30 Days Wild:Days 8 & 9 - Swallows & yes, More Moths ;)

                                                     

   A double day blog for these two days, linked by setting up the Moth trap on Day 8 and emptying it on Day 9. I will get back to the Moth trap in a bit, but first earlier in Day 8 I had a 15 minute bug hunt around the garden.
  A few Bees were out and about.

  Also found one of the larger weevils, the Vine Weevil, considered a garden pest but love the markings.

  Flies are not my favourite species but I love the colour of this Greenbottle Fly.

  Found this couple of 14 Spot Ladybirds doing their best to increase the Invertebrate population of our garden, not sure why the Ant was watching though lol :)

  I tried hard to find some Arachnids but this was the only Garden Spider I could find, the usual Zebra Jumping Spiders that frequent the house wall were nowhere to be seen.

  Okay so back to the Moth trap, I got my Skinner trap set up around 9.30pm, went indoors and rechecked it about 11pm.There were already plenty of Light Brown Apple Moths about and also the first Small Magpies of the year.

  Another moth that seem to turn up in good numbers early on were the Heart & Darts, 12 in total.

  The only other arrival before bedtime was the first Sandy Carpet of the year too.

  An early 5.00am start to empty the trap on Day 9 to see what new attendees were in my trap.

The stunning White Ermine and Buff Ermine were there along with a Small Rivulet and a Brimstone.

White Ermine

Buff Ermine

Small Rivulet

Brimstone

  I managed an hour back in bed before getting back up for work, on such a nice day too :( We did manage to have a lunch break in Barton-Upon-Humber so shared it with the locals.We bought seed from the Waters Edge centre, I didn't share my actual lunch with them. ;)

Coot relaxing in the sun.

  While driving through another nearby village, Wootton which has a village pond we decided to stop and spend 10 minutes there.The gorgeous water lillies were covering a large portion of the pond.

  It was then we noticed the Swallows swooping down to the water surface to drink or take flies.

  Even while at work most people should be able to take just 5 minutes out and spend that time connecting with Nature instead of being attached to their phone(unless they're using it to take a photo of wildlife ;)).

  Apologies for the lengthy blog, it seemed to carry on longer than I first thought so thank you for sticking with it ;)

30 Days Wild:Day 7 - An Evening Walk Down The Lane

                                                                   

  I didn't think I would get anything much "wild" done today as I have been in quite a lot of pain so ended up being indoors most of the day :( I did however manage to catch up on some entertaining reading "My Garden And Other Animals" by Mike Dilger, a great read.

http://mikedilger.co.uk/writing.php

  Lots of painkillers later and with the temperature becoming more bearable I decided I would go for an evening walk out the village so set off around 7.45pm.

The view from the edge of our village in North Lincolnshire.

  I walk down the road before going into the field til I get to the far tree line, then cross a road and follow the lane down to the River Ancholme.It was great to see the dog walkers field had only been cut back enough to allow a track with the rest left to grow wild.

  There were still dog walkers around with their dogs off the lead but the songs of Chaffinches and Dunnocks filled the air and a Buzzard glided over the meadow.

  When I got down the lane it was busy :( People were cycling, jogging or just walking their dogs.I stopped at the entrance to one of the fields where I usually see Hares and spotted 2 before they were disturbed by the noisy cyclists.

  The next field still had crops in it so was more difficult to pick any wildlife out but this is the place where I did my first wildlife film, filming a Barn Owl quartering the field.

  My Barn Owl film from 7 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2i4nmkoBe4

  Rooks, Jackdaws, Wood Pigeons were numerous but I also saw 4 Lapwings, a Red-legged Partridge and a couple of these stunning Yellowhammers.

  The long grasses at the field's edge held a large number of Silver Ground Carpet Moths as well as a few Straw Dots.

Silver Ground Carpet

  This horse seemed to be curious as to what I was up to at the edge of its paddock.

    About an hour into my walk and Majella had driven down in the car so I actually made it the whole way to the river.This is the River Ancholme, the path on the right is actually part of the sponsored walk I will be doing in July for Tiger Awareness.Its just another 7 miles up that river to get to the midway point and pub and I'm starting 3 miles from the other direction lol ;)

  On the way back home another Hare had come out of the field and onto the roads edge.

  A few minutes later I was back home and getting out of the car to the sound of screaming Swifts over the garden, quickly followed by a cold beer ;) 

  

30 Days Wild:Day 6 - A Walk In The Yorkshire Sun

                                                                  

  It was a very warm , sunny day in Yorkshire so we headed over to YWT Potteric Carr for a mixture of bird watching and bug hunting.

First Bug of the day, a Green Shieldbug

  Around the ponds there were lots of Dragonflies, all Four-spotted Chasers.Majella took this photo of me taking the photos below.

.

  Lots of birds were heard but not seen including Blackcaps and a Cuckoo.Viewing was easier at the Willow Pool Feeding station.

  A couple of young Coots.

    A Magpie that had decided the original holes in the feeder were not to his liking lol

  The water in the Mother Drain was beautifully clear as usual , no Grass Snakes there this time but nice to have good views of the Roach and Perch.

  Butterflies on the wing included Brimstones, Large Whites, Orange Tips and Speckled Woods.This Speckled Wood looking a bit worse for wear.

  Walking down a trail I noticed a lot of movement in the nearby vegetation and was excited to see newly fledged Willow Warblers, 4 of them with an Adult.

    Plenty of other birds around such s Grey Herons, Tufted Ducks, Moorhen, Black-headed Gulls, Greylag & Canada Geese.

  Female Mallard, you can see the meaning "water off a Duck's back" ;) (photo by Majella Fox)

  Mute Swan

  We were hoping to see a Bittern fly by but no luck so had to be happy just watching this Marsh Harrier hunting over the reed beds.

  A few photos of different parts of the reserve.

  So overall a fantastic 3 hour walk around part of YWT Potteric Carr and worth all the (now itchy) Midge bites lol Something that really ended the walk on a high was a Mammal encounter on the access road back to the centre.Unfortunately I didn't get a photo but it was a Common Shrew rummaging in the grass at the edge of the road, amazing to see :)

  Thanks again for taking the time to check out my blog, lots more to come over the next 3+ weeks.

30 Days Wild:Day 5 - What You Can Do For Wildlife

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       



  A quick blog to catch up ;)
  If you cannot get out to do something "wild" then why not do something, to help something "wild"? A lot of our wildlife both in the UK and globally is in severe decline from either poaching, habitat destruction for palm oil or urban developments or illegal persecution such as Hen Harriers on our UK uplands and it needs your help.
  It is easy to do and can be done without having to leave the house.Get online and register to support your local Wildlife Trust, RSPB, WWT, Butterfly Conservation, Birders Against Wildlife Crime, Tiger Awareness, Birdlife International and many more that need your donations to help fund their important projects to protect and save wildlife.

  Pick something you are passionate about and try to do some fundraising for them to help fund their important projects to protect and save wildlife.
  Do a yard sale or carboot and sell your unwanted items, a sponsored walk or maybe get people to sponsor you for each "wild" activity you do throughout June and beyond.
  Today we did a carboot to add funds to our target towards our Walk4Wildlife event in July in aid of Tiger Awareness.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/StuartPike-MajellaFox

  I have also had an online auction running for a couple of my Tiger pictures.The one below sold for £10 :)

  There is still time to register with a walk before September or suggest one in your own area and help raise money for a number of important animal welfare charities such as Tiger Awareness, Lion Aid, Save The Rhinos, Cheetah Conservation Fund & David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
  If you are passionate about our Natural World and saving our declining wildlife then please do something to help.Every little thing you do can make a big difference to the survival of wildlife around the world.

Sites to check out:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/

http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/

http://birdersagainst.org/

http://www.tigerawareness.co.uk/

http://www.walk-a-thon.net/#!join-a-walk/c1k5m

http://www.badger.org.uk/

http://www.wwt.org.uk/

http://butterfly-conservation.org/

http://birdlifemalta.org/

Thank you for reading :)