Day 30 - The sun sets on 30 Days Wild

The last day of June, the final day of 30 Days Wild!

Today I worked half a day and when I got home the power was off. It was a scheduled interruption, from 9am - 4pm. Usually I do some cleaning and/or go on the computer and then take my Grandmother shopping on a Tuesday but without power, the cleaning and computing had to wait, so in the hour or so I had free before shopping, I sat in the garden with my book (and toasted teacakes and lemonade)...

Not my greatest plan given that I'm not a sun worshipper at all and the garden is south facing with no shade, but it was about half an hour spent outdoors, listening to the birds and the hum of all the bees. Reading wasn't easy as I could barely see in the bright sunlight but I did make myself get through a chapter before I gave up and went indoors!

There had been a blackbird and a sparrow having a splash in the pond whilst I read, which made me think that the bees or other bugs might like to have a little place to drink too so I gathered a few supplies and then set up a little insect watering hole down in the one shady corner of the garden, where my bug house and log pile are.

Later in the evening (when it has cooled down a bit!) I decided to take my book out again and have a 'pudding picnic' whilst the sun set!  I grabbed desserts, a book and a jacket (I knew there would be a cool wind blowing on the moorlands) and set out...

(By the way, if you've never had raspberry tiramisu, you really should! They're so good!) 

I was a bit later than planned heading out, but I still had plenty of time to read before the sun disappeared.

I chose a quiet spot and sat down amongst the grasses

I listened to the calls of grouse, curlews, lapwings and lots of little birds too. A hobby flew by as well.

The sun has set on 30 Days Wild

Though that doesn't mean the end of my wild adventures! Once the sun had gone down, the blue hour began...

I realised I'd not tried out the new camera on the moon so I took a few photos ...

and then observed our two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter, in conjunction.  This conjunction happens every year (I've photographed it before) but this year they're a bit closer together and there won't be another conjunction like this one until 2023.

This may be the end of 30 Days Wild but it's certainly not the end of my Random Acts of Wildness! Readers of my main blog will already know that I've always been partial to those so lots of my wild June days featured things I'd have been doing anyway! I'll still be blogging regularly on my main blog (please ask if you'd like a link) but I'll keep this one going I think - just probably not for daily posting - I'm ready for a break from so much blogging / computer time! In fact I'm rather inclined towards 30 Days Asleep right now!

Before I go, here's my wallchart...

Four days I still need to sort out but it's nearly done!  I'll share a picture of the finished version here (hopefully) tomorrow.

Thank you to The Wildlife Trusts for such a brilliant June! 

Day 29 - A journey stick and a bug house

Day 29 was a bit of a mixed bag!

On my way home from school this afternoon, I stopped for a while to appreciate the views. It seemed so peaceful (I think it was the absence of wind!) that I just had to stop to take it in for a while.

I really do appreciate this beautiful area I live in and am thankful for having a rural drive to work, with lots of wildlife to spot along the way.

Later in the day I had to walk my mother's dog. My parents are away for a few days which means I have to temporarily become 'a dog person' and look after their dog (I don't like dogs, well, pets in general really!) so I thought since I had to walk with the dog, I might as well make the walk into my 30 Days Wild activity and decided rather than taking lots of photos as I usually do, I'd make a journey stick.

Here's the finished stick...

 

 It's a very simple concept - something I've done as a forest school and wildplay activity. Find a stick, tie some wool to one end and wrap it around the stick then take it for a walk and, as you walk, collect natural treasures to slide in beneath the wool. The idea is that after the walk, children can talk about their treasures or their journey - where they found a particular item, why they chose to add it to the stick... all sorts of conversation can arise from it (and other activities).  Obviously, this was just a bit of fun for me, I didn't have to talk to anyone about it after and it's a bit of a daft activity for an adult to do alone really - passers by must have wondered what I was doing with a stick covered in bits of nature, but I don't concern myself with such things! I rather enjoyed having two photos of a stick to represent my walk rather than 200 photos of things I saw!  This - link - leads to a PDF about journey sticks for anyone interested.

Whilst I was out, I foraged a larger stick too - a branch (from a woodpile left after some recent tree cutting).  I used that to put up the little bug box that's been sitting in the study for 5 or 6 weeks!
When I first went down the garden, I was pleased by the number of bees who were in the garden with me. There's a lot of clover in the lawn and the bees love it every year!  I see several different kinds on the clover and visiting the other flowers that grow amongst the grass too, especially the birdsfoot trefoil. I spent some time watching the bees and enjoying the flowers.

Isn't this so much more interesting and nicer looking than a pristine but boring manicured green lawn?!

Unfortunately, I just live in this house, I don't own it and I don't have much of a say over the garden so as much as I try, I can't keep the wild lawn and it'll be mown within a day or two (though the flowers and the bees will soon return - then the cycles repeats!)

Whilst installing my new bug house pole, I noticed a soldier beetle on the laurel.

There's the branch, inserted vertically next to the log pile.

and here's the little bug house.

As the garden is bordered entirely by various hedges, and the workshop already has bug homes nailed to it, I had to screw this one to a branch and stick it in the ground! Not a brilliant job (it does wobble a bit!) but I think it's adequate and this little wild patch I've negotiated is looking good! There are loads of wildflowers planted here too, but they will probably do better next year.

Tomorrow is the last day of 30 Days Wild. I have no idea what I'll be doing yet - do you have any plans for the final day?!

Day 28 - Learning about owls

Day 28 - 30 Days Wild wasn't my top priority today as I had lots of other things to do, but I did get close to an owl and learned something new.

In the afternoon, I spared a bit of time to follow paths through woods and meadows...

A common nettle tap moth I think

I think this is a lygus bug nymph - correct me if I'm wrong.

Some kind of Tachnid I think... can't get to species level!

...and visit an owl display. These owls are all captive raised. Some were rescued after injury and are not able to be released back into the wild... I'm not sure how the non-natives came to be here though.

Great grey owl

Tawny owl

Barn owl

Scops owl

The star of the owl show was this Northern Pygmy Owl, a species from Arizona which is critically endangered.  They're very small. Smaller than a blackbird. Here's a - link - to a photo which gives a better sense of scale.

These owls have 'eyes' on the back of their heads to spook potential predators as they spend a lot of time on the ground during the day.

I learned something interesting from the 'owl man' too - yellow eyed owls fly in the day, orange eyed owls are crepuscular and owls with black eyes fly at night. That seems really obvious now and I can't believe I didn't know that - but then I've never given much thought to owl eyes before.

Back home later in the day I had a peek at my grapefruit halves, which are still in the garden.  The slugs are definitely enjoying them, even if nothing else is, so I'm leaving the two halves out for their benefit - they seem to make good slug caves! They are just beginning to go mouldy though so they won't last too much longer!

  Not a terribly wild weekend which is a shame as it was the last one, but at least I did get out today - and I learned something new about owls too!