Mark's Wildlife and Adventures Blog

We all had a nice sleep and i woke up first and waited for the other 4 in the room to wake up, interesting snores and mutterings i heard lol! We got dressed and went down to have breakfast and Rex the person in charge of the activities explained to us what we will be doing today. :

View of breakfast table we laid.



We are going to explore a local Cave, i have never been in one before and was a bit cautious of taking my camera with me so i let Carol use hers as she has one of those cheap ones so the photos you will see are the ones she took. Here are a few photos of the journey up to the Cave, which was about 15 minutes drive east of Bendrigg Lodge.

I love the scenic countryside of Cumbria Lake District.





Here we are posing by the bus before we walked down to the cave in our caving gear. (it was a cold day but the gear we had on felt rather hot!)



We were glad the weather improved slightly, a cloudy cold dry day in November is a good day p here. The cave was safe to explore so off we went.

Our bus as we climbed the hill.



Rex briefing us before we entered the cave and showing us how to use the head light and what to do incase something happens.



Views of in the cave, i really enjoyed it, was so much fun to explore and i was careful not to lose my footing in the pebbly ground as there was water running everywhere.



Some unusual rock formations inside the cave, this one looked like a wave. This is created by water dripping down over hundreds of years! very interesting and fascinating.



Rex told us some fascinating facts about this cave, it was once used as a church and legend has it that a Giant used to live here and come out and scare everyone unintentinally as he was lonely and wanted company so went looking for normal sized humans but they obviously ran away from him!

We went through a deeper part where there was a waterfall and as i jumped in, it came up to my waist! and it was freeeeeezing! but as i had the safety gear on it wasnt too bad. It was so exciting and we all enjoyed it.

It wasnt long before we went back out again, i was amazed at how we knew how to get back, it almost looks like you are lost but if you only go in a little way like we did its not hard to get out again and this cave is a *tame cave*

Out we go.



When we got back to the bus we had hot chocolate and cakes to warm ourselves up and take the boots off and we went back to the lodge to shower and dry off and warm up for lunch, what a brilliant morning we were having.

After lunch i went onto the balcony and took a few photos, it was a bit cloudy damp day but it is November and we are up north.

Sheep in nearby field.



In the afternoon we all had a go on the Zipwire, this was really fun and some of us were nervous but after having a first try we all fell in love with it! The photos didnt come out too well because of the lighting conditions but a few came out. Here is me on the Zipwire.

Waiting to jump.



Then in style i lept off the ledge and it felt so cool and its good it stops you before you hit the end lol!

No i have not been hanged!



We did this all afternoon and dd a bit of Archery too which was fun and learning how to do archery safely too was important.

Just before dinner Rex showed us the indoor climbing wall which we will do the next day and it looked really exciting. Here is a photo of us, i must have been conferring with a group member as the photo shows lol!



After dinner which was really nice roast chicken and crumble for desert, i took a photo of the area that we were in, its very nice and i spotted Bendrigg in the lower middle of the map. It was a fun challenge to find it hehe.



We went to the Sensory Room to watch a film in the evening, we chose to watch Kung Fu Panda and it was a great film. There were big beanbags to lay on and the younger ones kept nicking my one

After the film it was time for bed again, we had such a great time today and we were tired afterwards and settled down for another relaxing sleep.

More to come in part 3! Cave photos Carols camera, rest - my fuji camera. Hope you enjoyed that folks i certainly did.

Hi i have been away on an exciting trip up north to Cumbria I have never been north of Manchester so was an exciting new thing for me! We did lots of activities like Caving, Canoeing, Rock Climbing and Abseiling and many more! Here is a nice scene from the restaurant during a brief sunny period on the Sunday we were there.



Beautiful isnt it! It was mostly cloudy and sometimes wet but it is November and up north of course, the South had a severe battering. We will come again in Summer 2011, i will post more of the trip later hope you enjoyed the preview folks.

Well i caught this photo of a Virgin 747-400 and the Waning Moon in one shot yesterday at Gatwick Airport



It was a perfect day and i recently got my sensor cleaned so i got sharper photos. Here is another portrait of this Norwegian Carriers tail.



Then later on i caught this Crow making a daring pass infront of a plane!



Last one, Emirates 777-300ER, these ones always impress me.



Short video i did of the action.



Hope you enjoyed that

My College friend visited me yesterday and we had a great day, we also took Benjie for a walk round Hotham Park and i took several photos of Squirrels. I didnt spend too long obviously but got a few nice photos here.



I did notice the sign on not feeding the Squirrels and Crows at the mini railway which we went on, i was gonna take a photo of it but thought i better not while people were looking, will do another day probably. I can see a little understanding of it, they want people to feed them less because of overcrowding and there are no natural enemies around to naturally reduce numbers.



The alternative is mass culling a lot of Squirrels and Crows but there was a large debate saying that this would be rather cruel and i think so too! But maybe it will not be permanent and just let this Winter deal with weaker animals or make them find new homes further afield.



For the Crows this is probably ok they can fly but if the Squirrels want to do this they have to cross the busy A259 which runs alongside the northern end of the park, unless they are clever and can jump over it too one patch of trees to the other path (where i work) This might cause more problems for the University in the long run if they decide to settle down here and pick rubbish from skips.



I would have thought, maybe a mass relocation of the Squirrels would be best although this might cost a lot, rather than loads of possible roadkills due to them leaving for more food, maybe they will think of this. I will take a photo of the sign soon (its just a piece of A5 paper with a pin lol!)

Me and Rosie had fun walking Benjie around Hotham Park and its getting very Autumnal now, nearly Winter as i suppose it will look like after the very windy wet conditions of today.

Hope you enjoyed that folks, i do hope they sort something out but i guess they have to be cruel to be kind but i would think of theres overcrowding, they should use relocation rather than starvation.