Day 6: As part of today’s 30 Days Wild, a talk with Springwatch and The Wildlife Trusts’ ambassador, Hannah Stitfall is scheduled for 6pm to 7pm, entitled, Webcam Wildlife, you can sign up for the hour long talk here.
Webcams and camera traps are a great way to discover wildlife in your garden. Hannah chats to a panel of experts about their experiences, offering practical hints and tips for your own camera traps.
I’ve already signed up for the talk and it got me thinking about the footage I have recorded in the past of wildlife and the webcams I watch.
At present the only webcam I am watching is the Dyfi Osprey Project. I have mentioned this webcam before but 2021 is the first year I have tuned in daily. The unrivaled footage focuses on an osprey nest in mid-Wales. This year Telyn and Idris have raised two chicks. It’s addictive viewing! You can watch too, here.
Dyfi Ospreys 2021
My own attempts at setting up a camera trap has been limited. I’ve had video cameras running while participating in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch and caught many feathered visitors visiting my feeders. However, I’ve only left a camera out in the hope of getting a closer idea of the wildlife that visits once, and then I knew that space would be visited frequently. Below are a few of the birds I have caught on camera.
Have you caught any good wildlife footage on a trail camera before? If so, what did you see?
Day 5: For today’s 30 Days Wild, I’ve decided to watch a webcam. There are so many wildlife webcams that it’s hard to chose. Just a quick search on Google brings up hundreds of links. Here’s a few I’ve watched over the past couple of weeks.
What are your go to favourite webcams?
The Wildlife Trusts’ web-page (here) is a good start to find wildlife webcams to watch. There’s webcams on mammals as well as birds.
If you like ospreys then you’ll find there are numerous webcams and websites dedicated to this beautiful bird. One of my favourite and the most clear camera is the Dyfi Osprey Project, found here, they have two chicks at present.
If peregrines are more your thing then Salisbury, Winchester and Leamington Spa all have peregrine webcams, but be quick their chicks are pretty big!
The Nest Box on Facebook, here, have a selection of webcams streaming live 24/7. This week I watched as six blue tit chicks from Cumbria fledged. The Nest Box still has streams of kestrel and starling nests.
These web-sites are all from the UK, but there can be found webcams from around the world. I hope you enjoy looking at some of these webcams and searching for your own.
In the meantime, thanks for reading, and stay wild!
Day 10: Today’s Close Up Monday is inspired by my short break to The Lake District. Last year, on another trip to the Lakes, I focused on herdwick sheep. Sharon and Louise suggested red squirrels being synonymous with The Lake District, with ospreys a close second. I’ve decided to focus on ospreys for today’s post but don’t worry I will blog about red squirrels next Monday.
The osprey is a large bird of prey, with a wingspan of 1.6m (that’s bigger than me!) They migrate to the UK to breed during the summer and overwinter in West Africa. Their lifespan in the wild is nine – twenty years and are a UK amber species. They can be seen from March to October in Scotland, Wales and the Northern England. Their diet is primarily fish.
Ospreys become sexually mature from two to five years. Are largely monogamous and prefer tall structures like conifers to construct their nests called an eyrie. When visiting Dodd Wood, Cumbria in 2017 we saw a reconstruction of an eyrie and it was huge! The female lays two to three eggs during April and incubation takes up to a month. The female incubates the eggs while the male provides fish. Once the young have fledged, both parents feed the young for the next two months. Many juveniles die before reaching maturity. Hunting and poisoned food and water are the main threats to numbers of osprey.
There is a lot of webcam footage of nesting ospreys in the UK. While I wrote this blog I came across the webcam for the ospreys at Loch of Lowes, Scotland. Webcams are an insight into nesting behaviours and the rearing of young.
Loch of Lowes Osprey
Loch of Lowes Osprey
However they can be quite traumatic for the viewer sitting warm and safe at home. While watching I noticed two of the nestlings were being fed and looked strong while the runt lay apart from its siblings and looked to be wasting away. Apparently it had gotten stuck in the twining of the nest and was stood upon by both parents. The chick died not long after, such is the nature of life for a young osprey.
I can’t quite believe how fast this June is going, too quickly for my liking! Unlike last years 30 Days Wild, I am trying to look beyond the yarden. Taking more days out in the country for long scenic walks and wild swims.
Here’s a summary of week three!
Day 15: Wednesday
The third week of The Wildlife Trust’s 30 Days Wild dawned with a migraine. So I forsook the treadmill and spent a lazy day of watching ‘wild’ webcams. I particularly enjoyed watching the Derby Cathedral peregrines. It had four, close to fledgling peregrine chicks in a nest that had lots of pigeon kill! I also tried to spot the puffins on the Teaching Through Nature website. David had chosen this ‘wild’ card and it was perfect for the type of day it became. I frequently tune into the RSPB’s Lodge webcam to watch garden birds visit the feeders. Today when I logged on, two grey squirrels and a great spotted woodpecker hung off the feeders. It cheered me up!
Day 16: Thursday
I wasn’t feeling very wild today. It was a staying under the bed covers kind of day. So I thought I would ID a plant that was growing in my yarden. I used the Pl@nt.Net app, but the programme was having trouble identifying the leaves. I said to David ‘I’m sure I’ve seen the buds before,’ but on what plant I could not remember! Then I realised! The flower buds are very like borage, though the leaves look very different. I grew borage for the bees last year as one of my 30 Days Wild and it looks like some have seeded themselves! I am not complaining though, they’ll be more food for the bees! 🙂 And I suppose it ticks off another wild task without me even trying! 🙂
Day 17: Friday
Today was a special day. It was a day I got to go wild swimming again!! The weather may have been much grottier than my first time in Derwentwater, but it was a much special day. I got to swim in the waters of my favourite lake, Buttermere! 🙂
After walking three hours alongside Crummock Water and then back towards Buttermere, I finally submerged my weary body under the cool, clear waters of the lake, with Fleetwith Pike as the glorious backdrop.
Today was busy with shopping and visiting family, so I didn’t have much time to do anything ‘wild’. In the evening, I decided to try my hand at identification, with little result. I began by looking at Google images in the hope of identifying the owner of this feather I found at Crummock Water the day before. Then I turned to theForest Xplorer app by the Forestry Commission to discover what type of tree I had hugged.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I am useless at identification. After a good few hours searching, I stopped feeling frustrated, with still no answers! I really need to improve my skills, perhaps I should take a course in the future?
Day 19: Sunday
Today’s ‘wild’ card was, keep an eye out for newborns. Once again I had set my camcorder at the kitchen window overlooking the bird feeders. During the hours recording, it captured a baby Goldfinch visiting the feeders with two adults!
Day 20: Monday
Happy Summer Solstice or Litha. I don’t think I have sat up and watched the Longest Day of the year dawn, if I have in the past it was unintentionally! For one of my 30 Days Wild this year, I wanted to wake up with the city dawn chorus. I decided it would be a perfect way to celebrate the solstice too.
Sunrise was at 4.42am. I crawled out of bed blurry eyed an hour before. I left David in the thrall of Morpheus. With a hot drink in hand, notepad and pen, camcorder and phone, I sat in the guest bedroom with the window open wide and listened to the soft breeze for any birdsong.
It was faint, ethereal almost in the gloaming, but there was the sound of sweet birdsong. I think if I lived closer to a park the volume would have been louder. I tried to record the sound, which I have mixed in a video below.
I found it difficult to identify the birdsong. I had expected to hear a blackbird’s call but I think the predominant song was that of a robin. (I heard the blackbird before I returned to bed.)
Half an hour before the dawn, I saw herring gulls circling in the sky. These birds get up early! Members of the tit family were also calling and flying between the houses at this time.
It was after sunrise, when the birds came to the yarden, that I captured the loudest of the birdsong. It seemed that the lighter the day became the louder the sounds! 5am seemed to be the best time! Goldfinches came to the yarden in charms. I saw a crow fly over the roof. Mr. Dunnock sang so loudly he almost deafened me! Pigeons visited the feeders and magpies cackled somewhere in the near distance. Also at this time a tree bumblebee was heard and seen buzzing loudly around the campanula, bell flowers. If that was not enough for my small yarden oasis, a black cat walked along the wall crying. It jumped into the yarden and went for a long, quenching drink from our pond before jumping back on the wall and walking out of sight!
The sunrise was less eventful than the dawn chorus. The day broke grey and uninspiring. I retired to bed, to a fitful snooze after 5.30am.
Day 21: Tuesday
David went back to work today, so I spent the day looking over the pictures we took during out visit toChester Zoo on Monday. I know I am cheating a little here and its not totally nature or indeed wild but the weather in the morning could have been described as wild so its going into my 30 Days blog.
Chester Zoo do have an initiative called Act for Wildlife. They have conservation projects not only around the world but in the UK too.
We spent a good three hours dodging the showers. We spent over half an hour watching the Aye-aye (Madagascan Lemur), he is so cute, and marveling at the new dinosaurs collection. We both liked Utahraptor with his feathers!
Aye-aye by David Evans
Utahraptor
Summary:
This week has been quite a diverse one! Like last years 30 Days Wild, I am loving every moment! I am continuing to read and enjoy other blogs and I am learning along the way.
With only one more full week left of June, I hope you will continue to follow me as I discover more wildness in my life.
Day 6: As part of today’s 30 Days Wild, a talk with Springwatch and The Wildlife Trusts’ ambassador, Hannah Stitfall is scheduled for 6pm to 7pm, entitled, Webcam Wildlife, you can sign up for the hour long talk here.
Day 5: For today’s 
Day 10: Today’s Close Up Monday is inspired by my short break to The Lake District. Last year, o
Ospreys become sexually mature from two to five years. Are largely monogamous and prefer tall structures like conifers to construct their nests called an eyrie. When visiting 
I can’t quite believe how fast this June is going, too quickly for my liking! Unlike last years 30 Days Wild, I am trying to look beyond the yarden. Taking more days out in the country for long scenic walks and wild swims.
I wasn’t feeling very wild today. It was a staying under the bed covers kind of day. So I thought I would ID a plant that was growing in my yarden. I used the 
Christine Lucas 