https://www.facebook.com/446153808795975/

Finding Joy Photography, Nottingham (2026)

17/07/2015

It would seem that fairy tales do not come true. For reasons outside my control, and there is a variety, don’t go jumping to conclusions…It would seem I will not be returning to Australia…

Yes, I am upset and angry, but most of all I’m just lost. I had pretty much planned out the rest of my life, but it’s been a couple days, and I’ve been thinking about it long and hard and I’m going to try and make the most of this turn of events. (keep calm, keep reading!)

Maybe one day I may be in a position to try moving permanently to Australia again, but for now I’m flat out broke! So, time to start fresh and I’ll hold onto my dream of opening a wildlife rescue centre one day…Positive thinking and all that…Right? Rock bottom is a beautiful place to have a fresh start.

So, trying to get back on my feet…I’ve applied for a range of rescue centres and other animal establishments here in the UK…Should I find myself rescuing wildlife here in Britain, I would love to share my stories with you again! But for the meantime, I may be a bit quiet while I change my website and fix this page to reflect this development.
But, when the flying fox baby season rolls around in Cairns again…I would love to be able to share the bat girls rescue stories and have your support to help them raise the crèche fees like last year!

But! If you followed my page specifically for Matt and my work with the Flying Foxes and couldn’t care less about my potential future work with British wildlife or the rescue work by the beautiful bat-girls, then I understand that you will unlike the page. No hard feelings…

But WAIT! Before you throw your hands in the air and unlike the page...I would like to thank a number of people…

I have met some of the most talented and inspiring people over my years in Australia; Vicki, Heather, Chonie, Renee, Sharlene, Jess, Annie, Gaby and everyone else in the bat team…You guys have become such an important part of my life! All the people who helped out like Sam and Jamie, you are superstars…but I won’t try to list everyone because no doubt I’ll miss someone!
A big thanks to Jenny at the Tolga Bat Hospital for her unwavering support and for taking all our babies for release! Also an enormous thanks to Annabelle and her staff at the Boongarry Vet Surgery for putting up with alllllll the animals I took in, I swear I was in that place more than I was at home! Also the staff at the Earlville Vet for all their after-hours help!
To Sally and all the rescue centre volunteers, and also all the phone operators…will miss our little chat guys, you are all such hard working and dedicated people, I wish you all the best!
Also all the people from all the places I volunteered before settling in Cairns…particularly the team in Tasmania’s Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, I learnt so much from you and grew as a person as a result …It was a privilege to work with you…
No doubt I have missed out dozens of people, but there are just so many people, I don’t know where to go from here. Just to all the beautiful people who made my life in Australia so special, Thank you a million times. I promise I will visit soon!
Reckon I should also shout out to my now ex-boss Stuart, and supervisor Shian, for being possibly the greatest employers ever…going to such lengths to accommodate my wildlife rescue activities and being so supportive about it all! You are awesome people! :)

And to my ‘partner in crime,’ Matt, I know it wasn’t always lollipops and rainbows, think about what we survived! Think how strong we were to survive all those crazy people, back stabbers, vindictive roommates, one particularly mentally unstable psychopathic ‘carer’ who feeds all his animals bread (you know the one I mean) and a range or other dramas…But bad times aside, in our time together we rescued hundreds and hundreds of animals…And for that I am proud and I will miss you…Because seriously, we bloody well rocked it!!

To all my amazing supporters who have gotten this far in this rambling post of mine, and not thrown a tantrum and unliked the page, thank you for being amazing and showing so much compassion for the beautiful animals and being so generous with your donations and sponsorships to Tolga Bat Hospital, the Tree Roos and Battie Blues ICU fundraiser and all the other fundraisers we have held! Not to mention your people power seeing Jenny at Tolga being voted volunteer of the year last year and raising $10K for the bats! People power for bats! :)

I will miss the bats soooooo much, but I have my family at least….and please no one offer condolences or sympathies because If someone tries to give me a hug I might fall to pieces and cry…

Thank you so much everyone, love you all!

24/05/2015

Important news...

So it’s been one disaster after another in our little lives, and sick family members and drama aside…The silver lining is it has all come together and landed me in a position to attend my brother’s wedding on Tuesday…I never thought I would be able to attend, I had plans to have someone hold a laptop so I could be there in the front row on Skype…But I am here, and I am probably going to look like a drag queen since my being in a dress is likely to blind someone, but I am here none the less.

Though despite this wonderful occasion, there seems to be an even larger drama, it would seem that the processing of my paperwork to return to Australia and continue my life with Matt, and the bats, has been delayed. This was most definitely not planned or wanted, but that’s just how the world spins…and we seem to be a drama magnet!

So, with this bad news looming over all the other bad news happening in our lives and my family’s lives right now, it was of the Groom’s request that instead of a honeymoon, that all of us go on a holiday together since it may be the last time we are all in the same country together and able to see one another…my moving to Australia permanently means I will probably not see many of them again! :(
The live-in house sitters are arranged, and after what will no doubt be a beautiful wedding, we are heading to Florida to spend our last family holiday together before we all head our separate ways in life!

I know you all were hoping for different news, that I was to be jetting off back to Australia after the wedding to get back into wildlife rescue…But baby season is still a few months away and the bat-girls have told me that rescues have been practically non-existent (which makes a change!), so for the time being, my being away is not a drama or of detriment to the bats in any way…and really, the bat-girls are all totally awesome and excellent batty carers, they can manage without me while I spend what will probably be my last ever holiday with my family!! They managed before I came along after all! ;)

I will continue to post videos and photos from my collections, many you probably haven’t seen before, just so you can get your flying fox fix! We also have plans to visit Lubee Bat Conservancy while in Florida, I'm very excited to meet the people there after missing out last time! I will share all the photos of my own flying fox fix visit! :)

Anyway, I really hope you can all forgive me this time with my family! Although it was not my intention to have an extended absence, that’s just how the cards have been played and hopefully by the time we are finished in Florida, my paperwork will be finalised and I will be back in Australia before you know it!

Thank you all for your ever wonderful and continuing support. I love running this page, you are all amazing people! :)

Much love,

Hannah
x

24/02/2015

Got a snowy reception driving up through the boarder yesterday and into Scotland! We are now at my parents place after visiting my brother...Aberdeenshire doesn't look like it's changed one little bit!! Still cold and miserable! ;)

Though while I've been mooching around having important family time here, Matts still holding the fort!

We took our names off the list for rescues while I was away so he wouldn't have to deal with too many animals and he's been up and around! He's just rescued three Kingfishers and some other critters, waiting on some photos to show you! :)

Give us a shout out from wherever you are in the world, what's the weather like where you are?

14/02/2015

Not quite the glorious blue clear sunny days and warm rain I'm used to back in Cairns!
Bit dreary here in England!

Great to see all the family but some warmer weather would be great! :p

11/02/2015

Little update; Landed in Britain this morning to a tropical 4'c! (I'm dying it's so cold lol)
Spending time with family for the week, probably won't be online much so will catch you all later!

Thank you to all who voted for Jenny in the volunteer of the year award, very excited to see she, and the Tolga Bat Hospital, won first place!

No other batty news! Have a wonderful week! :)

07/02/2015

Hey all, you lot in Florida are liars, you call this sunny and warm? It's like the Arctic! :p

Just a bit of an update though; panic over, thank you for all the messages and thank you to my friends back in Cairns taking excellent care of all the batties!

Its been several days since i flew into see my parents and we only just took a photo! Love my parents! :)
We are flying to see the rest of the family in a couple days...to Britain and the cold...and the snow...and misery...brrrrrr.

But all good, everything's under control :)

03/02/2015

Just a little update; left Cairns to an amazing sunrise and beautiful views...and have made it to LA after a crippling number of hours in a plane...just about to board my last flight on to see my parents in Florida before we all fly to Britain to meet with the rest of the family.

Thank you all for the messages, don't worry too much, everything's okay, I'll be back soon!

01/02/2015

Important notice guys...you know we love you all (and don't get upset with me being vague, it is our private life after all), we have had a family emergency...I am flying out to meet with my parents who are holidaying in Florida before flying to Britain together...I'm heading out on the first flight on Tuesday.

All the animals in care have been collected or are being collected by experienced bat carers and Stephanie the possum who was responding really well to her antibiotics has has gone onto the Carer who will eventually release her. So she's in good hands.

Jeep will be going to the vet, likely for euthanasia and this little Microbat who we just picked up this morning will be released tomorrow night before I fly out.

We have notified wildlife rescue and as of this evening we will be signed off of doing rescues temporarily.

All going well, I will return in probably 3-4ish weeks, so don't panic, we aren't shutting down the page or anything silly like that...you'll just have to get your bat fix somewhere else for a couple weeks.

See you soon guys,

Much love,
Hannah, Matt and the Animals x

31/01/2015

We are still checking the colony everyday but have not found anything for agesssss...But fellow rescuer Gaby was there this evening and found these to late season babies crying in the bushes!
The one with the dummy is about 2 weeks or so old, and the other in yellow is probably closer to 5-6 weeks old...you forget how small they are as you move through the season and all you have is big kids...they are so fecking adorable haha :D

They are both in surprisingly good condition; have had fluids and are now fast asleep...since all the main-season pups have already gone for release, leaving us all bat-less, these two boys will be heading to another Carer to be spoilt rotten once stabilised! :)

That's your flying fox fix for the weekend! Have a good Sunday!

Ps: I still haven't managed to eat my noodle box!! Haha

30/01/2015

So we are driving home from work, can't be bothered cooking, we'll get noodle box take away, good plan...not...we get a phone call from wildlife rescue, a flying fox hit by a car at the colony.
Abandoning our noodle box plan, we U-turn, we were there in just a couple minutes and pulled the big guy (top picture) out the wheel arch of a parked car which happened to be a jeep...he has several injuries but don't think any of them are particularly life threatening unless he has internal injury...
The big male, name Jeep, is a biiiiig boy and has one sad little tooth... All his teeth are worn down to gums and the three or so teeth he did have, have been knocked out by the car!
He's got what looks like a broken leg amongst other things... But his fate is undecided at this stage. Unfortunately being a Friday night our vet is closed until Monday...

So we get home, put him in a sling, dose him up with fluids, pain killers and anti-inflammatories...

Alright, noodle box take two, off we trot, getting into the car...the phone rings, wildlife rescue...a Microbat in town. Gahhhh my stomach is eating itself!!
But they have it in a box and can deliver it! Awesommeeeee! So we arrange to meet at the noodle box...so we get there and order...two minutes later, phone rings...flying fox in town found on road.
Good god really?! And I know the hotline volunteers are reading this ;) haha you owe me dinner!

So call them, they have it bundled up in a towel...oh...okay! Normally we advise not touching them, but hey, too late! They were heading our way, mostly, so we asked if they could meet is at the noodle box too since Matt at home is as useful as a broken teacup, and probably contagious, with his genuine man-flu... he sounds appalling :(

So anyway, they arrive with Mex, a teenager with a mild concussion but appears to hav two functioning wings and two functioning legs...didn't want to wait any longer to get him home and treated so grabbed our dinner and rearranged for our caring Microbat rescuers to come by the house...

Get home, sort out Mex, check on Jeep...our housemate has eaten half the chips by this stage and Matt ate the last bit of garlic bread...so stuff it, I'm starving...dish up my nooooodles woo! ...except not...two mouthfuls and the Microbat arrives!

Brit, a little Loriae with stress alopecia was found on a driveway. A bit under the weather and weak but should be fine in time...so chat to those two for a minute, they are from Britain too...making my lack of Scottish accent even more painfully noticeable haha :p

So off they went and so I had to sort him out, fluids, some food, warm house...

Made sure Jeep was nice and confined and by the time I finally got back to my noodles...dead cold...noooooooo!

So I could have reheated them...but it just wasn't the same. Into bed without dinner, will have them tomorrow.

Sad times... *belly growls* haha

30/01/2015

What would happen if we lost all the bats? If we loose the Flying Foxes, we will loose our most important and vital long-distance pollinator and seed disperser for most of our native trees and plants...If we lose the Microbats we will be over run with insects like mosquitos and other pests that prey on crops and spread dengue and other diseases...
We will lose our forests, our biodiversity, eventually other ecosystems will be affected, our rivers, our reef, our everything...it will also effect the other animals in that the trees that provide food and homes will not have the bats to spread the pollen and seeds...and it will impact everything.

We need to preserve the bats, and to do that we need to support those working endlessly to save them.

Someone joked saying I should nominate myself, but no, there are far more deserving then us.

Jenny Maclean founded and has been running the Tolga Bat Hospital tirelessly for over 20 years. She rescues hundreds, probably more, every year.
We nominated her for the Heritage Bank: Volunteer of the Year award in which she is in the running to win $10,000 for her bat hospital.

We asked for your votes, and for a long time we held the lead, and then we were knocked back. With only a few days left to vote, we need to get back to first place!!
Vote vote vote!! For the love of bats, vote!
http://promotions.heritage.com.au/volunteeroftheyear/leaderboard/

All you have to do is vote using your email address, the heritage bank will send you an email to confirm your vote and you must validate it by following the emails link to 100% confirm your vote.
You can only vote once per email so please share this and ask your friends and family to vote as well!

30/01/2015

Visiting a friend and macropod Carer this morning, met this ridiculously adorable kangaroo joey!! Look at those ears!

Finding Joy Photography

17/07/2015

24/05/2015

24/02/2015

14/02/2015

11/02/2015

07/02/2015

03/02/2015

01/02/2015

31/01/2015

30/01/2015

30/01/2015

30/01/2015

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share