Category Archives: Wildlife

My Patch – July 2017

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I’m not sure where the last few months have gone! I fear the answer is spending far too much extra time at work. July and September are really busy and there is little time available for days off (though I did manage to squeeze in Birdfair 🙂 in August). Working later in the evening means little time to get to my patch unfortunately. Though I did manage a few short trips in July…

July 3rd – I took a short walk around the top end of the field encountering, 1 swallow, 3 woodpigeon and 11 starlings. 

July 12th – tonight there was a rabbit on the track at the side of field. I am yet to see a rabbit IN the field! 

July 17th – this evening I took a walk around the edge of part of the crop. I wanted to see what other plants were growing. I hadn’t gone too far from the house when Billy decided to join me, I always hear a meow before I see him! 

I found thistles, brambles, camomile and a few other plants and grasses that I am having problems identifying! A white plume moth, a red solider beetle and a red admiral. 

There are tracks through the crop that I’m guessing are either foxes, deer or both. 1 woodpigeon and 6 swallows flew over. 

July 19th – I was stood in the garden of the owners house looking again for any birds still nesting, when out flew a house sparrow carrying a feacil sac from under the roof tiles, I could hear the chicks chirping 🙂 There were also 15 Swallows over the field. 

July 20th – Roe deer and 3 swallows tonight. 

July 25th – The tree bumblebees appear to have gone from the facia board and I have seen the collard dove with the broken beak who is still feeding.

While looking out over the field from the gate 11 swallows flew by. I’ve started to notice that rooks and crows fly back over the field at dust to roost in nearby trees. 

My Patch – June 2017

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As you are probably aware, if you are a regular reader, June was dominated by 30 Days Wild. I didn’t actually do many of the 30 Days in my patch which I guess seems a little odd now I look back at it but the Wheat crop is still present and not passable.  

Considering the height of the crop I was lucky to spot 3 Roe Deer running through the field on June 1st, I noticed them at the far back corner as they came out of the copse and managed to watch them for a short while until they ran out of sight. I walked down the track to the side of the field – there were some Rabbits feeding.  

June 4th The Blue Tits have Fledged, the parents are no longer going into the nest. Hopefully they have all fledged successfully.    

The Cuckoo was still calling on June 14th though I haven’t heard it since so I am unsure if it is still here of if it has started its migration.  

On June 15th I tried to get in the copse at the back of the field so that I could make my way to the river.  The stinging nettles are the same height of me so there was no way I was able to get through unless I cut them down.  In a way I am looking forward to later in the year so I can get around easier!

June 21st 10 Swallows were flying over the field and around the road.  

On the last day of June I encountered a very angry Starling! It is a young bird but it takes no nonsense and isn’t afraid to pull feathers out of the adult birds!  It sits in the bird feeder and goes for anyone that tried to feed.  Its defending the food so much that it seems to forget why its there in the first place! 

Collard Dove update – I have seen it in the garden, so can assume it is feeding enough to survive.

My Patch – May 2017

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An early start for work on May 6th meant I heard my first Cuckoo! I drive past my patch to get to work and often stop for a few minutes if I have time.  I have now heard the Cuckoo a few times and it appears to have got closer but I’m not convinced its actually in my patch yet!

I have concentrated more on the residential (my friends house and garden) part of my patch this month, the crop has now got quite tall and I am unable to walk amongst it.

May 9th I spotted a Collard Dove that looked a little odd, on closer inspection I discovered that it has a broken beak.  It seemed to be feeding but took longer to pick up food than the other birds.  I’ll be be keeping an eye on it to see how it does as I’m not sure there is anything I can do for it.

On May 10th I wanted to get some images of the Starlings taking food into the roof space.  They were visiting fairly frequently and also removing faecal sacs.  Then their behaviour changed, at first I wondered if it was my presence but I had stood and watched them before with no effect.  One of the adults was taking food to the nest entrance, calling and then flying to the top of the roof calling again, this pattern continued for the next 20mins I continued to watch.  Once it was getting dark I left but apparently the calling continued, I believe they were trying to call their young out of the nest.

May 15th I believed the Starlings to have fledged, although I hadn’t seen any! The adults seemed to be collecting nesting material again so I am guessing they are aiming for a second brood 🙂

I have also now noticed that there’s a Blue Tit nest under one of the tiles of the porch.  The parents perch on the telephone wire before darting in to feed the chicks 🙂 While watching the Blue Tits I heard a lot of bees. Looking up I noticed a slightly broken fascia board and realised the bees were going inside – Tree bumblebee’s.  I did mention it to my friend, he doesn’t mind bees so is letting them stay as long as they don’t cause any trouble! 

The end of May and the Starlings have definitely fledged – 14 in total!

30 Days Wild 2017 – Days 26 – 30

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Day 26 – As it was National Badger Week I decided to go out to look for the Badger again. I only found tracks this time, but in a slightly different location to where I saw it the first time. I’m slowly building up a picture of where it travels, hopefully as we head into the winter months and the tall vegetation dies back it will be easier to see where their sett is and hopefully observe them even more. 

Day 27 – After getting home late I was wondering what I was going to do today. Something flying caught my eye as I walked along the drive.  A White Plume Moth – it was overly obliging staying still to have its photo taken and I soon realised it was actually stuck on a thread from a spiders web. I soon freed it and it was on its way 🙂

28 – I was a little stuck on what to do tonight, all week I have been dog sitting for a friend for an hour or so and its knocked me off my path a little for what I had planned.  While looking for Ladybirds the other day I had taken notice of the leaves I was looking for them on.  Tonight I grabbed a torch and a macro lens on my phone and headed out into their garden, dog in tow to look at the leaves.  They look like micro worlds with field boundaries 🙂  

Day 29 – I finally managed to photograph one of the Swifts flying over home tonight 🙂

Day 30 – On my way home from work tonight I stopped at my patch to have a quick look to see what birds were about.  I sometimes use apps to help identify their calls when I hear something new or I’m not 100% sure I’m identifying them correctly.  I have a basic knowledge of some calls but I am definitely still learning.  When the season changes again and some of our current visitors leave for the Winter I’ll be learning all over again.

In my initial 30 Days Wild post I said I had a few days planed out, not all of those have happened in June but I will do them in the coming month or two. I managed to visit 2 Nature Reserves (rather than 3), I completed a litter pick up on June 11th, I didn’t visit a new birding site but I did visit Stanton Park which was new to me. 

I always enjoy 30 Days Wild though some days I find more difficult than others. Having a full time job and a commute does make it difficult on occasion to complete a random act of wildness. I often see wildlife on my commute which could easily work as an act of wildness for the day, though it would get a little boring for you after a few days of hearing the same thing from me!

Some of my favourite parts of the month have been the unexpected sightings of Brown Hare, Barn Owl and of course the Badger 🙂 It really is a case of going out and exploring areas near you, you never know what you will find… 

30 Days Wild 2017 – Days 21 – 25

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Day 21 – I wanted to visit new places during 30 Days Wild, today I ventured to Stanton Park, Swindon; a 74-hectare country park and Local Nature Reserve. I headed out from the car park through the Great Wood. The first thing I spotted was a tiny froglet on the bark path, it only caught my eye because it moved when I got near. The Great Wood is quite an expanse of woodland, with some parts being quite dense.  I walked round the Leaf Trail and realised that most of the birdsong was coming from the edge of the woodland.  I walked on towards the lake, there were young Coots and Mallards with Swifts flying over, a Red Kite and Grey Herons.  On the path back to the car park there were many more froglets, unfortunately some had been trodden on!

Day 22 – I had some over ripe bananas left and rather than throwing them out I thought the butterflies would like them. The bananas ferment in the sunshine, the juices ooze out of slits I put in the banana skin which the butterflies will then drink. 

Day 23 – I managed to escape the office for a walk, taking the time to examine the plants shooting through the man made environment at work. 

Day 24 – Today there was a burst of little balls of fluff in the garden! The fledgling Long-tailed Tit’s have discovered the bird feeders 🙂  I have never seen quite so many of them in the garden before.  They all piled into the tree at once, feed on the fat balls, and slowly filter off again out of the garden.  They are often joined by the fledgling Blue Tits. 

Day 25 – After yesterday’s influx of Long-tailed Tits I thought it would be a good idea to complete a Garden Birdwatch to see what is exactly about at the moment and the numbers we are really getting. I was pleased to see a House Sparrow collecting a feather ready to nest again somewhere nearby.   I recorded my sightings for 30 minutes, there was no point in watching any longer as a Sparrowhawk flew through the garden and cleared it of all the other birds. I had wondered why we were low on Woodpigeon numbers, I guess they knew it was about!

1 Woodpigeon, 2 Robin, 1 Jackdaw, 3 Blackbird, 3 Blue Tit, 3 Goldfinch, 1 House Sparrow, 3 Rock Dove, 1 Dunnock, 1 Swift overhead, 1 Sparrowhawk!

30 Days Wild 2017 – Days 16 – 20

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Day 16 – Today before leaving work I crossed the car park to the lavender bushes to look for bees to do a Great British Bee Count.  My timed count produced two Banded white-tailed bumblebee’s collecting nectar.

Day 17 – My Mum decided she wanted to go and see the Bath Peregrines and do some shopping for her holiday. I was happy to go and see the Peregrines but a bit more reluctant about the shopping! I checked the webcam before we left and couldn’t see them, though hoped they would be around somewhere for her to see.  Thankfully as we were walking towards the Church I could hear them calling.  We had a brief viewing before they headed out of sight to the back of the nest box.  We headed off to do the holiday shopping which thankfully didn’t take very long so we could head back to see the Peregrines for a good hour afterwards.  There was much more activity with food being brought in for them and feathers raining down from the spire.  Once home I decided a relaxing hour in the garden listening to birds was required – with an ice cream of course!

Day 18 – Today I tried to photograph the Swifts that swoop down over the garden, I was unsuccessful! They would show up, do one fly over and disappear for the next half an hour! While I was waiting for them I topped up all the bird baths.  The fledgling Blue Tits seem to favour the ‘poppy’ to drink from, its sheltered by a tree and far too small for any of the larger birds to use.

Day 19 – I realised that I really haven’t seen any Ladybird’s this year! I waited for the temperature to drop a little outside and headed out into the cool of the evening to explore the garden specifically for Ladybirds.  I have seen lots of Ladybird larvae this year and found some more in the garden tonight.  The closest I got to an adult was an emerging Ladybird though.  I have never seen this before so was quiet exited to have found it, it was located on the underside of a Hazel leaf.

Day 20 – on Day 15 I briefly saw a Badger so tonight I went back to the same location to have another look around. Driving down the farmers track I saw the back end of a Badger disappear into the hedgerow. I knew it was about, and it had headed to where I believe part of its sett to be. I parked at the bottom of the track and waited, hoping it would reappear. 40 minutes later it walked out over the track and disappeared in seconds. I was amazed to see it again. I’m looking forward to getting to know it better 🙂

30 Days Wild 2017 – Days 11 – 15

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Day 11 – June 11th was #2minutebeachclean and #2minutelitterpickup day run by beachclean.net. I headed out to a nearby road to do a bit of a tidy up, I took two bags with me thinking there wouldn’t be too much litter to pick up. I should have taken more! I cleaned a half mile stretch; there were cans, crisp packets, napkins, fast food boxes, bottles, car parts, sweet rappers etc I know some litter escapes from peoples bins etc but the majority of litter is dropped.  I wish everyone could understand the damage litter causes to nature.  How much effort does it really take to dispose of it responsibly.  I was talking to a friend about how much I had collected, when she was at school a fair few years ago they used to take it in turns go out on litter duty, I wonder if schools still do that today and if they do, does it make their students more aware of their surroundings?

Day 12 – was a wild day in a different sense. A day out at Longleat Safari Park! Seeing I have an extremely busy time at work coming up a couple of days holiday beforehand was required.  If I can get a day or two off then I always plan to do something a little different to keep my spirits up! It was a lovely sunny day at Longleat, warm but nothing like we have seen this week, which was a blessing as the A/C in my car is broken!  It was quite quiet too which meant starting the drive through at 10am was great as I could walk around the Wallaby’s and Lemur’s easily.  I decided to give the monkey’s a miss as I wanted to keep my car in one piece! Driving through and feeding the Red Deer was lovely, they are so friendly, although one did make me jump when she put her head in the window while I was looking the other way! They seem to understand ‘sorry I don’t have any food left!’.  I had a closer encounter than I was expecting with a Tiger, it wandered straight towards the car 🙂 Today was the first time I had ever seen the Hippo’s in the lake, on other visits they have been hiding in their field/mud hole.  

Day 13 – I had to take the car for its annual service.  I was planning to spend some time on the way back in Bath to try and see the Bath Peregrines.  I had meant to go and see them last year though I don’t go towards Bath very often.  The Hawk and Owl Trust installed a nesting box at St John’s Roman Catholic Church in 2005 where they have hatched young ever season since.   I had looked up on the website the location to view them from and headed to the opposite side of the river from Riverside Walk.  I had been watching them for a while when a crow caught my eye, it was carrying something but it wasn’t nesting material – it landed in a tree a few meters away, it was half a rat! A gentleman asked if I had seen a Peregrine, he worked for the Hawk and Owl Trust and was on the lookout for a fledgling that they had temporarily lost track of; they have been testing their flying capability and they are keeping an eye on them.  He was kind enough to tell me where one of the others was sitting, so I could get a closer view. It was lovely to watch a while, unfortunately I couldn’t stay longer as I had to head home.

Day 14 – Today was one of those ‘busy’ days.  Once I had left work I stopped by my patch for a short while and watched the sun setting.

Day 15 – I headed out for a walk/drive in the countryside.  I wanted to go to a Wildflower meadow to see how it was progressing this year, it is located amongst farmers fields so I have to drive as close as I can down one of the tracks and then walk the rest of the way.  I passed Goldfinches in a rape field feeding and then as I turned the corner towards the meadow a Badger ran across my path.  I must have startled it as it ran off very quickly which was such a shame as it would have been lovely to have watched from a far.  It was good to know it was there though, as a previous year I found what I thought was Badger latrines in a nearby field so hopefully they still have a sett nearby.  I will have to try and find it in the winter as I don’t think I would have much luck at the moment in the Maze fields!  The Meadow at the moment is predominantly grasses, I think it was later in the year that it flowered last year so I will have to keep checking on it.  I saw a bird fly over and although unsure of what it was, I think it was a Hobby.  On my route home I took a detour to the location I saw the Hare on Day 1, I was surprise to find one in the same field, I felt rather lucky 🙂

30 Days Wild 2017 – Days 6 – 10

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Day 6 – Birdwatching at Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, Whelford Pools. I visit Whelford Pools every now and then; I knew a Swan had nested and I wanted to go back as see how they had got on. I didn’t manage to get a photograph as they were across the other side of the lake but as far as I can tell it looks as though they have 5 Cygnets. There were quite a few birds with young, including Cormorants, Coots and Great Crested Grebes 🙂

My sightings were: 4 Coot, pair of Mute Swans with 5 cygnets, 25 Cormorants, 2 Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Grey Heron, 5 Great Crested Grebe and 4 chicks, Magpie, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Robin, 3 Carrion Crows, 7 Black-headed Gulls, Egyptian Goose, Swallows

Day 7 – Exploring Bampton Cemetery for the nature within. As soon as I walked into the Cemetery I saw a Song Thrush sitting on one of the grave stones so I sat for a while letting the birds get used to me being there. The Song Thrush had moved to the other end of the site but slowly moved closer hopping from stone to stone using them as a vantage point looking down in search of food. The Robins were doing the same, hopping around the stones. Also present were Blackbirds, Goldfinch and Woodpigeon. I took a closer look around me and found Daisy’s and Herb robert growing in the grassed areas. I was pleased to spot a Ladybird larve, the first time I had actually seen any. 

Day 8 – Today Plantlife launched their Great British Wildflower Hunt. I really like the spotter sheets you can download from their website to identify the plants, they are super helpful. I took a walk down the track that runs alongside my patch, there are crops and trees on one side and a hedgerow on the other. I was surprised at the amount of Wildflowers I found – 9 in total (Cow Parsley, Oxeye Daisy, Common Poppy, Dandelion, Shepherd’s Purse, Creeping buttercup, Bramble, White Clover and Meadow buttercup). There was a mix of Country and Town species and some not listed on the spotter sheets. I’ve loaded my findings to the Plantlife website for a Country search – a score of 5. I really liked learning what was next to my patch, I need to do a proper survey on other areas of it now 🙂

Day 9 – I was watching the garden birds wondering what to do for 30 Days Wild when unusual movement in the flower bed caught my eye. I had my binoculars to hand and quickly realised it was a mouse. I ran off to grab my camera hoping that it would come back. Thankfully it did. It’s a Wood Mouse and was eating the grain that the birds drop on the floor from the feeders 🙂

Day 10 – I went out specifically looking for Dippers on By Brook; I didn’t find any this time but I did come across a very cute family of Mute Swans and a female Mallard with her 5 ducklings 🙂 Along my route I also saw Carrion Crows, Swallows, Magpie, Woodpigeon and a heard of Cows! Next time I am going to walk south along the brook in the hope I can find the Dippers. 

30 Days Wild 2017 – Days 1 – 5

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This year I want to blog about 30 Days Wild more regularly. I’m planning to post a blog every 5 days, I will do my best to keep to the schedule but it might change and adapt as we move through the month. I take my hat off to the amazing bloggers that manage to post everyday. I am Tweeting everyday so if you want to follow along there, as well, you can find me @_HannahBaker  

Day 1 – ‘Spot a wild mammal’ – I decided to go out and look for rabbits to photograph. I drove down the farmers tracks along side my patch, so I could cover a bit of ground. I did find a couple of rabbits but they were out in the open on the track itself. I walked towards them but they were very skittish and ran off very quickly. I went to another nearby field where out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a Pheasant, but reversed to have a better look. I was so please to see a Brown Hare. It was far enough away that I could get out of the car and get a little closer. It was sat eating either crop or actually I think it was eating the grass growing along the edge of the crop. It didn’t seem bothered by me so I took a few photos and watched it for a while. I drove further down the track and disturbed another Hare that darted into the crop but then came back out. I again was far enough away to be able to get out of the car but as it was closer this time I was very weary not to spook it. I moved extremely slowly round the car.  Again it didn’t seem to mind me being there. I didn’t want to disturb it too much so took a few photographs and moved on. I hope to go back another day to see if they are there regularly. 

Day 2 – 30 Days Wild was a complete surprise. I was driving to work when a bird caught my eye. It wasn’t obvious to me what it was so I pulled over to look properly, it took me a few seconds to realise it was indeed a Barn Owl. I sat watching it and only when it was flying away did i think to grab my phone to take a photo. I so wish I had had my camera with me!

Day 3 – Today I decided to ‘Read a wild book’.  Meadowland by John Lewis-Stempel has been on the book shelf for a little while now, a present from my Mum.  Today it was calling to me and I’m glad it did.  I am two chapters in and am finding it a very interesting read.  I was excited to learn about Tithe Maps which were drawn up between 1836 and 1852 and they are a great source of information if you are interested in field names.  I wonder if ‘my patch’ has a name other than being referred to as ‘the field’?

Day 4 – We put a TrailCam out the in garden every few days to check on the night time garden visitors.  We regularly see two to three Hedgehogs, a Mouse and we think we have two different Foxes that visit (one seems bigger than the other).  Last night we had two Hedgehogs, a Fox and a Mouse.  Generally the Mouse is just seen as two little eyes shining out of the flower border; so far the neighbourhood cats have been unsuccessful at catching it thankfully. The Hedgehog and Fox seem happy to feed together although the Fox did seem a little jumpy and moved away from the Hedgehog to start with.  

Day 5 – All it has done today is rain! The garden however is now covered in Slugs and Snails.  We never put down any repellent because of the Hedgehogs, we let them tidy up the garden; they will have a good meal tonight 🙂 

30 Days Wild 2017

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I always like seeing the first Tweets from The Wildlife Trusts saying 30 Days Wild will be coming round again. This will be the third year that I have taken part and each year I see the greater benefit of getting out into nature. I found the first year the most challenging, fitting in something wild every day didn’t go quite to plan and I did miss a few days but I still gained from the days I did. Last year I was more prepared, I knew when I would be busy with work and planned easier tasks for those days like finding a creepy crawly! 

I’ve found spending 30 days taking a closer look at what’s around you, makes you pay more attention for the rest of the year, noticing far more than previous. As research has shown getting out into nature helps both body and mind. I do find that getting out in nature is a great stress reliever, if I don’t get out enough I notice the effects, a simple hour out at the local park or on my patch does the trick.  I am really looking forward to June and having a great reason to get out everyday 🙂

This year I have a few days planned already; visit a minimum of 3 different Nature Reserves, visit a new birding site, a litter pick up (June 11th is 2 minute beach clean / litter pick up day) and complete a Great British Bee count.  I like that some days don’t need to be planned, nature naturally comes your way, like finding a ladybird on the window sill or Swifts screeching past the window. What will you be doing for 30 Days Wild?