30 Days Wild 2020 – Day Twelve.

Day 12: Today’s 30 Days Wild is going to be a ladybird hunt. Right or wrong I prefer to call them ladybugs!! On my daily walk with Riley we follow a path close to a railway line. At present the embankment is full of nettles and I’ve seen shinning red against the greenery, lots of ladybugs. Native or not (harlequin) I’ve decided to take a count of how many ladybugs I see on my walk.

On today’s walk I spotted a grand total of 24 ladybugs, a mixture of native and harlequin. In one section of the walk there were an abundance of ladybird larvae. They do seem to like nettles and knapweed.

Ladybird

Ladybird lifesycle

Halequin Ladybird

Native Ladybirds

Ladybird larvae

Halequin Ladybird

It looks like the photos I have captured are all harlequin ladybugs, however I have seen some two, seven spot and 16 spot ladybirds during my count. I find it quite hard to tell native ladybirds from harlequins. Maybe the white eyes are a give away?

There are around 40 native ladybirds in the UK. Their redness is a sign to predators that they bitter tasting, they also exude a liquid that detracts birds and ants. Adults hibernate in winter. Their larvae are voracious aphid eaters.

Harlequin ladybirds are from Asia and arrived in the UK in 2004. They are more prevalent in towns, hence seeing more in a local park. They are larger than the native ladybird and out compete natives in prey and will eat other ladybird’s eggs and larvae.

Have you seen any ladybirds where you live?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2018 – Day One.

Finally, it’s that time of year again! Time for The Wildlife Trusts, 30 Days Wild. This wonderful initiative, aims to bring the wild into your life every day in June. Will you be joining in?

Day 1: It’s Friday and the focus today is on wildflowers!

Included with the 30 Days Wild pack were wildflower seeds embedded in biodegradable paper. I planted these today to see how much (if any) they grew in June. I’ll keep you updated on the progress!

Wildflower Seeds

Wildflower Seeds

The wildflower seeds I planted last year are doing really well and some have reseeded elsewhere in the yarden. Among them are: red campion, forget-me-not, meadow buttercup and ribwort plantain.

Red Campion

Forget me Not

Meadow Buttercuo

Ribwort Plantain

I aim to do 30 Days Wild a little differently this year, by trying to blog every day.

Thanks for reading and stay wild!

Christine x

 

 

 

 

Update on the Garden… part three!

The garden 2015

The news from the garden this weekend is that we DO have Honey Bees visiting the flowers!  I saw up to seven at one time enjoying the Salvia, the Borage and the Dahlia. This year I seem to have a greater variety of plants for the visiting bees to enjoy. The Bumblebees also enjoy visiting the Dahlia and Borage as well as the Passion Flower.

Honey bee

The bird feeders have well and truly been ‘attacked’ this weekend! We have many species of garden bird visiting as listed below.

• House Sparrows, have continued to visit in numbers of up to eight if not more!
• Goldfinch charms have visited numbering over 12, most are fledglings.
• Starlings have made a noisy return. This years fledglings are now getting their adult coats and love the fat blocks on offer.
• Pigeons are too many to count and follow the smaller birds into the garden as they know there will be many seeds dropped.
• The Dunnock has made a welcome return, though not the same one as visited previously. This one seems to be very bold and stands his/her ground in relation to competition from the Pigeons! A most welcome visitor to the garden!
• I can’t say I have seen the Blue Tits this week as it’s mainly Sparrows and Goldfinches that I see, but I hope they manage to visit the feeders.

Have a pleasant week!