Lincolnshire's Wild Side: 5 Great Nature Reserves

Ambling around the countryside is one of my favourite things to do of a weekend afternoon. And in a county the size of Lincolnshire, there's plenty of places to go. Why not combine a gentle ramble with a bit of wildlife spotting and check out some of my favourite Lincolnshire nature reserves?

1. Far Ings National Nature Reserve, Barton-upon-Humber

Many moons ago, I used to volunteer at this excellent reserve on the south bank of the Humber Estuary. It's a beautiful place, with extensive reedbeds and scrubby woodland. You can spot waders of all kinds and if you're very lucky, you might hear the bitterns booming.

2. Alkborough Flats Nature Reserve, Alkborough

Just along the river from Far Ings (above), is this relatively new reserve near the little village of Alkborough. The old sea defences have been breached here to create new wetlands, with tidal pools positively brimming with birds. As with Far Ings, the site is great for spotting waders although it's worth keeping an eye out for Marsh Harriers too - you can also see these beautiful raptors at the Blacktoft Sands RSPB reserve across the other side of the River Trent.

3. Donna Nook National Nature Reserve

The biggest draw at Donna Nook is the grey seal colony, one of the largest in the UK. During the breeding season (November through January), it can get quite busy and access is restricted, but it's worth it to see the newborn pups - possibly the closest you'll get to such a large wild animal. In the off-season, there's great walking through the dunes and along the beach towards Saltfleet to the south and Grainthorpe to the north. Just watch out for the RAF bombing range.

4. Snipe Dales Country Park & Nature Reserve, Hagworthingham

A beautiful park in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds - partly forested while the rest is heathland. There are a few ponds where you can spot dragonflies and their ilk, while a stroll through the trees listening to birds singing (or yelling at you) is a great way to spend a few hours.

5. Tetney Blow Wells Nature Reserve, Tetney

A relatively small reserve, quiet and tucked out of the way, Tetney Blow Wells is lovely. The blow wells themselves are pools formed by springs and the rest of the site has woodland and reedbeds. For the history buffs, the area used to be home to a watercress farm and there are still a few bits of old pipe and whatnot laying around. It can get boggy in places, so make sure to stick to the path.

Honourable Mention: Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe Dunes National Nature Reserve

Adjoining the Donna Nook reserve, this is perfect for a wander during the former's off-season. You can walk quite a long way along the beach, but make sure to check the tides before you do so - it comes in quick along this coast and you wouldn't want to have to call the coastguard.

So that's 5 of my favourite nature reserves in Lincolnshire. Perfect for whiling away a weekend afternoon. What beautiful wild spaces are there near you? Are there any hidden green spaces right in your back yard? Why not share in the comments.

Destination Daydreams: South Africa

I will admit that my travel plans for the South African leg of the Grand Tour are quite... limited. The main reason for including it is to revisit the International Primate Rescue (IPR) sanctuary just north of Pretoria. I first went there a couple of years ago with my mum and I'd love to go back.

The Thinker

IPR take in rescued primates from all over the place, mostly from the exotic pet trade in South Africa, but others from further afield. Two weeks volunteering there was an amazing experience, which is why I'm planning on going back. Two weeks of feeding, cleaning and generally making sure the lives of the monkeys are better than their pasts sounds like a pretty good thing to me.

Good perch?

But there are other things I'd like to do in South Africa. A return to Kruger National Park for a safari trip is top of the list. I went for a 3 day trip while I was at IPR last time and it still ranks as one of the most amazing things I've done. Driving along dusty roads just after dawn and finding a crash of rhinos asleep in the middle of the road was... mind blowing, I think. We easily spent 15 minutes just sitting and watching them until they disappeared into the bush. The way such large animals can melt away like that will always impress me.

I'd really like to see big cats in the wild though and that means both having a fair amount of luck and also spending a bit longer in the park. I believe there's African Wild Dogs within the bounds of Kruger as well, which would make my life, let alone my trip. I love African Wild Dogs. Did you know they have a hunt success rate of about 80%? Compared to the much-lauded lions at 20%, this is pretty damn impressive. You'd struggle to find a much more effective and efficient hunter.

Aside from those two things which are my absolute musts for South Africa, there's also a whole host of fossil sites with lots of early human stuff going on. I think I'd want to take a group tour for things like that though. Both for ease of getting around and also for the safety aspect.

One last thing I'm seriously considering for this leg of the Grand Tour is another volunteer placement, this time in Cape Town. There's a seabird and penguin rehabilitation centre in the city which offers 6 week placements and I think it would be wonderful. It'd look quite nice on my CV too, for when I finally start looking at getting a job in the area my degree was aimed at. But mostly, I just think it would be an interesting experience. I've never worked hands on with birds before. New skills ahoy!

Those are the things I'm most interested in doing. I'm sure there's others though. What would you recommend for South Africa? Are there any hidden gems I absolutely must check out? Leave a comment and let me know.

Travel Inspirations: Playing Cards

Yes, I count playing cards as a travel inspiration. If you're anything like me, one of the things you always forget to pack is a deck of cards for those rare moments when you've run out of sights to see and exciting things to do.

In my family, we sort of almost gave up trying to remember after a while and just bought the cards once we reached our destination. You know the type - cheap things you pick up in the tat/souvenir shops with pretty pictures of the country on them.

Got a few packs now. New Zealand, Ireland, South African Wildlife plus some older ones from Andorra and Canada. The Canadian ones don't have pictures. They have interesting facts about each state/province/territory instead. Great for people like me who love random facts.

But how on earth can I count them as travel inspiration? Most people seem to get that from glossy adverts and those cloyingly inspiring photos so popular on Instagram... so why cards?

Because reasons. The first being that to get the cards in the first place you have to travel. Slightly counter-intuitive. Think of it this way though. You go on holiday, buy a pack of country-photo cards. Maybe there's something in that pack you hadn't heard of? Maybe there's some sort of interesting local custom that's worth checking out.

Take my New Zealand deck for example, which rather boldly claims to be the "best souvenir from New Zealand". It's not. My pounamu necklace ranks much higher. But anyway, there's places in those cards I hadn't heard of before I got there. Places like Tekapo on South Island, with its little church by the lake and the gorgeous scenery around Wanaka. Tekapo was a bit out of reach given our itinerary, but we ended up driving through Wanaka. Admittedly, we had to to get from the West Coast to Queenstown, but hey.

I suppose they act a bit like a tick list. Here, says the card deck, you should see these places. And off you pop to go and see as many of them as you can.

Reason the second is that they're incentive to go back, in part because of that tick list feeling. I didn't get to Milford Sound in New Zealand because a snow storm closed the road, but I have a gorgeous picture of the Sound and nearby Mitre Peak to tell me "COME BACK! WE'RE WAITING!"

The third and final reason is that these cards inevitably catch the landscape at its best. My photography skills are improving but basic and travelling when I have, the weather's not always great. Take the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland for example. It pissed down the entire day when we went there and while I quite like the photos I took, the images on the playing cards I picked up are so much better. Sometimes I wonder if I should just stick them all to my doors with my postcards...

Where do you find your travel inspiration? Any unusual sources?

The Grand Tour: Convincing People I'm Not Crazy

I'm going travelling for a year. Did you know?

I'm assuming if you've been paying vague attention to the blog that, yes, you probably did have an idea. Friends, colleagues and relatives though... that's another matter.

I went out for a meal with some folks from work a while back and the reactions to me going away though positive were usually followed by the inevitable.

"Are you going on your own?"

Why yes, yes I am going on my own? Why so surprised? Plenty of people go travelling on their own and the angry feminist bit of my brain (most of it) wonders whether my colleagues would have bothered to ask if I was male.

Anyway, here's why I'm not crazy to go off travelling on my own for a year.

1. I'm not an idiot.

I may have an immature streak but I have enough common sense not to go wandering off in the dark through places I don't know.

2. I do my research.

Following on from the above, I do my research before I travel. That doesn't mean my plans won't change when I reach a destination, but I'd hope I know enough about the area to not get into trouble.

3. I speak English...

OK, so I'm relying on the fact that many people all over the world speak English, but I'm hoping this means I'll not have too much difficulty making myself understood.

4. And I'm learning some other languages.

The major non-English-speaking areas I'm visiting are Peru and Chile, so I'm making the effort to learn at least basic conversational Spanish. I'm also brushing up on my existing French and German for when I get to Europe and am considering learning a few words of Khmer for Cambodia.

5. I track everything.

Basically, I am my father's daughter. Dad's an accountant and I've got into the habit of keeping track of everything I spend while away so that I know if I'm going to have cash problems. Hasn't happened yet. Likelihood is that I'm not going to end up stranded in the middle of Australia having blown my budget.

6. I'm a fairly friendly person.

I'd like to think I'm the type of person who people wouldn't mind pointing towards the bus station. Because I'm bound to get lost at some point.

7. I've done this before.

On a much smaller scale and in a slightly different context, but I went out to Australia to study for a year, on my own, not knowing anyone when I got there. It was amazing.

See, I'll be fine. But I'm going to leave this here for concerned friends/relatives/colleagues just in case. The thing is, I keep being told by others that they could never do something like this. And I wonder whether it's a lack of motivation (job, family, house tying them down) or if they're genuinely scared of going away on their own.

I'm not brave. There's plenty of things scare the bejesus out of me, but travel isn't one of them. Travel is an adventure. Not something to be scared of.

Have you gone travelling alone? What would you say to convince people you weren't crazy?

Halloween: 5 After Dark Experiences

Well, I've missed Halloween by a week, but I though I'd share with you some of the spooky places I've been. Because I'm told everyone loves Halloween. I don't really do spooky or Halloween so the 5 things I've included here are more... embracing the dark than aiming for scares.

1. The Tower of London

Or any other castle for that matter. OK, I'll admit that most of the Tower isn't spooky. In fact, it's pretty damn fascinating. But there's little areas where it just makes you shiver. I'm no great believer in the paranormal, but you can understand why, when so many people were executed at the Tower it might make you feel a little uneasy.

I'm sort of tempted to have a wander around Tower Hill in the dark the next time I'm in London...

2. York after dark

The city of York with its hundreds of years of history and maze of narrow streets lends itself to ghost stories. I took a ghost tour there years ago with school and while the tour itself wasn't really up there in the scary stakes, wandering around the city at night could get quite creepy. Traipsing through the little snickelways where the buildings in places nearly meet overhead was especially cool.

For sheer bloody history, head up to Clifford's Tower, the largest remaining segment of the old York Castle. Here in the Middle Ages the city's persecuted Jewish community holed themselves up to find protection from an angry mob. The tower, then the keep of the castle, came under siege and eventually the families inside committed suicide and set the tower on fire rather than fall into the hands of the mob. A rather black mark on English history...

3. Waitomo Glow Worm Caves

Not so much spooky as surreal, the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand are famous for their amazing glow worms. There are a series of caves at the site, all of which have their own unique appeal. In Ruakuri Cave all the lights get turned out and you can walk conga-style through the dark with just the pale blue lights of the glow worms to show you where the walls are, while in the main Waitomo Cave you go on a boat ride along the Waitomo River, lit from all sides by so many glow worms it feels like you're outside under stars. An amazing experience and one I would highly recommend.

4. Starlight Kayaking, West Cork

Picture this. A wide calm bay bounded by hills. You're in a kayak floating along, barely paddling. Just ahead your guide shows the way, with you trying to keep sight of the flashing light on his kayak. And over head a sky full of stars.

Yeah, starlight kayaking's a pretty magical experience. On our trip in West Cork every stroke of the paddle set off sparks of bioluminescence in the water. So pretty that our boat kept stopping because my friend Claire was too busy playing with the bioluminescence to paddle.

No worries though because the whole trip was so laid back it didn't matter if we went slowly. Although for scare value, hearing Jim the guide call out "Watch out for the boat" and a second later see a huge half-sunken boat loom out of the darkness a few feet away has to be up there with the best.

5. Camping in the Outback

OK, so it wasn't quite camping. The tents were more like canvas rooms - pretty permanent structures just with canvas walls. Brilliant and maybe a bit more secure than a tent. Didn't stop the friend I was travelling with from waking me up in the middle of the night to tell me there was a dingo trying to get into our tent-room. I'd heard something as I woke up and assumed it was just the noise of one of our sleeping bags. No big deal - I figured he'd just been half-asleep and his imagination had run away with him. But he was insistent. Again, not a problem - there was a catch on the door. And then he goes "but, Zoe, I need the loo". So I had to persuade him there was no dingo and that he'd be fine. Go to the loo and if you're not back in ten minutes I'll go and get the guide.

Suffice to say he managed to get back to the tent-room in one piece. Although... he had seen a snake outside the toilet block. Oh dear.

So there's my 5 things to see and do for an amazing after dark experience - or Halloween if you're that way inclined. Have you had a spooky experience while travelling? Done any amazing things after dark? Why not share them here.

Travel Guides: Essential or Dead Weight?

I love a good travel guide. Packed full of useful information for any trip I might fancy making. But in an age where all the information you could possibly need is available with one click on the internet, are they really essential or are they just dead weight?

Well, let's go through the cons first. You have to pay for them and if you like to buy them new, you can end up forking out quite a bit - anything in the range of £20 for the weightier ones like my Lonely Planet guide to Australia. Ugh.

Of course, you could hop on over the internet and find almost the same info for free - there's so many tourist information sites nowadays you're spoilt for choice. Plus with the vast array of review sites (TripAdvisor, I'm looking at you), do you really need the recommendations of a few travel authors?

Then there's the weight. If you want that information with you when you travel, lugging even one book about can be a pain. I took my guide with me to New Zealand and I hardly even looked at it the entire time we were there, so was it really worth having that extra weight in my bag?

And finally, there's the range. You can only fit so much information into a book so obviously the authors are going to pick and choose what goes in and what doesn't. Maybe there's an amazing out of the way hidden gem that didn't make the cut for some reason. Just relying on the guides, you'd miss out.

But what about their plus points? Well, the first is that they're written by people who (generally) know what they're looking for. These are people who have travelled all over and know how to ferret out those slightly out of the way places that you'd otherwise miss. Sure, you'll find loads of others on the web, but the guides can be a good starting point.

The second and possibly my favourite part about them is the inspiration factor. Just as a good novel can transport you to other worlds, so can the best travel guides. You can explore a country from your armchair. Plus you might get new ideas as to where you want to go. When I started looking at Cambodia I was only really interested in going to Angkor Wat and a quick internet search for things to do in Cambodia will agree that Angkor Wat is the number one. But my travel guide for the country pointed me in the direction of the east of the country with its rivers and forest and now I'm thinking of extending my trip to take those in too.

Basically, no, travel guides aren't essential and if you insist on taking them away with you, you'll probably find them to be dead weight. But as a starting point for your plans or even if you're just interested in a country they're an invaluable resource. I wouldn't be without my collection and it's still growing.

What do you think? Is it really worth spending money on a book that won't even give you half the information the internet can?

Snapshots: Barton

I took a trip up to Barton with my dad recently to walk along the Humber bank. It's a lovely walk - very peaceful with some great views and what with it being autumn the colours were amazing. Here's a few of my favourite photos.

Did you know? The Humber Bridge used to be the longest single-span suspension bridge in the world.

Getting lost in the reeds at Far Ings Nature Reserve.

Not many birds on the lakes though...

Cement works looking oddly pretty over at South Ferriby.

And finally, here's a light-boat.