Fox cubs 2022 and magpie attack

 Every Spring I look out for the arrival of fox cubs. I normally see them in mid May, although last year, 2021, I saw them in early April. I mentioned that I had seen them earlier that year as they seemed to be living under the shed in front of my window, rather than in a den further away. See my blog of the dates.

So in 2022 I started looking out for the cubs. My favourite fox, who was a parent last year, and would come for food every afternoon and spend hours sitting under my window, disappeared in mid April. I guess she/he died. One of last year's cubs would often compete with her for food. This is her snoozing below my window -

I kept looking out and listening for any sign of cubs. I noticed that 2 of the foxes who come for food were taking food away so I assumed they were feeding some youngsters in a den. One of those was last year's cub, which surprised me. 

On 9 May I looked out late afternoon and saw a cub following a fox. I grabbed my camera and only managed to get one shot before they went out of view. They then appeared below my window and to my amazement, the older fox was last year's cub. Was this the parent?

The 2021 cub is still quite small. It has always been a real character, like a precocious child, very adventurous and a dominant little character. It would compete for food against adult foxes and certainly knew how to stand up for itself. So in a way I wasn't surprised it had become a parent in its first year.  See red fox breeding. It had always liked to climb and had no fear of heights, here it is on shed roofs last August -

After seeing the one and only cub on 9 May, I was away for a week. After my return there was still no sign of it, though the parent was still running off with food.

In my blog from last year I mentioned how crows and magpies became very vocal in May and June, as if trying to remove potential predators from their chicks. The same thing is happening this year. The magpies are squawking a lot, especially when a fox appears. The foxes take no notice. But the magpies are persistent and even harass and attack the foxes tail.

After this attack the fox jumped up onto a storage container

I'll continue to look out for more fox cub sightings. I know a few foxes have disappeared recently, mainly those with mange, as well as my afore mentioned favourite. So maybe there were less cubs born this year.

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UPDATE

Didn't see the cub again until 3 weeks later, 29 May. And on subsequent days, it seemed to be with this fox, who is the second of the two who come for food. So I wonder if they are both the parents. I've seen the smaller one roll over onto its back when greeting the larger one. 

Thankfully the magpie squawking only lasted a week or so. 

2023 :

Haven't seen any fox cubs this year which is unusual, and only a couple of timid foxes come round for food. So there have been no magpies screaming at the foxes this year. However a crow has been squawking at foxes since May 17.

London's Elizabeth line opens

The new Elizabeth underground line finally opened in London on 24 May 2022. It was a big day for London. The Crossrail project - known as the Elizabeth line - links Reading and Essex via central London.

It opened almost 4 years late and cost £18.8bn - at least £4bn over-budget. It is one of Europe's biggest construction projects. The line is 118 km long.

The line's 2 western ends are Reading in Berkshire and Heathrow, the eastern terminals are Shenfield in Essex and Abbey Wood in southeast London. The line is not completely finished and currently passengers have to change at Paddington and Liverpool Street. Ten new stations have been built for the central London section, but Bond Street is not yet open. 

The first train left from Paddington at 6.33 am on 24 May. I took the train from Canary Wharf later in the morning, after the main rush had gone. 

All the London Underground lines have different colours, and Elizabeth is purple. It is also shown on the tube map as a double line rather than a solid colour. 

The train seats have a purple colour. This moquette is a mix of purples, blues, greys, and beige, with small flashes of orange and red – a colour scheme reflecting the line’s royal associations and echoing the purple of the new line signage. Even the adverts on the platform are purple coloured.

I got off at Paddington, which is the current end of this section. I was surprised how big the station is. The underground passenger tunnels are really high and the main entrance lobby is bright and light - 

I had a quick look round Paddington Station and thought about going onto Reading, but decided to leave that for another day. So I went back down, and took the train to Whitechapel.

**

Last year the new extension of the Northern line to Battersea Power Station opened.

Mount Etna, Sicily

 I was in Sicily in mid May 2022 and was lucky as Etna was active that week, whereas earlier that month there was little activity. I flew into Catania, which is Sicily's second largest city and is located at the foot of Etna. That day the mountain was largely covered by cloud. We stayed on the north coast for 3 nights, then spent the last 4 nights in Giardini Naxos, which is to the north of Catania. Everyday we had a good view of Etna as we went out on tours. At night there was a good view of the lava flows from the hotel roof terrace. Photo taken 7.20 am looking towards the NE slopes -

At times there were 2 distinct plumes of smoke emerging, one white and one black. 

On 15 May we went up Etna. We drove up the south side, through some small villages and past lots of fertile plains with crops such as vegetables, citrus fruits, particularly oranges and grapes for wine. Even Kiwi fruit and pistachios are grown. Further up the yellow broom shrubs were blooming. As we got higher, the vegetation disappeared and we passed through lava fields.

There were many lava caves and tunnels marked on my map. The guide pointed out one, Grotta dei Tre Livelli (Cave of the Three Levels), which is used for adventure caving. It is 1150 m long and the entrance is right by the road. 

We went on up to the huge parking area. I then took the cable car up. Each gondola takes 6 passengers. Our guide told us the cable car is often destroyed by eruptions so is often rebuilt! The departure base is at an altitude of 1900 m (6200 ft.), while the "summit" station is at an altitude of 2500 m (8200 ft.).

Looking up

and looking back down

At the top of the cable car, there was the option of going up further in a large 4WD and doing a crater walk. I hadn't booked this as I was worried about the altitude as I get altitude sickness quite early (at low altitudes). So I just walked around and although I could feel the thinner air it wasn't a problem. I had dressed up warmly expecting it to be cold up there, but the sun was shining and there was no wind, so it was very pleasant.

During late Spring and early Summer, ladybirds migrate towards mountainous areas to mate. This includes Etna. However it was a bit early and I only saw a few mating. The female is larger than the male -

I went back down and walked over to Silvestri crater

This slope is a red colour due to iron minerals - 

That evening the lava flow could clearly be seen

The following evening at dusk -

And the evening after, there was more lava and it had split into 2 channels -

I later checked the eruption updates and it says "small, but intense lava fountains feeding lava flow" and there is a video taken on the 18 May. The text describes how the behaviour has changed and intensified over 24 hours. The fissure vent I could see from the hotel is a new one, it appeared on 12th. So I was lucky to be there at the right time to see it, as this is the most activity since August 2021. 

See more on the eruptions on Global Volcanism Program. 

Norwegian fjords cruise - Olden

On the fjords cruise, the next port after Stavanger was Olden. I had passed through the town on the 2018 coach tour, when we spent the night in the nearby town of Loen. 

Early morning, looking back as we sailed up Innvikfjorden, which is an upstream arm of  Nordfjord. Nordfjorden is the sixth longest fjord in Norway, 106 km long and 565 m deep at the mouth. I was excited to see the snow.

The town of Loen

Approaching Olden and the sun came out -

The new cruise ships can turn around on their own axis, so it was no problem for our monster ship to turn at the end of the fjord. The population of Olden is approximately 500; our ship was carrying 3650 passengers plus well over 1000 crew. In May 2022 cruise ships will be there 15 times. Hopefully the locals will benefit from the income. There is a new jetty close to the town, opened in 2018. The tour buses were waiting for the first lot of passengers.

Some trolls to welcome us

The village is surrounded by farms.

After lunch, I took the open top glacier bus which goes to a view point, from where we could look towards the Briksdal glacier, which is one of the many ‘tongues’ of the Jostedalsbreen. The  Jostedalsbreen is the largest glacier on mainland Europe - part of it can be seen on the above map, shown as the white areas. In 2018 I had visited the Glacier Museum and saw the Boyabreen, Boya Glacier, at the south end of the glacier. 

On the bus we stopped at a river, the water comes from the glacier, flows through Oldevatnet lake and into the fjord at Olden. 

The waterfalls coming off the mountains were still frozen

The lake looking towards the glacier -

Looking back at the glacier from the ship -

When it was time to leave, we had a lovely farewell from the locals - typical "sailing" songs were played at full volume from the pub at the jetty and many people were waving flags from their houses. I'm surprised they still have the enthusiasm to do this with so many cruise ships calling each month. Onboard many passengers were waving Union Jacks and the Welsh flags from their balconies.   -

Sailing out of the fjord

A salmon farm, and the sun is setting as we apporach the open sea