30 Days Wild Days June 2020 Days Twenty Five to Twenty Eight

Again very hot days followed by rain and storms have restricted what I was able to do.

Here are a few photos taken over those days. 

Empty Dragonfly larva case amongst the pond weed.  Lots of newts, young ones too, but too quick and wriggly to take photos of.  Lots of tiny white moths flying just above the surface of the pond.

 The berries have ripened on the Amelanchier tree and  the blackbirds have been gathering in the tree to eat them.

The wood pigeons have now discovered the berries on the Amelanchier tree.  They are rather too heavy for its delicate branches and lots of flapping and flopping can be heard.  Herring gulls have been coming down into the garden.  We had three one day.  This one sat on the fence for ages before flying away.  It didn't seem to mind the pigeons in the tree.

 A short walk along the High Peak Trail

 Such a long time since we had walked here

 Over three months since we'd gone further afield for a walk.

 A new sign had appeared since we were last there

There were lots of Red Campion flowers around.

30 Days Wild June 2020 - Days Twenty Three and Twenty Four

What a change in weather from day twenty three to day twenty four.

 

Day twenty three I spotted shield bugs on the Verbascum.

 Yesterday, day twenty four, was very warm.  We spotted this little frog wandering around on the yard quite a distance from the pond.  Worried about it being in the heat and also the visiting cats we picked it up and carried it to the small garden near the pond where it quickly hopped into the vegetation.

I hope it will be okay.

30 Days Wild June 2020 Day Twenty Two

We sat watching the garden last night, it was still quite light at nearly 10p.m.  One of the cubs decided to visit.

 It was a bit nervous at first as it came through the hole in the holly hedge and pulled back several times before plucking up the courage to come into the garden.

There are three different cubs and we can tell them apart from their tail markings.  This one has a white tip to the end of its tail.

Weather on day twenty two was warm with occasional short showers and late evening it got quite breezy.

No bats around at 11p.m.

30 Days Wild June 2020 Days Sixteen to Twenty

I've got a bit behind on this challenge mainly because of the rain and not going either into the garden or out for a walk.

I took these photos on Wednesday 17th when it was quite warm outside.

 

The bees are enjoyng the white clover in the grass as we have left it unmown for ages.

 

There are lots of daisies and buttercups in the grass too. 

I also spotted this hoverfly on a leaf hanging over the pond.

Two days of rain followed with very bad storms late evening.  We were out with the bat detector and had heard two different sounds on differing frequencies when I noticed the sky a distance away was like a pink sheet with fork lightening in the middle of it.  It then began to rain huge drops and the storm moved in with lound crashes of thunder.   The next day it rained all day.

Yesterday morning dawned fair so we walked across the fields.  We saw Swifts, Skylarks and a House Martin also a Heron flying over as well as the usual Magpies and Crows.

 

Thirty Days Wild June 2020 Day Fifteen

Halfway through already, days are going so quickly.  I wonder if the animals sense this too.

 

From last night's wildlife camera footage.  Above female fox with one of her cubs out before dark.

 

After midnight fox and badger on the top lawn.

Weather today sunny and warm.

30 Days Wild Jne 2020 Day Fourteen

After last night's thunder and lightening which was accompanied by a rainbow today has been a little calmer.

It was warm enought to sit outside

and to photograph the Tortoiseshell butterflies on the Valarian.

Weather warm, occasionally dull with just a few short showers.

30 Days Wild June 2020 Day Thirteen

On our walk this morning across Berry Hill Fields we again saw many Swifts, we counted over a dozen and again two Swallows.  Also many butterflies flitting about, lots of tiny ones with pale orange and white wings and a couple of Tortoiseshells too.

I wanted to take some photos of on of my favourite flowers - Foxgloves

So here they are

Weather warm and sunny this morning but it looks like a storm is pending now it's gone very grey.

I've just used the new blogger to write this post so I hope it works.

30 Days Wild June 2020 - Days Ten, Eleven and Twelve

For some reason my mind wandered and I'm a bit blank about what we did over the last three days as I haven't felt too well.  I know we walked on days ten and twelve.  We took the bat detector out sometime between ten and eleven on days ten and twelve. I think day eleven was wet and cold so I stayed inside and we didn't go for a walk..

A photo I took of a bee resting on the fence on day ten.  It kept moving itself and sort of flexing its body and wings.  I thought it may be struggling but eventually it flew off without a problem.

Yesterday, day twelve, we walked over the fields.  We heard the Whitethroats twittering in the bushes and saw lots of Swifts, we counted about ten of them swooping.  Saw a couple of Swallows amongst them too distinguished by their white and red markings underneath.  We also saw a couple of Kestrels hovering over the fields and also another hawk of some kind, a different kind of hovering to the Kestrel and it was bigger than the Kestrel too but not as big as a Buzzard.  Perhaps a Sparrow Hawk? 

No photos as I forgot to take a camera.

Thirty Days Wild June 2020 - Day Nine

I ordered a Bat Detector from the RSPB. It was a gift for Paul's birthday at the end of this month but he knew about it so there was no reason not to try it out.

It has a dial for different frequencies of sound and those frequencies can tell you what kind of bats are overhead.  We have seen bats swooping over the garden especially on warmer nights when there are lots of insects about but weren't sure what they were.

We stood in the garden about 11p.m. and listened, pointing the detector in different directions then suddenly we heard the 'chitter-chatter' above and saw one bat swooping over the trees.  The frequency told us that it was most probably a Long Eared Bat.

I expect we will be using this more over the next few weeks especially on warmer nights.

30 Days Wild June 2020 Day Eight

Day Eight

Five lovely flowers from our walk this morning.  Spotted - 2 Skylarks, 6 Swallows and 1 Wren as well as the usual, gulls, wood pigeons, crows and starlings.

Weather cooler but dry.

Thirty Days Wild June 2020 Day Seven

 Day Seven

Too wet to do anything outside yesterday but by late evening it had dried up so we sat in the conservatory and watched for the foxes to arrive.  Female fox first, followed by one of the three cubs and then by the male fox.  We watched them until it was too dark to see them.  It's amazing how bright ginger coloured foxes disappear and blend in with the grass and trees, they become almost ghostly.

30 Days Wild June 2020 Day 6

In between the gusts of wind and the hail storms the adult Bluetits have been feeding their young and teaching them how to use the feeders.

They have been delightful to watch.

Weather colder, very windy and very wet.

 

30 Days Wild June 2020 Day Five

Day Five

Early morning I wandered around the garden taking photos of rain water on leaves.

Weather - cooler with short, sharp showers and very windy.

30 Days Wild June 2020 Day Four

Day Four

Identifying grasses

During our walk on day two I thought I would photograph some of the different grasses and try to identify them.  Paul is pretty good on identifying grasses from many biology field trips when he was a teacher.  There seems to be Fox Tail, Cocksfoot and Yorkshire Fog up on  the fields.  I found a great page here

which identifies the most common grasses. 

Weather cool and overcast.

30 Days Wild June 2020 Day Three

Day Three

 We put the wildlife camera out overnight and this morning watched what had visited the garden.  The fox cubs came first with one of their parents, just two of them. The third cub would have been with the other parent.  Later the badgers came through the hole in the hedge.  The whole family of them, five in all. 

 Here is a still from the film.  The mother badger is the pale one at the back.  Such a joy to see them all together.  Both fox and badger families are five in number.

Cooler weather with rain overnight.

30 Days Wild June 2020 - Day Two

Day Two

Evening Walk - Spotted

It was still quite warm as we walked across Berryhill Fields in the early evening.  We spotted a Swift and Skylarks up in the sky.  In the hedges we saw a Blackcap and later a Whitethroat.  Also the moon amongst the clouds.  I've put a link over each bird name so you can listen to their song and see their UK conservation status.  The Skylarks are most at risk.

Weather very warm

30 Days Wild June 2020 - Day One

Day One

Clearing weed from the pond

Weed was covering most of the pond so one half of it was cleared.  When the weed is pulled out of the water it is like a heavy net curtain.  Things like snails and newts get entangled in it.  Some are lifted out but others leave under their own steam as we pile the weed at the side of the pond and leave it for quite a while to allow them to escape.
Weather very warm.