Hi, We're back! The image above is the seabed between Bryher and Tresco on the Isles of Scilly where we walked at nearly-lowest tide in April...a chance of a lifetime for all of us. It was exciting in January to consider human adventure and peril in the sea visiting a submarine tank but now it is June! Already! How many gardeners just didn't sow all their seeds in time to get veggies in October?...I for one remembered to sow flowers with my toddler but forgot some other well-laid plans in the excitement! June is a Wild Adventure and support of children and families in nature! Yesterday I took my boys Geocaching for the first time. It might not seem PC in the "cut out plastic" age to traipse around the countryside looking for sealed Tupperware boxes abandoned in wild places but it got us out there in nature and it was tougher than we imagined though it gave the youngest a thrill and the older kids a massive appetite on return and we also had the satisfaction of finding 3 caches in a row once we'd driven a little further from our home territory. By the end of the day we had learnt to walk calmly through a cow field, walk at an angle by a stream bed, fall over in long grass and how to use the magnetic compass I now had installed on my mobile after a bit of trial-and-error. There are families out there doing this as second-nature but I'd had so many other things to do with them butterflies surveys, etc. etc. It was the idea of treasure that enticed them but they hadn't realised that finding caches sometimes can be an expert job left to people with tree-climbing "equipment" or that sometimes the clues might not work or you might not guess them! We traipsed into a little wood near us to try and spot such a cache up high but accidentally left behind a PLASTIC runner's water bottle ...an essential now for mummy running around (I can't easily do this with my larger aluminium one). With three kids I really do have my hands-full sometimes. I realised later we'd left it when we'd stopped to snack and asked my husband to return and get it down the road. His answer was "We need to get the kids in bed first". I needed enough light to find it so, after wiping up the kitchen and getting the kids upstairs to shower I popped out. It was nearly 8:30 pm actually maybe after-dusk- and so I waved at neighbours than found myself re-tracing steps into a darkening woodland. To my relief I found the water bottle. No-one really goes that way much. As I turned to head back I heard a rustle, a very loud rustle. I realised it was near a badger sett! I suddenly made myself invisible and stood watching. I pressed "record" on my mobile camera. In less than two minutes I was rewarded by 2 adult badgers emerging and going off to look for food. My first ever low-resolution but clear video of wild badgers. I was so happy with this double success that I'd not even looked for! When I got back I pushed open the door of my toddler's room despite "hssh and go away" mutters from husband who was settling him. "Ok you can finish it off" said my husband. Within 5 minutes 2 other "sleeping" children were clustered around me on the toddler duvet watching my video of a dark wood intently. They were delighted I'd filmed badgers and not ghosts to show them. We all went to bed late but very happy. This is our Wild Life! I would love to take them on a badger or night wildlife expedition with me one day but life is very much spontaneous and unplanned more than a day ahead when they are so young. Stay with us to see what we get up to! Pema x
