30 Days Wild 2018 – Day 16

Each year when late spring arrives I start to look out for the swifts.  The house that backs onto my back garden have nesting swifts  They don’t have a nest box but there is a natural cavity underneath some of their roof tiles. I’m not sure if they know they are there nor not but I get the impression they are not very nature friendly so I don’t like to draw attention to their arrival just in case they decide to block up the hole!  This year they arrived on May 7th. They are generally joined by another 4 swifts screeching around the house and its so lovely to hear.    

Swifts are an amber-listed bird, this means we need to be worried about them.  There breeding numbers have been decreasing; 51% between 1995 and 2015.  One of the reasons for their reducing numbers is partly down to the loss of their nesting locations.  They nest in the same place every year. When they get back in the spring their home can sometimes be gone.  This can be down to people fixing their roofs or buildings being demolished completely.  One of the best things we can do for them is to increase the locations that they have available to nest in.  I would love to have a swift nest box on the house but they have some requirements.  There needs to be a clear 5 meter drop from the nest as this is what they need when the swoop up to the nest and also for leaving it.  This I have on one side of the house, however its west facing and doesn’t have shade from the sun, so unfortunately its unsuitable 🙁 If you have a suitable location for a swift box, please if you can, help out these wonders of summer.  You can find out more at swift-conservation.org and also submit your sightings to the RSPB.

30 Days Wild 2017 – Days 26 – 30

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… 

RSPB Ham Wall – June 2016

RSPB Ham Wall - Glastonbury TorAs part of ’30 Days Wild’ I set out for the day to visit RSPB Ham Wall. I had heard of Ham Wall because of the Starlings they get in winter but I knew little about the site.

I had read the RSPB’s recent sightings blog posts before heading out so had an idea of what it was possible to see and where they might be. Obviously Bittern was at the top of the list!

It took me longer to get there than anticipated, I’m sure the satnav took me the scenic route! The car park is beautiful with wildflowers between the parking bays. I’d just stepped out of the car and heard a chap say ‘there’s a bittern flying overhead’ I caught a quick glimps – a shape moving in the distance.

Access via the main path wasn’t available due to work on the bridge so I followed the diversion signs and headed towards Tor view hide. On route I stopped at some of the screens to see what was about. A gentleman pointed me in the direction of a screen where a heron was nicely posing.

RSPB Ham Wall - BitternThe hide was quite busy when I got there with only a couple of seats spare. As people left I moved to a seat with a better view. The girl sat next to me was a regular to the site and amazing at spotting bitterns flying over the reeds, my first proper bittern sighting was thanks to her 🙂 There were plenty of other birds to watch including the incredibly cute Coot chicks.

After a couple of hours I moved onto Alavon hide for a quick look. There were a pair of Marsh Harriers constantly in the sky along with a Great White Egret on what looked like its nest.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and look forward to heading back there in the Autumn to see the Starlings 🙂

My full list of sightings for the day:
Birds: Bittern, Mute Swan, Mallard, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Coot, Great White Egret, Little Grebe, Hobby, Buzzard, Swift, Marsh Harrier, Pied Wagtail
Insects: Stag beetle