Year of the Biscuit

Hello 2023, and hello again blog. It has been a minute. It already feels good to be writing and sharing again, after an unplanned hiatus. 2022 was a tough year for a variety of reasons that I won’t go into, but there was one wonderful update to my life: a sweet and mischievous little kitten called Biscuit.

In the summer of 2022 a friend of B’s announced that unfortunately, his cat had accidentally been knocked up, despite his best efforts to prevent it. B, knowing my intense adoration of cats, immediately volunteered to take a kitten off their hands. I can say with full honesty I think its been the single best decision he’s ever made!

I mean, just look at that little face!

But although she looks like an angelic little baby (and she is), she is also a rascal. From attacking people’s hair to climbing the curtains, she finds new (mostly destructive, sometimes painful) ways to have fun everyday.

I can’t stay mad at her when she’s being naughty though. She’s just too damn cute.

She’s almost 6 months old now. She enjoys nice long cat naps, treats, climbing up as high as she can get, chasing and catching anything that moves, and if you have anything with even the slightest bit of butter on it she will relentlessly hound you for a lick.

She’s also an expert at pouncing, in my opinion.

She has been a light in what was a rough year, and every day she makes me smile. When I’m having stressful days at work, I now just take a break and fuss her soft tummy for 10 minutes. Instant mood booster.

So world, meet Biscuit! The best kitten ever (not biased or anything).

I can’t wait to watch her grow into an adult this year and cause more chaos.

a Red Kite for your Sunday

Went for a lovely wander today at a place called Barford Wood and Meadows, which is a small-ish nature reserve managed by the Wildlife Trust in Northamptonshire. It is made up of meadows and a portion of woodland, and it used to form part of the local Rockingham forest. It was quite difficult to find, I will admit, as there isn’t much in the way of parking, but we managed it! We saw a fair amount of wildlife, including some fabulous Red Kites, which were re-introduced to Rockingham forest in the 1990s after having been driven almost to extinction in England, and are now thankfully flourishing.

These birds can have a wingspan of approximately up to 2m! They mainly eat carrion and small mammals. It’s amazing to see them soaring overheard, as we don’t get very large birds of prey in England.

Here are a few other pics from the walk:

We also saw a Green Woodpecker, which was very cool. We did get some pics but it was very far away, so quite blurry!

snaps from Devon

It’s been a while since I last posted! I took a bit of a break as I had a lot going on and didn’t want to force myself to post for no reason. But now that the weather is getting better and the spring flowers are blooming and the baby animals are flourishing, I’m feeling more inspiration to get outside and explore again. On that note, B and I went on holiday a few weeks ago to Bideford, in Devon, and had a lovely time. We did a lot of walking, bird-watching, and chilling, so here are a few of the snaps from the trip!

Saunton Sands beach, which was almost deserted, huge and windy.
Oystercatchers having a good feast.
Sand dunes.

Sand dune bunnies! They were everywhere.

More Oystercatchers at the Taw estuary.
Graffiti boat
Stonechat.
Chaffinch I think.
Walking along the coastal path to Clovelly.

January birds

Hello hello. It has been a pretty cold and miserable January so far in my part of England but there have been occasional sunny and mild days, and I’m glad to say that B and I have been able to get out for some walks in our local area. We are attempting to spot some otters which have been sighted in the river that runs through our town, however we haven’t had any luck so far on that count. We have seen many other birds though! Just yesterday we saw a Kestrel in the local park, and we also saw the Peregrine Falcon pair on the church again.

According to someone more knowledgeable than me, this one is a female. They both seemed to be having a good preening session, hence why the female has some fluff on her beak still!
We also saw a Kingfisher on the riverbank. I love seeing that flash of blue go past!
We encountered several Robins, of varying roundness and fluffiness.
This one genuinely might be the roundest Robin I’ve ever seen.
So cute!
Lots of blackbirds around at the moment too!
And we were treated to a lovely sunrise last week as well. 🙂

That’s all for now!

a few lovely books from 2021

Last year I wrote a post about the books I’d liked reading the most over the year, and I’m continuing that tradition this year! 2021 was quite a busy year for me, with getting a new full time job and moving house, and trying to cope with all the changes stemming from COVID. Nevertheless, I tried to read a few books. Admittedly I didn’t get off to a great start, as the first book I read I ended up not finishing. However, I did read some absolute gems last year and I’m excited to share them with anyone reading this.

5. The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

This book is very strange and quite unlike any book I’ve read before, but I did enjoy it. It’s set on an island in the Caribbean with a small fishing community. In particular it follows the life of a poor yet laid-back fisherman named David, who rescues a captured mermaid and tries to keep her safe and hidden from her captors. The novel mainly details his account of his time with her and the peculiar relationship that develops between them, written in his native dialect, as well as giving her point of view and that of others. I would say it’s not a typical Disney fairytale type mermaid love story; although it is clearly imaginative and magical it also mixes in gritty realism and mature themes, sometimes in deliberately crude ways. Overall I thought the characters were interesting and that the book was well written and easy to read. I also enjoyed the vivid imagery of the setting and depictions of Caribbean culture and folklore.

4. A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

I find Greek mythology and history fascinating, so this book really appealed to me from the get-go. A Thousand Ships imagines how the progression and impacts of the Trojan war affected women of the time, giving a refreshing portrayal of the war and its consequences from their eyes rather than the usual male heros. It is divided into chapters which give the perspectives of different women on both sides of the conflict, both mortal and otherwise. It is a tragic, enchanting, witty, bittersweet, and intriguing novel. I found the author’s writing style elegant, romantic, and pleasant to read, and I thought the characters had good depth despite most of them getting only one chapter each to tell their respective story. However I will say that by the end of the novel I didn’t feel overly affected or touched by it. I did enjoy the ride though.

3. The Fifth Season – Book 1 in The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

Another foray into fantasy. I chose this novel because I wanted an epic fantasy story, but not the usual medieval Tolkien-type world with magical kingdoms and elves, dragons, princesses and warriors, which is often the case for this genre. I got my wish, as The Fifth Season is a wonderfully creative story set on a hostile Earth where civilisation-destroying events (such as major earthquakes, volcano eruptions, tsunamis, etc) happen frequently, making human life and the progression of the human race incredibly hard. To make things more interesting, there are humans who have strange abilities, for which they are horrendously persecuted but also exploited. It is a bleak apocalyptic survival story, giving a gripping portrayal of human savagery and ruthlessness in desperate times, yet it captured me completely. The characters are believable and deeply interesting, and the strange, cruel, and increasingly mysterious world that Jemisin has so artfully built is exactly the type of unique fantasy world I was looking for.

2. The Obelisk Gate – Book 2 in The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

….so given how much I enjoyed the first book by Jemisin, I was highly eager to read book 2 in this series! I would say that in all honesty I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the first book, as the pacing was a bit slower with this one and one of the new main characters wasn’t particularly likeable to me, however I did still really like the book as a whole. It definitely keeps you interested by elaborating on some of the more mysterious aspects of the fantasy world and I am SO excited to read the third book and see how the story plays out.

1. Circe by Madeline Miller

My absolute favourite book of last year and probably now one of my top 3 books I’ve ever read. I don’t even know if I can find words to describe how much I adored this book. Another novel about Greek mythology, this one tells the story of Circe, the somewhat pitiful and outcast daughter of the God Helios, who ends up banished to a remote island, where she lives alone but meets many famous figures from Greek mythology whilst she cultivates her powers. The first thing to say about this book is that it is SO beautifully written. Every sentence by Miller was a delight to read. Circe’s journey and growth was also utterly captivating and despite being a witch-goddess of legend, her emotional struggles felt very relatable and authentic. It covers many themes like suffering, sorrow, loneliness, love, romance, power, vengeance, cruelty, anger, healing, freedom, and finding yourself. I did not want this book to end. Outstanding storytelling.

the fluffiest Peregrine Falcon

Can it be anything other than a lucky sign to spot a Peregrine Falcon so soon in the new year? I don’t think so! This one and its breeding partner live on the roof of a local church and this is the first time we’ve been there with camera and binoculars when one of them has been hanging around. We stood around and took a few snaps, watching it sit and preen itself on its perch. As you can see it was rather breezy today, hence why it looks like a big scruffy fluffball.

Love those fabulous stripes!

happy new year

Wishing a happy new year to anyone reading this and good health, happiness, peace and prosperity to everyone. 🙂

I was supposed to be going to a house party but that fell through, so B and I ended up staying home, having a few drinks and watching Nicolas Cage beat murderous animatronic puppets to death. Seriously. It’s a movie called Willy’s Wonderland and, honestly, although it is arguably a terrible, terrible movie in so many ways, it was still hilarious and I fully recommend it. I’m ALWAYS down for shenanigans with Nicolas Cage. Particularly if it involves puppets.

In other news, we haven’t been out much in nature due to the rubbish weather and being busy over the Christmas period. When we have been out on short nature rambles we haven’t seen much of interest either, which has been a bummer. Crossing my fingers for either the weather getting nicer, or getting snow/frost so I can at least get some cool wintery pics.

Here’s a few miscellaneous pics from the last month or so anyway.

Particularly misty day at a local reservoir.
One highlight of December was cat-sitting for our friend. He was a delightful guest, despite attacking the sofa at every opportunity and stealing food.
Red Kite. Probably the best photo I’ve gotten of one so far.
A line of Starlings on our neighbours aerial.
Activity at the feeder still going strong! The Jackdaws love the monkey nuts we leave out for them.

Looking forward to seeing what 2022 brings!