Nature Notes Again

How are you all getting on in the snow? Norfolk was one of the first counties to get the snow which means we've had a very white lookout since Monday night. We're getting a bit fed up of it now, as it means that we're not getting out as much as we'd like to, and things we enjoy keep getting cancelled, but at least we've managed to stay safe and warm.

However, we are working very hard at looking after our feathered friends. We've been keeping the feeders topped up and putting out apples and dried fruit for the bigger birds. We've also been putting out water as the bird bath is frozen over.

Watching all the birds tucking into the food we've provided, gives me hours of fun. One very regular visitor over the last few days, whom I'm always pleased to see, is Woody, our greater spotted woodpecker. He is a great customer as he's happy to eat most things. The fat balls seem to be his favourite at the moment but he also enjoys peanuts and sunflower seeds.

As many of our readers will know all too well, as soon as you put out bird food, especially peanuts, some less welcome visitors quickly arrive on the scene.

We have 2 squirrels who have taken over the tawny owls' nesting box (cheeky!) and they demolish peanuts at an incredible rate. I don't mind too much if it keeps them off the other bird food and I suppose even squirrels have to eat to keep warm this weather.

Talking about keeping warm, we wandered down to our local hostelry in the week and found a rather unusual customer outside ...

Well, we do live in the countryside, so I guess we shouldn't really be surprised, as a pint of beer in a cosy pub has a lot more appeal than a cold, dark and snowy field. Where were his friends though?

Lots of love Chelmer and friends xxx

P.S. our Muscovy friend from last week, didn't like the snow and left us when it arrived; we like to think he has gone to Pensthorpe.

Chelmer's Nature Notes is Back

Dear readers, Chelmer here, to tell you about the latest unusual visitor to our Bear Cave garden. Our visitor was of the feathered variety, and arrived completely unannounced yesterday.

We have a notebook and pen in the kitchen ready to record new sightings, but this species had not made it onto the list even after 10 years of spotting.  I wasn't quite sure who our new friend was initially, but I did know it wasn't a seagull as one of our number (who shall remain nameless) was heard to claim. I knew it was a duck of some sort, and I'll show you my picture now, to give you an opportunity to identify it before I tell you what type it was ...

... actually he wasn't in my bird book so I had to use the internet to look him up. I quickly identified him as a Muscovy. He is actually quite shy and, as yet, rather suspicious of bears, so I couldn't get in the photo with him, or particularly close. I had to retreat as I was clearly disturbing his repose, and I wanted him to settle down again.

He didn't seem to be injured, but we thought he might be hungry, especially as it was such a cold day yesterday. Our internet research told us Muscovy ducks like fruit and vegetable peelings, including potato peelings, so as we prepared our roast dinner veg, we saved all the peelings and took them out to our friend.

He is still with us today, although difficult to spot now amongst all the snow we have. We went out earlier to see if he needed more food, but he is so timid that we caused him to fly off. Hopefully he'll soon realise we only want to help, but we hope even more, that he'll rejoin family and friends and find his way home soon.

Lots of love, Chelmer and friends xxx

Chelmer's Nature Notes Returns

I was very grateful to my friend Gardening Bear Tommy who called me out into the garden to show me what he'd discovered while mowing the lawn last weekend. We had a beautiful pair of baby robins waiting under our fushia bush for their parents to come and feed them.

One was bit shy and hopped away when I got my camera out, but the other was happy to be in my picture with me (look right) ...


... and as he got used to me, he, or it might have been she, was willing to let me get a bit closer and do a close quarters nature study ...


I was both fascinated and enchanted by these delightful youngsters and hope they will stay safe and grow up to be big and strong.

Love from Chelmer xxx

Chelmer's Nature Notes is Back

We've had a very exciting week in our Norfolk Bear Cave, all thanks to a rather unusual visitor of the feathered variety.

Earlier in the week, our male minder was working in the kitchen and noticed a tiny bird on the bush right outside the kitchen window. It wasn't one he recognised, and it was behaving quite unusually, in as much as it seemed desperate to join him in the kitchen. He took a photo and brought it up to show me. When I saw it, I was quite astounded, as it was no common or garden bird; it was, as you can see ...


... the most beautiful goldcrest (Europe's smallest bird!)

Curly and I rushed down and were delighted to find that this is a very sociable bird who pays numerous visits each day to our kitchen window. He, or she, is not at all bothered by activity in the kitchen, in fact the more there is, the more he perches on the window sill and tries to join us.

We can get right up close to the window ...


... and it is truly fascinating having such a close up view of such an interesting and beautiful bird.

It's certainly been the highlight of our year (nature-wise) so far. Mind you. we're not getting much work done as a result - one of the reasons that there hasn't been a post for a while!

Lots of love, Chelmer, Curly and all the chaps xxx

Chelmer's Nature Notes Returns

It's been quite a while hasn't it readers? but here I am, back with one of my nature notes.

For followers of Springwatch, when I say that Curly and I went to Pensthorpe yesterday, you'll know exactly what I'm referring to. For the uninitiated, Pensthorpe is a nature reserve with ponds and gardens and its a place where a lot of fantastic conservation work is done. Happily for us, its only just down the road from our bear cave.

It was a bit too cold yesterday for the full tour, so we just went along for the 3.00 p.m. winter bird feed. This is great, as visitors get to sit in the warm in a viewing gallery, with big glass windows looking out onto a large pond, while a warden goes out to feed the birds, talking through a headset so we can hear his commentary. When all the food has been scattered, he then comes back in to join us to talk some more about the birds and the fantastic work they do at Pensthorpe, including breeding red squirrels (aaaah!)



The warden spotted Curly and me straight away and commented about the bears at the window. After we said 'hello', he said he would address his comments directly to us so we felt very privileged.

As we waited for the feed to start, it was very clear that the birds knew exactly what was going to happen as they were all flying in and swimming in and jostling for pole position on the bank. There were 2 rather bully boy ruddy ducks who thought the bank where the feeding took place was their's and did their best to see others off, but they were outnumbered by the crowds.


The sheer variety of water fowl was amazing and we learnt lots of interesting facts. Our favourites were the bar headed geese and the smew, but we also rather liked the puma teal with its interesting blue beak. Bar headed geese in the wild fly from Tibet over the Himalayas to India, so are real high altitude fliers, but of course the captive bred geese at Pensthorpe weren't able to chat with us about their impressions of Everest.

This amazing experience cost us just £3 so, if you're in North Norfolk before the end of February we strongly recommend a visit to Pensthorpe to see the winter bird feed.


Lots of love, Chelmer and Curly xxx