The following morning I arrived back on the reserve along with Kath, Shannon, Erin and Thea! It was great to see so many folk about, all searching for wildlife within their own area of expertise. We joined Sam Griffin for his reptile walk. The weather was not particularly warm, so we were not overly optimistic that we would see any reptiles! A few people (including Shannon) saw Common Lizards, but Adders seemed understandably elusive! However Sam kept searching and amazingly located an Adder. This was incredible! This was Shannon, Erin’s and Thea’s first Adder and they got incredible views!

Adder – Close-up!

Thea & Erin getting close to the Adder

The Adder!

I tried to get some pics of the Adder as it snaked away, but it was a bit too quick!

Adder….going!

Adder Art!

Kath had not seen an Adder for nearly twenty years and this was my first from around ten years! Awesomeness describes this encounter pretty succinctly!  I used to see Adders regularly as a child growing up in Cornwall and now they are a real scarcity. The species decline is mainly due to habitat fragmentation and subsequent in breeding! Sad times for wildlife, but this encounter was something that my children will cherish for a very long time. So there is hope! Huge thanks is due to Sam for making it possible for kids and adults alike see these amazing creatures!
The girls had great fun exploring the habitat to see what they could find!

More exploring!

Thea exploring!

Thea and Shannon!

Froghopper found by Shannon!

Great to see Shannon having the confidence to show people what she had found!

We returned back to the Bioblitz Hub to help Gary empty the moth traps. There was a nice selection of moths, with Poplar Hawkmoth being a great crowd pleaser!

Poplar Hawkmoth

Erin and the Poplar Hawkmoth

We had to leave the bioblitz for a few hours as the girls had an appointment at the hairdressers! However we were soon back!

Thea and her Emperor!

Thea and her Emperor!

Thea and her Emperor!

Erin having here face painted!

Erin having here face painted!

Erin and her Tawny Owl!

Shannon and her Adder!

I love that my girls get so excited about wildlife, I hope they always do!

Shannon & Thea – Treehugging!

Erin & Thea Treehugging!

This was a fantastic event, one that not only furthered my own knowledge but also (and more importantly) really engaged with children!

The post Finglandrigg Wood Bioblitz appeared first on The Inked Naturalist.

Once through the second gate we were soon enjoying views of the enigmatic and scarce wildflower Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia). This unique looking plant has a preference for shady places and calcareous soil. Apart from Gait Barrows I have only ever seen this species at Loggerheads in North Wales!

Herb Paris

Herb Paris

Gait Barrows is a fantastic reserve that is not only home to some specialist limestone pavement species but also some commoner species that we do not get the opportunity to see very often back home! Speckled Wood are always a delight to see as is the beautifully camouflaged Brimstone Butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni)!

Brimstone – very leaf-like

One thing that is very evident as you walk along the woodland edges is the presence of large ant species. The species present is commonly known as the Red Wood Ant (Formica rufa) and builds the familiar mounds seen along the track sides.

Red Wood Ants entering the nest!

Erin investigating the Red Wood Ant Nest!

The flora of Gait  Barrows is very rich, with some very scarce wildflowers present. Lilly of the Valley (Convallaria majalis) is a species present in good numbers on this reserve. I had only previously seen this species at the Linn of Tummel in Perthshire!

Lilly of the Valley

Lilly of the Valley

Common Rockrose (Helianthemum nummularium) is another wildlower that was very much in evidence as we walked around the reserve.

Common Rockrose

The Lady’s Slipper Orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) is one of the UK’s rarest orchids; until very recently there was only one spike at a heavily guarded site in Yorkshire. However thanks to huge efforts by several organisations a re-introduction programme has been implemented and so far it has been very successful. Gait Barrows is one of the re-introduction sites of this beautiful orchid and the only site where this species is viewable to the public currently. I must admit I was astounded to see so many spikes of this orchid in flower!

Lady’s Slipper Orchid

Lady’s Slipper Orchid

Lady’s Slipper Orchid

Lady’s Slipper Orchid

It is great to have a conservation success story to tell Erin. She was amazed by these awesome plants and enjoyed photographing them!

Erin enjoying the Orchids!

Erin Exploring!

We also enjoyed nice views of Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages), another species of butterfly that we seldom see locally.

Dingy Skipper

There were a few day flying moths on the wing including the spectacular Speckled Yellow (Pseudopanthera macularia) and the very scarce Anania funebris; unfortunately both avoided my camera lens as did the only Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene) we encountered! However the delightful Duke of Burgundy (Hamearis lucina) performed well. We only saw three of this declining species, but one individual at least gave us fantastic views!

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

Duke of Burgundy

The birdlife was quite quiet, but we were treated to views of a family group of Marsh Tits!

After a visit it Warton Crag we finished the day at Island Mere (Leighton Moss) where we had nice views of Marsh Harrier and Sparrowhawk. Reed Warblers and Sedge Warblers were also very vocal!

It had been another great day exploring wildlife in great company. Erin’s beaming smile summed up everything perfectly!

The post More awesome wildlife – Gait Barrows NNR appeared first on The Inked Naturalist.

These events have not only brought Turkish citizens of different religions and  backgrounds to meet together for a common goal, but have also inspired some amazing creativity. Art is powerful – here are some examples of Turkish Revolution inspired artwork  (via https://www.facebook.com/OccupyTurkeyGraffiti)

State run media showed a documentary about Penguins instead of covering the protests – The Penguin has become the symbol of the protests!

At the time of writing there is talk of a referendum on the fate of Gezi Park. This smells very like a distraction from the bigger issues and I doubt anyone would trust this government to facilitate this fairly. Let us not forgot that this government is run my the Prime Minister who threatened to hang the protesters from the very trees they are trying to protect!

The following YouTube clip (English Subtitles) shows a song that was inspired by the protests and of course by the disgusting response from their own Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-kbuS-anD4

Regular visitors to this website will already be aware of what this government is capable of both in a humanitarian and ecological way! This government sold of all the countries water ways to private corporations and is currently allowing over 3,700 dams and hydroelectric power plants to be developed across the country.  This will not only destroy the livelihood of over 2,000,000 people but also destroy 185 of 305 key biodiversity areas across Turkey. All these developments are being rushed forward without any social impact assessments or independent Environmental Impact Assessments. What is more the Turkish government has responded to over 100 law suits against them by changing the laws! These actions are in my opinion very obvious signs of an authoritarian government!

Birdlife Internationals partner in Turkey, Doğa Derneği is an organisation I love and respect. This conservation organisation is one I have worked closely with and raised much needed funds for via my Turkish Conservation Initiatives. They have just released their Taksim Manefesto. It is beautifully poignant and poetic. Here it is in it’s entirety:

We won’t give our roots.

To you, the world is not a beautiful place as it is. Your goal is to reconstruct it.
We are the people of nature. We love the world as it is, just because it exists.

You separated science from conscience. The things that you want us to believe are all dead. What is right for us is the voice of our conscience and the nature itself, not the science whose conscience and nature were killed.
You like to get the patent of a seed and sell it; we like to watch it shoot. In your dreams, there are skyscrapers and shopping malls, in our dreams, trees and nature.
You believe that the rivers flow in vain and build dams on them. We see them as our life energy. For you, life is in closed rooms and on TV. We like the squares, art, our folkloric dances, zeybek, halay, horon, and holding each other tightly.
You need to conquer, win wars, make people kneel before you in order to be happy, while our home is the whole world. We are happy as long as we spin and get scattered with it together. All of nature’s colors are an indispensable part of us. We came from nature, we will return to nature.
How strange it is that, despite all these differences, you cannot detach yourself from us. You owe the canonized water gushing from your pipes to the rivers that you said were flowing in vain. The pepper used to make the pepper gas you sprayed at us was grown in the villages you tried to close down. If the parks, forests and trees did not exist, you wouldn’t have even one breath to take. As you can see, in reality, there is no you, or we.

And Taksim is not just Taksim anymore.
Taksim is all of Anatolia, Hasankeyf, Loç, Alakır, Sinop, Black Sea region, Burdur.
Taksim is the whole world, the Amazon, the Ganges, the poles, and Africa.

And we who speak…. We are not us anymore. We are the very world. We are here for you as much as for ourselves, even though you cover trees with cement, humans with smoke and conscience with power.

Your roots are in fact our colors!

We won’t give our colors!
We won’t give your roots!

The popular Turkish band ‘Duman’ have also written a song in support of the revolution:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IALDK63fhkw

To find out what you can do to help the Turkish people, please see the following link:

http://whatcanidoforturkey.blogspot.co.at/

The post Turkish Spring – Creativity with Resistance! appeared first on The Inked Naturalist.

Kath was also participating in this event as was her cousin Ali; however, being that they are both significantly faster and fitter than me, they were running in different waves to me! It was a very warm sunny day, we knew this would make this adventure even tougher! We arrived at the event a good hour or so before the start, this gave us time to soak up the amazing atmosphere! I was really excited about running this race, weirdly not feeling any nerves at all! It was great to see the elite runners start. These guys a very quick, amazing that they can sustain the fast pace of the duration of their 11k route!

Before too long we were ready to start, the first two waves had left, the starting  horn blasted and we were off! The route consists of two laps of an 11km distance.  It started out along the old Keswick Railway line, crosses the River Greta over the railway bridge at Brundholme before turning off towards Wescoe. The course then climbs the hill over the northern shoulder of Latrigg Fell before descending back to Keswick along Cumbrian Way and through Whinny Brow forest to the finish. The first lap started reasonably well, I was running at a comfortable pace. I tried not to over step this as I knew I had a long way to go! I ran the first section of the first hill until the gradient became two much. Then I joined the other participants doing a reasonable walking pace. After the first long hill there was a nice downhill section where I let rip (well quick for me anyway)! After this was the absolute brutal climb up and over the Northern shoulder of Latrigg Fell. The climb was hard, but the views were spectacular! It was at this point I realised that my time was not important (I knew I was way off my ‘hoped for time’) and I would just keep going and enjoy it!

Spectacular Views!

After the massive climb it was a time for the fantastic downhill section towards Keswick. I really enjoyed this (despite my niggling ankle)! There was one sneaky steep climb before returning to the event field to complete the first lap. Eleven kilometers done, and it was time to do it all again! I set off along the old railway track and was feeling surprisingly good. However my ankle support was digging into my foot and and causing me major problems. I realised I would have to remove it if I was going to be able to continue. It took me a few minutes to do this, but once done I continued  on. Stopping really broke me, and even though I was on a flat section I found it really tough to run. For the next mile or so I kept going my walking and running sections alternately. This was not in the plan and I still had a long way to go! I soon hit the first climb again and it was definitely tougher the second time around! The shortish downhill climb came as a nice relief as I was able to pick up my pace again. This was short-lived as the massive climb up over Latrigg Fell began! This was painful, my legs were burning and the heat was pretty bad! I continued on and was relieved to get running again on the pleasant downhill section. The sneaky incline at the end further brutalised my legs before heading down towards the finish at the event field. That finish line was great to see and being cheered across the line was fantastic. I was greeted by Kath and Ali as I crossed the line, both who had ran the course in the expected super fast times!

Me: Body broken but happy!

It was a tough and brutal course, but I had survived it! I was pleased that I had completed my first ever trail run without any real problems! The event was fantastic, it was great to be pushing my body to its limits in such amazing countryside. I definitely think Trail Running is something I would like to do more of! What is not to like about running in the countryside!

People that do Trail runs seem a real pleasant type; always encouraging fellow competitors to keep going. During this event I met Amy Affleck who was great company on those steep hills! Amy was doing this run to raise funds for a trip to Port Elizabeth in  South Africa to coach netball to disadvantaged children. You can check her fundraising page out here: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/fV08d Thank you Amy; you kept me pushing on over those killer hills!

So what challenges lie ahead for me now? Apart from a few half marathons coming up, I also have my sights on a 50k trail run in October…….

The post Training For Turkey: My first Trail Run – The Karrimor Great Trail Challenge! appeared first on The Inked Naturalist.

Kath was running with Shannon and Erin, I was really hoping Erin would PB as she was a bit disappointed she didn’t on her last attempt!

It was going to be a warm run, something I’m going to have to get used to for my walk across Turkey! Once the run started I pushed myself for the first mile and ran it in just over 8 minutes. This was very fast for me, in fact my fastest mile ever! The following three laps were (not surprisingly) quite as quick. I was though really pleased to have run the course 20 seconds faster than my previous personal best!

It was really good to see the beaming smile on Erin’s face after she got a PB as well!

Huge thanks is dues as always to the organisers and volunteers that make Carlisle Parkrun happen!

Wednesday night saw me heading to Carlisle Racecourse with my support crew (Kath and the girls) for the Carlisle Tri Club 10k. I was hoping this one would go a bit better than last weeks 10k in Cockermouth! My aim was to run sub-sixty minutes. It was a deceptively tough course with some long up-hill gradients; though nowhere near as hard as last weeks Lambfoot Loop! I pushed myself through the course and ran at what is a good steady pace for me! I must admit, my legs were very tired by the time I approached mile six. At the six mile marker I was met my Steve Claringbold (one of the guys that organises Carlisle Parkrun) who had already finished the 10k, but had come back to encourage me for the final few hundred yards of the race. This was fantastic and I was able to pick up my pace to the finish line! This was such an nice thing for Steve to do, so massive thanks are due!

I could not believe it when I checked my watch and I had run the distance in under 57 minutes, this was two minutes faster than any previous 10k I had run and over five minutes faster than lst weeks 10k! I was very happy! It was great to get the support of Kath, Shannon, Erin and Thea! What an epic night!

The next big challenge comes on Sunday, when I will be participating in the Karrimor Challenge 22k Trail Run at Keswick! It’s going to be brutal

The post Training for Turkey – An update PB and PB! appeared first on The Inked Naturalist.

My moth trap has been very busy! The warmer weather has increased the range and numbers of moths visiting my garden and my newly adapted trap has been nicely busy! For those not familiar with moth trapping I should say that my ‘light trap’ catches moths live and they are all safely released once they have been identified! Here is a selection of the moths I have recorded here in the past few weeks!

Beautiful Golden Y (Autographa pulchrina)

Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella) – The larvae of this moth feed on honeycomb inside bee and wasp nests!

Buff Ermine ( Spilosoma luteum)

Clouded Silver (Lomographa temerata)

Common White Wave (Cabera pusaria)

Elephant Hawkmoth (Deilephila elpenor) and Poplar Hawk Moth (Laothoe populi)

Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica)

Narrow-winged Pug (Eupithecia nanata) – This heathland specialist was a nice surpise in my garden!

Puss Moth (Cerura vinula) – Having only caught one of these beauties during the whole of last year, it has been awesome to catch three individuals so far this year already!

Scorched Wing (Plagodis dolabraria) – Just awesome creatures!

Pale Prominent ( Pterostoma palpina) – What do you get if you cross a Rhinoceros with a stick…….

Lunar Thorn (Selenia lunularia)

Foxglove Pug (Eupithecia pulchellata)

It never ceases to amaze me, the range of moth species that are attracted to my garden. I have to admit getting very excited every time I set the trap up; it is always like Christmas the following morning checking the trap contents, for some exciting surprises! My daughters also love running the trap; the older two are getting pretty good at identifying some of the moths too!

The great community we have via the Garden Moth Challenge (http://gardenmothchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/) is also awesome! Great group of people and always willing to help with identification!

Last Sunday I went for a walk with Kath on Wedholme Flow NNR. This site is managed as a raised bog and is a pretty impressive place to visit! We didn’t see anything spectacular, but the scenery was worth the visit alone!

Wedholme Flow

Harestail Cotton-grass (Eriophorum vaginatum)

Common Cotton-grass (Eriophorum angustifolium)

Wedholme Flow

It was great to have my good friend and colleague Charlie Moores stay with us this week. Thea and I showed him one of our local nature reserves where we enjoyed superb views of Marsh Fritillaries. These butterflies are just stunning!

Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia)

Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia)

Marsh Fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia)

One of the most exciting observations we had was the simply exquisite diurnal moth, the Silver Hook (Deltote uncula). This is a scarce and localised species which of course made it even more exciting!

Silver Hook (Deltote uncula)

Silver Hook (Deltote uncula)

Silver Hook (Deltote uncula)

Silver Hook (Deltote uncula)

Silver Hook (Deltote uncula)

Thea locating lepidoptera!

What an awesome few days!

The View

So, suitabley refreshed after having experienced some amazing wildlife on my doorstep I am fully charged and ready for the fight to protect it!

The post Doorstep Wildlife appeared first on The Inked Naturalist.

Photo © Emin Yoğurtcuoğlu

This protest started on a small scale initially, but escalated after the Turkish police raided Taksim Square and set fire to protesters tents. This morning it was reported that over 40,000 protesters walked from the Asian side of Istanbul across the bridge to the European side to protest. The police led violence today has been shocking. It is reported that five people have died as a consequence of this. It seems that people in Turkey have had enough of the governments authoritarian disregard for communities and natural areas. The protests have spread across the country and the police violence has increased in these areas. It is estimated that 2,000,000 protesters are now at Taksim square! The government has tried to shut down internet connections across the country, making communications very difficult. There are gatherings across the globe in support of the Turkish people.

I should not be shocked my the Turkish Governments disregard for the people it should be looking after; after all the water ways developments have already been testament to that. However I am shocked that the government can allow these violent acts against the people they should be serving!

The post Turkish Revolution appeared first on The Inked Naturalist.

• 60% of the 3,148 UK species we assessed have declined over the last 50 years and 31% have declined strongly
• Half of the species assessed have shown strong changes in their numbers or range, indicating that recent environmental changes are having a dramatic impact on nature in the UK. Species with specific habitat requirements seem to be faring worse than generalist species
• Overall numbers have declined by 77% in the last 40 years, with little sign of recovery.
• Of more than 6,000 species that have been assessed using modern Red List criteria, more than one in 10 are thought to be under threat of extinction in the UK
• There is a lack of knowledge on the trends of most of the UK’s species. As a result, we can report quantitative trends for only 5% of the 59,000 or so terrestrial and freshwater species in the UK, and for very few of the 8,500 marine species. Much needs to be done to improve our knowledge.

You can read the summary here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/summary_tcm9-345844.pdf

You can read the full report here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/stateofnature_tcm9-345839.pdf

I was absolutely delighted when I heard that the RSPB were chairing a ‘tweet-a-thon’  featuring many of the non governmental organizations that had helped collate data for the report. This was a great opportunity for people to learn more about what was happening in the wider countryside and what people could do to help. For me, this engagement with people is absolutely vital to reverse the relentless decline of the UK’s wildlife. I have to say, I think it was brilliantly run and there was some fantastic information shared. You can see what was discussed on the following link: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23naturesintrouble

It was absolutely inspirational to see the various NGO’s working together for this common goal! One thing that came out of this event for me is that there is hope providing everyone pulls together! I thought it would be good to put together a list of each organisation that was involved along with some links to projects that you can help out with!

Jackdaw © Tristan Reid

The British Trust for Ornithology

• Website: http://www.bto.org/
• Volunteer Surveys:  http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/core-surveys
• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/_BTO

Amphibian and Conservation Trust

• Website: http://www.arc-trust.org/
• Volunteer Surveys: http://www.arc-trust.org/
• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ARC_Bytes

Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust

• Website: http://www.buglife.org.uk/
• Volunteer Surveys: http://www.buglife.org.uk/getinvolved/surveys
• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/Buzz_dont_tweet

Kew – Royal Botanic Gardens

• Website: http://www.kew.org/
• Volunteer Surveys: http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/index.htm
• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/kewgardens

Butterfly Conservation

• Website: http://butterfly-conservation.org/
• Volunteer Surveys: http://butterfly-conservation.org/110/recording-schemes.html
• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/savebutterflies

Peoples Trust for Endangered Species

• Website: http://www.ptes.org/
• Volunteer Surveys: http://www.ptes.org/index.php?cat=6
• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/PTES

Bumblebee Conservation Trust

• Website: http://bumblebeeconservation.org/
• Volunteer Surveys: http://bumblebeeconservation.org/get-involved/surveys
• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/bumblebeetrust

The Wildlife Trusts

• Website: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/
• How you can help: http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/how-you-can-help
• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/wildlifetrusts

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

• Website: http://www.rspb.org.uk
• Volunteer Surveys: http://www.rspb.org.uk/thingstodo/surveys/
• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/Natures_Voice

Pond Conservation

• Website: http://www.pondconservation.org.uk/
• Volunteer Surveys: http://www.pondconservation.org.uk/Surveys
• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/PondRiverStream

I hope that you will be able to get involved with some of these projects. Wildlife is in critical danger and really does need your help!

We can only protect our wildlife if we are prepared to make a stand!

The post #NaturesinTrouble – The Tweet-a-thon! appeared first on The Inked Naturalist.

• 60% of the 3,148 UK species we assessed have declined over the last 50 years and 31% have declined strongly
• Half of the species assessed have shown strong changes in their numbers or range, indicating that recent environmental changes are having a dramatic impact on nature in the UK. Species with specific habitat requirements seem to be faring worse than generalist species
• Overall numbers have declined by 77% in the last 40 years, with little sign of recovery.
• Of more than 6,000 species that have been assessed using modern Red List criteria, more than one in 10 are thought to be under threat of extinction in the UK
• There is a lack of knowledge on the trends of most of the UK’s species. As a result, we can report quantitative trends for only 5% of the 59,000 or so terrestrial and freshwater species in the UK, and for very few of the 8,500 marine species. Much needs to be done to improve our knowledge.

You can read the summary here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/summary_tcm9-345844.pdf

You can read the full report here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/stateofnature_tcm9-345839.pdf

This is very serious, the Turtle Dove is an iconic UK species that is on the verge on extinction, this will be followed by many more if things do not change rapidly. The very people who should be looking after the ecology of the UK are failing big style! Within the last few months our government has pushed forward a trial cull of badgers despite scientific evidence solidly stating that Bovine TB will likely increase as a result of these actions. Let us not forget that the Badger is a protected species in the UK (Protection of Badgers Act 1992) and let us also not forget that there is a vaccine available! It is also true that the Badgers contracted bTB from cattle in the first place, so this is the species we should be protecting and not planning to slaughter! Today the Environment Secretary Owen Paterson is reported in one of the broadsheets as saying that he will extend the cull nationwide (to at least 40 areas) and remove the protection status of the Badger. This will result in the slaughter of over 100,000 badgers across the UK. This is abhorrent, yet expected from the callous and heartless government. This is the same government who allows destruction of Buzzards and large scale slaughter of the amber listed Lesser Black-backed Gulls both to protect ‘shooting interests’!

European Badger © BadgerHero

This is the same government who voted against the ban on neonicotinoid pesticides (that have caused disastrous declines in bees), the same government that suggests that it is acceptable to develop on  nature reserves, the same government that thinks laws to protect rare species are ‘ridiculous’ and a burden on business and the same government that has attempted to downgrade education about our relationship with the natural environment. Something is very wrong with the ethics of this government and they are going to destroy what is not theirs to destroy. They have no right to ride rough shot over the countryside, this wildlife is of vital importance to everyone who exists!

It is my opinion that the current government has a far too close relationship with the NFU and the Shooting industry. So close that it smacks of corruption and certainly makes the positions of Owen Paterson and Richard Benyon untenable!

It is very clear to me that we are facing a war to protect our wildlife. We have to stand up and shout very loud that the destruction of ‘our’ wildlife is unacceptable and we will not allow it to happen. If you are sitting around doing nothing, you are part of the problem. You must act if you want to save the diversity of wildlife that we have remaining in this country.

So, I urge you all to write to you MP an lodge your concerns (You can write to your MP via this useful website: http://www.writetothem.com/). We must keep he pressure up, if you a twitter user then please also tell @RichardBenyonMP and @Number10Gov that you will not allow them to destroy the wildlife of this country (please use the hash tag #answersplease to enable a searchable flow).

If you care about wildlife, if you have a heart, if you have a soul; then you must act now!

There is a war on to protect our countryside, MAKE YOUR STAND!

The post The War on Wildlife – Make your Stand appeared first on The Inked Naturalist.

I feel very lucky to have great support from Kath always and I also feel very lucky to have Sam as a friend and co-runner! Sam is always really supportive when I am struggling (and when I am not). He is far quicker and far fitter than me, but is happy to plod along at my slower pace!

Looking back at this run, it ain’t that bad! I managed to run four miles and the first three were at a pretty reasonable pace……..it kind of fell apart after that!

Thursday arrived and we decided to try the same route again (with the add on to include a 10k distance). Temperatures were cooler and I was feeling pretty good. I wasn’t concerned about time, I just wanted to get around the route without any dramas! As we went along, I knew I was onto a reasonable pace, even though mile six was a real tough one. I was absolutely ecstatic when I realised I had run my fastest 10k ever! In the words of my Brother from another Mother (Jonny Rankin) I was ‘f’in pumped

Amazing how a bad run can make you feel so awful, yet a good run can make you feel awesome!  Sam’s encouragement (particularly on the last hill – the aptly named ‘Climb of Calamity’) certainly helped with this achievement! Looking at the stats, I am pretty pleased with my pace, especially considering Tuesdays disaster! I know I can go faster, but I need to work on my hills and leg strength! I’ll get there, there is no rush!

Today was Carlisle Parkrun day and despite the beginnings of a cold, I was really looking forward to it! Kath was running with Shannon (our ten year old daughter) and Karen (Kath’s sister) was running with (Erin our 8 year old daughter). I was running my own race as usual! Sam arrived and I stated that I was not aiming for a PB, I just wanted to enjoy it! As soon as the event started I knew that I had been lying through my teeth; I was going to run this as fast as my stumpy little legs would carry me! It was a warm morning, but I wasn’t going to be beaten by that again! I blasted the first mile in 8.21 minutes (the fastest mile I have ever ran)! The other two miles were a bit slower at 8.48 minutes and 9.05 minutes respectively. It was tough as hell as I pushed myself up the last hill to the finish line. I had brutalised my legs and lungs but knew that I must have PB’d again on this course!

Once I got home and looked at my stats I was really pleased to see that I had not only PB’d the course, but also on the distances of 5k, 1mile, 2 mile & 1k. I was one very happy Inked Naturalist!

I was really pleased to see Shannon & Karen had run a personal best and Erin had knocked a fair few seconds of her previous time! However the biggest accolade must go to Sam who is clearly part man and part machine; he knocked over a minute of his PB to run the course in an epic 23.50 minutes!

As usual massive thanks is due to the guys and girls who organise and marshal this awesome event!

The post Training for Turkey Run Update – From bad to awesome in a week! appeared first on The Inked Naturalist.