30 Days Wild 2021 – Day One.

Day 1: Today is the start of 2021’s 30 Days Wild by The Wildlife Trusts! To celebrate the first day of this nature challenge I’m took part in the Big Wild Breakfast! I took my breakfast out into the yarden to see who I would share my meal with. 

I spent an hour in the yarden listening to a blackbird and wood pigeon on the airwaves and watched with amusement as goldfinches chattered about the tree. A female hairy footed flower bee perused the red campion, while Steven the herring gull watched cautiously from the rooftop. The birds waited for me to leave before they all came into the yarden to feed. It was a pleasant beginning to a hot day!

Big Wild Breakfast

Hairy-footed flower bee

Red Campion

big breakfast1

goldfinch1

Did you participate in the Big Wild Breakfast? If so, what did you see?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine xx

30 Days Wild 2020 – Day Fourteen.

Day 14: It’s been a stormy few days up here in the NW of England, meaning lots of great cloud formations.

Today’s 30 Days Wild is linking in with #SilentSunday. One picture, no words. Perhaps you can join in?

Storm Clouds

Thanks for stopping by, and stay wild!

Christine x

A Year in Photos – 2019

As December comes to a close and the end of the decade draws ever closer, it’s time to look back at 2019. The year was slow to get going but when it did it snowballed! The second half of 2019 has been a roller-coaster! Together, David and I have been on many exciting adventures. Below find 12 random pictures that highlight the year that was 2019!

January:

The year began with a ten mile walk around Kewsick, where I introduced Riley to the joys of paddling in Derwentwater.

Riley in Entrust NT Hands

February:

During this cold month I embarked on many Riley walks with friends and family.

Family walk to Formby Beach

March:

David and I became members of the RSPB and visited many reserves in the North West. A favourite of mine is Leighton Moss, Morecambe where we got to feed hungry robins and tits.

Feeding a Robin

April:

We purchased our first female Lady Gouldian Finch. She is a nice addition to the aviary.

Rize the Lady Gouldian Finch

May:

I managed to go on my first wild swim of the season in May. I took a gentle walk to High Dam near Windermere for a peaceful swim amidst nature.

High Dam swim

June:

June had so many highlights it was difficult to chose just one, from raising painted lady butterflies to being bee-keepers for the day. However playing host to our American friend Jennifer who came to visit for a second time was even more fun than her first visit. We hiked in the Ogwen Valley and wild swam in Llyns Bochlwyd and Idwal.

Selfie time at Ogwen Valley

July:

Work wise 2019 hasn’t been a great year for neither David nor myself. To outweigh all the negativity in his workplace David joined in a fun day with dalmatian puppies.

David and Dalmatian Puppy

August:

Saving a poor gull who had fallen from its nest (high up on a roof) from uncertain death was ultimately fulfilling especially when a week later it flew off independently.

Harald

September:

We finally managed to go on a short break to the Lake District after postponing earlier in the year.

Grasmere from Grey Crag

October:

I finally ticked off Glaslyn after booking a short break away to Snowdonia for my birthday.

Glaslyn

November:

David bought a new car! A Honda Civic but I still miss his old car the Renault Clio.

Honda Civic

December:

Though December is all about the excitement (or stress) of Christmas, this year’s trip to New York overshadowed Christmas preparations. My most lasting memory of the holiday was standing on the shoreline before a magnificent Brooklyn Bridge.

The Brooklyn Bridge

Let’s hope 2020 will be another kind year!

I wish you all good health and happiness for the new year ahead!

Thanks for your continued support,

Christine xx

30 Days Wild 2019 – Roundup!

I thought I would write a roundup of my 2019, 30 Days Wild.

Blogging everyday is a challenge in itself but when illness puts pay to plans it makes the challenge all that more difficult! Well it did for me! I had to cancel a weekend break to the Lakes and also a badger hide encounter. However, hopefully I will be able to re-book both in the near future?!

Before 30 Days Wild had even begun my story was featured on the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trusts’ page. I was surprised to see they used my picture of swimming in Rydal Water as their feature! You can read my story here.

Saturday’s in June were meant to be RSPB reserve visits but David and I only managed to visit one site and that was Leighton Moss to meet with their moths.

Buff Tip Moth – David Evans

Small Elephant Hawk Moth

I did manage to schedule some blog posts and enjoyed researching about red squirrels and dragonflies.

Red Squirrel by David Evans

Golden Ringed Dragonfly

Gaia was an impromptu visit but an impressive addition to my 30 Days Wild. I also focused on the moon with some facts about our beautiful satellite.

Gaia

The Moon by David Evans

There were two highlights of the month. One was of course watching my five painted lady caterpillars (from Insect Lore), become chrysalids and then beautiful adult butterflies! I would definitely do that experience again!

Day 9 – caterpillar

Chrysalids

Painted Lady Butterfly

The other highlight was the bee experience at The Bee Centre. It really made me wish I had a bigger garden so I could get a hive. I would love to become a bee keeper, and I think David would too.

The Bee Centre

Christine and honey bees

David and honey bees

Looking back, perhaps my 2019, 30 Days Wild really wasn’t that bad at all!

Would I blog again everyday for 30 Days in June? Probably. I do like how the challenge makes you focus on the small things as well as the large.

Have you enjoyed my journey through this years 30 Days Wild? What did you like and what didn’t you like?

Thanks for reading, and for one last time, stay wild!

Christine xx

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day Twenty-three.

Day 23: Today’s blog is all about bees, honeybees. David and I drove to The Bee Centre in the grounds of Samlesbury Hall, Lancashire, for a two hour pre-booked bee experience. After donning our bee suits and taking the obligatory photos, we (of a group of nine) were escorted to the outdoor hives. Kath opened up a hive and explained what was happening in the frames.

David in bee suit

Honey bee

Christine in bee suit

Christine and hive frame

Honey Bees

Kath used smoke to make the bees (native black bees) more docile, while she inspected the hive. The bees gorge on honey, thinking there’s a fire so that they can take stores with them when they set up a new colony. We witnessed a drone (male) being born and lots of male/female brood cells and also the odd queen cell. It was fascinating to learn so much about life in a hive! Everyone has their own role and worker bees can fly up to three miles for food. The queen lays 2,000 eggs a day and is solely dependent on being cared for by the other bees. A worker bee can live up to six weeks whereas a queen can live to five years.

After meeting the bees we returned to the centre for honey tasting. The centre has an ethical and sustainable view on beekeeping and only extract honey when there is a genuine surplus. Due to this year’s wet June the bees are having a hard time and need our help! You can do this by planting more bee friendly plants, a helpful list can be found here.

Our experience really whetted our appetite for beekeeping and whether a hive would be something our yarden could accommodate?

Have you ever kept bees? Like the idea?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day Twenty-two.

Day 22: Today, David and I, (with Riley in tow), drove to Warrington’s Moore Nature Reserve, situated between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal. This 200 acre site boasts miles of woodland paths, meadows and wetlands. We walked 3.5 miles around the reserve but could have stayed longer. We saw speckled wood butterflies, a great crested grebe and damselflies.

Map

Azure Damselfly

Grebe Hide

Great Crested Grebe

Speckled Wood

Christine and Riley

Cinnabar Moth

Stitchwort

David and Riley

Have you visited this nature reserve? Which is your favourite reserve?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day Twelve.

Day 12: It’s been a very wet June. To embrace this dreich weather for 30 Days Wild, I went for a mindful walk in the rain.

A wood pigeon cooed and magpies foraged for worms on sweet smelling grass. I felt the cold breath of wind on my cheek, the tickle of a raindrop as it coursed down my nose. The patter of rain on the path and the rustle of leaves.

Though I am 42 I enjoyed looking for puddles to jump into.

Walking in the rain

Puddle Jumping 🙂

Do you enjoy walks in the rain?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2018 – Day Twenty-eight

Day 28: For this Throw Back Thursday, I am going to break open the elderflower champagne. Last year I made elderflower champagne which turned out to be more like cordial than champagne. So this year I made a second batch using a recipe from the Women’s Institute, with extra sprinkles of champagne yeast. In reality perhaps I shouldn’t have used four sprinkles of the yeast as the bottles have become very explosive!!

I let David cautiously open the bottle and poured two glasses of the elderflower. We shall toast to all things wild!

Elderflower Champagne

Elderflower champagne

With the addition of the champagne yeast there is a definite hint of alcohol which was sadly missing in last years attempt. Still as flowery and refreshing as ever, especially on an extremely HOT day!

How have you been keeping cool?

In 2015 I went dragon spotting in Norwich. 2016 saw me looking for moths using a light trap and in 2017 I participated in the Great British Wildflower Hunt.

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2018 – Day Twenty-six

Day 26: It’s back to work this week after a lovely break. One positive to working in Stockbridge Village is that there are a few social enterprises, such as Mab Lane Community Woodland and Woolfall Heath Meadowto enjoy.

I visited Woolfall Heath Meadow before work and spent a leisurely half an hour walking around the circular path through grassland.

It was a hot day, the thermometer reaching 24°C. The area was very quiet and I only saw two people walking their dogs. As I walked along the path, soaking up the rays of the sun, the chirp of grasshoppers sounded at my feet while willow warblers sung from the shelter of nearby trees.

The River Alt runs through the site and I sat overlooking a reedbed while watching as red admirals fluttered past. There were many meadow browns flying over the meadow but non stopped still enough for me to take a picture.

Meadow

Reedbed

Woolfall Heath Meadow

Bindweed

Field Scabious

Common Evening Primrose

Meadow Brown

Path

Red Admiral

Of the flowers I spotted were, bindweed, thistles and field scabious. Bees enjoyed the ever popular brambles.

Do you have a community development like this one near you?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2018 – Day Twenty-two

Day 22: National Insect Week runs from the 18th to 24th June 2018. So for today’s 30 Days Wild, I decided to go in search of insects in the yarden.

I peered under ivy and lifted rocks in the hope of finding some arthropods but all I found was a few frightened spiders.

I did have many flying insects visiting the yarden. Bees featured heavily. I saw my first honeybee of the season and a leaf-cutter bee foraged from flower to flower. A strange looking wasp also ventured into the yarden but didn’t stay for long.

Honey bee

Spider

Leaf-cutter bee

Wasp

I didn’t see any beetles, nor sight or sound of ants. They all must be hiding.

Have you done anything for National Insect Week?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x