River ninjas and ecologists.

February has been a very interesting month this year, in aid of my own study procrastination I have walked through snow drifts in the Shropshire Hills AONB, ridden on the steepest inland funicular railway in the country, travelled to London twice, and visited Bath. Although not strictly true as much of this was done in aid of my university research into Bracken management and also the start of the dreaded post-university decision... post-grad or job?

 I visited the Shropshire Hills AONB, incidentally only 30 minutes from my shared university house, to escape from a rabble of river ninjas in camouflage and face paint who through my house mates project were at the time sprinting around my house stopping spillages and general pollution all in aid of a video for the Wildlife Trusts. So while they poured cooking oil over compact cameras I took my own and looked out a walk for my family's walking holiday business. It was a stunning day with the bright sunshine only being blocked by a few flurries of snow which added to a rather impressive haul already glinting in the brightness. The wildlife included hares and kites as well as the omnipresent ponies the National Trust use for conservation grazing, who were enjoying the sunshine almost as much as myself!

The view into Grindle Hollow on the walk in the Shropshire Hills.

The path heading up from Little Stretton towards the Grindle.

Pony on the top of the Grindle.

 The next day was spent in Bridgnorth, which is a fantastic old River Severn port town which is sadly overshadowed by the nearby world heritage site Ironbridge Gorge. Bridgnorth has a wonderful rich history which includes the ruins of a castle that was torn down by the parliamentarians during the civil war, although the royalists then outdid their enemies by burning down most of the higher area of the town which means the old town is mainly at the bottom. It is worth visiting this lower section of the town just for the transportation as Bridgnorth boasts (justifiably) the steepest inland funicular railway in the country, a bright and well maintained network that runs all year round and provided us with plenty of entertainment!

The nicely maintained Bridgnorth Funicular Railway.

Some of the final remains of Bridgnorth Castle, some look particularly precarious!

My family live near Bath and through an incident including a phone and u-bend full of water had to make a unscheduled visit to the Roman city, luckily my still functioning camera was there with me.

Looking at the front of Bath Abbey from next to the Roman Baths.

 On the second Monday of the month I visited London with my housemates who were mercifully now out of camouflage and war paint to attend the British Ecological Society's under-graduate careers seminar, this was a good day designed to help us decide on our future careers, scary thought! The second trip to London was embarked upon with my dad and my history mad sister who quickly abandoned us to gawk over ravens, jewels and other national treasures at the tower of London. This trip was in aid of my dad and I networking for the business and indulging our own interest in all things outdoorsy and adventurous at the Outdoor Adventure Show at Excel. After this we picked Rebecca up who was loved up on all things historical and cultural and meandered across Tower Bridge and back along the embankment to Waterloo (or according to the St Valentines themed ticker tapes at stations 'Waterlove Station') via such sites as the Globe Theatre and Somerset House.

Tower Bridge with the Shard behind.

Window cleaners with a head for heights along the Embankment.

St Paul's across the Millennium Bridge.

 So overall it has been a very promising start to what should turn out to be a very interesting and important year in my studies and also in my future career!