30 Days Wild:Day 27 & 28 - Bye To The Kites & Beauty By The Roadside

                                               











  Two blogs for the price of one today as both are quite brief.
  Nothing was done on Day 27 as it mainly involved our 6hr journey back from Wales to Lincolnshire.The only photos I took were the Red Kites seeing us off in the gloomy morning at Gigrin Farm.

  So goodbye to another Welsh adventure and home to work and find Nature nearer to home.

  Beauty By The Roadside....

  We did hope to meet up with a friend at RSPB Bempton Cliffs this morning to see the Gannets and more Puffins.Unfortunately the toll of the 6hr journey yesterday meant another 3hr round trip today was pushing it a bit too far :( My friend did go and had a great time though :)

  Lucky me got to spend 10-15 minutes at the side of a busy road into town on a grass verge and a bit of waste ground ;)

Thankfully the local council saw sense on their recent grass cutting expedition and actually went around the areas of wildflowers on the grass verge near the roundabout.

  There were some strange looks from people driving by wondering why I had my head in the flowers lol

  On the opposite side of the road from here is a larger area of waste ground filled with Thistles, Poppies, Ragwort and other assorted plants, all next to a Morrisons and retail park.

  Due to the drizzly weather there were not as many insects about as I'd hoped for but we did see Large Skippers.....

...and Ringlets.

  I was happy enough to get to spend 15 minutes wandering through the unexpected meadow to calm myself before the hassle of grocery shopping lol

 I am hoping to be out more tomorrow despite the weather forecast predicting heavy rain all day.
#Itsjustwater ;)

30 Days Wild:Day 12 - Bug Hunting Our Local Patch

                                                                   

  Wow, already at Day 12 of my #30DaysWild Blog and only the next 5 will be done in my local area in Lincolnshire, the following 9 days will be in South Wales :)

  So, after a good pub lunch we headed for our local nature reserve Messingham Sand Quarry.

http://www.lincstrust.org.uk/reserves/Messingham-Sand-Quarry

  To say it was a dull day was a bit of an understatement but it was very muggy so insects were still very active.

  There were a few Moths on the wing with these beautifully marked Yellowshell(photo by Majella Fox), a Common Carpet and the colourful Cinnabar Moth.  

  Scorpion Flies were everywhere and closer examination of the vegetation also revealed......

  Long-Jawed Orb Weaver Spider

  Garden Chafer Beetle

  Green Sawfly

  Majella had to take her obligatory photo of me photographing something lol

  I was photographing this Damselfly(I think a female Common Blue but if anyone knows better please correct me:)).I wondered why its head looked slightly larger then on getting closer realised it was feeding on a Caddis Fly.

    I also spotted this stunning Queen Wasp resting in the Hawthorn.

  We even found things that eat the bugs ;) Quite a lot of juvenile Common Frogs hopping around so you had to watch where you put your feet to avoid standing on any.

Just a few of the large array of wildflowers around the reserve.

  Yellow Flag Iris

  Ox-eye Daisy

  Ragged-robin

  Marsh Orchid, not sure if its Northern, Southern or a Hybrid.Any ideas anyone?

  So there you have it, a few of the things we see around on local reserve.It is also a great place for birds too, Common Terns, Hobbys, Treecreepers, Blackcaps and Waterfowl all present if you listen and look hard enough.

  I am a football fan but getting outdoors and experiencing Nature is much more relaxing than screaming at the tv, so try it yourself ;)