Many thanks for the warm welcome, it seems a very friendly site with like minded people. Just a bit about me and the family. I am a 50ish merchant seaman who is working ashore for a few years, my wife is learning to put up with my presence and I am enjoying family life watching my 12 year old daugther grow up fast. I am lucky to have a river at the bottom of the garden- so far we have seen swans bring up a family every year for the last 8, we see lots of ducks and the wading black bird with the red cap (coot or moorhen?). We even think we had a
Mink swimming about a few years ago (very few
Rabbits on the river bank that year). We listen to our owl every night in the trees across the river and the Summer nights are great watching the sun go down sitting on the deck listening to the water go by. This year we intend to learn a lot more about the wildlife down on the river and we will be calling upon the experts out ther to answer all the niggly little questions.