Well, I suppose that it has to happen – time to update my website, which, like Topsy, has “just growed” over the years. It started in 1996, and the first content was descriptions of evenings spent watching badgers in the woods of Cheshire. I had originally posted these accounts in the newsgroup alt.rec.badgers, and, encouraged by the many people emailing me in appreciation, or asking questions about badgers, I put them on my website – originally www.bennetts.demon.co.uk – which I suppose became one of the first wave of blogs, though the word had not been invented then.
I continued adding photographs and brief content, creating the rambling structure which it is now, but I have got around to updating it with decreasing frequency, and I have decided that I must make it easier. And so this is where WordPress comes in! I anticipate that the blog page will become the home page of the website, and the rest will be re-organised around it. However, while I proceed with the refit, I am going to try to keep blogging so that I get into the habit …
So – what’s it all about?
There will be a fair amount about wildlife photography, which has been a lifelong hobby and then occupation after retirement from the day job in 2001. “Sorry dear – I’ve got to go and photograph the nesting ospreys at Glaslyn today. It’s the job, you know …”
My home patch is the village of Moulton, in Cheshire, UK. The River Weaver is just down the lane, and the countryside around here has plenty of woodland in between the fields, so wildlife is plentiful.
Then there’s Ghana. I worked there for three years in the 1960s, and have been going back regularly in the last few years. Wonderful place, great people.
Good Evening Sir,
I was just browsing the history of the ARM architecture, and into my head popped a memory of an IT teacher, who many years earlier had foretold me that ARM/RISC was the future.
Sadly it appeared for a number of years that he was incorrect, however 14 years later, and with the emergence of the ‘mobile era’ and Microsoft finally converting their dominant if flawed OS to this architecture his prediction has come to pass!
I’m glad to see you are still enjoying photographing and badgers, long may that continue. I hope you are well 🙂
Kind Regards
Andy Yardley
Hi Pat,
I have enjoyed your blog,and particulary the Coed Mostyn woodland.
I grew up in Mostyn ,and spent a lot of time in and around the Downing woods.
Is your plot the one with the old dog graves at the top?.
We used to get huge chestnuts from this wood and poached trout from the pond.
We played in cellers under Downing Hall ruins, and explored the river tunnel.
My dad taught me how to tickle trout in the stream.
Long summers long ago now,but happy memories, it was a happy place.
Dear Pat,
I have recently visited Hilbre Island on the Wirral coast and noticed on your website some pictures of Oystercatchers taken from Little Eye. I understand you are not allowed to stay over night on the islands but wanted to know if permission is needed to stay on Little Eye between tides during the day using a bird watcher’s hide to avoid disturbing the birds.
Kind regards,
Dominic
Hi Dominic,
It’s a magical place – best site for bird photography in the Northwest, in my opinion.
Mind, you have to be in a hide, or the birds will simply go elsewhere. The most
frustrating day I spent there was when someone else stayed on the island (not in a hide),
making it a waste of time for my photography.
In the period when I was regularly spending a tide on Little Eye, I was in touch with the
then ranger, and he was perfectly relaxed about it. However, I know that he had his ear
bent by local bird watchers who didn’t like me being there, even though I had birds
roosting a yard from my hide, showing that disturbance to the birds was zero.
I understand there may be local rules about being on the island during spring tides, but I
don’t think that they are enforced, because they can’t be! Once the tide comes in, they
can’t take you off the island, and, as far as I know, there are no penalties which can be
enforced.
The important thing, if you stay on the island during a spring tide, is to make sure that
you do not disturb the birds in any way. That means a hide.
Good luck,
Pat