wildlife

My Hike across the River Lee Country Park
Sign for River Lee Country Park
River Lee Country Park, UK

River Lee Country Park is Located in the Lee Valley Park and managed by the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.

It’s quite a big park covering over 1,000 acres on either side of the River Lee Navigation between Broxbourne and Waltham Abbey.

I passed a few big lakes teaming with wildlife, some watercourses and open spaces as well as hiking the River Lee itself full to the brim of canal boats.

Much of the park here is of special scientific interest and almost everything is linked by footpaths and cycle tracks. The area isn’t just important for birds the network of waterways is a haven to some of the most endangered mammals like the Otters and Water Voles.

I recommend this park particularly to bird watchers as the whole park is teaming with them everywhere. In fact every winter the Lee Valley Regional Park supports over 10,000 water birds as an inland wintering area. There’s also amazing wildlife and birds to see throughout the year including the rare otters which disappeared from Lee Valley in the 1970’s and have now made a come back. I didn’t get the opportunity to see any otters nor water voles this time but maybe I’ll be back!

Following the Trail I saw Swans and Geese with their little babies, Kingfishers, Seagulls, lots of Dragonflies, Herons, Warblers etc. See below some of the photos I snapped.

  • A Pair of Geese with lots of Goslings
  • A Swan with her Cignets
  • An Unusual but Beautifully coloured goose
  • A pair of Geese
  • A Goose
  • A Swan
a bee sitting on a purple flower with most of the image featuring green leaves
A white tailed bumble bee
Scrivener

I’m reading Scrivener for Dummies!

Having changed from MS Word to Scrivener some time ago I decided to buy this book ‘Scrivener for Dummies’ by Gwen Hernandez.

Scrivener for Dummies by Gwen Hernandez

The Scrivener software by the way is excellent and can be used just as a type interface similar to MS Word, but the opportunities and features within Scrivener differ enormous and i understand has been written by writers for writers. For example when writing in MS Word I used to have all my research, photos, web links and notes all over the computer. In Scrivener everything is linked in one place, within the Scrivener project.

What I also like about Scrivener is it’s packed with features and opportunities and you can use as much or as little of them as you want or need. Great for when you’re are starting in Scrivener and you want to get banging away with you novel, script or other writing works. As time goes on you can pick up the more advanced features, although I have found it’s all very simple to use. You just need to know how.

After you have bought the software from www.literatureandlatte.com you get to play with a hands on Tutorial, taking you through the features of Scrivener. When I did the Tutorial I picked up quite a bit and was able to start working it straight way.

If you aren’t sure that Scrivener is for you, you can download a free 30 day trial to try it out for yourself. I never even did the trial after reading so much good about it I just bought it. I keep reading and reading about people trying Scrivener and buying it within days and I can see why and once purchased it’s yours for life.

There is so much in the Scrivener Interface and I find it simple to use

  • Templates for either a novel, script, short story, blog post, Poetry and Lyrics etc.
  • Cork board for Listing all you characters or chapters in post it notes mode. I’ve got to admit cork board is my favourite part of Scrivener, keeping track of the characters in this way makes life so easy for me.
  • The Editor much like MS Word but with so much more. Includes setting word count targets goals, splitting the screen to view two chapters or the same chapter.
  • Different search options
  • Saving versions of your writings
  • The Inspector, located on the right of the screen allows you to type in notes, photos, links, metadata etc, I like this too!
The Scrivener Interface

Trust me, it’s really quite simple

I’m now going to enjoy reading my new book ‘Scrivener for Dummies’ by Gwen Hernandez to unlock and learn about more features within Scrivener and help me plot and write my novel.

animals, zoo

My visit to Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster UK

Today I paid a visit with my family to The Yorkshire Wildlife Park located in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. This zoo opened in April 2009 and has been flourishing with animals since.

The zoo has a diverse habitats of grasslands, woodland and wetlands carefully adapted to home many species of animals.

I was surprised just how many animals the park had. Nearly 400 animals and 70 different species it’s much bigger than expected. They range from lions, tigers, bears, zebra, giraffe mongoose, meercat, sulcata tortoise, black rhino, ostrich, painted dog, lemurs, baboons, capybara, coat, monkeys, six banded armadillo, giant anteater, giant otter, polar bear, camels, wallabies, bugs and many more.

The wildlife park is home to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park Foundation (YWP). Established in 2013 the YWP aims to make the world a better place for wild animals by promoting the conservation of endangered animals.

I understand that further development and expansion of the zoo is planned in the coming years.

There are several cafe selling food and drinks including the Masai Coffee House, Safari Cafe, Tsavo Bakehouse, Monkey Playhouse and Leopard Kiosk. There’s play areas for the children across the zoo and a shop located at the entrance/exit selling all the zoo and animal memorabilia.

It was a fun trip and thoroughly recommend a visit to the park, it’s well worth it.

  • Rhino
  • Zebra
  • Giraffe
  • Painted Dog
MovingHome

Finally moved into my new place and back writing my novel
Picture of a pine desk, brown luxury massage chair with computer sat on table

After a couple of weeks in between homes, stuck in London staying in hotels I finally have a new place. All my new desk and fully functioning massage chair is in place and I ‘m back working on my Spy/Thriller novel which I hope to have out sometime this decade.

I will keep you posted on my progress!