30 Days Wild

 

I signed up for 30 Days Wild, and they emailed me every day, but did pretty much nothing wild the entire of June. I constantly wish I spent more time out of doors but then slump at home after work. Yesterday bought me some wild delight however when I came across this Swallow-tailed moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria) sitting by the postboxes at 17 Mauldeth Road. It was still there today, which was nice because I had forgotten all about it. Moths are a much under-appreciated species as they are often not a beautiful as butterflies but they are just as important as pollinators. 

Stay safe. Be kind. Appreciate the moths.

Red in tooth and claw

30 Days Wild is very much a cosy 'isn't nature beautiful' kind of challenge, and I enjoy a pretty flower or butterfly as much as the next person, but sometimes nature hits you in the gut with the reality of survival of the fittest. Casually watching a trailer on Youtube earlier this afternoon a link to a goshawk nest cam came up in the suggestions (probably because I watch the ospreys regularly ... and you know ... algorithms). So Monkey and I popped over and started watching, and goshawklings are completely adorable. There was a bit of something half eaten at the back of the nest so we scrolled back looking for the moment when the parent arrived and dropped off some food. We are in for a nasty few minutes. We arrive at a moment when one of the bigger chicks starts pecking at the little one, it looks like a bit of a squabble. It can't get away and the big one persists. We watch in horrified fascination. The two other siblings move, as you can see in the screen shot, to the edge of the nest, pretending not to notice what is going on. It begins to dawn on us what is going to happen and I scroll forward twenty minutes or so (because it's pitiful squawks and efforts to escape are heartbreaking) and the little one is a bloody mess twitching in the corner while their big brother or sister is eating. I slam the computer shut and we sit stunned. Once it decided its sibling was food it was the inevitable outcome. That is one pretty determined goshawk and it is good for the gene pool that the tough ones survive. The trouble is we now have to go back tomorrow and check how many are left. (About an hour later one of the parents arrives back and begins feeding the corpse to the remaining chicks.)

Stay safe. Be kind. Give your siblings a wide berth.

Here's a dragonfly, seen at the park today, to cheer you up after the traumatic story:

Corvids and all that

 

We regularly see a variety of crows and rooks in the parks and we were recently discussing needing to know more about how to distinguish between these very similar birds. So I asked the interweb and found some very helpful answers. The video above, very much worth a couple of minutes if you are interested, comes from the British Trust for Ornithology website. Also this pictorial guide from Country Life magazine is excellent. But of course, then the search takes a different turn and we came across this wonderful list of collective nouns for all different bird species ... go and check out your favourites ... a parcel of oystercatchers, a squadron of pelicans and a committee of vultures.

Stay safe. Be kind. Identify some birds.

Tiny flowers

I have a tiny garden. 

It is about 12 feet by 10 feet. 

I love things that have tiny flowers. They delight me.

So I went around the garden finding the tiniest.

Last visit to the garden centre I bought a miniature rose.

It delights me. The leaves are tiny, the thorns are tiny, the buds are tiny.

The flowers are exquisite.

(This looks big, but it's really close up on the ivy-leaved toadflax)

Stay safe. Be kind. Tiny joys are the best.

Forget Me Not

I read 'Forget me not' by Sophie Pavelle last month and it had been buried under more recent reads. It was a most engaging read, and, despite being about some of the UK's most endangered species it was pretty upbeat. While giving us the lowdown about the environmental loss she also gave the positive stories of the people working to research and improve the chances of each one. The book charts her journeys (mostly during gaps between the lockdowns) around the country to understand in person what is happening to our wild environment. She covers the more relatable subjects like the harbour porpoise, the grey long-eared bat, the mountain hare and the marsh fritillary (butterfly) but also the more unlikely ones like the dung beetle and the seagrass. Each one has its very specific needs and niche. You can almost see a theme developing because it's precisely the narrowness of the niche that makes each species so particularly vulnerable; like the marsh fritillary that becomes isolated in small pockets of suitable meadows, meaning its protectors are struggling to create corridors to connect these pockets. 

The story of the mountain hares was very striking to me. Climate change has already affected the length and temperature of the winter, meaning the snow is disappearing earlier leaving the hares with their white winter coat exposed to predators. However, the grouse 'industry' means there is extensive control of predators in many areas of Scotland, which offers them some protections. This conversely means that there is not the pressure on them to change. It is a fine balancing act, one kind of human activity has one effect, then different activity also affects them. 

"So, what's happening on grouse moors in Scotland is that we're meddling with their potential to evolve because by removing the majority of their predators, we are releasing a vital selection pressure that would, in theory, trigger an evolutionary answer to the problem of sticking out. Nature made mountain hares the right colour for each season, but our meddling has painted their fur in an unseasonal hue, and now hares are unwittingly wearing the wrong shade. Oh honey.

'It's the most likely explanation for why they have not evolved to match the 'new' shorter snow seasons,' Markets admitted. She considered how wonderful it would be if we reintroduced more golden eagles and other key predators that have been lost across much of the Highlands. But this could be bad news for the hares, as predators will find them more often. 'To restore the natural systems successfully, we must first understand all the players in the game.' Holistic with a capital H." (p.266)

The news yesterday concerning the rising sea temperature was most depressing and it often feels like time is running out. I have to balance the news with something encouraging. From the seagrass being planted by armies of volunteers to the ambitious rewilding project at Knepp Castle estate the book is full of stories of enthusiasts doing wild things and making the world a better place. It left me uplifted rather than despondent. 

Stay safe. Be kind. Try and think positive.

Bugs and all that

This large red damselfly was spotted in the garden back at the end of May, and it's the first time I have seen anything dragonfly-ish. The British Dragonfly Society has a very informative and helpful website if you want to identify flying beasties of this kind.

This little critter below was on the little table this afternoon while I was potting up some seedlings. My best guess is a leafhopper. The British Bugs website helped me out identifying this one, I just clicked around the gallery until I found what was most similar. It is an excellent site, lots of detailed photos and general information about bugs (Hemiptera):

The leaves of the random wildflowers in the with crab apple tree have been particularly targeted by the leaf cutter bees but I had not seen any, and in fact was worried it was just the dreaded vine weevils which also do something similar:

Then I spotted one, but it flew off before I could get a photo. I was about to give up when it came back for another bite. The bee guide says it is a patchwork leaf cutter bee, easy to identify by the orange pollen brush on it's underside (clearly seen if you look close): 

Stay safe. Be kind. Love all the bugs.

Losses and Wins

I wrote about the blue tits back at the beginning of the month, and unfortunately the news is not good.

While they could cope with some disruption the builders went on to remove the soffits and guttering immediately above their nest site and at that point the parents admitted defeat. On the plus side the roof is nearly done, and look at that lovely new guttering, we are anticipating a snug and dry winter with no leaks.

Over at Lock Arkaig there was an owl strike one night shortly before the hatching was due and one of the three eggs was lost.

Happily a couple of weeks ago one of the other eggs hatched and the hatchling is going strong. It seems the final egg is a dud, still sitting on the nest in the way, but they will probably remove it when they climb up and tag the baby in a few weeks:

Stay safe. Be kind. Put some water out for the birds.

Blue flowers and another Bee

I had lots of nigella last year, and they have a reputation for easy spreading but only one has popped up so far, in with the crab apple tree. I love the delicate spiny leaves as well as the multi-layer flower.

The Jacob's Ladder was bought last year I think as a tiny plant and it grew into a huge bush, but has only finally flowered this year. It doesn't like drying out and will wilt very quickly, and I read that it prefers partial shade so I may move it to somewhere it will be happier.

This is some flax (the RHS website tells me) that was in a random dried out pot and I have been watering since the spring in the hope that it was something, and it rewarded my efforts today with these delightful flowers:

And yesterday my mining bee (yes, I get personally attached to each and every bee that visits my garden) paid a return visit to the exact same leaf as the other day. It is a bad photo as he is mostly under the leaf but I think it may be an ashy mining bee as it was definitely greyish fluff. The Urban Bees guide describes how they stuff their nest holes with chewed up leaves, rather than pieces of leaf like the leaf-cutters:

Meanwhile in the kitchen ... cucamelons:

Stay safe. Be kind. Rest in the shade.

Trees for 30 Days Wild

 

We went away on a magical mystery tour last week to visit the deep south, ending up at the Eden Project in Cornwall. It was a wonderful place, full of information about the planet, both the damage we are inflicting, the work that is being done to repair it and the resilience of natural environments. The two domes are a mediterranean one and a rainforest one. The tree above is an ancient olive tree (presumably transplanted as the place is only 22 years old) and was my favourite on in the first dome. Tish took the picture below showing the contrasting lushness of the rainforest dome.

As I mentioned the other day it was most disconcerting to walk along the wildflower meadow and see nary a bee. It felt a scary sign of the magnitude of the decline of insect populations that somewhere like the Eden Project was not humming with bees. I may have to go and sit outside for a bit now to make myself feel better.

Stay safe. Be kind. Show the trees some love today.

Extra bee delight

Today's bee delight was several red-tailed bumblebees. All the others were around too, lots of honey bees. I managed to catch a photo of the elusive furrow bee, he is pretty tiny and doesn't sit still for very long. You can compare the size as they are both sitting on the same kind of flower:

Then in watching the ones on the window sill I spotted this new delight:

It is a phacelia that I grew from seed this year. The flowers are tiny but have these lovely long stamen. I think this plant was the only seedling that survived my neglect (or overwatering as the case may be). 

And two pale yellow poppies growing with the plum tree are also wonderful:

Stay safe. Be kind. Protect your shoulders, wear a shawl in the sunshine.

Saving the bees for 30 Days Wild

After an hour of watering I sat and watched more bees than I saw on the wildflower meadow at the Eden Project and felt very smug. This, I discover, is probably trailing bellflower, a type of campanula, that covers my walls and is the favourite haunt of the bees. So we had honey bees:

tree bumblebees:

what I think, from Alison at Urban Bees June Guide, is a vestal cuckoo bee (they are more common than other similar species):

I had to keep a close eye on them because the spiders were on the prowl, twice attracted by the nearby vibrations to dart out towards a foraging bee. This huge one (meaning probably female) living by the insect hotel:

and this smaller red one on the dog rose (though they are probably both common garden spiders):

I also saw lots of furrow bees and what I hope might have been a mining bee of some kind. I didn't want to leave him to get my camera but just watched him, not on the flowers but munching the edge of a geranium leaf. I am excited to spend more time watching over the next few weeks and see what new species might visit.

Stay safe. Be kind. Spread some bee love.

Wisteria for 30 days wild

 

The wisteria was just dying off when I was at mum and dad's house on Saturday, but we came home and I found this lovely photo sent by dad taken recently. It's not wild, in fact their garden is quite a controlled space with very little random growth, but it is very beautiful; I have no idea if it attracts the insects. We have had a week away doing a variety of wild activities but Tish has all the photos. Dunk watered my garden and everything seems to have survived the heatwave so I will get outside to take some pictures of all the new delights; coming back to work after a break is always a bit of a shock to the system so I am having a quiet cuppa.

Stay safe. Be kind. Eat some ice cream.

A Wild Time

Today my lovely Ady is two years old. Here she is having a wild time at Whitby beach. I remember the first time we took Lewis to the beach, at about this age. He dug a huge hole, and when we said it was time to go and get some fish and chips he said no, he wanted to stay and dig. She is plainly taking after her dad.

I had a lovely time on Wednesday sniffing all the roses down in Didsbury, one of the few perks of the job. This one however was taken down Heathside Road last week. The sun was in my eyes and it wasn't till I came home that I realised what a lovely photo I managed to take. The sun on the petals just makes them glow.

Stay safe. Be kind. Don't forget your sun hat.

Blue tit joy for 30 Days Wild

30 Days Wild with the Wildlife Trusts starts today and I am going do a half arsed job of joining in and posting some stuff about the great outdoors. We don't have a lot of wildlife so it will be mostly plant joy, but I will be keeping my eyes peeled for anything interesting. Two years ago some blue tits took up residence in a crevice by the airbrick outside Dunk's bathroom. They came back and forth for a while but it was short-lived and they just disappeared. So we were pretty excited to see new arrivals this spring. I waited quite a while early one Sunday as the sun came up but failed to get a photo. 

Later in the day I managed to catch him ... just about ...

We have observed the comings and goings over the past few weeks and the brood has plainly arrived as the back-and-forth has gotten more frequent. However much needed work has been planned on the roof and the scaffolders arrived last week:

I was distraught as I thought the parents might just abandon the nest with all the disruption and human activity in close proximity.

My fears proved to be unfounded as they are completely unfazed, and in fact they find the scaffolding a useful perch to check for danger before entering the nest (excuse the photo but the kitchen window is filthy):

Stay safe. Be kind. See what's going on outside your kitchen window.

#30dayswild

Four Ospreys

Little balls of fluff have been transformed into modern day dinosaurs by the addition of many, many fish. They will be taking first flights any day now. Louis drops off a fish this morning and the chicks get stuck in without any help, or even offering Dorcha first bite.

You can vote in the choosing of the names on the Woodland Trust website this week.

Stay safe. Be kind. Two out of three ain't bad.

Flying beasties

Lots of new things in the yard this afternoon. This one, buzzing furiously back and forth a few times, seems to be some kind of (parasitic) wasp, possibly a Ichneumon xanthorius. 

A female Small White butterfly passed through briefly and made my day, since butterfly visitors have been pretty much non-existent:

And this big fat 'fake' bee is (possibly) a Tapered Drone Fly. There are lots of things out there pretending to be bees, because who wouldn't want to be a bee.

I got very excited to see a bee flying away with a piece of leaf, and when I looked more closely at Alison's July Urban Bee guide I realised that this photo I posted the other day is very probably a Willughby's leafcutter bee:

I have been using this great website NatureSpot based in Leicestershire; it has a wonderfully comprehensive and helpful photo catalogue of UK insects and plants.

Stay safe. Be kind. Love the flying things.

Goodies and Badies

I have been potting up random seedlings and enjoying the sunshine. And watching random flying things visiting the flowers. Not sure, some of them are bees, some of them are hoverflies. The hugest, fattest bumblebee I have seen passed through the yard, paused at a few places and then drifted off down the terrace before I could get a photo.

This one below is a very beautiful cranefly that sat on the sunflower leaf for ages yesterday:

Bee visiting the daisies:

Another bee visiting the scabiosa:

And then there were some badies. The sawfly larvae are back, this time they have attacked the dog rose:

And what I thought were just some kind of cute beetle thing I discovered are actually the dreaded vine weevils. I squashed him. Sorry. (I feel bad, what can I say, it was not a nice thing to do, even to something that is planning on munching my plants).

Stay safe. Be kind. But maybe not to vine weevils. And don't feel bad about protecting your babies.