Lisa G Saw • November 13, 2022

Sunset Over The Sea

I headed down to the beach at dusk. It was a sunny autumn afternoon and several people had the same idea as me. I walked down the beach away from most on the esplanade. I recalled one of my last visits to the beach, when the air was warmer and the sea calmer. Today, the sea was noisy. There was no silent moment between the rise and fall of the tide. With the wind behind me, I flipped up my hood and instantly it dulled the sounds around me and provided some warmth.

 

I realised my shoulders were tense. So, I let go and relaxed, standing, facing the sun as it neared towards the horizon. Despite the distraction of the sea and wind, everything else seemed calm and effortless, the way the seabirds were gliding across the darkening sky and how the sun slowly dipped behind the faraway clouds and then appeared to melt into the sea. The sun was such a gorgeous fiery orange. I stood still, watching the light change and the sun set, thinking about how happy I've been the last few weeks.

 

The challenges of this year have been floating away behind me. What’s past is past. The sun has set. I’ve embraced the hard times and delved deep inside to get to where I am now. It’s all been worth it, in ways I never dreamed possible. With a feeling of hope and optimism I can move forward. I’m so happy about all the things on my horizon.

 

I continued to walk along the beach, wondering if the sun would provide that wonderful encore, that last light, before the day was done. It didn't look like it would, so I turned around and started to head home. Thankfully, I cast a glance over my shoulder and I saw it, the last rays of the sun illuminated the underside of a band of clouds. The glow warmed my heart and made me smile. It was beautiful.

October 26

By Lisa G Saw • October 31, 2026
WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS There's just a few local wildlife photos to share in this post, which were taken at the beginning of October. This is largely because I was busy working the first two weeks of the month, whilst Bob headed up to Scotland, first to dog-sit and to see his son. Halfway through the month, I joined him and we had another lovely two weeks visiting some of our favourite sites up north, plus exploring a few new ones too. I'll share more photos from that trip in another blog. It was lovely seeing a small flock of Blackcaps visiting our garden in Seaford at the start of the month. I was able to take these photos from the bedroom window using my big lens. Here's a lovely male eyeing up some seeds.

September 26

By Lisa G Saw • October 10, 2026
WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS At the start of September, Bob and I went on a wonderful long weekend to Transylvania for a family wedding. Although part of Romania now, it used to be within the Hungarian borders, so in the region we visited, they spoke Hungarian. The picturesque village where the wedding was to take place was nestled in the Carpathian Mountains. Traditional farming methods are still the norm in this rural area, with low intensity family farming still common, which doesn't involve the use of pesticides. As a result, there were many wildflower meadows and margins literally teeming with insect life, which was amazing to see. Even though September is late in the butterfly season, and many of the ones we saw were past their best, we had some fabulous walks photographing the insects we found when we weren't involved in family events. On our first evening, in the early evening light, we had a short walk up to the meadow just above where we were staying. One of the first new species for me over the course of the weekend was the Reverdin's Blue (below).
Two Heath Fritillaries in East Blean Wood

Heading Home from Yorkshire

By Lisa G Saw • October 3, 2026
After our lovely week away up in Yorkshire , we began our slow journey back home via Norfolk, Suffolk and Kent, stopping at some of our favourite nature reserves. Essentially, we enjoyed a second week away, even though the weather wasn't quite so favourable. On the first day of our route south, we had a lovely couple of stops in Lincolnshire, to visit a friend of mine who'd fairly recently moved to the area, and also to visit Chamber's Farm Wood - a good site for Marsh Fritillaries that Bob had heard about. When we arrived, Bob commented that the little meadow nearby looked good for Black Hairstreak (lots of Blackthorn), and sure enough, he was right. He spotted one before I'd even joined him there. Soon we both spotted a handful flying around, which was lovely to see. On our short walk through the woodland we saw our first White Admiral of the year. It was fleeting, but lovely. Not long after, we reached an open meadow and saw an abundance of Marsh Fritillaries flying around. I've never seen so many! They were well past their best, since it was late in their flight season, but very active. Eventually, we managed to find a fresher looking female who posed really nicely for us.
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