52 Weeks Wild #21

A collection of my wild moments from the past week...   I didn't get beyond the garden for my wild time this week, but I did better than last week as I did manage some garden time on most days and noticed lots!

White herb robert and a little spider in my garden on Monday evening...

This is how the garden pond is looking at the moment. I love it at this time of year when things grow and it looks a little more wild.

For comparison, this is how it looked in March...

There are a lot bees in the garden at the moment, several different species. I've watched them on the cornflowers the bug hotel is really busy at the moment too!

This week I also spotted a nest of sparrow chicks (I heard them and peered through a small gap in the hedge) and have seen the first of this year's garden 'sparrowlings', hopping around and being fed by papa sparrow.

It's a terrible photo, just a peep through the hedge into this hidden little world.

Fields around here are full of buttercups which look lovely, especially in the sunshine we had last week! I love the lanes I travel to work at this time of year too, lined with cow parsley and various other flowers.

The fields beyond the garden are full of flowers too and one evening I spotted a red legged partridge sitting on the wall in the evening sunshine.

On one of those hot days we had this week, I waited for the sun to start setting then took my book and a large glass of wine out and sat in the garden for a while, reading to the sound of those sparrow chicks in the hedge and other birds singing.

In the last few days I spotted a wasp beetle in the garden (on a quite dirty conservatory window) and also a mayfly which I expect was newly emerged from the pond.

Corn chamomile has flowered around the pond this weekend...

Yesterday I spent the afternoon doing some gardening and spotted this moth on an elder... I haven't looked it up yet.

It's half term now so I have a week off school and will hopefully be spending some time outdoors though I have lots to do and a few things planned during the week. I'm also looking after a tank full of tadpoles this week, I brought them home from school on Friday... they've been in the early years class since late April and are only still alive thanks to my intervention as no one else at school has any idea what they need or how to look after them. I didn't want to leave them alone in school for ten days, I'm sure they'd have died, so I volunteered to bring them home for the week.

There are 27 tadpoles in there. They've been very slow to develop at school but I'm hoping more regular fresh water from the garden pond and water butts, plus a better diet whilst they're with me will spur them on a bit so the children will finally see some changes next week.








 

52 Weeks Wild #20

With extra hours at school and being extra busy at home this week, I've not had a lot of free time and my only 'wild time' this week was spending Saturday afternoon outdoors. The past week has been so busy in fact that I've only just got around to writing this post, two days later than usual!

I went down to Staffordshire Wildlife Trust HQ at Wolseley Bridge. I'd not been there for two or three years so it was nice to revisit. I'd gone to spend the afternoon on a minibeasting for adults event. I didn't expect it to be much different to what I do with children at Wildplay events (and it wasn't) but I went along as I thought it would be fun and I like to support these adult only events so they continue to be viable.

I arrived an hour early so I could have a wander around the site...

The highlight of the day was finding a couple of stag beetles under a tree trunk! They were lesser stag beetles. The first stag beetles I've ever seen as we don't get them further north in my part of the world.

The rain didn't help the bug hunting, there were some really heavy showers and the event was a little too early in the year so there weren't as many insects around as there will be in a few weeks, but it was worth going and we did find quite a few species, including my first shieldbug of the year, not yet an adult.

52 Weeks Wild #19

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

Candytuft, one of the many self seeded plants on the drive

I thought we had a team meeting after school on Monday and therefore expected a late finish at school, but we didn't! This meant I was able to leave school a little before 4pm and spend some time at home in the garden...

Vetch and hawthorn were starting to flower

Red campion had joined the dandelions around the edge of the pond

And the first bogbean plant had popped up in the pond, with another just about to reach out of the water.

Whilst I was noticing the hawthorn flowers, I also noticed this little thing (I think it's an aphid, perhaps full of smaller aphids, but please tell me if you know!)...

I also had that moment this week - suddenly realising that the lanes are tree tunnels in places again and there are so many bluebells along my journey. The bluebells came out in force over the weekend!  I said exactly the same thing this time last year too.  I really don't like where I work, but it's a pleasant journey between home and school along all the lanes :)

Wednesday morning dawned bright and frosty. I was up early enough to have a cup of tea before school and drank it sitting in the garden, listening to the birdsong. It was a busy day at work, a parents morning relating to our current 'Down in the Jungle' topic. The children dress up on these days and staff do to some extent too... I wore my animal dress for the occasion!

 When I got home on Friday my 30 Days Wild pack had arrived. I'm kind of wondering if it's a mistake to say I'm doing 30 Days Wild this year - life is busy at the moment and I have a lot to do in the next few months but I'm going to make an effort! 

I also enjoyed the rain on Friday - the smells, the freshness... we've not had a lot of rain recently. It was only showers throughout the day but still very pleasant.

Today I spent a little time in the garden...

more bogbean appearing

and cornflowers too

There's lots of hawkbit in the lawn too.

 and then went out for a while and ended up having an impromptu picnic in a park in Ashbourne, with a mistle thrush hopping around nearby and a couple of squirrels.

(I know we've not had enough rain for mud for ages, but wellies are my default weekend footwear!)

Next week is another busy week with some overtime plus two after school meetings at work and, unusually,  lots happening out of work too. Time outdoors will be in short supply I expect but I'm sure I'll squeeze in some wild moments.