Wow! What a year it’s been for wildlife spotting!
During 2022 I’ve been using David’s old Nikon DSLR and have been able to capture some wildlife not seen before.
Who would have thought that in January a Chiffchaff would be the nature highlight of the month!
A wildflower called ivy-leaved toad flax was found growing outside our front door. Though some see this beetle as a pest, it was lovely to see the iridescent colours of this Lavender beetle brighten up the yarden, while a day flying moth, angle shades was found resting on our front wall.
It was another year that batty graced our yarden with their presence hunting for moths and midges. It always makes me smile when I see Batty flitting around the yarden.
As we continue to garden for wildlife, pollinators such as ashy mining, hairy footed flower and white tailed bumblebees all visited the yarden this year.
I bought a discovery apple tree in March and it flowered and bore fruit in its first year!
Our first ever sighting of this Hummingbird Hawk Moth, looking for nectar was one of the best highlights of 2022!
I spent a lot of time outdoors for #30DaysWild and visited Brocholes and Lunt Meadow Nature Reserves, where we spotted dragonflies, such as black tailed skimmers and four sport chasers. This white throat perched nicely for a photograph, and there seemed to be lots of butterflies about. David got some great photos of the resident Roe deer and fox at Brockholes.
It was yet another year of wonderful wildlfowers springing up wherever there was an empty patch of land.
In August we spent a week holidaying in Scotland. We visited Loch of the Lowes, where they have nesting Ospreys. On arrival we heard the young calling for fish and two hours later were lucky enough to see both young on the nest.
Our boat house was on the shore of Loch Tay and I went swimming in the rain and during a night swim, had bats circling and hunting around me.
From the forest around the boat house, a lone Tawny Owl hooted solemnly.
The sparrowhawk visited the yarden again!
For my birthday this year, we visited RSPB Leighton Moss and finally got to see the bearded tits and even a cute, tiny goldcrest.
There has been some lovely sunrises and some astounding sunsets.
Clouds have been one of the star attractions in 2022. These mammatus clouds loomed ominously as we drove home from scotland.
To finish off it’s been a year of many Rainbows.
How wild has your year been?
Thanks for reading,
Christine x
Day 21: Today’s 
We decided to risk driving the 30 minutes to Ennerdale, a designated dark sky area, in the hope that the clouds would break long enough for us to do some star gazing. We arrived tired and hungry around 7pm and waited for the night to darken. There were no other tourists, save us. We stood listening to eerie calls of birds roosting before the sky above became emblazoned with a multitude of stars. There were wisps of cloud but none could detract from the faint ribbon of the Milky Way. I loved gazing up at the sky and feeling the peace of the area. We will definitely have to visit again when the night is more clear, but what David captured is good for his first attempt.
It’s the finale of my Wild October!
In the evening we headed towards Loweswater in the hope of chatching a sunset and ended up playing with more leaves!
Christine Lucas 