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| Day number ... | HOME | ||||||||
| 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 30 Days Wild is a challenge created by The Wildlife Trust in which participants are invited to do something wild everyday throughout June. A simple mission to help reconnect people with nature. This is my exciting June of 2021! | |||||||||
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Bought the bees some breakfast! |
| Having enjoyed a lovely lie-in this morning, I missed the Big Wild Breakfast.
So instead I decided I would buy breakfast for some wildlife and I
headed to a garden centre.
I thought a good way to pick out the best meal for wildlife would be to let them choose it themselves, so I looked around the plants to see what was popular amongst the resident insects. Lavender was the big favourite, covered in bees. I bought a few plants (and a few pots) and headed home. It is now all potted up and ready for any passing pollinator in need of a quick meal! |
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Spotted a bee swarm! |
| A riverside stroll on this blistering hot day saw me walking past a large privet hedge. I noticed there was the sound of buzzing in the air, which made me aware that there was a lot of bee activity around me. I paused and looked about to see what was going on. That was when I spied a swarm of honey bees settling into the hedgerow beside me. | |
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Beautiful day for butterflies! |
| On a short walk along a very pretty country lane, I saw lots and lots of butterflies. I spied commas, peacocks, orange tips, holly blues and speckled woods. The only species I didn't manage to photograph was the speckled wood, all the rest you can see below! | |
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A good and wild read! |
| I picked up the good read of Bird Watching magazine. I am going to have a nice afternoon of reading! | |
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There a buzz about the blossom! |
| I walked past this chestnut tree, bright with blossom and loud with the buzz of bees. Precious pollen and nectar being collected diligently by so many busy little bees. I had to stop and marvel at the beautiful sight! | |
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Sparrows in the sun |
| I started my evening watching House Sparrows sunbathing, preening and snoozing along the edge of a farmer's field. A blissful evening for both me and the sparrows! | |
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Eye-spy Corvids! |
| Today I went on an eye-spy hunt for as many Corvid species as I
could find. I saw Jackdaws, Magpies, Crows and Rooks. Unfortunately,
even though I know one lives in my area, I didn't manage to spy a
Raven.
I had a thoroughly enjoyable time on my little mission, Corvids are incredible birds, very intelligent and fascinating to watch. I am definitely going to try doing this again! |
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Look at this awesome long-horn beetle! |
| While I was on a walk today, this beautiful creature landed next to me. I was blown away by its size. I believe it could well be Stenocorus meridianus, but it is most certainly a very awesome long-horn beetle! | |
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A local stroll! |
| Today I took a stroll around my local area, through the fields and along the canal. It was warm, sunny and peaceful. Lots of insect and bird activity to watch, a simple but pleasurable afternoon. | |
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Watched a Pied Wagtail preen its precious pretty feathers! |
| I spotted a Pied Wagtail running along the edge of a stream. I
stopped to watch thinking it would be hunting for the surplus of
flies dancing just above the water's surface. Instead I had the
delight in watching it bathe in the shallow waters, splashing and
ruffling its feathers to ensure they remained in peak condition! Once finished, the small bird flew to a nearby concrete block, spending time on drying and maintaining its precious pretty feathers. Bobbing its tail the whole time! It did this a few times, giving me the chance to both film and photograph the frenetic preening process! |
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Hungry, hungry Blue Tit fledgling! |
| Today I watched a parent Blue Tit hunt down a caterpillar, all while being watched hungrily by a fledgling below! Hard working parent successfully providing for its young! | |
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Partnerships of Ants |
| Today I discovered that Common Vetch has nectaries! These are
glands on the plant that secrete nectar for ants to find. This
creates a mutual beneficial relationship because the ants in
exchange for the food, protects the plant from threats like
caterpillars! Plants and ants working together! On the flip side I also saw ants not helping plants! I watched an ant tend to her aphid livestock that were feeding on some ox-eye daisies. There is still a mutual beneficial relationship, but this time it is between the ant and the aphids. As you will see in the video, the aphid excretes a honeydew droplet for the ant to feed on, in return the ant protects the aphids from predators. It was fascinating to watching the ants living out these rather special partnerships! |
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Sketched a Sparrow! |
| Spent a relaxing afternoon sketching a female house sparrow! | |
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Yellow! |
| Today I went on a hunt for all wild things yellow! | |
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Watched elegant gulls in a supermarket car park! |
| I needed a few supplies today, so I headed out to the supermarket. Once I was all done, I stayed a little longer in the car park to watch the gulls. While many may not like these birds, I think they are sleek, elegant and graceful. I could have stayed and watched them all evening! | |
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Went on a bug hunt! |
| This afternoon I went for a walk around my local area on the hunt for bugs. I spotted beetles, ants, scorpionflies and much more! I think it is fair to say, bug hunts are always fun! | |
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Digiscoping |
| Today, just for the fun of it, I decided to practice some digiscoping! | |
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Wildflowers in the rain |
| Today I went for a walk in the rain and admired all the wildflowers covered in wonderful refreshing water! I am so glad the rain came, not only is a nice break from the heat but it is much needed by all wildlife. | |
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Buzzard |
| Today I watched a buzzard hunt, gliding gracefully through the air. A truly awesome sight to behold! | |
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Blue tit inspired friendship bracelet |
| It was horrible weather today, so I set about making a wild
craft! Inspired by the colours of a Blue tit, I decided to make a friendship bracelet. I headed out to a haberdashery and bought myself five new threads. I spent sometime choosing a nice pattern and started braiding. I have set myself the deadline of the end of June to finish the bracelet, I will keep you updated as to my progress. This is the link to the pattern I have chosen to braid: https://www.braceletbook.com/patterns/normal/65970/ |
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Visited the Grey Squirrels of Hinckley! |
| Today I visited the lovely grey squirrels of Hinckley. There is quite a population and they are very confident around people. A wonderful and charming way to spend an afternoon! | |
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Watched a butterfly! |
| On my cycle home today, I stopped to watch a small tortoiseshell butterfly feeding on chamomile flowers. | |
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Bought a new window bird feeder |
| I bought a new window bird feeder today. A necessary purchase as
my old one broke and I had puzzled goldfinches landing on my window
sill! I have to say I think it is better than my previous bird feeder, much larger and easier to mount on the window. Once I put up and filled the feeder, I left it alone for a few hours to let the birds get use to it. I planned to come back and film the first of visiting birds. I returned to an empty feeder! I am not alone in liking this new feeder clearly! Below is the video of a few the birds who visited today! |
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Wisteria and spiders |
| I stopped to admire some beautiful flowering wisteria. On a closer look I spotted three spiders hanging out on the purple blooms. I not sure what they were doing, but it was rather interesting to watch! | |
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The bees and the bush! |
| Supermarket car parks might seem a silly place too look for wildlife but it can on occasion be a treasure trove! Today I found a bush covered in bees, at least 4 species - red tailed bumblebees, buff tailed bumblebees, carder bees and honeybees! When I looked closer I also saw ants visiting the flowers too! What a wonderful sight to see! | |
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One person's loss (of fries) is a Rook's gain! |
| A little treat for me today, I had a MacDonalds! Not something I
do very often mind. I sat outside to enjoy the summer sun and noticed two things, the rooks gathering at a nearby table and the reason they were gathering. Someone had left their fries spilt on the table. The person's loss was soon to be the gain of the rooks! Though I hate litter (like most of us do), it was good to see this as an opportunity for an extra meal for the clever corvids! |
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Bright and beautiful wildflowers! |
| Today I went out to find some bright and beautiful wildflowers.
I found so many colourful blooms, it was a delight! I also manage to finish my blue tit inspired friendship bracelet. |
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Urban Wild! |
| I always love seeing urban wildlife, today was no exception. I went to Burton-on-Trent for some shopping and was delighted to see sparrows, starlings, pigeons, gulls and bees! | |
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Incredible insects! |
| After a very wet rainy morning, I was glad to see blues skies this afternoon. The sun dried and warmed everything up enough for me to go for a lovely walk and see lots of insects take advantage of the lovely weather. I even got to see a Stenocorus meridianus again (see day 8). A wonderful way to end the day! | |
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Birds-of-Prey! |
| Oh what a wonderful last day of 30 Days Wild! I had the amazing
opportunity to go on a bird-of-prey search. Knowing where there are a pair of Kestrels in Nuneaton, and that there are Peregrine
Falcons in Leicester city, I set out on a little day trip.
When I got to Nuneaton, I spotted a male Kestrel almost immediately. He was hard to miss as he whipped pass me into a bush, much to the displeasure of the local blackbirds. Fortunately for the unhappy blackbirds, the Kestrel hunt was unsuccessful and he returned to the church tower to perch and watch the world. It was then I managed to a few photos. My journey then took me into Leicester city. I had to walk into the city centre from the car park, my eyes were skyward the whole way there. When the Cathedral tower came into view, so did the Peregrine. I walked to the grounds of the Cathedral and stood there for quite some time photographing and admiring the incredible predator. I am a fan of birds-of-prey, but I really do have a soft spot for the handsome Peregrine Falcon. It really made my day! On the journey home, I got even luckier. Just outside a small village, I saw a female Kestrel a top a telegraph pole. I was able to pull over safely and photograph her. Finally, just before I got home, I saw a Buzzard I was able to catch a snap shot of too, I had seen many today but this was the only one where I was in a position to take a photograph. Today was a wonderful day, I really do love birds-of-prey so it really was a special way to end 2021's 30 Days Wild! |
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