Emma's Safaris

Have you ever been for a walk and felt that you were being watched? I can honestly say that I seldom have felt this aside from the time that I was casually stalked by a curious fox, but I shall save that story for another day.

I feel quite blessed honestly when I have encounters with animals on my walks and not just the wild kind of animals who watch you from afar and keep their distance. Interacting with the domesticated kind of animal also brings a certain something to the table on my walks.

I often walk alone (although I do also enjoy company) so it is always nice when you break up that time in your own head to make friends with some of the locals, both animal and human.

The sole purpose of my walk today was to essentially map out a trail that I will be doing tomorrow with a small group of people who are becoming I am happy to say, friends.

I started recently a wellness walking group in my home town to encourage like minded people out into the beautiful surroundings to enjoy the wonders of nature. Setting this up as an individual who periodically suffers from depression and anxiety was quite an achievement for me and I was nervous as heck before the first one. What if I got us lost? What if it was a disaster? But like many of my irrational thoughts the opposite happened. No one got lost and we all had an amazing time and so Bromsgrove Walks was born and our third walk will happen tomorrow.

I will often say how much I enjoy my time by myself but I also really enjoy sharing nature with others. I especially love pointing out animals and sharing some random nature facts. Nature for me has always been my source of calm in a chaotic world and the idea of sharing this with other people and also making new friends along the way was an appealing prospect. I am proud of this achievement and am excited to see what this brings.

Bromsgrove is home to many main roads but it is also surrounded by a network of beautiful footpaths giving way to the rolling Worcestershire countryside and I love exploring these trails and finding beautiful nature along the way. In one of my first ever blog posts I mentioned about the Monarch way and this is one of the trails that I was following today. I have to say aside from the calf deep mud and the occasional downed fence post, the signage was indeed excellent.

One of the first footpaths I took today took me through this random loop connecting back onto the road again and I am glad I did take this path because look who joined me! This curious flock of ladies didn’t seem in the slightest bit bothered by me. They let me take a few photos and were really quite obliging when I needed to get to the gate.

Sheep would have once been a common sight in rural England and I suppose to an extent they are still but just not as common as they once were. There has been a huge increase in costs of owning livestock and the profitability is far less than it was decades ago. Not to mention the fact that having secure a secure long term lease for grazing is hard to come by.

I personally always love seeing these animals grace the landscape with their woolly presence. There is a bit of a myth circulating that sheep are stupid. I mean, when I worked on farms in Australia I can categorically say that yes, I saw them do the most stupid things at times but they are actually frightfully intelligent.

Sheep can for example recognise their own name if one is given by their carer They have also been studied and it is shown that they can recognise up to 50 different human faces and retain these memories for up to two years. Sheep are also ingenious when it comes to escaping confinement, even on occasion navigating over perilous cattle grids. They are not the silly fuzzy faces animals they are made out to be!

Horses are also a welcome addition to my walks. They truly are beautiful animals. I have to admit though seeing two gigantic animals galloping round the field in front of me did make me somewhat cautious! They however calmed right down when I got over to them and they just wanted a fuss and a stroke. When I lifted the latch on the gate to get out they seemed to be wondering if I was going to take them in for a snack.

If you are ever feeling stressed or on edge I recommend that you find some horses and just watch them. They move usually vey serenely and with purpose,. I find them quite lovely to watch. If you are a bit nervous of them, just look out for positive signs. Check that the head is up and the ears are pricked forward and not back. You can be sure then that they are friendly. It goes without saying, never walk round the back of a horse! This is the danger end for sure.

An unexpected spot for me today was the Green Woodpecker. I was completely stunned to see one of these because it was unexpected.

I have seen them a few times in Chorleywood when we lived there but never in the Midlands. You can recognise them initially by their undulating flight path. They will fly not in a straight line but up and down as if flying over a series of hills. This one was predictably hunting for worms. They can be recognised by their long beak and their rather intentional way of picking through the soft grass.

The best time to see Woodpeckers is after periods of rain when the ground is sodden and the worms are up high in the ground ready to be selected by the birds.

Most of the time when I see these green friends they fly screaming into a nearby tree. They are seldom caught in my lens and most of the time they are far away if you do capture them, like the one n the photos. Once I did capture and image of a Juvinile but this was a long time ago and it really was a very lucky snap!

My walk ended with me covered up to my shins in mud. The rennetless rain may be fuelling the woodpeckers but it is also causing mayhem underfoot on the paths. I always did love getting muddy during cross country at school but when you are carrying an expensive camera it is really quite nerve wracking! I have to say though the views are just beautiful and worth every muddy second. I was also able to make a few animal friends along the way so it was the perfect muddy walk.

Thank you for reading, I look forward to bringing you more adventures soon.

Have a beautiful day everyone x