Day 20: As part of The Wildlife Trust’ Big Wild Weekend, for 30 days Wild, today is the Big Wild Quiz!
At 3pm there is a Big Wild Kid’s Quiz. Then at 7pm the Big Wild Quiz, for adults! David and I joined in last years quiz and it was very enjoyable. A perfect way to spend a Sunday. So this year we will be tuning in once again.
Will you be joining in?
Thanks for reading, and stay wild!
Christine
Recently I’ve been in a bit of a slump with regards to my writing. However, last weekend we visited a local sunflower maze and I thought it would be a nice post to write about. Sorry it’s taken me a while to get around to writing it.
The knowledge of this sunflower maze came to me rather late. I saw pictures my cousin had taken and I quickly Googled where it was. It was at a farm in Tarbock, Prescot, some 25 minutes drive from us. The only problem was, that I was so late to the party that it was difficult in getting a time and date for a booking, but I persevered and managed to get an early morning slot on the very last day of opening.
In April some 35,000 sunflower seeds in the initials of the NHS were planted by a farmer, who also planted a sunflower maze. Sunflowers are a symbol of happiness and since Covid-19, happiness has been in short supply.
The day we visited was a gloomy overcast morning, luckily we had missed the rain. David and I, along with my mum and David’s parents all spent a joyful 45 minutes walking along the maze of mostly gone to seed sunflowers, but with the occasional late bloomer standing proud and golden. Along the path were bee related questions. If you answered wrongly you took a dead-end turn. All eyes were on me! I know a bit about bee ID but not that they have two pairs of wings and have five eyes. Well in reality two eyes the other three are ‘simple’ eyes that detect light. However we managed to navigate the maze as a team and much laughter was had. It was a nice way to pass an hour.
Have you been to a sunflower maze? Or any kind of maze?
Thanks for reading,
Christine x
Day 22: Today’s 30 Days Wild is Close up Monday and we are focusing on the UK’s largest predator, Badgers! In 2019 David and I had the wonderful opportunity of watching wild badgers by partaking in an event at RSPB Haweswater. For as little as £12 pp (if you are a member), you can spend up to 90 minutes with these elusive yet iconic animals.
I am sure you local wildlife trust or RSPB site has a similar event, check out their website for more details.
Badger (Meles meles) Facts:
Have you seen a wild badger?
Thanks for reading, and stay wild!
Christine x
Further Reading:
Badger Trust: https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/badgers
RSPB: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/other-garden-wildlife/mammals/badger/
Wildlife Trusts: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/mammals/european-badger
The Woodland Trust:https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/08/badgers-what-do-they-eat-and-other-facts/
Day 20: Today is the summer solstice, or the longest day in the northern hemisphere. The UK we will be bathed in daylight for 16 hours and 38 minutes. The solstice marks the beginning of meteorological summer and the drawing in of the days. English Heritage has cancelled its event at Stonehenge due to Covid-19, however you can watch it from the comfort of your own home via a Facebook live stream here.
English Heritage will be broadcasting the sunset of Saturday 20th June 21:26 BST (20:26 GMT) and the sunrise of Sunday 21st June 04:52 BST (03:52 GMT) and begin broadcasting at least 30 minutes before. They stated that they’ll be announcing their full schedule soon.
The Wildlife Trusts’ Big Wild Weekend, part of 30 Days Wild have a full calendar of events to mark the solstice. On Saturday they will be celebrating by having a summer solstice camp out (or in) from 5pm to 10pm with lots of activities to partake in, and on Sunday between 7pm and 8.30pm there is a wildlife quiz on their Facebook page here.
So, however you spend the solstice, stay safe!
Thanks for reading, and stay wild!
Christine x
Day Eleven: For today’s photo prompt of angel, I decided to post a picture of The Knife Angel. The recent installation of this eye catching, emotive sculpture by Alfie Bradley can be seen outside the West Door to the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral until 31st January 2019. The 27ft tall sculpture is composed of 100,000 knives collected from amnesties across the UK. ‘The Knife Angel shows solidarity with all affected by knife crime,’ states the cathedral’s website. The sculpture is a very striking piece, the skill is in the art of making the knife blades look like wing feathers. I was very impressed.
Do you like sculpture? What is your favourite piece?
Thanks for reading,
Christine x
Riley meeting Santa Paws
Day Nine: Today’s prompt is pets. It’s been a special day for Riley. Today he got to meet the one and only Santa Paws! Merseyside Dogs Home have an annual charity event, Santa Paws is Coming to Town at the Baltic Market. This year we just had to go along and see the event ourselves.
On a bright winters morning, David, Riley and I walked the two miles to the Baltic Market in the old Cains Brewery building. We got there 45 minutes early so wandered around for a bit before queuing up, patiently awaiting the time to meet Santa Paws. We were first in the queue but were soon joined by other like minded people all bringing their pooches to see Santa Paws.
Riley was a little nervous meeting Santa Paws but David managed to snap a few good pictures of both ‘dogs’ together. After our quick meeting we smooched around the stalls of dog treats and accessories on offer from independent traders, before heading the two miles back home.
Santa Paws is Coming to Town is a fantastic way to raise much needed funds fo Merseyside Dogs Home. David, Riley and I have wonderful memories of the day.
Have you done anything festive with your pets?
Thanks for reading,
Christine x
This weekend, the streets of Liverpool have once again been taken over by Royal de Luxe’s giant marionettes. They first visited in 2012 and again in 2014.
https://redpanda08.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/walking-on-the-shoulders-of-giants/
https://redpanda08.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/liverpool-a-city-of-giants/
This time David and I only managed to pop into town to see the ‘uncle’ giant asleep on his raft. The crowds of 2014, were more than topped this time around, which put us off.
Royal de Luxe
Did you manage to see any of the visits from the giants? What were your impressions?
Thanks for reading,
Christine x
This weekend was a weekend much like David and I used to have before my Father passed. Maybe life is slowly getting back to how it used to be?
It was the weekend of Liverpool’s ‘Sea Odyssey‘ where the streets were given over to the puppetry of French company Royal de Luxe.
On Friday as David was in work all day with a headache, I followed, in anticipation online the progress of the Little Girl Giant as she walked through the city to King’s Dock and the ‘Uncle’, diver coming from the sea to walk the streets towards Stanley Park, Anfield. David being so kind later in the evening took myself, Daniel, his girlfriend Jo and my Mum around the city, to see the sleeping giants.
On Saturday, David and I got up early to head into town before the crowds, so we could get a good spot to see the Little…
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Phew! These weeks come around quick! It’s time for another Sunday Sevens. Thanks to Natalie at Threads and bobbins for creating the series. 🙂
Upcoming Event:
Dippy on Tour – Birmingham 2018
On Tuesday I booked tickets to see Dippy the Diplodocus on tour at Birmingham’s Museum and Art Gallery. The ticketed event is free but booking is essential. Dippy was the centrepiece to the entrance hall of London’s Natural History Museum since the 1970’s. Recently the skeleton has been replaced by the inspirational skeleton of Blue Whale, Hope. David and I are booked to visit Dippy this August. I particularly liked the comment on Birmingham Museum’s page regarding this event: Not all dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago. One group survived and evolved into the birds we know today. It made me happy that David and I have 10 healthy dinosaurs in our aviary! 🙂
Snow:
On Thursday we awoke to a pleasant surprise here in Liverpool. It had snowed during the night and continued throughout the morning, though the snow was gone by lunch-time. 😦 While it snowed I took a video of the visiting birds to our yarden. Recently, we have not seen as many small birds as usual. I hope the predation of cats is not deterring them. 😦
#walk1000miles:
Christine and Riley at the park
This week I’ve managed to walk 36 miles. Bringing my annual total to 362 miles. On Friday David and I took Riley on a good 45 minute walk around the local park. Even the rain didn’t deter the fun we had!
Beauty:
This weekend, while David and I were shopping for Mother’s Day gifts, I spied rainbow roses on sale at a market stall. I had seen bouquets of these rainbow roses online but never in the shops. David kindly purchased one for me. I just can’t stop looking at it. It’s so pretty!
Terracotta Warriors – at World Museum Liverpool:
Terracotta Warriors – Liverpool
This Saturday, we had tickets to see the terracotta warriors event at Liverpool’s World Museum. I was very excited to see this much anticipated event. However on the day we managed to sleep in! (Ooh!), though not too much! We were lucky to have plenty of time to get to the museum! Our visit was for the 10am showing and thankfully all went smoothly and we got to the event in time.
We watched a short video introducing the history and culture of China before the doors opened and we were allowed to see the exhibition. I have to praise the organisation as though we did not dawdle, we were not rushed through the displays of artifacts dating back some 2000 years. There was a lot of information to take in. I can see myself visiting again. Have you visited the event? Even visited the actual site in the Shaanxi province? Do share your experiences.
Mother’s Day:
In celebration of Mothering Sunday, David and I both visited our mums. However we also took in a visit to the family dogs as well. We walked Riley 1.5 miles on Crosby Beach and then visited Bennie, David’s doggie nephew. I had recently purchased two Kong Squeezz Zoo toys for Riley and Bennie, as the last toy we gave Bennie, he chewed to pieces! I hope this toy fares a bit better!
So, that was my week, how was yours?
Thanks for reading,
Christine x
Christine Lucas 