The Wilden Marsh Blog
A nature conservation blog about the fauna and flora of Wilden Marsh Nature Reserve and Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Lower Stour Valley, Worcestershire, England.
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I shot this image earlier, an hour before sunset, whilst checking the cattle. The sky looked heavy, like a deluge might descend on the marsh at any moment, but it didn’t happen. The heronry was unusually quiet. Shining a torch on the bottom of the pond revealed a carpet of stationary toads waiting patiently for darkness. Shining a torch over the pond at 9pm would most likely light-up many hundred pairs of… Read More
Sunrise: 06.39 Sunset: 07.46 The toads arrived at North Pond yesterday. I checked out the pond on Wednesday, but no toads. They were 22 days earlier last year.
Sunrise: 07.17 Sunset: 05.30 I walked over to North Pond this evening on a toad hunt, but they hadn’t yet arrived for their annual mating fest. At some point over the next 2 – 3 weeks I expect the pond to be churning with writhing, mating common toads. Within minutes of arriving home from the marsh I was out again, taking Spike for his evening walk in Hoo Wood. My night-time photography… Read More
Sunrise 06.41 am Sunset: 05.59 pm
8th March 2012: It was a beautiful moonlit night yesterday, but this evening the full moon was hidden by clouds. I should have visited the marsh last night, but I didn’t – I went tonight. I had three things on my mind: toads, otters and foxes. At 7 pm, I was walking alongside Hoo Brook. The wood was lit up by the amber lights of Hoo Brook Industrial Estate, and the two powerful halogen floodlights sited… Read More
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