May 2010

Naturebreak UK Ltd Supporters Newsletters

Newsletter 1 - 13th May 2010 - View/Download PDF

While we have been struggling with volcanic ash and freezing winds from Iceland, nature has been trying to live through what has so far been a very cold Spring. Despite there having been a frost in my garden every morning this week, the Great Tits are busily feeding their chicks, flying out of the box every few minutes on a mission to find well hidden caterpillars, insects and other food.
Meanwhile Naturebreak UK has also been springing into action, see below for what we've been getting up to in the last few weeks.

Windermere Adventure Day 10th April

On the first properly warm day of the year, Naturebreak Uk welcomed 20 Sea Scouts from Lancashire for an adventure day on WIndermere and in Langdale. While the emphasis was on adventure - we canoed on Windermere, jumped off cliffs into the lake, and climbed waterfalls - there was time to take in the beautiful scenery and special wildlife habitats we visited. The pictures say it all.....

Badger Watching 3rd May

One evening in early May, Stuart and Paul took time to visit a well-loved Badger sett on Whitbarrow. The sett is part of a complex of burrows covering about half a hectare at the base of a low limestone escarpment. The escarpment provides an excellent raised viewing position to watch the setts and the surrounding limestone grassland and birch woodland. We arrived about 7.45 and sat patiently for about an hour enjoying birds singing their evening songs and roe deer barking their alarms. At about 8.45pm a female and cub emerged from a sett entrance into the early dusk just a few metres from where I was seated. The cub returned underground, while the female travelled to an adjacent hole before disappearing. A few minutes later another female emerged, she rooted around last year's bracken, now golden brown, dry and crackling, which she gathered together and dragged backwards into her sett entrance, before re-emerging and trotting off into the woods for an evening of badger foraging. A little while later the first female surfaced again. But as it was now quite dark and cold, we quietly moved off leaving the badgers alone.
Watching these beautiful and emblematic animals in close proximity is a wonderful experience, it cannot be compared with watching on TV. We will no doubt be returning to this sett and will keep Naturebreak UK supporters up to date.

Derwentwater by Canoe 8th May

Last weekend Naturebreak UK hosted and led a unique journey on beautiful Derwentwater. A group of 8 new customers joined us to travel around the lake by canoe. The wind made things tricky for us, but in rafted boats we circumnavigated Derwentwater, calling off regularly to look at the natural habitats along the way - shoreline vegetation, mature oak woodland and riverine deltas - some of them only accessible by canoe. Through the day, we got close up the Mergansers, Herons and Nuthatches and enjoyed a fantastic diversity of plant life, all the while surrounded by stunning views of the dramatic "Jaws of Borrowdale" and majestic Skiddaw - England's 3rd highest mountain - which dominates the northern shore of the lake. On the last leg of our journey everyone had to paddle hard against a stiff northerly breeze, but we got back to Keswick with new friends and having enjoyed a day full of wildlife experiences.