30 Days Wild 2021 – Day Twenty-eight.

Day 28: A new series for 30 Days Wild 2021, Mindful Mondays, were we take time out of our busy days and slow down, breathe and experience nature each sense at a time.

Spider Warning:

Today’s theme for Mindful Monday is: stop, observe and wonder at the intricacy of a spider’s web.

The web in question doesn’t look that intricate but the web owner is quite spectacular.

Spider and web

I think it is a giant house spider enjoying the warm weather and abundant insects in my yarden. House spiders spin sheet like webs and is one of our fastest invertebrates. Their body length can be up to 1.8cm, with a leg span of 7.5 cm. They can be seen all year round, but mostly in autumn when the males come into houses looking for females. After mating the females eat the males. Females can live for several years and both males and females can go without food and water for several months. They feast on small invertebrates such as flies, mosquitoes and bees, and are very good pest controllers in the house. 

Do you like spiders or like me learning to get over an irrational phobia?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine xx

N.B. Thanks to the Wildlife Trusts’ website for the above information.

30 Days Wild 2021 – Day Seven.

Day 7: A new series for 30 Days Wild 2021, Mindful Mondays, were we take time out of our busy days and slow down, breathe and experience nature each sense at a time. 

Today’s theme for Mindful Monday is to visit a wild place. Over the weekend I decided to visit the RSPB’s Burton Mere on the Wirral. Since David has a new camera he let me take out his old Nikon. It was my first time using a SLR so some of my photos weren’t great but I did get some decent shots of a shelduck, reed warbler and black headed gull chicks. There was a strange gurgling sound from trees high up in the canopy and a host of spoonbills were sunning themselves there. They are curious birds and were getting a lot of attention from the visitors that day.

christine the photographer

spoonbills

Burton Mere

shelduck

black headed gull chick

reed warbler

black headed gull and chick

During our visit we had a fly by from a secretive bittern but both David and I were too slow to photograph this enigmatic bird. 

While walking the boardwalks there were many bees buzzing around and small white butterflies fed on green alkanet, which is a very popular plant for insects. The sound of warblers punctured the sun baked air with their shrill calls and squabbles between coots and moorhens were abundant. 

Coot and Moorhen fighting

Burton Mere

small white butterfly

sedge warbler

Burton Mere

We only spent a couple of hours at the reserve, but we see something different each time we visit.

What’s your favourite nature reserve near you?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine xx

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 Seventeen

Day 17:  Today we visited Grizedale Forest. I forest bathed (Shinrin-yoku, a Japanese mindfulness medicine), felt drizzle on my face, smelt the sweet smell of Scots Pine, while birds noisily chattered in the trees.

We enjoyed many art installations along the path.

We took the trail towards Grizedale Tarn, walked six miles and spent a good three hours at the forest.

David

Christine

Christine

A Clockwork Forest

Art Work

Grizedale Tarn

Shinrin-yoku

Grizedale Tarn

Chimney Sweeper

Have you visited Grizedale Forest? Enjoy forest walks?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

Tomorrow Isn’t Promised

Recently I have been thinking of my own mortality. It’s not a topic many people want to discuss. Whilst contemplating the end of life, the phrase tomorrow isn’t promised, cropped up. This made me think of being mindful. To live life in the present. It is a mantra I have been trying to follow every day this year; to take each day as it comes and not to think too much of the future. However much we may plan, life has a way of throwing spanners in the works! So enjoy today and be thankful for the people we share our life with and of the places we see along the way. Life is like a journey. It’s not the destination that matters, but our route along the way!

So as a little recap of the year so far, here’s some of the people and places that have made my journey through 2017 a joy!

I am thankful to have David in my life. He is quietly strong, someone who you can depend upon and a wonderful friend. I love you with all my heart! We have been on many walks this year. Lake District walks to Thirlmere, Dodd Wood and a walk through the bluebells at Rannerdale.

David and I atThirlmere

David and I at Dodd

David and I with the Rannerdale Bluebells

Thurstaston Beach

Strawberry picking

The path – Lunt Meadows

We have shared walks along hot, sunny beaches, picked our own strawberries and visited nature reserves. I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather be on these walks than with you, David!

On many of our local walks, to Liverpool Festival Gardens, Sefton Park and Crosby Beach, we have taken bubbly, lively Riley with us.

Riley at Sefton park

Christine, Riley and Anthony Gormley

Riley and David at Festival Gardens

If I have to mention Riley, I have to mention Artie and Evie and my wonderful aviary of foreign finches.

Owl Finches

Evie

Artie

Rainbow -Gouldian

My mum has been a constant support over the years and I thank her for her love. We shared a special afternoon tea at Jam, Liverpool in March.

Mum and I

Music has such a big place in my heart, and the music of Hans Zimmer is right up there with the symphonies of Mahler and Rachmaninov. In 2017 I luckily saw Hans’ World Tour visit Liverpool. To say his music is electrifying is an understatement, just listen to his Dark Knight medley from his live concerts!

Hans Zimmer and Tina Guo

Blea Tarn

A new passion of mine has become wild swimming. This year I have had seven wonderful swims. Blea Tarn was not disappointing.

Work takes up a lot of my time but working with Sue and her guide dog Kallie often doesn’t feel like work. It feels like muddling through a day with a friend. Sue has become a wonderful confidante.

Sue and Kallie

Sharon and Hugo

I have tried to read and follow as many blogs as I can. There is one blogger who has become an online friend (we shall have to meet in person one day, with our dogs) and that is Sharon from her wonderful blog sunshine and celandines. I have enjoyed our many online chats on the culture/holidays and walks we both blog about!

I love street art. So when there is a new Wild in Art animal trail or a mural, I try and visit. Birmingham’s Big Sleuth was entertaining and Paul Curtis’s For all Liverpool’s Liverbirds mural was a must for any Liverbird to visit!

David and Spock

For all Liverpool’s Liverbirds

I have tried to notice the smaller things in nature this year. It really does make you more appreciative of life. Feeling the warm sun on your skin to foraging for berries. Seeing a bird of prey being harried by a family of swallows or seeing a snowdrop during the coldest of days makes your heart swell. These small events make life’s worries and trivialities disappear or seem easily overcomable (if that’s really a word!)

Large Skipper

Toad

Peacock butterfly

Red Tailed Bumblebee

There’s four month’s left of 2017, but for now I want to live for today and feel blessed with the memories of the places I have seen, with the people I hold dear.

Thank you for reading,

Live life in the moment

Christine x

Wild October – Week Three

Virginia Creeper

This week I have been out and about a little bit more than in previous weeks. While going for a coffee with mum, doing some temporary note-taking work and meeting up with a friend for lunch, I kept one eye looking for signs of autumn.

Slowly but surely Liverpool is becoming enveloped by autumnal colours. I took a leisurely walk around the University of Liverpool campus and visited Abercromby Square. Though still looking verdant, the tree tops are slowly turning golden. I also came across a Barbara Hepworth sculpture and one by Hubert Dalwood.

square with two circles – b hepworth

three uprights Hubert Dalwood

Abercromby Square

Since I have been getting up before the sunrise this week, I have seen some lovely skies.

Sunrise

Honey bee on Salvia

Though the days (and especially the mornings) have that bitter chill to the air, there are still plenty of honey bees visiting the salvia.

On Thursday I met a friend in town. As I was standing waiting for the bus, a robin sat atop a gravestone in the nearby cemetery and sang to me sweetly. I just wish I had taken a photo of him, his presence filled my heart with gladness.

My friend and I took in a visit of the World Museum, which boasts a planetarium among its many assets. This got me thinking of the northern hemisphere’s night sky in autumn.

http://oneminuteastronomer.com

On a clear night looking north most people can identify the Plough, (Ursa Major), which points to the pole star, Polaris.

Looking south, the square of Pegasus is deemed the main autumn constellation. However, for me, the most autumn constellation is Orion to the east.

October is also the time of year for the Orionids, the remnants of Halley’s Comet. This meteor shower ranges between 16th – 26th of the month, peaking on the 21st.

And finally, I have found some informative resources on the Forestry Commission website. Follow the link for activity packs, mindfulness poems and an interactive map, showing the changing colours of various forests in the UK.

I’ll end this week with a recording of Tchaikovsky’s Autumn Song. Have you been following the changing seasons? What, if anything do you like about this time of year?

Christine x