UK Blog Awards 2015

After the seeing Mega Aurora the other night I had to calm down a little and get my bags packed and drive down the London for the UK Blog Awards.

Yep little old me in the UK Blog Awards.

As I drove to London through the endless road works I eventually arrived at Mount Arch at 5pm and found a parking place right outside the hotel. How lucky was that, and I was even more lucky to find out that it only cost me £5 to park there too. Free after 6.30pm and this is in London.

I had a quick chat with the doorman of the hotel and he directed me to the bar as I had 2 hours to kill before the awards began.

I thought my luck would run out eventually as I had a half a coke at the bar and it was nearly £7. Oh well you cant win them all.

Time was getting on and I needed to get changed into my suit. I asked the doorman where the toilets were and he told me not to be silly and I should go down stairs to the spa, where I would be able to get a shower. I was off in a flash and down stairs to the most beautiful spa ever, and got myself all dressed up and ready to go.

As I arrived at the awards, which was only next door I was greeted like some kind of celebrity and the place was buzzing with bloggers everywhere.

I felt a little bit weird being around all these professional bloggers who's blogs were out of this world but I thought to hell with it I'm chuffed to be here so I was going to enjoy it.

After talking to a few people with a glass of orange in my hand the awards were just about to be announced.

We all made our way to our seats and the ceremony began.

Award after award was being handed out it finally came to my category, "Travel"

A little nervous, and the winner was announced but unfortunally it was not me. I did manage to get into the top 10 which is something amazing to achieve, and something I am very proud off.  

I'm not a professional blogger, but I do love my job, taking pictures and I'm not the best writer in the world, but that does not matter as I really enjoy doing it and the way I look at it, it's a dairy for my kids to read, so they can see what I did when they get older.

Anyway I'm still chuffed to bits and to get into the top 10 in the UK is something I never thought I would achieve. Thanks to everyone who voted for you me to be there in the first place.

   

Mega Aurora

After the previous night on the beach watching the aurora I never thought we would get it again, but a look at the forecast and clear skies predicted I had to give it another go.

I was getting myself sorted before I headed out when I got a text of Gary to say that he was down at Dunstanburgh and did I want to join him. I was not sure if I wanted to go there and knowing my luck I would drive there and it would be over.

I decided to give it a miss and head back to the beach.

On arriving at the beach there was a party happening so I decided to go to Stag Rock. I'm not really keen on going there to be honest as it gets really busy and there has been loads of pictures from there over the years but I stuck to my guns and when I arrived I was the only person there.

After a few test shots it looked good to go, and there was a slight green glow too.

A few minutes later it was turning a bit pink and I received a call from Gary asking if it was ok up there as he had thick clouds. After a quick chat he joined me.

Another couple of local lads turned up and then all of a sudden it kicked off big time.

The buzz was just tremendous and we were all clicking away like mad but at one point I had to just stand back and watch. What a sight and this has to be the best I have ever seen.

After about 20 minutes of mind blowing activity it started to fade and my lens started to fog up as the mist started to roll in.

At about 1.30am I decided to head home as I had to be up in the morning and get myself ready for a long drive to London and back again for the finals of the Blog Awards.

Here is some fabulous pictures of a wonderful evening.

  

Aurora

Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights graced Northumberland again and it was beautiful sight to witness, especially over the Farne Islands.

Not a lot to say really but I think the pictures will tell you all.

First Artic Tern of the year 2015

The first Artic Tern has now arrived at the Farnes, so it will not be long before they are all back and then the fun begins.

The Artic Tern is one hell of a seabird and it will not be long before they start dive bombing and pecking all you lovely visitor's on the head.

This will be not be for a while just yet but over the years I have seen some funny sights and some not so funny, and you have to remember that we are invading their home and not the other way around like some people think.

I've seen grown men in tears because they have been pecked on their heads so hard that the terns have drawn blood, but this can all be avoided if you remember to either wear a hat or just gently wave your hand above your head.

I would also like to point out that when I say wear a hat I don't mean a hard hat, motorbike helmet or a bicycle helmet because when they do dive bomb you,and they hit their bills on your hard hats it will break their bills and if this happens they will not survive.

Other than that there is only a small area as you arrive on the Inner Farne where this happens and once you are past this area you are fine.

Please Please don't let this put you off these wonderful seabirds and they just amazing to see. We call them the Artic Angels and when you see them you will understand why.

Take a look at this You Tube video below and you will understand a little bit more about them and see what they have to go through every year and this is why they are one hell of a seabird.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bte7MCSBZvo&feature=youtu.be

 

 

Turtle Rescue (Cape Verde)

I know I have done a few posts lately about Cape Verde and I promise this will be the last one for a while but I thought this post was really important to do.

A really good friend of mine gave me a text one day while I was in Cape Verde to say that they had rescued a Loggerhead Turtle and they had it in a tank keeping it alive until they could figure out the best way to save it.

It was tangled in fishing line and the first thing to do was to get this line off. Next they put it into a fresh water tank to kill of the parasites as they don't like fresh water and the vet was coming to check the turtle over.

The vet did not really have much hope for the turtle as its flipper was really swollen and lost a lot of its scales. She decided to give it an injection to see it would bring down the swelling but she did not hold much hope.

A few days later the swelling had gone down loads and it seemed to be in fine form. The vet was very optimistic that 80cm loggerhead would make it.

I also found out that it should be its feeding grounds now of the west coast of Africa now but hopefully it will be okay and be able to catch up with the rest of them.

Sal itself has a good turtle population and it is very well looked after too. The locals used to eat them all the time but now the realise how important they are to the world as well as Cape Verde, so the numbers over the past few years have increased by 75% which is great news.

Anyway, after a good few days in the tank they said it would be okay to realise the turtle back into the wild and hopefully it will catch up with the rest of them.

Here is some pictures of all the work that they did and a big thank you to Linda for texting me so I could see this wonderful creature and of course to all the work the guys did to make it better.

Taking the rope off

Its flipper all swollen

The vet doing her stuff

What a creature

In the van to the pier

On the boat and out to sea to be realised back into the wild

GoPro footage of it swimming away. What a result.

Some good things do happen in this world

Cape Verde Shearwater

While I was in Cape Verde at the end of March this year I decided on another boat trip in the hope of seeing some whales or dolphins but it was never the outcome.

What I did see was a few shearwaters flying past the boat and I asked the skipper if he could change his course and try and follow the same track as the shearwaters. He kindly did and as we got a little further away we saw a few more and they seemed to be feeding.

As we got closer and closer we did not just see a few but lots and lots. A quick guess, I would say there was about 100 birds in total.

What a sight and even the skipper was a happy fella and even commented that he had never seen as many. Happy Days.

There was even a Brown Booby having a look to see what all the fuss was about.

I was a wee bit excited to be honest (not like me) and they are beautiful seabirds too.

Later in the trip we saw two fisherman in their boat with two shearwaters beside them and they did not have a care in the world about these birds. I suppose its a bit like me with the Puffins as you see them all the time so it becomes the norm... No not really, they just did not care at all and why would they be, as they are just trying to make a living at fishing.

Red-Billed Tropicbird

I grabbed a quick weeks holiday before the season really gets going, and I took myself across to Cape Verde once again.

Over the last few years I have been lucky to meet some really nice people and got to know some good little places to go to bird and a few boat trips thrown in for good measure. Sorry I need my sea fix wherever I go.

This holiday highlight was the Red-Billed Tropicbird, now I'm not saying that's all I saw, but it was a lifer for me and I could not stop smiling about it.

This beautiful white bird glided throw the sky using the wind to its advantage, with its long tail sparkling in the midday sun, and its red bill sticking out like a saw thumb, boy it was just jaw dropping. As I watched the bird do fly byes past me I noticed not just one bird but 12. As you might think I was a happy lad and you would be to if you had not seen on before. Even if you are not a birder, you can't help yourself but admire these birds.

We also noticed where they were nesting on the cliff face of this small mountain which was good to see and they seemed to be very happy there too. It was sheltered from the wind and it was close to the sea where it is perfect feed for them, and I am told by the local fisherman that they love flying fish and there is an abundant of them in the water's around their nesting site. Perfect bird, at a perfect site, on a perfect day. What more could I ask for.....

Well as it happens we also saw an Osprey catch a fish and take it back to it's nest, two Greater Hoope-Larks playing beside the car and as we looked towards to sea we saw 10 Common Dolphins and 10 Pilot Whales feeding.

What a day.....

If you are going to Cape Verde or thinking about it then have a look here for accommodation. www.capeverde-apartment.com and if you are wanting a good lad to take you out to the local hot spots, where you can see the Tropicbirds then have a look here. www.explorecv.com its under construction at the moment but you can find him on facebook or twitter.

Here we go

Well, the new season is upon us and we are all ready to rock and roll.

We have had the MCA on board the boats doing our out of water inspections. This is where they check the hulls to see that they are free of damage, check the outlet valves to make sure they are in good working order and other bits and bobs and if everything is good then we wait for them to return for the in water inspection.
   
After the out of water inspection is done we arrange for them to return and check the boat when its back in the water. During this stage they check to see that she not leaking anywhere and go through all the safety checks. We have to go through every valve to make sure they are ok. Check the engines to see that they are working fine and so on and so on. Sometimes this can go on for hours and hours but that all depends on your boat and if they are training someone too.

Sometimes I think to myself, why would they want to look at the hull or check our engines, because if there was a hole in the hull or the engines were not working properly I would not even go to sea myself never mind take passengers out, but I suppose they have to do their jobs and make sure everything thing is ok for our safety and most of all our passengers, and when they are happy and you have done all the jobs they have asked you to do, then we are ready to go for the season.

There were a couple of things we need to do but only new changes to their rules which is totally fine.

So that's it.... After all the jobs are done we are good to go and boy I'm ready for it. It has been a very long and hard winter this year and I'm pleased to put the paint brush down and get back out on the water to where I love and belong.

Sorry but the pictures are off my mobile and they are not the best quality.

Saving the Seal.

On Wednesday morning I received a call from my friend Andrew Smith, asking if I was down the harbour and if I was, could I give him a hand for 15 minutes.

No problem at all I said, so off I went to meet him.

He was beside the gun powder hut which is just the south side of the harbour and he was with a young grey seal pup.

The wind was blowing a gale and he could not rescue the seal as his bag kept on blowing away. He showed me what to do and then he put his gloves on and picked up a towel ready to grab the seal and then we could get it into the bag.

The young seal was not going to get into the bag in a hurry but Andrew did a cracking job and I quickly had the bag ready and we got the seal in.

Andrew quickly weighted the seal as he did not want to stress the seal anymore than he had too, and off we went back along the rocks to his car, where he would take it home and put it into a cage for its own safety.

A little while later a medic from the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, who is also a vet from St Clair's in Blyth arrived. Andrew was keen to learn a bit more, so the vet showed him how to drip feed the seal and take its temperature.

The young seal was feed some fluids, its temperature was ok, but they waited until the tide was high and went to Monks House with a local Cubs Group, Jane Lancaster (who also is a medic) and released the young seal back into the wild.

Later I was told they called it "Rocky"

I would like to thank Andrew for letting me help him and to all of the rest of the guys who saved this young seals life. I will let the pictures do the rest...

Andrew battling the wind and ready to rescue the young seal.

You have to be very careful and very quick and this stage of the game so don't even try to do it yourself, just give the BDMLR a ring and they will do all the work.

 

As you can see the seal has its eyes covered up and it's mouth closed just in case it bites. Not the best picture. Sorry Andrew.

 

Bud was wondering what the hell was going on, but he still had to have a quick sniff at the bag.

Weighing the seal. 

 

At Andrew's garden with the vet inserting the tube to feed the seal.

 

Success and the seal was drip feed some fluids.

 

 

Temperature was taken

 

 

Andrew, Jane and two young helpers from the Cubs taking the seal down the beach to be released.

 

 

Go on Rocky son, you can do it.

 

 

 Success as Rocky heads out to sea and back to the Farne Islands.

Top job guys.

 

  You can find Andrew Smith on www.facebook.com or if you see a seal and you think its needs help contact BDMLR but please don't waste their time as its all voluntary work they do.  

 

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Little Egret

I received a call on Sunday from a friend asking me if I could come down the harbour as he had seen a bird that he was not sure about.

When I arrived I saw a Little Egret in the harbour feeding. This is a first for me in the harbour. We do get them around the area but in the harbour was a nice little tick for a Sunday morning.

We watched it for a good while and it was twisting and stamping its feet in the shallow waters around the rocks, then all of a sudden it grabbed something to eat. Great to watch.

They are beautiful birds and it brightened up a gloomy Sunday morning.