Why camping, especially at my age? Well, although I don’t need to go miles away from home to be near birds, from time to time I like to get away from the familiar and explore areas where I might see a different mix of both birds and insects. There are three areas of the country (Westmorland, Yorkshire and Somerset) where I have stayed with family members and used their homes as “headquarters” from which to venture out into the surrounding countryside. Otherwise, being now most definitely in my older years, it has meant B&B or hotels … until last year, 2022.
Return to Camping
In the summer of 2022 I started camping again, and it was a success. Not wanting to invest too heavily until I checked that I could still manage it I bought a small pop-up tent and used it for ten out of the fifteen nights I was away, moving it from place to place, firstly in the Southwest and then in the Midlands for a couple of days on my way to Norfolk. Birds and butterflies all along the way. It was an enjoyable and successful trip.
I decided, however, that having to crawl in and out of a small tent on my 79-year-old knees was not the best arrangement so this year bought one in which I can stand up straight. (For the camping perfectionists among my readers, I did later get it pitched more tidily than appears in the image above). This should now allow me to get out among the wildlife a bit further away from home without having to do day trips or pay for hotels.
This year’s trial camping trip, to check whether I could manage to get the larger and heavier tent both up and down again single-handed, was to Caldbeck in Cumbria, at the far northern edge of the Lake District National Park. It turned out well so I now have the alternatives of the small tent for a single night an the larger one for an more extended stay.
A Caldbeck Heron
My original plan had been to explore the upper reaches of the River Caldew, including Cald Beck (from which the village takes its name) but the weather wasn’t encouraging. However, on a damp Sunday afternoon I strolled around the village and found this Heron, undismayed by the weather, standing firmly on the fringe of the reeds in the middle of the village pond. He, or she, seemed totally undismayed by my presence and I took several shots from different angles. This one was the nearest and filled the entire 400 mm lens viewfinder; it’s not cropped.
At this time of year, though, many birds are difficult to find as they’re hidden behind leaves. The very hot weather in June also discouraged them from coming out into the open; they preferred the cool seclusion of shaded places. Others are away at their breeding sites. It’s not that there are no birds to be seen but overall I find the summer months less productive in terms of photography, at least in my part of the North West of England.
Insects save the Summer
The summer months may not be my favourites with regard to birds, but there is the compensation of butterflies and other insects to catch with the lens. There’s such a variety and I’ll do a separate post on that subject. They’re not all designed to win beauty competitions of course. This “Silver Y” moth that I saw near Arnside recently (not a camping trip) is fairly drab, but it does have an interesting feature which I wanted to capture.
Being so close to it I had difficulty getting the whole of the moth in focus but at least I managed to show the “Y” on its wing. The scientific name is Autographa gamma, as the letter on the wing is so much like the Greek letter gamma.
Young birds in Summer
Of course there still are birds to be seen, and the birdsong can be enjoyed even when the singers are invisible behind the foliage. Young birds are hatching, fledging and learning the skills they’ll need to survive the coming winter months.
While away camping at Caldbeck I went into Keswick, and it was in a shady corner near where I parked my car on the outskirts of the town that I came across the juvenile Robin shown above. (By the way, have you got your copy of Robin Redbreast yet.)
Well that’s it for now. I’m looking forward to being able to do more camping as the summer progresses and find the birds and insects of areas that I have not previously visited. Take look at the other post that I’m editing today, on insects and birds.
