Blog Archives

Photography in the Amazon

29/4/2015

It is now time to start thinking about the camera I will be taking with me to the Amazon. It is important that I am able to taking good quality photographs whilst there, as these are a requirement for some of the reports I will be writing after the expedition. My own DSLR camera, whilst its image quality is really nice, is too heavy and I am concerned that the high humidity will damage it as it isn’t watertight. I have, however, several alternatives. Firstly the Fujifilm Finepix Z I had when I was younger, could be a good backup camera to take as it is small and light, but I am considering whether my old bridge camera might be a better alternative, as it has a good zoom lens, though weight is an issue here. Another possibility is that my father has offered me the use of his Olympus Tough camera, which is small and weighs only 245g. As the name suggests, it is tough, and also waterproof, and can even take a dunking in the Amazon river (for lots of lovely photos of piranhas)!!!

Last night I trialled the Olympus Tough when we visited Clattinger Farm, a hay-meadow famous for its abundance of Fritillary. Here are the results:

Green-winged orchid

Cowslip

Snake's head Fritillary

In helping me decide on which camera to take, I am going to be considering how long the camera batteries last, and the cost of buying spare ones, as I don’t think the opportunities for recharging batteries will be great in the jungle!

To change the subject, I think I am postponing the car boot sale planned for this weekend until the 10th May, as I had forgotten that this weekend was a bank holiday (and I’m not convinced that British people would like to spend their bank holiday at a car boot sale, or at least I know that I wouldn’t).

Thank you

29/4/2015

A huge thank you to my Aunt and Uncle who live in California, for their generous contribution towards my expedition.

Latest news

27/4/2015

Today I gave a talk at the Corinium Museum about its collection of bird related artefacts, including many Roman cockerel figurines, peahens, geese and a crane in mosaics, as well as assorted eagles and doves ranging from the Egyptian through to the Medieval period. It was an hour long talk to members of the public – relieved now it is over, but it was fun to do. I will be giving another talk in June on Anglo-Saxon and Viking art.

As for the fundraising, I have been making a bit more money with eBay of late, as I have been selling some bigger items, most recently my dog’s agility set, as he no longer uses it. I am also going to put up adverts in the local supermarket in an effort to sell my old bike, and a children’s sized violin I played when I was seven. I am also starting to get organized for a car boot sale on Sunday (weather permitting).

I have now paid for my flight, we will be flying from Gatwick – Bogota – Lima – Cuzco. It is starting to feel much more real now.

We have just bought a small selection of fruit from Peru, though not all of it is native – Mango, Pomegranate, Avocado and Physalis.

And here are a few more Peruvian products which we have in our food cupboard – Quinoa, Cacao Nibs and Cacao powder.

I am also now a British Exploring Brand Ambassador, which will involve me visiting schools and talking about the British Exploring Society, and also my expedition (once I’ve been on it!).

Volunteering today

16/4/2015

BE Training Weekend

13/4/2015

The 10th – 12th April was the BE training weekend at Beaudesert Park near Lichfield. It was attended by all the Young Explorer’s, leaders and BE team, and was an excellent opportunity to start getting to know everyone. We were camping, having previously organised ourselves into small groups over Facebook. The nights were pretty cold and uncomfortable, but I guess I will be having to get used to that (yes, even in the jungle, as apparently El Friaje can cause temperatures to drop suddenly for a few days to around 12-14 degrees Celcius at night, which might occur when we are there).

The Young Explorers are divided into three fires for the three-week expedition, and two fires for the five-week expedition. I met the other members of my “Fire” which will be called “Tamandua” (or “Taramandua”, which was our original, misspelled version of the animal, which we might stick with) – the Southern Tamandua Tamandua Tetradactyla is a small anteater without any teeth, which feeds on ants, termites and bees, which we may see while there if we are lucky. It has extremely long claws which it uses for foraging or in defence. I really like the people in my fire –the people I will be spending the 5 weeks with – six boys and three girls, though one person was unable to attend the weekend, and one or two more girls may join the group. On the expedition we will have a couple of trainee leaders, as well as an Adventure Leader and a Science Leader, bringing the group up to around fifteen in total.

The Southern Tamandua, image from: "T tetradactyla 1" by Sinara Conessa - Flickr. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:T_tetradactyla_1.jpg#/media/File:T_tetradactyla_1.jpg

The weekend was very fun, useful and informative, with a range of team-building sessions, guidance on equipment and talks about a wide variety of topics from health to the biodiversity of the region, and from camp-craft skills to learning some techniques for the scientific work we will be doing. One of the things we learnt was the calls of a few bird species’ we might hear, including: Chestnut-Tailed Antbird, Little Tinamou, Speckled Chachalaca and the Southern Nightingale-Wren. We also split up into small groups, completing a night-time Transect looking for plastic frogs, butterflies and small rubber snakes (carefully concealed in trees at head-height).

The Speckled Chachalaka, image from: "Ortalis guttata, Speckled Chachalaca" by https://www.flickr.com/photos/jquental - https://www.flickr.com/photos/jquental/14573363297/. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ortalis_guttata,_Speckled_Chachalaca.jpg#/media/File:Ortalis_guttata,_Speckled_Chachalaca.jpg

After arriving in Manu (it will take around four days to get there), our fire will start by working (whilst still in the “acclimatisation” phase) at a settlement on the other side of the river from the main base camp, helping the locals in the creation of bio-gardens, sustainable living (as most of their food is imported from the major cities), better use of resources etc. I realise that a crash-course in Spanish will be useful, as I only studied it for a year in school, which won’t get me far! After around ten days of this, we will move to the base camp (which the three-week fires will have just left). They will have started working their way up the Pini-Pini Ridge at 1150m above sea level, cutting trails which we will then follow and extend, hopefully onto the top of the ridge, undertaking important scientific and conservation work as we go, which will help the CREES Foundation. This area is relatively unexplored, and could be home to many undescribed species.

I feel that I learnt a huge amount at this training course, but will save the information for future blog entries. The flight has been booked, and I have received a bill for this which I hope to pay later this week. It was actually a couple of hundred pounds cheaper than predicted, so my fundraising goal has moved a little bit closer now!

Happy Easter/Glad Påsk

5/4/2015

Spring has sprung here in the Cotswolds. The Hawthorn is coming into leaf, and the Blackthorn into bloom. The cowslips, cuckoo flower, daffodils and violets are all in flower. We have seen plenty of bumblebees and even the odd butterfly, and the birds seem to be very busy building their nests – Coots, Moorhens and Mute Swans already sitting on eggs.

The fundraising goes on, and with this warm weather, I will be preparing for more car boot sales over the coming weeks. eBay is going very slowly – probably because the shops seem to be having lots of sales, but I continue to really enjoy my part part-time job.

Apart from my fundraising, I am keeping busy with voluntary work. This week on Monday I did some research at the museum for a talk I am going to be giving shortly, and on Thursday, I enjoyed hosting a discovery zone session about the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. At the wildlife rescue centre, work with the hedgehogs continues, but hopefully they will soon be returned to the wild. It is coming up to the busiest time of year, and the centre is starting to get in blackbird chicks and poorly fox cubs, and has already had some muntjac deer.

Over the past few weeks, I and other members of the expedition have been organising ourselves for the training weekend near Lichfield which takes place next weekend. We have been getting into groups, as well as organising food and equipment to take. It will be nice to find out more about the scientific aspects of the expedition, meet the other members and the leaders of the expedition, and also reassuring to learn about first-aid, safety etc.

Photo by Angus Malmgren

Fundraising

I MANAGED TO REACH MY FUNDRAISING TARGET - a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me and helped make it possible for me to take part in this amazing adventure.

THANK YOU also to the following for grants and sponsorship:

The David Haydock Memorial Trust
The Hedley Foundation
The Lord Mayor's 800th Anniversary Awards Trust
The Roger and Miriam Pilkington Charitable Trust
The David St John Thomas Charitable Trust

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