30 Days Wild 2020 – Day Twenty.

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.

Sunset at Stonehenge

Big Wild Weekend

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

30 Days Wild 2020 – Day Thirteen.

Day 13: I’ve been feeling down these past few days so a bit of a lazy post for today’s 30 Days Wild I’m afraid. Today’s blog is a poem from Philip Larkin, taken from the illustrated anthology, Birds, from The British Museum, edited by Mavis Pilbeam.

We have another patient in the form of a pigeon called Pete who has a sore wing. Fingers crossed he makes a full recovery.

Blanch covered in gloss paint

Pete – the new patient

Feeding Hoppy the pigeon

Pigeons

On shallow slates the pigeons shift together,
Backing against a thin rain from the west
Blown across each sunk head and settled feather,
Huddling round the warm stack suits them best,
Till winter daylight weakens and they grow
Hardly defined against the brickwork. Soon,
Light from a small intense lopsided moon
Shows them, black as their shadows, sleeping so.

What are your thoughts on pigeons?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

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 2020 – Day Eight.

Day 8: Today is World Oceans Day, so in honour of this campaign, today’s Close up Monday will be of bottle-nosed dolphins. I’ll admit that marine wildlife is one aspect of my knowledge that isn’t particularly strong. So I am going to use today as a platform to further my understanding around this subject.

What’s your favourite ocean inhabitant?

The bottle-nosed dolphin is probably the best known of all UK whale and dolphin species (cetaceans). While reading the summer edition of the RSPB’s Nature’s Home magazine, I was surprised to discover that up to 28 of these aquatic mammals have been seen around UK shores.

Nature’s Home

Magazine

Some facts on bottle-nosed dolphins:

• UK bottle-nosed dolphins are the biggest in the world, their larger bodies help with the cold of our waters
• They can live up to 50 years of age
• Are carnivore and eat other fish and crustaceans
• They have good eyesight and their eyes can move independently of each other
• They can’t detect colour
• Highly sociable and live within pods of up to 15 members
• Research has shown that dolphins have names or a unique whistle to identify them from other dolphins
• Like bats they use echolocation for finding food and navigation
• Their stomachs consist of three chambers, one to store, one to digest and one to excrete
• They sleep by shutting one side of their brain and the opposing eye
• ‘Breaching’ or jumping out of water is a way of cleaning parasites off their bodies
• As a mammal they are warm blooded and need to breathe through a blow hole

Moray Firth dolphins

Bottle-nosed dolphins enjoy the safety of sheltered bays and can be seen often at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, Moray Firth in Scotland, Cornwall and Dorset.

Have you seen any bottle-nosed dolphins around the coast of the UK? Have you seen any other cetaceans?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2020 – Day Seven.

 

Day 7: Today’s 30 Days Wild is linking in with #SilentSunday. One picture, no words. Perhaps you can join in?

 

Thanks for stopping by, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day Eight.

Day 8: Today’s focus is our lovely planet, Earth. Currently being exhibited in Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral is Gaia (the personification of Earth), a seven metre replica by Luke Jerram. Featuring detailed NASA imagery and soundtrack by BAFTA winning Dan Jones. The installation aims to create awe and a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

10 facts on the Earth:

1. The Earth is the third planet from the sun
2. Is 4.5 billion years old
3. 70% of the surface is water
4. An Earth day is actually 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds
5. A year is 365.2564 days, creating the need for leap years
6. The atmosphere is roughly 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen
7. Seasons are created by the Earth’s tilt at 23.4°
8. The magnetic field created by the Earth’s core protects us from harmful solar rays
9. 20% of the Earth’s O2 is produced by the Amazon Rainforest
10. Lightening strikes the Earth up to 100 times per second

What amazing facts of our beautiful planet do you know?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day Seven.

Day 7: For today’s 30 Days Wild, I am going to tune in to the symphony of birdsong. If you listen closely birdsong is on the air all the time. Even in the late hour of night or early morning the song of a blackbird, confused with urban street lighting can be heard. While on my 40 minute walk to work this morning here’s what birds I managed to hear and identify.

Blackbird, blue tit, chaffinch, crow, great tit, goldfinch, house sparrow, pied wagtail, robin, starling, swallow, wood pigeon

According to the RSPB since 1966 we have lost more than 40 million birds in the UK. This April the RSPB released a single – Let Nature Sing. The aim of the campaign was to highlight the plight of birds nationally. The single got to no.18 in the UK charts. Below is a video of the single with subtitles of each birdsong featured.

What’s your favourite birdsong?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day Six.

Day 6: Continuing from my 2018 30 Days Wild, Thursday’s will be know as Throw Back Thursday’s!

In 2018 I went in search of worms. The smell of rain or petrichor scented the air in 2017. I read a wild book in 2016 and in 2015 I bought homes for wildlife. For this year I’ll revisit the #randomactofwildness of reading a Wild book!

There can be nothing more wild than 365 Days Wild by Lucy McRobert. This beautiful book is packed full with nature inspired ideas for every day and every season.

365 Days Wild – by Lucy McRobert

365 Days Wild – by Lucy McRobert

365 Days Wild – by Lucy McRobert

365 Days Wild – by Lucy McRobert

What is your favourite wild book?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day Five.

Day 5: Today is World Environment Day. A day when people are inspired to do something for the planet, either locally, nationally or globally. 2019’s theme is air pollution. You can help #BeatAirPollution by taking the bus to work, or walk or cycle. Turn your engine off when stationary, reduce meat consumption or switching lights and electronics off when not in use.

I shall of course be taking the bus and walking to work. How about you?

In conjunction with World Environment Day, Friends of the Earth, have a campaign to double UK tree cover. Trees help slow climate change by absorbing harmful Co2 and are also home to many animal species. I’ve been debating whether to buy a sapling for the yarden but I am not sure how it would fare in a pot? The Woodland Trust have a good selection of UK species to chose from.

What do you think, should I buy a tree? If so what type?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day Four.

Day 4: For this year’s 30 Days Wild, I ordered in preparation five painted lady caterpillars from Insect Lore. I’ve known about this activity for a while now and decided that 2019 was the year to focus on the miraculous metamorphosis of caterpillar to butterfly. My butterfly garden and pack of five live caterpillars arrived a week before June. It’s been amazing watching them grow(doubling in size daily) for twelve days now.

I’ve grown very fond of my hungry caterpillars, but it won’t be long before they’ll create chrysalises and the next stage of the metamorphosis will begin. For today’s post I want to focus on the larval stage. Below find photos showing the caterpillars incredible growth.

Day 1

Day 9 – caterpillar

Day 6

Day 3

Have you tried a butterfly garden? Watched your own caterpillars grow into butterflies?

Thanks for reading, and stay wild!

Christine x