Thunder storm, ducklings in distress and Morris dancing. Day 1

I awoke this morning to hear the rumblings of thunder from outside. What a good sign for the first day of my North bound adventure! The heavens opened and the morning passed by with a torrent of never ending rain. Luckily I was breakfasting with Mum and Em and this point and so was pleasantly dry as I consumed my full English breakfast. Come mid day the sky cleared and a glorious day was revealed.

After I dipped my toes in Barton-on-sea's water (and got a little damp from a freak wave) it was time to set off towards Poole where I would meet a Jon, whom I first met on the Azores last year and who was  staying in Poole.

After picking up a shell trinket from the South coast, we set off leisurely to Wimborne, unaware of the adventure ahead of us.

Ambling along, chatting away we became aware of a duck being chased by a dog! Alarmed at this spectacle and worried about the ducks welfare, we approached. The dog plus owner passed by leaving the traumatised duck behind them. As we drew nearer we realised that in all the chaos she has lost some of her ducklings! We heard cheeping coming from a small concrete hole and inside were 7 very bemused ducklings. There was no way these poor littleuns would be able to get out of there and so we stepped in and reunited them with Mum!

Just when you think it is about to be a happy ending, who should we spy stalking down the hill coming to rest     on the track ahead of us? MR FOX! No joke of a lie.

Now we were fine to interfere when it was a man made disturbance... But now that it was nature, what should we do? Well... We may or may not have shepherded them to safety. (Not before they went into a pub garden and nearly got squished on the main road... Ducks with a death wish. Perhaps natural selection should have taken place.)

Auntie Cathy and Uncle John then welcomed me with open arms, fed and watered me before we went to see Anonymous Morris and The Dorset Buttons perform in the corn market. 

The amazing pavlova created by A.C

Onwards and upwards!

Day Total: A leisurely 33 miles

A travel companion

This is what greeted me this morning...

Any good at puzzles??

Now how does one go about fitting all of this...

On to this....

???!!!

Thank you to all those very kind sponsors out there. I have so far raised £228.94 for the royal society of wildlife trusts. My just-giving site will stay open until well after 1st of July when I should have hopefully reached Mull! 

Thank you!

Just Beecause

I have a mission within my mission.

Biking to Scotland is obviously a large undertaking in itself, but I want to set myself another personal challenge.

One area I am becoming increasingly concerned with is the plight of our honey bee. The world's bee population has declined rapidly in recent years.  They have been affected by disease, chemicals (pesticides) and habitat loss. Bees pollinate around one third of the world’s crops and so if the bees die out, it’s not only them suffering!

So my side-line mission on my trip Scotland is to try to eat only food sourced locally and if possible organic and foraged produce. Although this is something I generally try to do in my day to day life, being on a very tight budget often makes this difficult. 

Pesticides are believed to be a huge problem for the honey bee and it is the large monoculture crops that mostly need these awful chemicals. Organic farming is not only free from pesticides, but as there are generally a larger variety of crops grown in one area, the greater diversity in turn helps the bee.

The European commission are temporarily banning the use of select pesticides which is great news, but the bees still need our help.

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/news/2013/04/29/bees-face-brighter-future-pesticides-banned

The issue is so broad and still there are so many unknowns. Here are some links you may find useful to find out more about the problem and what you can do to help.

Meanwhile… Please help me raise money for The Wildlife Trusts on my justgiving site

http://www.justgiving.com/Kerry-froud1

Thank you!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130510-honeybee-bee-science-european-union-pesticides-colony-collapse-epa-science/

http://www.capitalgrowth.org/bees/

http://www.dorsetcereals.co.uk/save-our-honeybee/

http://www.foe.co.uk/what_we_do/the_bee_cause_home_map_39371.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1521877/

All for a good cause...

At the age of 13 I gawped at the biking section in a 'Vaude' catalogue and imagined the adventures that could be had on two wheels with a set of panniers. Now at the age of 26 I am about to embark on that two-wheeled pannier-laden adventure, cycling from Barton-on-Sea in Hampshire all the way up to The Isle of Mull in Scotland!

This June I will be working up in Scotland on the Isle of Mull and so thought what better way to get there than to bike? Not only that, but instead of undertaking a gruelling mission merely as a personal challenge, why not fund raise for a great charity along the way?

There are many charities close to my heart, however the charity I have decided to support for this mission is...

 The Wildlife Trusts

There are 47 wildlife trusts throughout the UK including the Isle of Man (Where I began my journey into conservation science) and Alderney.

On my journey up to Mull I will be passing through a multitude of different habitats each exhibiting huge biodiversity. I can't wait to see all these incredible wild spaces for myself, but without the work of a charity such as The Wildlife Trusts, these areas may not be there in their preserved state for me to see.

I support the work of The Wildlife Trusts not only for their efforts to protect wildlife and wild spaces, but also for the work they do to inspire people about their environment, and subsequently help to protect it!

The charity is now over 100 years old and so you can imagine the staggering amount of good work they will have done over that time. Please help them to continue this vital work by sponsoring me on my EPIC bike trip to Scotland!

http://www.justgiving.com/Kerry-froud1 

The Next Great Adventure

With only a month to go before Kerry's epic bike journey up to Scotland, it was about time for her to get on with some serious training, and so serious it got.

After a 50 mile flattish ride, a 30 mile potter and a hilly 16 mile speedy jaunt... She decided to crank it up to the next level and bike to Salisbury with the intention of catching a train home. A couple of hours in she stopped off at Dads house in Verwood for a quick cuppa, who inspired her to take a different, more scenic (and hilly) route.She took his advice, his OS Exporer map and set off.

Tuesday 30th April was a glorious sunny day with the bluest sky and the most golden fields you ever did see. A noticeable headwind ruffled Kerry's hair, but this was not to deter her, for she had a mission of gargantuan proportions ahead of her.

The conservationist felt guilty about all the poor bugs that befell a sticky end that day. Insects flung themselves at her as she sped downhill, wings sticking to her sun-creamed skin. Flys whipped up in a jet-stream of air found themselves caught behind her sunglasses, tumbling in front of her eyeballs, dazed and disorientated before a new blast of air thrust them back out into the Dorset countryside. Crickets clung to her leggings for dear life, only to be released miles from where they had begun their journey. One cricket came to rather an unfortunate end, found that evening down Kerry's bra.

Upon reaching Salisbury, Kerry being the ultra-budgeter that she is, decided not to splash out £15 for a train home and instead opted for a bike ride all the way back home.

Hours later, Saddle sore, weak limbs, knees about to pop from their sockets and a massive helping of self pity... Kerry arrived back in Ashley.

75.25 miles round trip!

Bring on Scotland!

A Whale of an Atlantic Adventure

6th April 2012

SOTW  made a brief stop in Vigo (NW Spain) to drop off Richard and pick up new team members, Alexa and Kerry.  We left Vigo bound for the Azores on a beautiful calm morning, lit by the pink hues of the rising sun.

It wasn’t long before the team sighted bottlenose dolphins leaping and frolicking around 200 meters from the boat. Soon after, two pilot whales were seen logging at the surface. For many on board this was the first time they had seen pilot whales, but the encounter was just about to get better. Five more pilot whales (including a mother and her calf) then swam towards the boat and began to bow ride SOTW. The water was so calm and clear that they could easily be seen swimming around and darting underneath the boat with jets of bubbles streaming behind them. An incredible start to the journey.

Since then the wind speed has picked up which has been perfect for sailing however the sighting conditions have deteriorated. Despite this the team have sighted striped dolphins, common dolphins (including a calf still showing its foetal folds), fin whales and they have heard sperm whales clicking through the hydrophone.

Five days into their journey the team our getting into the swing of life on the ocean. Sleeping patterns have been adjusted to allow for keeping watch all times of the day and night, sea legs have been gained and ropes are being learnt.

(Another blog post for the MCR website)

 After three great weeks conducting research around the Azores, it was time for us to leave the islands and say goodbye to some wonderful people. Odd jobs completed, hydrophones fixed, boat cleaned, food shopped for (over three hours of trawling the supermarket!) and at last Song of  the Whale and her crew could set sail for America.

The weather in the first few days was great for sailing, however not so  helpful for  spotting whales. The wind picked up and the swell increased leaving us rattling and rolling around the boat. Michelle (our student from the Department of Fisheries in the Azores) cooked us a fantastic soup on the roughest day, though unfortunately most of it ended up in our laps.

Fin Whale

Once the weather calmed down, we were able to assess and begin to sort out the main sail which had developed a rip overnight, and we began to see some cetaceans again.

Our first cetacean sighting was of a sperm whale logging at the surface around 200 meters from our boat. We have been hearing  sperm whales clicking for most of our journey so far, the ocean is alive with sound!

We have also seen common and striped dolphins (some bow riding with us at night, casting trails of bioluminescence behind them), fin whales and even a blue whale. It is amazing that in this vast ocean our path crosses with the world’s largest living creature. Some good photo ID shots were taken and we could see that it had a chunk of its dorsal fin missing.

Bermuda to Boston...... To be continued....