24 Hours in.... Birthday Land - Part 2

Following on from my incredible night at Springwatch Unsprung I meandered my way back across Suffolk to Minsmere the next morning to spend the day there for my birthday treat (this had been planned for months, well before I was offered the Unsprung tickets).

 

The views across the reserve are fantastic.  I didn't get to hear a bittern booming as I'd hoped to, but I did see 3 fly over from one of the hides which was an incredible sight.

Minsmere has many different habitats including reed beds and wetlands where I saw many avocets and avocet chicks.

Those of you who watched the Springwatch series will know that an unlikely star of the show turned out to be a 5cm long stickleback, named by the presenters as Spineless Si.  From the boardwalk to the Island Mere hide it was really easy to see him as the cameras indicated where he was - I couldn't get a photo of him due to the placement of the camera and the sun, but i did get this one of his 'friend' Frisky Phil (the object in the top right of the photo is the underwater camera filming him).

I walked for miles, not just watching birds and sticklebacks but also enjoying the wild flowers including this southern marsh orchid.

I also tested the cafe out and confirm that the cake is excellent (well it was my birthday!),

and whilst I ate it I sat and watched the sand martins flying in and out of the cliffs.

I saw lots of other wildlife, including a great white egret and a crested grebe.  It was a fabulous day and I can honestly say it's one of the best birthdays I've ever had.  

If you ever get the chance to visit Minsmere I can highly recommend it, it's part of an area of outstanding natural beauty which includes 155 square miles of wetlands, heaths, woodlands, coastline  and pretty towns, managed by the RSPB, the National Trust and Suffolk Wildlife Trust amongst others - you could easily spend a week here and not get bored!

24 Hours in.... Birthday Land - Part 1

It was my birthday this week, it was a big one, and something VERY special happened. Last week I was watching Springwatch Unsprung and tweeted this:

It was favourited by a BBC Radio Suffolk journalist and I didn't think anything more about it until last Saturday when I received a message from the same journalist (Jon Wright) asking me if I'd like tickets for Unsprung on Wednesday.  Would I!!!!

Details of the evening were sent and my excitement levels grew daily!

I asked my neighbour Jill if she'd like to come with me and we left here at 4.45 for the 1.5hr drive across Suffolk to Minsmere.

When we arrived we met up with Radio Suffolk journalists Jon Wright and Etholle George and they recorded the first part of an interview with us.

Jill, Etholle and me

We then had our briefing with the producer and were taken over to the BBC production village to watch some of the main programme as it was being transmitted.

At 8.40 we were led through the woods to the back of the studio where we waited until the main programme ended. As I'd volunteered to contribute a dialect word during Unsprung I was told exactly where I had to stand.  We started to creep into place while they were filming the end of Springwatch as on Wednesdays Unsprung is on BBC2, as opposed to the red button, so there was very little time to get everyone in.

I couldn't believe my luck! I'd ended up right next to Chris Packham, with Robert MacFarlane and Alison Steadman just to my right!

Being in the audience was amazing - the set was fantastically detailed (throw back to my dance career always make me interested in sets and the technicalities of shows) and the camera men and sound engineers moved at such speed.  

All of the guests were really interesting, and as someone who loves language and linguistics I was especially fascinated by Robert MacFarlane.  I was so thrilled to be able to contribute the dialect word for ladybird, a Bishy Barnabee.

After the end credits rolled we all left the set and we met up with Jon and Etholle to record the final part of the interview.  

The interview was broadcast on the breakfast show the next day (1:54:29) but as this link won't last past a month I've put the interview below:

It was a fantastic experience, thanks totally to BBC Radio Suffolk - a birthday to remember!

The actual Unsprung programme is available on BBC player until the beginning of July.

I went back to Minsmere the next day to spend my birthday there, but that's another blog post :-)

Birthdays, Messes and Little Plays

Did you celebrate this weekend?  It was my birthday and I'd like to thank the nation for providing me with a weekend of bunting, pageants, concerts and flypasts - I'm sure the Queen doesn't mind sharing her jubilee with my birthday!  Three of the aircraft from the flypast flew right over my house this afternoon, they must have been on their way to line up. 

I don't really do big celebrations for birthdays, but I had a lovely meal on Sunday with some friends (whose husband also has the same birthday as me) and they bought me this little Victorian stool - isn't it just gorgeous? 

It's for sitting on down by the pond, so I don't have to sit on the mossy rock anymore (not the most comfortable of seats and often slightly damp!).

I had coffee on it on my birthday morning whilst watching the tadpoles - they have tiny back legs now.

But I'm afraid that for much of the rest of the weekend I've been ensconced in my study, as it had become rather untidy (that could possibly be a rather large understatement) and I couldn't actually work or sew in the space that was left!  This was it before I started to tidy up on Sunday afternoon (I do wish I was naturally tidy and that mess didn't accumulate around me!):

This was it by Monday afternoon (that awful "I wish I'd never started this" stage):

And this is it now - finished, and very organised!:

By throwing out loads of old paperwork I managed to clear enough space to put all my fabric on the shelves and not in piles on the floor.  It also gave me the chance to go through all the fabric I was fortunate enough to acquire via a friend of a friend on twitter the other week (but more of that another time).

Part of the reason for the tidy up was that I bought these Amy Butler fabrics from John Lewis on Saturday.

and now I actually have the space to make them into a dress and a skirt.

But I'd hate you to think that I've just been tidying - I've also been playing.  With this little lady, and her brother and sister.

Don't panic she's not mine, my neighbour breeds Abyssinian cats, and they need to get used to being handled and played with before they can be sold - it's a tough job, but someone has to do it!

Happy Blog Birthday Purple Podded Peas!

I've been to a birthday party - a blog birthday party as Purple Podded Peas was 5 years old yesterday!  Celia's blog was the very first blog that I read when I first discovered this thing called "blogging" so it was lovely to be able to share her celebrations with her.  I also got to meet Fiona whose blog I've also read regularly as it's a wonderful resource for recipes and vegetable growing tips.

We filmed a tour of her vegetable garden (can you spot the ginger studio assistant keeping an eye on us?). 

Purple Podded Peas vegetable garden with the Three Sisters mound in the foreground

(Actually we filmed it twice due to a technical issue commonly known as "finger over the lens"! You can view the final film here).

We met the under-gardeners in her old walled garden (they too were filmed).

Purple Podded Peas Under-Gardeners

And we filmed the DragonFly Pond - but stupidly I didn't take any pictures of it!

We had cake, and lots of laughs.

I came home with some gorgeous eggs (some of which I had for supper tonight)

and more cake, which I had this afternoon with a cup of tea in my garden.

There are more films, and a giveaway on her blog, so pop over and have a look, I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself!

Thanks for a lovely afternoon Celia, and Happy Birthday Purple Podded Peas!

Happy Birthday Cats!

Today is my cats' birthday. Florence and Dylan were born 5 years ago to a young ferral cat and  they were  all taken to SESAW, an animal rescue centre, by a lady who had been feeding their mum.

This is them on the day I brought them home

This is them today

 

Over the years they have found some very special and "interesting" places to sit and sleep in, here are some of them. (The last picture is them with our old friend Lucky, who is no longer with us, but they all loved each other - most of the time!)