Five cool mysteries from yesterday's walk

I'm in the last few weeks of my school holiday (Scottish schools go back earlier than English schools), and yesterday I had planned to explore a new wood high on the moors which needed to start with a steep climb up the hill. But as I set off I could see the rain coming in over the hills, and I knew it was going to be a long, exposed walk to the wood, so instead I decided to go back to Suicides Graves, which is a large red deer wood I've explored many times before.

So dad and I went looking for deer and bones and we took a loop through the wood, starting with the south east edge, moving along the south, then cutting back through the middle of the wood to look for frogs. ( I found loads !) On the walk we found five pretty cool mysteries: can you solve them ? (Click on "Click to see the answer" under each one to reveal what it was !)

Five years of blogging !

It is now EXACTLY five years ago today when I wrote my very first blog post, which was about the broken swan skull I found in my local wood. I never, ever expected what would happen in the next five years !

Since then I have written over 322 posts and I have had 1,658 comments, but I'm still writing more or less the same way, about once a week, about bones I find, wildlife I see or places I have visited. But I have also been on the TV, radio, in newspapers, met some of my heroes, and even got my first book deal ! So for my fifth anniversary I have written my blog post early in the week and answered your questions about my blogging journey !

Come to my talk in Bath !

Okay, another big announcement ! On the 5th October I'll be giving a Q&A session at the Telegraph Bath Childrens' Literature Festival, talking about bone collecting, my collection, blogging, being on Winterwatch, presenting my book to the royal family, and how my book came about. It's going to be brilliant.

It's going to be a great session in a massive room (it seats 120 !), and I'm talking to Ceebeebies presenter and naturalist Jess French. I'll be signing books afterwards, and talking some more to anyone who comes along.

If you follow my blog, or if you've bought my book, or if you just love bones and nature, or if you just want to say hi, I'd love it if you could come along ! It's at 3.15pm on Sunday 5th October at the Guildhall in Bath, and you can buy tickets at their website (only £6 !). The website says it's for 10+, and the brochure says 12+, but if you're younger, ignore that: I'm 12 and I'll be talking about a hobby I started when I was just 6, so it's suitable for everyone.

Let me know if you're coming - it'll be brilliant to meet some of you !

How I identified a mystery bone

This week's post is a long one, about working out how to identify a fragment of bone I was given, and which was found in the village. I am sometimes asked how I identify bones, and it's difficult to explain because it's a mixture of guesswork, looking in books, and remembering details from other skulls I have.

So here's how I worked it out from a fragment of bone what it was from, even though I'd never seen any bones from that animal before. I actually worked most of it out while standing in my garden, so it wasn't quite as complicated as it seems here. So here it is...and do you think I got it right in the end ?

The roe deer of the pine marten wood

I've blogged before about my Bushnell trail camera, which for the last nine months has been filming a nearby wood where a pine marten lives.  Because I have been concentrating on this one, small wood, I've begun to get to know the local wildlife really well, especially with the roe deer who sometimes get filmed on the camera as well. The camera footage is really useful for tracking and identifying the different deer.

Roe deer are one of the most common types of deer here, and are really interesting to watch. Sometimes you see them in large groupings, especially in spring, but they are easier to watch than the red deer, and less aggressive. Here are the roe deer in the group that I have identified, starting with the young fawn I spotted a few weeks ago !