Tag Archives: #30DaysWild

30 Days Wild 2018 – Day 02

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Last year we had one nest box in the garden and blue tits nested.  This year we have two nest boxes, and blue tits nested in both. Today the chicks in ‘nest box 2’ FLEDGED 🙂 I was lucky enough to sit and watch 5 little ones take the leap. 

Nesting started back on April 14th with the collection of nesting material.  As soon as we see them start to use the nest box we put up extra nesting material so they don’t have to use up too much energy going to find it.  They seemed to like the sheeps wool more than the moss this year.  

We first noticed them taking in food on May 10th so they have been feeding the chicks for roughly 22 days.  We didn’t look inside the nest box, as to open the boxes we have to take the sides off so there was no way I was going to chance disrupting them.  So, we have no real way of knowing exactly how many fledged today, but at least we know there were definitely 5.  I am hoping to see more of them in the garden but they did disperse quite quickly.  

I have heard the chicks chirping in ‘nest box 1’, looking at my spread sheet of data they started to feed their chicks two days later than ‘nest box 2’ so they could also fledge any day 🙂

30 Days Wild 2018 – Day 01

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Everyone has seen cuckoo spit but I don’t think everyone always knows what it is! I knew that the ‘spit’ contains the nymph of a common froghopper (Philaenus spumarius) but other than that I knew little else.  ‘Cuckoo spit’ can be seen in May and June so it’s a perfect time to go out to see if you can find some 🙂 The nymphs feed by sucking sap from the food plant, these are generally herbaceous plants such as thistles; today I have seen them on lavender and brambles.  According to my reading the adults are first seen in late June and in greatest abundance in July.  However, we are not very likely to see an adult! They are 6mm long but disappear as soon as they are disturbed – they can jump 70cm in one bound!

30 Days Wild 2015

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So The Wildlife Trusts asked ‘This June, can you do something wild every day for a month?’ so I signed up and said “Yes!” I was emailed a great information pack with loads of ideas and a wall chart to mark off the days I had completed. I printed this to fit in my notebook so I could plan and record my activities.

This is what happened:
1 – Snail enjoying a rainy day
2 – The art of noticing: Tiny pink flower hidden in the grass
3 – Lovely evening walk around a maize field
4 – Wildflowers, natures little gems: Cow Parsley growing next to the hedgerow on my drive home tonight
5 – A burst of colour in the garden
6 – Bees and beekeeping: Followed this chap today in the garden. I think he’s an early bumble bee
7 – Sat in the garden watching the birds. First Greenfinch I’ve seen here on the feeders
8 – Took a lunchtime walk around the pond
9 – Mixed up food for the birds tonight, should last them a few days!
10 – Oxeye Daisies tonight at Whelford Pools Nature Reserve
11 – Missed a day 🙁
12 – Feeding the neighbours chickens this morning
13 – Sat at the kitchen sink watching the hedgehogs in the garden
14 – Feeding the ducks at the local park
15 – Visit to The Hawk Conservancy Trust
16 – Walked around the field on the lookout for the local badgers, sadly I didn’t see them
17 – Noticing lots of ‘cuckoo-spit’ today
18 – Barley field speckled with poppies
19 – Lunch by the pond at work
20 – Bug hunting in the garden
21 – Missed a day 🙁
22 – Wildlife spotting and recording on the drive home from work
23 – Missed a day 🙁
24 – Wildlife spotting and recording on the drive home from work
25 – Missed a day 🙁
26 – Missed a day 🙁
27 – Ordered Charlie Elder’s ‘Few And Far Between’ to read over the Summer
28 – Watching swallows in the evening sun below amazing clouds
29 – Missed a day 🙁
30 – Watching the sunset in the garden

As you can see I didn’t complete all 30 days. Towards the end of the month my day job got rather busy and I was there more than I was at home!  The days when I didn’t get to do or see anything specific, I did what I always do – fed the birds and watched them from the window as I was getting ready to go to work.  The family of Starlings seem to be increasing by the week, counting 11 young today! Following other peoples #30DaysWild has been a joy seeing what everyone has been doing. I enjoyed spending some time every day in the wild when I was able to and I look forward to continuing.

If you are interesting in incorporating some more wild into your life then check out The Wildlife Trusts website to find your local nature reserves (there are 2,000 across the UK) and follow @wildlifetrusts and their hashtags #MyWildLife and #365DaysWild.