Chelmer's Nature Notes Returns

Do you remember my nature notes posts from last year? I hope you enjoyed them and are looking forward to another. Today's nature note relates to an incident last summer. It couldn't have happened now, as it would have resulted in a frazzled bird, for reasons I'll soon explain.

To start at the beginning, early one morning, while the rest of the chaps were having a lie in, Curly and I were in the kitchen of the bear cave, enjoying a bowl of cereals and a cup of tea. We consumed both with relish, noticing nothing out of the ordinary. When we'd finished, we put our crockery in the dishwasher and started to walk out the kitchen. It was then that we got the feeling that we were not alone, in fact it was more than a feeling, it was a definite realisation, as only another living creature could be making the rustling/fluttering noise that was coming from the direction of our Aga.

I looked across, puzzled, and then saw some movement from a ventilation cowl which has a grilled front and looks like this.


At first I thought it must be a butterfly, but as we went for a closer look, I saw a pair of bright black eyes looking at me and realised we had a bird behind bars. Our prisoner was in fact a gorgeous great tit who had clearly taken a tumble down our chimney and then found his exit route blocked by bars.

We were eager to give him his freedom back, but first we made sure we got a fine close up shot of us with our avian prisoner ...


We opened the kitchen window wide before we lifted off the cowl, and it was very gratifying to see our new friend fly off and reclaim his freedom.

It was a good job this incident happened in summer as story might not have had such a happy ending, had the Aga been lit.

Lots of love Chelmer & Curly xxx

What to Buy a Bear: Part 8

Hello from Bears Unlimited action bear Chelmer, and my brother Curly.

I, Chelmer, am a bit of a dare devil, and a sedate lifestyle is not for me. I will try any activity at least once, and the scarier and more dangerous the better: bungee jumper is my middle name. I am also the Bears Unlimited personal trainer and it is my job to make sure all my B.U. friends stay in great shape.

My brother Curly has the same genes as me, so usually comes with me on my adventures, but, he is a bit more sensible than me, and keeps his feet on the ground more of the time. As such he is a great foil for me as he makes sure we always stay safe.


One of our favourite presents from our B.U. friends was the great book you see us with in our photo. It is called Learning to Breathe and, it isn't a guide to personal training as it sounds, but a book about mountaineering, written by incredible mountaineer Andy Cave, a climbing contemporary of Joe Simpson of Touching the Void fame.

We love reading books by people who, we have to admit it, are even more adventurous than ourselves. Mountaineers are a breed apart, and we really admire their daring, courage and sense of adventure. Andy Cave's book is particularly interesting as it tells how he went from working underground as a miner, to successful mountaineer. What a change of lifestyle!

Lots of love, Chelmer & Curly xxx

Last Nature Notes - for now

Other bears are eager to take over the blog again, so I'll just share one more nature note with you. It involves a delightful creature which is one of my favourite's, and also a favourite of gardening bear Tommy, because of the help this creature gives in the garden.

Can you guess who it is? Our first picture will give you only a small clue as you no doubt can't see what we're looking at and you'd need a soundtrack to hear the conversation we were having with our friend.


You should have picked up the clue that they are most commonly around at dusk.

It seemed a bit cruel to have to dazzle our friend with the camera flash so you could share in our wildlife encounter, but we did ask his permission first and he agreed, in return for a worm - not our new slow worm friend of course!


He was quite a small hedgehog at that time, but we're pleased to say we've seen him again strolling round the church yard and he's a lot bigger now.

We did make sure we gave him our safety briefing which mainly covered the need to keep away from roads.

We hope our nature notes have shown you that you don't need to go further than your own home to have some great wildlife encounters.

Lots of love Chelmer & Curly xxx