Wish I could be drinking down the van...

During half term I had the privilege of spending a couple of days down the caravan with my Bessie mucker Pugs.

We set off from mine in Pugs' mams convertible beetle on wed afternoon. We picked up some essential provisions eggs, beers, bread, pizza etc at the local Lidl. 

The van is situated on a site at the far west end of Gower on Broughton beach. 

We took Bryn with us, he us awesome. He is a Golden retriever Poodle Cross.

We had a quiet first night had a few beers, a walk on the beach and watched Autumnwatch.

We got up the next morning took bryn for a walk on the beach, loads of birds around Oystercatchers, around 35, a few cormorant and loads of gulls.

We decided to head to Worms Head Rhossili for a bit of breakfast. Which was banging hand rolled Glamorgan veggie sausages. 

We had a walk out on Worms Head the views are unreal. On the way back we sat and watched two dolphins fishing in the water, amazing. 

We had a couple in the pub overlooking the bay. I had a Tomos Watkins Worms Head Bay followed by a Gower Power from Gower brewery, which was lush. 

We headed back to the van and decided it was such a nice day we needed a dip bear in mind it's October 30th.

We shared a bottle of Buck's Fizz to get us in the mood, packed some stuff,  the bins, a few beers and headed for Blue pool.

Blue pool is a natural ring of rocks, which fills when the tide comes in leaving a plunge pool when it retreats. 

We both had a quick dip it was surprisingly not that cold for the time of year, we had a beer watched the sunset and headed back to the van. 

We had a quick change, an amaretto coffee and headed out on foot to The King's Head Llangennith for a few beers and a spot of dinner.

I had the Gower Power IPA, which again was good. We shared a baked Camembert with garlic bread and chutney to start.

For main I had a gourmet pizza, which was anything but gourmet.

To finish I had sticky toffee pudding with hot vanilla custard, which was to die for. I finished off with a Gower brewery Lighthouse, which was Delish. Rolled back down the hill to the van. 

We watched a bit of Snow White and the huntsman, I was falling asleep though from the overwhelming fullness.

We took Bryn to the beach in the morning again loads of Oystercatchers about around 35 or so.

We decided as I was heading back today we would stop off at Kenfig Pool to see if  there were any birds about. Bear in mind Pugs has never really done any birding before, I have about 5-6 years under my belt and in that time I've barely seen more than a fleeting glimpse of a Waterrail. 

We were literally in the hide five minutes we were informed we'd just missed the Bittern, when not one, but two Waterrails came out of the reeds and started foraging right in front of us.



Needless to say I'll be taking Pugs birding with me again!

Love Marilyn x

"Wish I could be drinking down the Van!"

Unknown wales

Last weekend I was invited to attend the unknown wales conference at the National Museum of Wales in collaboration with The Wildlife Trust. 

I also entered the photo contest with my entry "A year in the life of a Welsh conservation volunteer."

"A year in the life of a Conservation Volunteer in Wales

The photo collage illustrates the range of conservation volunteering I have undertaken in the past year. From Balsam Bashing with the Wildlife Trust at Parc Slip, removing invasive plant species; Educational Wild Walks, Pond Dipping, Fishing, Field Drawing and Bug Hunts at Dow Corning Eco Centre with Wildlife Trust, allowing children to get up close and personal with wildlife; Monthly beach clean with Friends of Barry Beaches, clearing rubbish and recyclables; Residential Volunteering placement at RSPB South Stack reserve, people engagement about the plight of our seabirds, using optics to locate wildlife; Educational wildlife crafts, making pipe cleaner Bats at Techniquest and Margam Park with RSPB; Dissecting Owl Pellets at Margam Park with RSPB."

It was a great feeling seeing my photos on the big screen in the National Museum of Wales  Reardon Smith Lecture Theatre at such aprestigious event.

The first talk was on the bank voles of skomer and Ramsey island from Dr Tim Healing Who's comical sketches and excellent photos made the talk very engaging.

There was then a talk from Dr Ingrid Juttner on diatoms a form of algae/plankton which very beautiful to look at but the delivery was very dry. 

The talk I was looking forward to the most beforehand was on the reintroduction of the sand lizard to the sand dunes of wales, a species I was yet to see. Again the images made the talk.

There was then a talk on dung beetles of the uk from Dr Sarah Beynon who was very engaging and inspirational speaker. Also the bugs themselves were absolutely beautiful.

During lunch the photo contest would be decided and the entries on display in the oil room. I had my packed lunch outside in the fresh air and a piece of lemon and poppyseed cake and a belvoir ginger beer from the museum cafe. I then headed to check our the other entries and the results. The main prize was a trip to Skomer island, somewhere I have been longing to visit since I became interested in birds and wildlife. 

Most of the other entries seemed to me to focus on the photographic style rather than the subject of conservation in Wales. The winning entry was a stunning composition, light and colour contrast. I then saw my entry as runner up, sometimes coming second is worse as there is no prize no special mention just a  sign saying to me "nearly got to skomer mate" basically. 

The afternoons talks were on ancient forest fossils of Wales which was very very dry indeed.

Then there was the Barry triangle "Why do rare fish keep turning up off the coast of Barry ?" which initially being from Barry I was really into until I realised it was just 30 slides of the fish and when and where they turned up followed by suggestions as to why?

By this point following my near defeat I was ready to leave. However, the final talk from Stephen Moss former Spring Watch producer and president of Somerset Wildlife Trust. The day so far had been interesting, but heavily scientific and academic led. For me Stephen was a breath of fresh air as he spoke my language. The films he showed highlighted some of my favourite animals, people and places. Red Kites, Red Squirrels, Great White Egrets, Marsh Harriers, Otters, Iolo Williams, Ham Wall and Shapwick Heath reserves. Stephen spoke of the importance of us making our own minds up and making our own decisions about controversial reintroduction programs, he also highlighted the importance of educating the younger generation on conservation issues.

I left feeling fully inspired after an awesome day. Also, I finally managed to bag myself a weeks volunteering on Skomer next summer!

From Lisbon with Ludge...

The week before last I went to Lisbon for the weekend to celebrate the stag doo of one of my best friends in the world, the enigma that is Leeg.

I was apprehensive as we have got in some scrapes together in this country let alone be in a foreign country with 18 others that reads like a UK most wanted.

I decided to fly out separately to the rest as their flight was full, so I headed up to Luton and stayed in a nice little B&B in Lye Hill, Breachwood Green. I stayed out in the country, woke up had eggs on toast, whilst I watched Red Kites, amongst other birds in the garden.

It was my first time flying solo and my first time abroad for five years, so naturally I was quite nervous.

The check in went fairly smoothly, until we got to boarding, when they decided to tell me I could only take one bag on board, thankfully a guy behind me in the queue had nothing and offered to carry my rucksack on for me. 

The flight out was fairly painless and we were updated that it was 23-24 degrees in Lisbon. 

I caught a bus from the airport to Rossio, downtown, city centre, which cost me 3 euros 50 compared with 20-25 in a cab. 

I used the bus map to walk from the bus stop towards the street we were staying on. I found the street no problem, very cool little district loads of little bars, cafes, restaurants and shops. 

I found the hostel and checked in. The place was amazing for the price and better than most hotels I've stayed in.

Lee rang me and was already shitfaced, bearing in mind it was 420pm. I had a quick Schwitz, changed and we hit some bars. 

I loved the city almost instantly, cool relaxed vibe loads of cool architecture, statues, history and graffiti. 

The beer on the other hand was cheap, but not to my liking Super bock or Sagres almost everywhere which after a few is just too gassy. 

We did find an Irish bar later that evening which had that lush German Weiss beer with a monk on it about three varieties franz something. 




We had decided beforehand we weren't gonna do typical stag t shirts or anything, but that didn't mean Lee was getting off, his bro bought him a garish Jon Cena T shirt and purple sequin hat.

We also found the most amazing little mojito bar that night, in Barrio Alto a very cool very hip street bar area. Three euro for a pint of rum, fresh mint and lime, crushed ice, sugar and a shot of lemonade. Two and I'm on my arse. 

Love street drinking culture me. Stoop! 

There were a few sore heads at breakfast the next day but I got up early had cheese rolls, cornflakes, coffee and juice all included in the £14 per night. 

I heard over breakfast one had been arrested for throwing up and splitting on the police station and another mugged during the evenings festivities. 

I set out pretty early to have an explore, as the sun was shining I walked down to the front loads of cool statues and the museum of modern design, which was currently fronted in a history of surfboard art which was cool. 

Saw a heron and an egret at the front. Started to sober up sat and had an espresso to sort me out. I trotted around our area most of the morning then bumped into the lads for a spot of lunch, mushroom omlette and a load of jugs of sangria, naturally when in Rome....

We had a boat trip booked for 2pm, but the weather was taking a turn it started pissing down just as we were getting ready to head out. Trog decided that what this boat trip needed was a man sized inflatable dinosaur later christened Staggersaurus Rex or Yolosaurus Rex.

We headed down to the boat in cabs, as they told us we would lose the money. When we got there we were all a little despondent at the barge with a breville on the back when we had been promised a yacht with a BBQ to feed 20. 

Once everyone was on board including Yolosaurus we set off. The skies cleared, the waters calmed the boat dudes brought around cheese and garlic sausage on sticks. The views of the city from the boat were rad especially the bridge and the graffiti.

As we were sailing along blasting some choice chunes from Leeg's wedding playlist, Phil Collins to Hatebreed, I got my bins out I didn't spot any birds of note, but loads of cool metal graffiti on the small beaches. There was one beach with Embalmer, Deicide, Sepultura and Nile logo's near the Benfica stadium.




















The beers (loose term) started coming around they were gross tbh but we made do.

We dropped anchor to have a swim within minutes I was in the sea with a blow up dinosaur drinking a beer and moshing to Davidian by Machine Head, Lush.

We swam and ate lunch for a few hours the BBQ turned out good for the meatheads not so good for the swimming veggies, I had some salad crisps and bread and oil. (Good job I had that omlette)

Naturally the Yolosaurus tried on my hawaiian and hat and drove the boat home.

We headed back just in time it looked like it must have pissed down in Lisbon the whole time we were at sea.

We hit up another Irish bar in the marina as the football was on, the barman took a liking to yolo and kept buying him drinks I think he had a dino fetish tbh.

We headed back for a schwitz and change before hitting up the bars. Sadly Lee was left unsupervised with Yolo and He got punted off the marine as Lee was already steamboats by this point. 

"RIP Yolosaurus Rex 
A brother lost at sea
One Love"

Things get a little blurry on this evening after another visit to the Irish bar in Barrio Alto some more monk beers, shots being thrown around, another visit to the killer mojito den where mother and daughter with matching lipstick boob tattoos hypnotize you with boob juggle mint lime crush. The less said about "the shelf" the better...

Ended up in one of the quotes of the trip: "I look across the street Leeg is asleep on the back of someones car, his brother is pissing in the street and Stubbs is singing up a rubble tube... Wales"

Senegal Steve decides that he needs to take some photos on his Iphone3 of Lee asleep in the sunglasses he sells. So we all pile in and get him to take a few snaps. 

I've known Lee for years and when he's gone he's gone there ain't no coming back, he'd had a bloody good innings today. So I volunteered to Carry him home. 

Had nice sleep, woke up had pancakes for breakfast in the hostel with nutella, some cheese rolls, cornflakes, coffee and juice. 

We decided to head out to the beach by train for the day. I spotted a latex pig mask in the shop near our hostel, we had a whip around and got Lee the Pig mask. We got to the beach which was lush, but as soon as we got in the water there were loads of Jellyfish which freaked me out a bit.

We bumped into Senegal Steve selling dresses and pearls on the beach, obviously we bought the Pig a dress and a Bandana. We then decided to bury the pig and just leave his head poking out. 

At lunch Lee decided we needed 4 litres of sangria between five of us...

I had an average pizza but it soaked up the sangria, had another swim then we all chucked the pig in the sea in his dress.

We played football with some young Portuguese kids I scored a blinder, but it ended a dubious 2-2 draw.





On the train on the way back the Notorious P.I.G. was born and I laughed so much I cried the rest of the journey home was filled with pig related hip hop puns see below.

We got changed and washed and decided on a quiet night around the bars with the Goldup brothers and others telling the favourite Leeg stories whilst drinkiing ridicoulously strong G&T's until the early hours.

Best Stag ever

Pig Hop
Snoop Hoggy Hogg
Piggy Smalls
Pig.I.am
The Squeal Slim Shady
Swill Smith - Getting Piggy with it
Piggy Azalea
Piglet Enemy featuring Bacon Flav
Bacwon

Comment below with Pig Hop puns

“There are only two kinds of guys that can wear Hawaiian shirts and I know which one I am"

I have an exciting new blog collab featuring my charity shop buys and menswear style, with my friend and all round dudette Teri realness you can check out my first post, my best buys of the summer here:

http://charityshoprealness.com/stubbs-best-of-summer/

and there will be more exciting #charityshopgold outfits in the coming weeks...



This outfit even looks great on a T-rex driving a boat...

I know what I did last summer...

So it has been expectantly quiet here of late, as I don't have a computer at home, which personally I find freeing, as I don't find myself sat watching late 90's emo band videos at 2 o' clock in the morning in my pants.

But, I have had categorically the best summer I think I can remember...

Residential volunteering at RSPB South Stack was amazing.

I arrived a day early and stayed in the port town of Holyhead Angelesy, I had heard it was a pretty depressing place. The town itself is a little run down and sad and is just a typical port town, somewhere people only come through on route elsewhere.

I had a walk on my first evening after checking in, I walked down to the harbour, it was a nice warm evening and kids were still jumping off the harbour wall into the sea, which was crystal blue and lush.

I sat and had a beer in the marine skerries, aptly I chose a Badger Breweries Poacher's Choice. I sat out on the harbour drinking my beer when I spotted a bird on the water I did not recognise. I grabbed my bins and my trusty book, and identified a Black Guillemot within minutes of sitting down, having a beer, my kind of birding that.


On the walk back  I sat and had dinner at the Harbour Bistro, I sat outside on the decking, had a few Brecon G&Ts, I had goats cheese parcels to start and Veggie Enchiladas for main.

I spotted that they were showing the new planet of the apes at the small newly refurbished cinema just up the hill from my hotel, so I booked a ticket, having only recently seen the first film which I loved.

To my surprise when I arrived there was a massive queue and it was completely sold out as there really is nothing else to do in Holyhead.

The screen was small and packed and the sound was crap, but the film was awesome.

I had a nice sleep, eggs on toast and set off for South Stack.

I met Dave who was to be my roomy for the week, funnily enough he's a former Barry boy himself. We check into our cottage, unpack and have a few hours to explore before induction.

 (all photos Olympus XA2 35mm film)

The site instantly blew me away as we strolled up through the heather and it just opened out to rugged sea cliffs, Chough calling overhead, then we got to the main seabird colony cliff the noise was unreal and there were around 6000 Guillemots and 900 Razorbills on the cliff face. The drop off the edge made my legs go to jelly and I had to step back. Dave on the other hand was straight over the wall taking pictures. We walked to the lighthouse steps and within minutes saw Puffins and Juvenile Peregrine this years chick calling for food.

Over the next few days working in Elin's tower encouraging people to use scopes to get a better view of the wildlife. I saw Gannets out at sea, Porpoise, Seals, Kittiwakes, Chough and more. I talked to people from all over the world about the plight of our seabirds. I roved the site picking up litter and helping people identify birds and insects.

(These are some of my drawings and paintings from the trip)

On my day off I walked upto the Holy Mountain I watched a family of three Peregrines learning food pass behaviour. I summited the Holy mountain which has amazing views of the whole of Angelsey towards snowdonia. 

I followed the coastal path down on my descent towards north stack. I reached  north stack had a mosey around. Then followed the coastal path towards Holyhead. I stopped for lunch saw the peregrine family learning to hunt gulls, one of the juveniles caught a juvenile gull and spiral dived with it trying to stun it, the other peregrines joined in then an adult gull gave an alarm call and loads of gulls emerged. I lost sight as they dived down behind a cliff.

I followed the coast path to breakwater country park. Where I stopped for an ice cream and a Vimto. 

When I got back to the cottage I decided to go for a swim. There was a small secluded cove at the bottom of the lane very rocky and a steep climb down, but I had visited previous evening and there had been a seal fishing in the cove for half an hour. I borrowed dave's sea shoes, as it was very rocky. As soon as I got past the first few rocks there was a 12" plunge pool. Totally secluded no one else around led on my back in the sea in the sun and a red kite sails over not known on Anglesey to my knowledge amazing!

On my last day I visited the lighthouse on the island. On the way down still lots of puffins, razorbills and guillemots around. I climbed to the top of the lighthouse amazing views was also lucky enough to see a pod of porpoises fishing off the headland from the top. 

At the bottom there is an amazing little exhibition of original plates from CF Tunnicliffe's peregrine sketchbook, from south stack 1912. Needless to say I was blown away and would be hunting a copy down as soon as I got back. 

On the bridge on the way back I spotted a large male grey seal in the water quite close. I watched him for a few minutes beautiful, the lady in the bridge toll house informed me he's called Neal the seal and he's been coming back there to feed for four years.

I had a bit of lunch packed up my things and left for the cafe to wait for my cab wishing I was staying and that this was my place of work. Just as I was about to get in my cab the manager came out and said the two new volunteers weren't coming and I could have stayed for another fortnight gutted, but in the words of Arnie "I'll be back"

Hardcore Bird Action

"Images? The same. Ideas? The same. Footage? The same. Sales pitch? The same. They flash before the eyes; to hide."

The lyric pretty much describes how I have been feeling in recent years towards Hardcore. Nothing I hear really grabs me as it did before, maybe I am starting to show my age...

However, upon hearing some friends all from good breeding stock, (see Imbalance, The Horror, That F**king Tank!, Matadors and Magnificent) had formed a new hardcore punk band, I decided to give it a spin.

I wasn't disappointed, needless to say, Young Conservatives debut self titled EP harks back to a time when the lines between the two genres of Hardcore and Punk didn't really exist. 6 tracks all sub three minutes, balls to the wall, HC punk rock & roll. The music is great, but it's the vocals and lyrics that really do it for me. Political, intelligent, yet short, sharp and to the point. I love Andy's voice and I think it's what really gives YC an edge for me. You can hear the EP on bandcamp on the link below and preorder the vinyl too, I cannot wait to see them live.

http://youngconservatives.bandcamp.com/


"What do we stand for, what is it we stand against, why do we stand at all?
What do we believe, what is it we disbelieve, do we believe at all?"



I have also been back to see how the little ringed plovers are doing. I spent half an hour in the elevated hide, with my spiritual shaman Kes, staring at an empty scrape; not seeing anything, but a few gulls having a wash. I did however, spot my first Green Woodpecker.



After leaving the hide, walking along the path, Kes could hear the plovers calling, but couldn't see them, when a chick popped up from behind a verge, on the other side of the fence, merely tree feet in front of us. Followed soon after by an adult, calling and bobbing to one another all the time.




We also saw tiny frog-lets emerging as the rains set in. 

We also saw loads of birds with young chicks out and about. 

Including this Canada Geese creche family, who were soon spooked by some highland cattle grazing which the clearly thought were Bears or some other large predatory beasts.

I also took the opportunity to recapture one of my fave pics ever.

Insert Hardcore band bird puns below...

Crow Mag(pies)

Two little Gems...

Little Ringed Plover

I have been sworn to secrecy over the location, but I managed to see Little Ringed Plover for the first time last week. I also saw Mistle Thrush, Nuthatch, Red Kite, Jay, Coot with the cutest little chicks ever.

I also drew this Wren the other day which I am quite pleased with.

I also had a day volunteering at Hay festival with RSPB I didn't get to see much of the festival as I was busy giving out shots of Black Grouse Whiskey and selling raffle tickets. I did however, see War Horse as he passed right by our stand, I also saw three Red Kites, two Jays and raised £200 for RSPB restoring my well-being.

I am also currently loving the debut album from Helen Chambers - Penny Arcade. Any staunch advocates of the Coach house Acoustic Sessions may remember when she played at my house a while back. 

The album is a belter as expected. My fave track is Caravan, but I also love Paper & Glue. Also she is playing at Le pub Newport on the 13th of this month with Bedford Falls in support. The album is out now on Specialist Subject Records and is definitely my album of the month.

Check it out here: http://specialistsubject.bandcamp.com/album/penny-arcade

 

Here is a video from the aforementioned Helen Chambers Coach house session. I hope Helen doesn't mind me sharing it (backing vocals from Kelly Kemp) 
Get the album and get to the gig eh!