Day 30 - Plant identification and a soldier beetle

I'll be honest, it's been a long, hard 30 Days! School life has been busy, I've had house things happening on top of usual day to day life and I've really felt that there haven't been enough hours in the day for 30 Days Wild but I stuck with it and have limped through the month, largely confined to gardens!

Today I am so very tired and I'm trying really hard to clear a bit of a reading backlog and read most of two whole books today so I can finish the June pile. I'm taking a break from reading to get the blog up to date!

Tiredness and my need to read mean I really lacked the inclination (and time, as I worked extra today!) to do something wild which is a shame as it would have been nice to do something different on the last day. Never mind, hopefully next year will be better :)

When I got home I stood for a little while watching insects visiting this plant on the drive. I didn't have any idea idea what it is, but I've done a bit of searching and hebe seems about right, possibly 'Spender's seedling'?

Whatever it is, it is very popular with a variety of flying things and I spotted a little pupa on it (no idea what that is either but I will try to keep an eye on it).

The only other 'wild' thing I did was my daily drink outdoors. A toast to nature on the final day was mentioned a few weeks ago when I joined in with a drink outdoors each day but I've just had a cup of tea in the garden (again!).

I noticed that the no mow patch now has a few ox eye daisies in it and there was a soldier beetle on one.

The roses smelled pretty good this evening and I noticed another plant had popped up amongst them, I assume self seeded. No idea what it is!

A look back...

On the final day of 30 Days Wild last year, I had a barefoot wander in the garden.

 In 2015, Day 30  I had a pudding picnic at sunset on the moors :)

Day 29 - Raindrops

I found a little wasp in the kitchen this morning and took it outside. I think this is one of those wasps I've discovered recently that lay their eggs in aphids. I've seen them quite often in the garden over the years without realising they were little parasitic wasps!

After a full day of running around, very busy, I came home, showered and changed, and had a plan to head out for a walk before meeting up with colleagues from my previous school for a meal and a catch up.  The walk didn't happen in the end though... after my shower I was summoned! A wall had unexpectedly* come down in my house and so I had to spend the bit of free time I had this evening running up and down my stairs, moving bricks from a pile in a bedroom down to the skip and carting rubble sacks full of old plaster and such down too! On the plus side, I've really had my money's worth out of my skip. It's was already pretty full of all that garden waste and now there's a load of old bricks on top - I definitely won't be able to get anything else in there!  I ended up turning up at the pub wearing a layer of brick dust! That is why I will not move in to the house until all the work is completely finished. I've lived in a renovation project once, I've done brick dust and mess before and people like me don't cope well with it!

Once the bricks were dealt with, I managed a ten minute mooch in my garden, admiring raindrops, before heading to the pub, which is better than nothing for today. 

I'd planned, after my pre-dinner walk, to arrive at the pub early and have a drink outdoors. The brick moving meant that didn't happen either, so I had a cup of tea in the garden when I got home around 10pm and watched a couple of bats flying around overhead.

 *When I say unexpectedly, I don't mean a bit of the house fell down, this was planned work - I just didn't think it would be happening this week!  The first stage in the internal renovation is under way :)

A look back...

Last year I had a busy day so it was just a little bit of noticing nature...

On day 29 the previous year I made a journey stick and put up an bug house.

Day 28 - Snail in the Rain

Snail in the rain...

and my drink outdoors... I felt the need for something sweet after a long day at school on an educational visit today!

A look back...

On day 28 last year I watched the birds and took photos of raindrops.

In 2015 I got close to some owls...

Day 27 - Reading in the garden

Another busy day... home at 5:30, tea and a little reading in the garden was all I managed, while a collared dove looked on from above...

A look back...

Last year I had an after school wander at Hartington Meadows on day 27

And in 2015 I visited Peak Wildlife Park then went 'grasshoppering'!

Day 26 - Churchyard pine cones

I didn't have a lot of free time today. After school I visited a friend and, as I had left school a little earlier than I'd expected, I was early so I decided to spend fifteen minutes or so having a wander in the church yard near her house. I was hoping to find interesting bugs or lichens but didn't! The path alongside the graveyard was covered in pine cones and we are in need of more supplies for the insect hotel at school. Luckily, I had a bag in the car so I collected about a quarter of a bag to take to school tomorrow.

I didn't get home until 7pm which was a lot later than planned! I had a cup of tea in the garden to squeeze in my outdoor drink today, sitting in my no mow patch.

A look back...

Last year, I found a devil's coach horse in the kitchen so relocated it!

The year before, I tried out a grapefruit bug catcher and did some bug hunting in the garden, also spotting a great spotted woodpecker.

Day 25 - A wander in the Forest

I awoke this morning to discover that a badger dug up the bee nest (day 23) overnight. The nest has been in the garden for at least three years. I've lived in this house for 11 years and there have always been badgers so I'm not sure why there was a sudden interest in the bee hole... poor bees!

I found that tiny bee in the centre crawling around. I don't think it could fly and I thought it was dead at first. I put some sugar water in the insect watering station and it drank some then was more active. I tried to put it down close to the nest hole after but I don't know if it made it back inside (I suspect not as there was a small, dead bee nearby when I checked later).   I'm not sure if the actual nest was protected by a bit of concrete under the lawn - there was a lot of activity there, bees coming and going from underneath it - or if they've started a new nest under it.  There were also several bees seemingly searching in the disturbed soil which made me wonder if they were looking for eggs or something to take back to the nest. I don't know though, I'm just guessing!


Later on Sunday, I was in Macclesfield so decided to have a wander in Macclesfield Forest, I've not been there for a while. 

Bog hoverfly (this one is Sericomyia silentis - not the other bog hoverfly found only on Dartmoor!)

In order to get in my outdoor drink today, I'd called at The Forest Snug food van at the beginning of my walk to buy one, plus some seedy flapjack. I'd been hoping for a Thor cake but the food spot has changed hands since I last visited it. The new food van is much better though, it's run by a chef!

There was a lot of cuckoo spit on one part of the forest - the ground was just covered in it, all around, as far as I could see. How amazing would it be if the little hoppers all emerged at the same time (and I was there to see them!).

scorpion fly (female)

A look back...

In 2016, I watched oystercatchers on Day 25.

The previous year I walked in hay meadow, an evening guided walk.