The mists descend

There was only light rain at the Research Station this morning, but it was misty higher up the mountains and this apparently means that the trackers don't go out in case they unintentionally get too close to a panda and disturb it. The rain stopped and we waited for the mist to clear but it didn't, so eventually we went for a general walk in the forest. I enjoyed photographing the leaves and fungi - which looked lovely in the clear light after the rain - and a spider's web 'decorated' with dew.

Takin tracking

This morning, with our guides feeling rather confident about panda sightings, we headed off in another direction in search of golden takins. We saw lots of signs, but no animals. Early clouds burned off and it was warm and sunny - with hindsight, perfect weather for panda-tracking:-/

Panda tracking day 2 - pandas but no photos:-(

Today it was another crisp sunny morning, and I decided to head out on my own before breakfast. I didn't spot any mammals but the autumnal scenery looked fantastic in the early sunlight.
At breakfast we got fresh home-made flatbreads which were scrummy. At mealtimes we are always joined by a variety of dogs including our favourite who we have named 'Stumpy'. She was evidently at the back of the queue when they were giving out legs, and there were only half-size ones left. We walked 5km into the forest and then got word from the trackers that they had found a mother panda and her youngster. We climbed up an impossibly steep mountainside (or I would have said it was if there wasn't a panda somewhere at the top of it), with the aim of getting ahead of where the trackers anticipated the pandas would emerge. It was extremely warm climbing, and the local guide offered to carry my camera-containing rucksack. Our group had got strung out negotiating the steep slope when the mother panda (who evidently was not familiar with the trackers' tactics for delighting tourists) suddenly appeared not far below me and cut across the path of our group - a clear view for me if only for about 10 seconds, but the local guide had disappeared with my camera - no photos even if I had been quick enough! We all regrouped and waited quietly, and eventually the cub (about 12 months old) came bumbling along looking for its mother. It was slightly obscured by the vegetation but close enough to see how cute it was.

Panda tracking day 1

I joined the birders for an early morning walk in the hope of spotting some mammals but no luck. Here we are in the 'restaurant' having our first breakfast at the Research Centre. (Note the little dog in the bottom left-hand corner - more of her soon.)Breakfast was interesting - a grey rice 'porridge' which appeared to be just rice boiled in far too much water, and rice dumplings/dough balls which were freshly-baked but possibly slightly undercooked and didn't taste of much. As the week progresses I shall learn that (a) a dollop of jam makes them more edible and (b) they appear to continue cooking for some time, so a dough ball or two stashed in one's rucksack becomes positively edible at lunchtime especially after an energetic walk!
The skies were blue today and the temperatures climbed as we walked - it was hot for late October. We went about 5km through the forest in several stages, waiting in between for news over the radio from the trackers, but they had nothing to report so we settled down by the beautiful river to eat our lunch.

After lunch, we got word that the trackers were on to a panda so we bushwacked up steep hills and through tall, thick bamboo, but the panda evaded us. All we saw was some panda poo, which is enormous! (Fellow guest Alf's hand included for scale - he wasn't touching it, honest.)

Foping NR and Sanguanmia​o research station

After lunch, we continued to Foping Nature Reserve. No vehicles are permitted inside, so our bags were loaded onto some hard-working little ponies and we started the 8km walk to the Sanguanmiao Research Station which was to be our base in the Reserve. Most of the path was concreted but parts of it and some bridges had washed away earlier this year in the worst floods in around 50 years, so we had to divert onto unmade paths. The forest was beautiful in its autumn colours - a mixed woodland still rich in many of the plant species that failed to survive the last ice age in Britain and never managed to recolonise as they had done in Foping.
We arrived at the Research Station as it was getting dark, but this is our 'hotel', photographed later in the week (when the mists had descended). Hmmm - not quite so 4-star:-)Inside is better, with an LPG heater to warm the room and a big flask of boiling water each day for washing, although the mattresses appear to have been stored at a pressure of several atmospheres and are quite 'firm'. I shall resort to sleeping on top of one duvet and under another - the joys of having a spare bed!

Weird monkeys

Today we set out from Xi'an for Foping Nature Reserve. It was good to escape the smog that unfortunately characterised much of Xi'an and its environs, and after passing through an area of farmland we started to cut through the mountains and the road ran alongside a beautiful turquoise river.

We stopped en route to Foping to visit a group of golden snub-nosed monkeys in another part of the Qinling Mountains. The group is regularly fed by the local people and has become habituated to humans so we got some good photos. This species is endangered and found only in China, so it was quite a bizarre privilege to get so close to them. As well as looking weird, they have a strange call a bit like a plaintive human baby.

Arrival in China

Today I landed in Xi'an city (from Manchester via Amsterdam and Beijing) at the start of an 'expedition' to look for giant pandas in the Qinling Mountains. I say expedition because it wouldn't be most people's idea of a holiday! (See later posts).

I was transferred from the airport to a 4-star hotel at which I had 1 night to stock up on as much luxury and comfort as possible to last me over the next 9 days. En route from the airport, I was surprised at the sheer amount of construction taking place - mostly roads and high-rise buildings to accommodate the huge numbers of people moving into China's cities from the rural areas.

The rest of the group arrived at the hotel from Heathrow via Beijing a little later, and we were taken to the Muslim quarter of Xi'an's old town for our evening meal. Not the best place for a veggie to forage!, but we enjoyed the atmosphere of the market stalls and shops, and saw the Drum Tower - part of the old city wall.

Hauled out on the Brigg

Spotted this young harbour seal today, hauled out at the end of Filey Brigg in North Yorkshire.

My tree bumblebee neighbours

Tree bumblebees first arrived in the south of the UK in 2001 and have been expanding their range northwards.  Now I have tree bees nesting in my garden in East Yorkshire!

 

Springtime flowers & butterflies

Out doing a survey of wildflowers in Nut Wood, East Yorkshire for my Open University course today, and spotted this peacock butterfly on the bluebells.

Festive robin

Snapped this festive robin today in a snow-covered shrub in my back garden.

Hedgehog out and about in the sunshine

Spotted this hedgehog at Sledmere House in East Yorkshire today.  It was out in broad daylight but seemed alert and healthy.  Hope it's OK and gets fattened up ready for winter.

The nest is getting crowded

The swallows' nest next door to my pony's stable is getting crowded - the chicks look a bit grumpy!
 

Stags in velvet

Another visit to Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Deer Park in North Yorkshire. This time the red deer stags were in velvet.

Blue-spotted badger

This weekend I've been helping out with badger monitoring at Wytham Woods in Oxfordshire. The badgers are caught in traps baited with peanuts, so individuals that have been caught once are marked with a harmless dye to identify them should they be tempted by the peanuts a second time.

Ratty feasts on autumn berries

Loitered around near an unremarkable ditch at Far Ings Nature Reserve in Lincolnshire - a good spot for water voles - and was rewarded with the sight of this 'Ratty' feasting on the ripe hawthorn berries that had dropped into the water from the hedgerow above.

What a great team:-)

Well, here's the inevitable group photo on the last day, when the sunshine and blue skies returned to wave us off.
Back row (left-to-right): Melissa, James, Pat, Elisa, Sophia, Bella, Chris.
Hovering half-way!: Mina.
Kneeling: Julia, Ann, Andrew, Christina (with Lycos), Diane.

Also another picture of Lycos - group mascot and expert porcupine-finder (although said porcupine waddled off before I could get a photo of it). Many thanks to all the group for being such great company for two weeks, and special thanks to my room mate Sophia for joining me on most of my early morning walks and sleeping through (or at least politely ignoring) my early rises the rest of the time:-)

The other rainy day

Today the heavens opened again, but for only the second time - we'd been incredibly lucky with the weather. We visited Thomas Raddall Provincial Park, and although we saw lots of mammal tracks and signs the animals themselves were elusive. The animal in this photo is not a grey wolf - unfortunately they're now extinct in Nova Scotia. The clue is that grey wolves don't retrieve sticks from the ocean:-) No, this is Lycos, Christina and Chris's husky/German shepherd cross (although his name is Greek for wolf).
Soaked again today, we returned to Cherry Hill early to start our packing:-(

Nova Scotia's megafauna

I'm talking about the vole there - not Sophia:-) Bet she hates this picture, but someone had to be photographed posing with our 'quarry' and it wasn't going to be me:-) This is a red-backed vole (trust me - I know it's too small to see!). This was the species most likely to be caught in our live traps. Today's work concluded our team's activities at Cook's Lake.

A show-off in the woods

We came across this spruce grouse when we were checking our small mammal traps in the woods today. He was so busy displaying (to no-one in particular) that I managed to get quite close for a photograph.

Monster moth in the making

Whilst we were doing a vegetation survey at Cook's Lake today, we spotted this huge caterpillar. If it doesn't get eaten, it will eventually turn into the largest moth species in North America - the cecropia - with a wingspan of five or six inches. Thank you to Diane for the loan of her little finger to illustrate scale:-)

The beaver's neighbour

Sophia joined me for my morning walk today, and we had an unexpected sighting at the local beaver lake - a muskrat. Although it looks like a very small beaver, the muskrat is actually more closely related to voles. In this photo you can just about make out its 'cylindrical', tapered tail - very different from the beaver's flattened 'paddle'.

Cherry Hill's 'city centre'

My pre-breakfast walk this morning was uneventful, but the village church looked rather picturesque in the morning sunshine so here's a photo! After breakfast, we returned to Cook's Lake to set our small mammal traps in a new area, and continued with the other survey work.

At Kejimkujik National Park

Today we visited 'Keji' as it is locally known, to look for mammal signs and perhaps the animals themselves. Keji is quite a busy park (especially on a Sunday), so the only mammals we saw on our walks were North American red squirrels. They are even smaller than Eurasian red squirrels and just as quick. I finally managed to get a photo of one near the main picnic site, where the animals have obviously become more habituated to humans (and their lunch leftovers no doubt:-)).

We saw evidence of beavers too - classic gnawed tree trunks.

The seals save the day

I somehow managed to persuade most of the rest of the group to join me on a whale-watching trip (and therefore felt a bit guilty later on when a few of them were a little seasick - sorry guys!). Our only whale sighting was a fin whale, which was good to see but impossible to photograph, and the captain did throw the boat around a bit in his attempts to get ahead of this fast whale as it moved around.

On the way back to the quayside, the captain took us to see some seals hauled out on the rocks - mostly harbour or common seals, but I spotted a couple of grey seals in the water too. I suspect these animals are the 'guaranteed wildlife sightings' on this trip - in case the whale and dolphin sightings are poor - and it was great to see them so close. By the time we got back to port everyone was feeling OK again and we headed to a local pub for food.

Blue skies in Lunenburg

Today the blue skies returned, as you can see from this photo of a rather funky weather vane in Lunenburg where we spent our free day. This coastal town is a World Heritage Site, but I was more interested in the fact that it offers whale-watching trips.

The heavens open

Well, this was Nova Scotia, and we had so far experienced unbelievably blue skies and warm temperatures. But today it rained with a vengeance and we got well-soaked:-( No photos today - my camera didn't even come out of its nice, dry bag! We collected in our small mammal traps early and headed for home, making plans for our free day on Saturday and hoping for better weather.

Elusive beavers (2)

After dinner today, we drove to a second beaver lake near Broad Cove Beach. The midges and other biting insects attacked us relentlessly as we patiently waited for a sighting. To escape the attack, I walked across the road to the beach and as the light faded I took this picture on a long exposure, so the waves have turned to mist. One beaver did eventually put in an appearance on the other side of the lake, but it was almost impossible to see in the poor light.

Elusive beavers (1)

We took another pre-breakfast walk to the beaver lake at Cherry Hill today, but its main resident proved elusive. Even so, the lake is a beautiful location especially in the early morning light.

More small mammal trapping, surveying and path clearing at Cook's Lake today.

Cheeky chipmunk

We returned to Cook's Lake, and after checking the small mammal traps a small group of us surveyed the habitat and vegetation along the edge of a large field. On the way back, we encountered this eastern chipmunk. Apologies for the 'mistiness' at the bottom of the photo - a badly positioned leaf but, fortunately for me, right out of focus:-)