappropriate comments (in chinese no less) left on my blog so I have decided to remove the comments feature all together. Please email me at kara.jackson@northwt.org.uk if you have something to say or videos to share. Thanks!

Vote for WildPlaces!!

So the WildPlaces BatBox Duet has finally arrived and I have been playing detective in the back garden. Turns out my resident bat is none other than a little common pipistrelle (still exciting nonetheless). And there I was making it out to be some monster bat. Tut. Tut.


Anyway, this month (or should I say last month) has been a super busy month, hence the lack of communications on the blog. The first highlight of the month was the BioBlitz which was held at Ashington Community Woodlands this year. I was charged with setting up cameras and capturing loads and loads of exciting footage of beasties in the woodland. And beasties did I get! Most notable beastie was Paul Salmon, our Eco-North manager, doing a newt survey while rocking a pair of waders that looked suspiciously like thigh-high boots. Still, clad in those 'waders' Paul was able to net us some horse leeches, smooth newts and a cool common toad. That was three species added to the BioBlitz count. More traditional beasties caught on my cameras included red squirrels, roe deer, a fox and lots of magpies, pigeons and crows. One of my cameras was mounted way up in a pine tree to try and capture the elusive little red. Memories of myself and Paul A lugging the ladder through the woodland, on what was possibly the hottest day of the year so far, still makes me shudder. It is not an experience that I wish to repeat. And to top it all off, the red squirrels didn't even bother to visit my carefully constructed squirrel feeder. No, I got footage of the little critters munching squirrel feed (cheating, I know) on the ground, in front of a camera reserved for foxes! Hey, I can't complain, footage of red squirrel is footage of red squirrel. During the BioBlitz I also had the pleasure of meeting student extraordinaire Chantelle. She kindly helped me to remove all the cameras once the BB was over, without the need of hoisting a ladder about. Brilliant. This girl should've been born a squirrel. She somehow managed to scurry up a tree (a pine tree!) and unlock and untangle one camera in one awkward position. Boy did that save me a tantrum or two!! Hmmm, don't try that one at home kids. So, well done to Elaine and the team for organising a fantastic blitz of all things bio (and for organising a comfy bed at the end of a very long day 1). I think everybody had a great time and overall, we managed to record over 3 000 different species - really impressive for an urban woodland. And it just goes to show that there's plenty of wildlife out there if you look hard enough for it.

Oh, and i swear this is a red squirrel. Some silly silly man investigated my little GL80 in the hedge and then thought it would be a brilliant idea to swish it about and ruin any subsequent shots. Messing with my art. How very dare he.

Second highlight of the month has been the filming of some wonderful little fox cubs at the Your Homes Newcastle in South Gosforth. The cubs have been spotted frolicking in the parking lot of the offices so I was there like a shot. On arrival at YHN, I was pleased to see signs all over warning people to 'drive slow. Fox cubs playing.' I decided to put up two of the HD stealth cams to capture the antics of the cubs and, unlike the Ouseburn Otter, these little guys are naive. They didn't try to hide from the cameras and sneak about like some creatures I know so I managed to get some really sweet shots of them. Paul will be editing the footage soon but this is a taster of things to come ....

Speaking of fox cubs, Paul has been out and about setting up cameras in gardens all around the North East as the cubs come out to play. Keep an eye on Facebook and YouTube in the near future to see the videos that he managed to get. Ooooh and check out http://www.urbanwildplaces.co.uk/ and check out our swish new website and vote for WildPlaces to win a National Lottery award. Please.