52 Weeks Wild #16

A collection of my wild moments from the past week...

Another busy week! I'm still off school for the easter holidays but have had a really busy and quite hectic week with Wildplay with Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and other personal commitments this week.

I spent Monday cleaning out the turtle tank (it's a big job which takes all day) so didn't get outdoors but the fox visited the garden whilst I was cooking dinner and I managed to get a couple of photos through the window. Foxes are frequent visitors to the garden but I rarely see them (just their poo) and when I do see them, I don't usually manage a photo as they're so skittish (they're rural, rather than urban foxes).

I spent Tuesday afternoon in the company of a three year old. As well as chasing bubbles round the garden and doing some pond dipping in the garden pond, I took him pond dipping in a larger pond up the road and we made a couple of Stickmen.

On Thursday I had a day off but had so much to do it was a really busy day, with plans in the evening (very rare!) as well,  but I did notice primroses and herb robert growing beneath one of the garden hedges (both self seeded).

I looked for the tadpoles in the pond on Thursday too but couldn't find any. I've not seen any tadpoles since last weekend. Last year, a week after hatching, they were still all huddled close together and visible but this year I can't find a single tadpole a week after hatching.  It's quite a large pond with plants and places to hide so they could still be there but I feel more inclined to think they've been eaten by something. I'll keep looking out for them though in case they are still there!

I did a full day of Wildplay on Wednesday, in the woods where we can have a fire (we made popcorn again) and make rope swings and such. I also did Friday afternoon in a park in Stoke which I'd not visited before but was actually really nice (it was on the very edge of Stoke, to the south in a better part of the area!), It was quite nice to do the last Wildplay session as I'd done the very first one too this holiday.

centipede found whilst bug hunting. We also found a baby newt.

Driving to the park on Friday, I passed the first bluebells I've seen this year.

On Saturday I spent the day on a bird identification course with Derbyshire Wildlife Trust (as a paying customer, rather than sessional or volunteer this time). The course focused mainly on bird song (though also covered the basics of bird identification as well) and was well worth going on. I can recognise quite a few birds by their song or calls but it was good to have a refresher and I did learn new things too :)  We saw/heard around 20 species during a fairly short wander after a morning in the classroom which was not bad!

I saw my first wheatear of the year too and also found mountain pansies and spring sandwort at Gang Mine, which is a SSSI and also a European Special Area of Conservation due to the species present as a result of past lead mining.

This is the former telephone box in Middleton, just down the road from DWT HQ... I like what the village has done with it!

Today I just spent five minutes outdoors, just a few minutes away from the house...

For the first time ever, I'm actually glad to be going back to school tomorrow. I've had the busiest school holiday and I don't feel like I've really had time off.  I've certainly been busier than I am during term time so getting back to my usual routines is very welcome... the next couple of weeks are going to feel more relaxed than my Easter holiday!