Landlocked Mermaid

Today it is Dylan's 9th Birthday! So to celebrate, I decided to let him pick this month's Final Friday Top Five. He wanted to go for his Top Five... Photo from WildAid Sharks! Honestly, we are not surprised. So here are Dylan's top five sharks, with a couple of facts to go with them. 5. Mako Shark Photo from Discovery Why does Dylan like them? Because they are super fast and cool! The shortfin mako can reach speeds of at least 31 mph. Male and female mako sharks avoid each other until they are ready to reproduce, so that the females do not get harassed. 4. Great White Shark Photo from Oceana Why does Dylan like them? Because they are really big and have awesome, sharp teeth. Great whites are the largest predatory fish on the planet. They have 300 triangular teeth, which are all sharp and arranged in up to seven rows! This creates the conveyor belt effect when they lose a tooth, it just gets replaced by one behind. ...

Capernwray Over the last six months, Chris and I have been training for our Sport Diver course with Shrewsbury Sub Aqua and BSAC . The Sport Diver qualification means that we can dive up to 35m and lead less experienced divers. It takes the knowledge we learned on our Ocean Diver course and takes it to the next level, as you probably could have guessed! It began back in January with...  Ready to learn! BOOT CAMP Over the course of a weekend, back when it was faaarrrr too cold to dive in British waters without a drysuit, myself, Chris and about four or five others learned everything there was to know about Sport Diver theory. We covered six modules over the two days. It was very information intensive, but a good way to learn as we could discuss the more difficult bits with less of a time constraint than when we learned before the practical session.  The modules were taught by members of the club, sharing their expertise and experience which makes ...

Last year, Carole introduced me to the 30 Days Wild challenge, run by the Wildlife Trusts . She invited me to join her and her kids on a litter pick around our town, and explained to me what the #30 Days Wild project was. Litter picking on a sunny day For the last few years, Wildlife Trust have run the project during June challenging folk to do "something wild" every day for the month. This can range from eating your lunch outside, to going on a big woodland adventure. Anyone can sign up for free - which they are still offering, twenty-one days into June! The digital pack includes downloads of the wall chart and the Random Acts of Wildness booklet. I'm guessing the posted version would be hard copies of these. All wild acts are encouraged to be shared across media platforms with the #30DaysWild hashtag and there is a Facebook group open all year round! I am a member of that group and people share some pretty amazing wildlife pictures. And the odd tip on goi...

My partner and I like to watch a lot of SORTEDfood . It's funny, there are some great recipes, and I little love them all. They have a food made three ways video and recently we found their one on ice cream which reminded me that I used to make ice cream all the time! I know it has done nothing but rain these last few weeks, but it is June after all. And if that is not the perfect time to start making ice cream again, I don't know what is. A summer treat In the past I have made a raspberry ripple, chocolate, and bubblegum (at Dylan's request before they went vegan). Last weekend at the Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park I had a caramel and honeycomb ice cream. I decided I wanted to recreate that, as I know how to make honeycomb . But feeling a little more decadent, I decided to go for fudge instead of caramel. I kind of messed up the fudge by getting impatient and not heating up enough, so it did not set properly. But hey, it was going into ice cream and...

Ancient Seas Basilosaurus Photo from  Earth Archives Kingdom: Animalia Class: Mammalia Conservation Status: Extinct (EX) Era: Late Eocene (40-33.9 million years ago) WHAT WAS IT? The name would suggest that this creature was a dinosaur, an ancient lizard. But that was a mis-classification when first discovered in the US. Further fossil discoveries and study into the creature determined that this was in fact a mammal and a whale. It is even believed to be on the evolutionary line for modern dolphins. The Basilosaurus is one of the largest creatures to have existed in the time after the mass extinction event which wiped out the dinosaurs. It was 18-20m (59-66ft) long, which means it was not the largest sea creature to have ever lived but it is up there! It had a long, eel-like body and small hind limbs. Being only 35cm (11 inches) and made of three fused tarsals (or digits), these hind limbs did not have much function. With limited movement, it is pos...

A couple years back, I pilfered one of my mum's aloe vera plants. I'd seen somewhere that they promote good sleep because of the amount of oxygen they kick out, or something of the like. Since taking on the aloe, it has spawned many a baby plant to the point where I have gone from keeping it in one pot to at least three. With bare minimum gardening too. Imagine how much more I would have if I actually looked after it and watered it more than when it goes brown! I still keep one plant in our bedroom, to help with the sleep thing. But the mama plant, Mama Aloe*, lives downstairs in the kitchen and looks a little like this: One floppy Aloe Mama. I decided it was high time to do something with her. Maybe lighten the load. As I have mentioned before, I am a pale kid. I get sun burnt inside. Next to an open window, of course, but still indoors. If we get anything remotely close to a summer this year, I am sure to go a little pink. I use sun screen, but even factor ...

Marine Creature of the Month Southern Right Whale Dolphin Photo from The Scuttlefish Kingdom: Animalia Class: Mammalia Conservation Status: Least Concern (LC) WHERE DO THEY LIVE? If the name wasn't a give away, these dolphins live in the Southern Hemisphere. They are found in temperate waters across the globe, from coastal Chile to waters near New Zealand. They have seen sighted often around the Faulkland Islands and even in the Indian Ocean. Their range is often associated with the cooler currents in this region.  WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE? The Southern Right Whale Dolphin does not look like a traditional dolphin for it lacks a dorsal fin and a pronounced beak. They have slim, graceful bodies with dark tops and light underbellies. This is a common colouration for aquatic creatures because it provides good camouflage against predation from above and below. The Southern Right Whale Dolphin has a two distinct colours rather than a faded blend which is mo...

One of the catalysts for my ocean friendly movements was seeing sharks in South Africa. Another was discovering the photographer Brian Skerry . He would crop up on my insta-feed, when National Geographic would share his wonderful shark photos. The captions were always about how we should be respecting these magnificent creatures and adjust the fear mongering narrative we've associated with them. Naturally I followed his account and got major heart eyes over all the underwater photography showcased. So don't expect there to be any actual content to this post, it is literally going to be: "Look at this picture 😍" 😍😍😍 This is a photo of a Mako Shark, taken off the coast of New Zealand. I really like this picture because you can feel the motion of the Mako, one of the fastest fish in the sea. Despite being a static image, it manages to create the feeling of movement. The only time I create movement in my photos is when they are blurry! (But then agai...