New member saying hello.

[Foxglove]

Hello everybody.
I've just found this forum and decided to join as it looks like a really friendly place with everyone being fellow nature lovers.

I'm Gill, 37, married to Neil and have been obsessed with the natural world since I was about five years old - if not earlier!!!
I grew up watching David Attenborough programmes, Animal Magic and the Survival series and spent every spare moment I could outdoors. I was a fanatical collector of caterpillars and reared them to see what types of butterfly/moth they would become ( it drove my mother crazy having dozens of jars in my bedroom with various bugs and beasties in them - especially when they escaped LOL ). I also kept Three-spined Sticklebacks and was, and still am, fascinated by their behaviour.
Then at the age of 13 I obtained my first pair of 'real' binoculars ( 8 X 30 ) and they totally opened my eyes to the natural world.....and I've never closed them since!!!
I'm interested in ALL aspects of the natural world - birds, mammals, flowers, insects - EVERYTHING is wonderful, and intensely interesting, in my eyes....it's impossible to suffer from that modern-day affliction called boredom when you have an interest in what's going on around you.
I grew up around Newcastle in the North-east of England and spent many years living in the centre of urban life but last October we moved to a cottage on a hillside in Northumberland close to the Cheviots. I set up a feeding station in my front garden to see what bird species were around and have had some real stunners that I could only dream of in the centre of town....Yellowhammer, Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Red-legged Partridge, Tree Sparrows and dozens of House Sparrow, Chaffinch and Greenfinch amongst many others!
And mammals which live around here, and which I see on a regular basis ( especially at 5am when I'm driving to work!) include Roe Deer, Brown Hares, Rabbits, Foxes, Badgers and, especially in my kitchen, Wood Mice!!! Only this morning ( Tuesday ) I had one run over my foot and disappear underneath the washing machine whilst I was making a cup of tea!!! I don't mind them sharing this cottage as they aren't causing any damage and I frequently catch them in live traps and am able to empty the trap into a small clear plastic container to get fantastic views of them ( they are incredibly beautiful creatures close up ) before releasing them two miles away in a local nature reserve.
Now that I have left urban life I can't imagine EVER going back....being in the middle of nowhere is absolute heaven! * even if Neil IS almost comatose with hayfever right now!* What is especially rewarding is being able to set up a feeding station and know that 'my' birds are in no danger from being caught by cats ( which WAS a big worry in town) and I have endless inspiration for my sketches and paintings - since moving here I have rediscovered art and now try to do something each day - even if it's only a quick sketch or doodle.

Gill

[Tinkerbell]

Welcome Foxglove - your intro makes fascinating reading, with the imagination running riot about your surroundings. We look forward to hearing from you often - I think quite a few folk have been inspired by our contributors and have fun reading about the 'natural' lives of others.

[StuartDH]

Hi Foxglove and welcome to the forum. Sounds like you made a great move heading out to the country, with all that wildlife in your back garden you could virtually set up your own nature reserve.

I live on the edge of Manchester and the Peak District and in the last 3 years I can count the number of times that I've gone into the city on both hands (that means I can count on the hands, not go into Manchester on them...you get the idea ).

On the other hand (don't start), I've headed out to the Peak District, Cheshire, Wales and farther afield on hundreds of occasions and so it definitely makes sense to make sure that the next move will be far more rural.

If you fancy taking up photography in your new home then it would be great to see some of your new neighbours in the Gallery, as there are quite a few species that you've listed above that we haven't got any photos of just yet.

Cheers

Stuart

[Foxglove]

Well.....I'm back online AT LAST!!! It only seems like a few months but I got quite a shock when I logged on to my posts and realised it's been three YEARS Just where has the time gone to?

Unfortunately we are no longer living out in the sticks as the farmer we rented the cottage off decided to pull it down and rebuild it as a holiday let So after much fun & games with the local council refusing to help us (because we don't have children!!!) we eventually found a lovely *but v. expensive!!!* cottage near the coast. This was my dream home with two bedrooms, a study for all my books and computer and a garage & workshop outside for Neil and, best of all, front & rear gardens. I loved it BUT it belonged to the Duke of Northumberland and barely two months after we moved in we got a letter from his Estate Office saying they were selling it so we had to move out ASAP Cue more palaver and stress but eventually we managed to get a flat through a Housing Association and we are now living in the centre of Alnwick in an upstairs flat with no garden and no room to swing a hamster, never mind a cat!!! But it'll do for now and the rent is cheap enough so I'm working all the hours I can and saving every penny so that one day we can move to somewhere with a garden once more. That's the one thing I really miss - not being able to potter about and grow flowers and feed the birds etc.
I'm still getting out and about whenever I can though and watching wildlife at every opportunity. This year has been rather quiet as I've been looking after a friend's rather lively young dog and keeping an eye on her and looking through my binoculars has not been possible most of the time. But friend took her dog back two days ago so now I'm free to go back to my life of being a birder and naturalist

Hopefully I can now begin to be a PROPER member of these boards once more and share my sightings and news with fellow birders/nature lovers

Gill xxx

[ellen h]

Hello and welcome back
ellen

[tameblackbirds]

hello and welcome
as you say your eyes are open and it doesn't matter where you are as long as they stay open sadly not many people out there do.

looking forward to your post

[Hedge Witch]

Hi Gill, this thread has so far read a bit like a Catherine Cookson We've had a glimpse of the idyllic early years, and then, because things can never remain that way, the heartbreaking and tear-jerking story of how you were forced to move out of one home after another.

Let's hope it has a happy ending

Glad you are back, though I never even knew you existed.

Have some cake

Hedge

[Kayleigh]

Hi Gill and welcome back to wab...Sorry to hear of all the stress of moving houses has caused, fingers crossed you will get your garden and the birds soon..

[Deer Stalker]

Hi Gill.

[Vectisbirder]

Originally Posted by Foxglove

with the local council refusing to help us (because we don't have children!!!)

Disgusting isn't it? That's one of my pet moans as well; being childfree I have been refused help myself when I've really needed it.

Anyway, I digress; Hi and welcome to the forum. I hope you get sorted soon with a place in the country.
I'm a newish member here too, but have found these forums delightful with great people here.