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| Day number ... | |||||||||
| 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 - God beautiful creation! | |||||||||
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My 30 Days Wild of 2021, 2022 and of 2023 - previous years can be found at my Wordpress blog. |
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Day 1 - A lovely evening stroll |
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I went for a lovely cool evening stroll along a country lane, in
the golden hazy light of the low summer sun.
I watched playful calves gad about their pasture, while the birds perched high sang for all the world to hear. |
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BTO garden bird watch |
| Today I added my weekly count of birds to the BTO garden birdwatch. I started this last year and have thoroughly enjoyed watching reporting the beautiful birds that visit my birdfeeder. | |
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Red-headed Cardinal Beetle |
| Today I stopped to admire this beautiful scarlet coloured beetle. Stunning! | |
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Lichfield |
| Today I visited the lovely city of Lichfield. I saw a Peregrine Falcon perched high on a church spire, I also got a few essentials in ... otherwise known as a beautiful antiquarian Ladybird book about British birds and some bird food! | |
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New camera and Market Bosworth Country Park |
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A while ago I broke my smart phone, I replaced it with a 'dumb'
phone. A great life choice I can tell you, though the one thing I
missed from my old phone was the convenient camera. I had a choice,
get a new smart phone or get a little slip in my pocket
point-and-shoot camera. I decided on the camera over a smart phone. I have a Canon DSLR (it's a little old but I'm very fond of it) and a Nikon bridge. Both big and proper cameras, but nothing to carry in a pocket. I went on a hunt for something small but reasonable in its function and price, it took a bit of hunting as these types of cameras are hard to come by, people now opt for using their in-built camera in their phone. Bucking that trend found and bought a little Kodak pixpro. Itching to test it out, I visited Market Bosworth Country Park. It was a really nice walk around a lake, through a small arboretum and over some lovely stone bridges. I tested out the zoom and landscape modes of my new camera while enjoying the lush greens of the trees and the rich songs of all the birds; the resulting photographs came out quite well too! |
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Teeny tiny Toadlets! |
| Today I came across some teeny tiny toadlets. I think I have seen bigger flies! They were hopping their way from a pond, over a footpath to some long grass. Through the path wasn't wide, it must have been a long journey to safety for an amphibian as tiny as these little creatures! | |
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Ants tending to their aphid livestock! |
| Today I watched some ants tend to their aphid livestock. I saw them march up and down the plant stem, inspect and milk their tiny charges and see off Harlequin Ladybirds intent on some lunch! | |
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Butterfly Transect |
| Today I undertook a Butterfly Transect in the nature reserve at my work place. Despite the gorgeous weather I only counted 3 butterflies and 2 moths; though I did see lots of insect life of bees, damselflies and swollen-thighed beetles. It was a very enjoyable afternoon! | |
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Resting bee on a beautiful Geranium flower |
| I stopped to admire this gorgeous bee today, it was resting on this pretty geranium flower. Beautiful! | |
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Tameside Nature Reserve |
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Today I went for a walk around Tameside Nature Reserve in Tamworth.
It's a beautiful place to visit; filled with bird life, surrounded
with wildflowers and insect activity. Not a place you expect next to
a huge A-road, shopping and housing estate. There were lots of black-headed gulls and chicks, alongside tufted ducks, mallard, canada geese, coots and a grey heron. Reed bunting flitted about the long grasses and reed areas, with the shimming blues and greens of damselflies danced about the waters edge. As I was about to leave, having enjoyed my visit but missing a sight of an oystercatcher. Then I heard a distinctive "peeep peep-peep", I looked up to see the pointed black and white oystercatcher beauty fly over head. The day was now complete! |
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A walk along the canal |
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Today I went for a lovely stroll along the canal. Everything looked
so lush and green, there were some flowers but I am still waiting
for the meadowsweet to bloom! I watched the swallows speed past me, hunting for bugs just above the water's surface. Some mallards paused and waited patiently, I think they were expecting me to share some food with them. I apologised and they stuck around! There was a lot of little 'peeps' from everywhere and some very frantic wren parents flitting from tree to tree. It was a very relaxing walk. |
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The insects of my little wild garden! |
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Today I decided to have a mini bug hunt among the colourful mess of
flowers in my tiny garden. I have a mixture wildflowers and cultivated ones. I am delighted to report that they are enjoyed by many bee, beetle and fly species. I have plenty of space for ants and woodlice too! I hope that my garden as that little wild oasis for any insect who needs a place of shelter! |
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Birds-of-Prey |
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Today I was able to spot three species of bird-of-prey; a pretty
kestrel, a handsome buzzard and an awesome peregrine falcon. I spotted the first two while driving through some countryside to town. I wasn't able to get a photo of the kestrel as it saw me, flew over my head and headed off into the distance. The buzzard was far more obliging; perching at a distance it felt comfortable at and with a piercing gaze, it looked around its environs. I got the feeling that there was likely a meal or two to be found nearby! Finally, I saw the peregrine falcon at the base of the church spire in town. The bird walked a little along the base of the castellations, looking a bit ungainly; before hunkering down from the turn in the weather. I do love birds-of-prey, they really are quite something to see; especially three species in a day! |
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Lunchtime companions |
| During my lunch today, I made a few new friends! They were both very chatty and polite, waiting till I left the table to clear up any crumbs I may have left behind (accidently or on purpose!). | |
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Fledgling swallow and lovely gift! |
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Half way though 30 Days Wild and the swallow chicks from the nest I
have been watching at work, fledged! I am over the moon! I also was given a lovely gift for 30 Days Wild, a gorgeous Lego kingfisher! It was one of the more challenging set I have ever made up; but as you can see below, worth the end result! |
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Father's Day |
| Father's Day and I watched this diligent Dad feed his chicks! | |
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Squirrel comes to say hello! |
| Today this squirrel came up to me to discuss the peanut situation! It was a short conversation as I had no peanuts to talk of! | |
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Opportunistic Rook! |
| Today I watch a Rook take the opportunity to nab a dropped chip from beneath a picnic bench! What a handsome clever chap! | |
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Industrious ants |
| Today I watched hardworking ants doing some house cleaning. I admired how industrious these little creature were, being none stop all day! | |
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One village over |
| I went for a stroll through a nearby village, a beautiful place. I found an interesting garden wall with plants growing both through and up it! I also found a great knitted post-box topped of garden birds! | |
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Citizen Science competition! |
| My work is holding a citizen science completion between colleagues. The challenge is to count as many bird and bee species as possible over the next four days. I'm off to a flying start with 16 species, I am struggling to record more bees because they won't stay still enough to photograph! It is a busy life for a bee! | |
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A stroll along the canal |
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Having had a rather toasty day at work yesterday, I decided to leave
it to the evening before going for a walk. I thought a stroll along
the canal would be nice, but in the other direction from earlier in
the month.
I was lucky enough to see some insect life and a few birds. I also found a crayfish claw, which I suspect is unfortunately a Signal Crayfish but at least something had a good meal out of it! |
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Citizen Science competition continues ... |
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As mentioned on Friday (Day 21), my work is holding a citizen
science completion between colleagues. The challenge is to count and
photograph as many bird and bee species as possible over four days
(Friday to Monday). Having had a day off yesterday, I have returned to continue my count. I have seen plenty of species to record but few are sitting still enough for me to photograph. The challenge continues so lets see what tomorrow brings! |
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Citizen Science competition concludes! |
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Today I added a few more species to my list, the final count being
23 species. Not as high as I would have liked but it was the winning
number!
Hunting out new species on my work breaks has been fun, a good change of pace! |
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Ruby-tailed wasp |
| Today I spied a little glistening gem, a ruby-tailed wasp! What an absolute beauty! | |
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An evening visit to the riverside |
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After a long hot day, I needed a cool down. Running water felt very
appealing so I visited a lovely place near me that has a tiny bridge
over a shallow river. In the fading light of dusk, the sound of running water filled the air as I watched a little egret hunt and a mother duck hurry her ducklings across the turbulent water. Wonderful and much need refreshment! |
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Cute baby animals! |
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Today I was rather surprised to see some rather young lambs in a field
by my house. Curious I stopped to watch them, they in turn stopped
to watch in curiosity! I also was delighted to spot a teeny-tiny fledgling wren! It sat waiting for its parents, occasionally letting out a loud 'PEEP' to keep in contact with both its parents and siblings. Adorable! Just when you thought wren couldn't be any smaller, they have chicks. |
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My old 'patch' |
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Today I visit my old 'patch', a small nature reserve near where I
used to live.
It was an interesting visit as there had been a key change. The board walk that encircled the reserve had been removed and in its stead there was a over-grown boggy 'path' and welcome sign that doubled as a warning sign! The council had taken out the board walk making most of the reserve impassable. It was sad not to be able to walk the route I used to take, but I take solace in the fact the wildlife there are living a completely undisturbed life. What I did see was still as beautiful as it always had been! |
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Beewalk |
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Today I undertook my monthly Beewalk for Bumblebee Conservation
Trust. I spotted 4 bees and none were bumblebees; that is a tiny amount compared to my transects earlier in the year. In better news, I did see quite a few butterflies, beetles, damselflies and a beautiful dragonfly! |
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Peregrine Falcon family |
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Today to conclude 30 Days Wild, I went to visit the Peregrines at my
local town. To my delight, I got to see the whole family! Shortly after I arrived, a huge amount of racket began over head. One of the parents brought in food and the fledgling falcons were excited; flying around the church spire then landing and walking around the castellation, calling as they went! I watched for a while, getting some great photos of these fierce and handsome birds. An excellent way to end 30 days Wild! |
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