Far From the Madding Crowd: October 2014

Thursday 23 October 2014

Fungi at Arne

Went for a walk at the RSPB nature reserve, Arne, hoping to see some Spoonbills. We did see four but too far away to get a decent picture of them. This year, Poole Harbour has 49 Spoonbills, the most ever seen in the UK. Well, at least these fungi were easy enough to photograph, they don't move around, don't get blown around in the wind either :-)

Thursday 9 October 2014

Portland Bill

Last week we took a trip to Portland Bill hoping to see Little Owls which we did not find but manage to get a picture of a Wheatear, my best picture of this bird so far and saw a Seal.

My Blog

I have taken the title of my blog from Thomas Hardy's fourth novel 'Far From the Madding Crowd' which he wrote in 1874. He took his title from Thomas Gray's poem 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard' completed in 1750. Thomas Hardy was born in Dorset where he lived for most of his life and where he based the stories in his novels. The word 'madding' means frenzied and there is a sense of freedom I get being out in the countryside and being close to nature away from the frenzied atmosphere of the towns and cities. I live in Dorset and like Thomas Hardy, it is where I have lived for most of my life, my blog is mostly about nature in Dorset. I am a member of the Dorset Wildlife Trust. I will include my garden and anything of interest about the natural world in Britain.