Favourite Wildlife Moments – Kirsty Jackson

It’s been a bit of a hard time for our wildlife over the last few weeks and my garden has been turned into giant bird feeding station. The upside of feeding the birds is that we get to sit back and admire them. My favourite wildlife moments are repeated every day throughout winter, alongside the birds, we are woken as the light begins to return to the countryside with the raucous chorus of rooks and starlings calling and freewheeling in the skies above.
To cheer ourselves up in these post-Christmas doldrums here are some of the favourite wildlife moments of 2009 from the fantastic staff, trustees, volunteers and members of Cumbria Wildlife Trust:
‘My favourite moment was when a red squirrel came tapped on the Trust’s office window’. Charlotte Widgery, Save our Squirrels People and Wildlife Officer. (That squirrel definitely knew which side his peanut was buttered!)
‘Seeing two brown bears in the wilds of Canada and more locally watching the red deer one evening at Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve during the rutting season. Absolutely fabulous’. Izzy Thorne, Senior Education and Volunteer Officer.
‘At a staff visit to Barkbooth Lot Nature Reserve we saw beautiful demoiselle dragonfly which are lovely to see as they have opaque wings, unlike most dragonflies’. Charlotte Rowley, Senior Marketing Officer.


‘Two otters, an adult and a little 'un playing in the Lune not 50m from us’, Claire Cornish, Hay-Day Ecologist.

Flowers also feature in our favorite wildlife moments. Conservation Manager, David Harpley’s favorite moment was seeing the profusion of primroses at Smardale Gill National Nature Reserve in the spring and Trustee, Susan Garnett’s most memorable visit was to Watermillock churchyard in June. ‘What a fantastic display of wild flowers!’
But for most of us including Trustee, John Farmer, our favourite moment is seeing the birds in our gardens. He creates a wonderful image, ‘three cock peasants, a pair of grouse, a blackbird and a robin were all in a line under my three bird feeders after the snow. They were in the sunshine waiting for the tits to disturb and drop seeds and nuts onto the ground for them to scoop up’.
For some memorable moments for 2010 visit one of Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s nature reserves or join one of the regular fascinating talks and guided walks. For more information visit www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk.