Day 11 – 30 Days Wild

There’s the suggestion to “Follow a bee”, but to cut a long story short; I watched a few insects (no Bees today) after work. ย What first caught my eye was a wee blue flying one! ย Aย Ruby-tailed Waspย to be exact ๐Ÿ™‚

Apologies for the poor images (phone snaps again).

The fly that caught my eye
Ruby-tailed Wasp – blue top and red bottom

Something larger caught my eye and disappeared down the back of the shed door, a Mason Wasp! ย Which I watched for a short while.

Mason Wasp
Mason Wasp
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Flies followed it back to the shed, and sat outside

Something landed on my hand and startled me! ย After all, I was Wasp-watching. ย I shook it off and it flew on to the shed door, which seems a popular place for flying insects.

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It was a Damselfly! It was brown in colour

A couple clips of the Mason Wasp:

Thanks ๐Ÿ™‚

Day 10 – 30 Days Wild

“inhale the scent of a wildflower”

Red Valerian growing Wild
Red Valerian growing Wild

Kiss-me-quick, Fox’s Brush and Jupiter’s Beard – all very cool alternative names to the above plant, that I chose to stop and sniff after work today – Red Valerian!

It’s a pretty good source of nectar for bees, butterflies and moths – like the Hummingbird Hawk-moth! ๐Ÿ˜€

To me it has a delicate fragrance, but that may depend on how old the flowers are. ย I assumed it would have a similar smell to Buddleia, the popular purple Butterfly Bush.

Just a short one today, thanks for reading ๐Ÿ™‚

Video

Day 7 – 30 Days Wild

Day7-30DaysWild

A more elaborate activity for today’s 30 Days Wild ๐Ÿ™‚
What I like about the 30 Days Wild campaign is that we have the freedom to do anything wildlife related (preferably outdoors) that we can think of.ย  You don’t have to stick with what is in the booklet, as it’s a guide/suggestion on what we could do – to make it easier for us to do all 30 days.

This morning I had an impromptu tour of some lovely gardens at a National Trust property in rural Wolverhampton – Moseley Old Hall!ย  A modest but beautiful place, with a very homely feel – I highly recommend that you visit ๐Ÿ˜€ย  My friend Gary is the gardener there, and he kindly allowed me to borrow a few things from his shed to help with today’s Random Act of Wildness.

Today I’ve done something that isn’t in the booklet, it was inspired by a Springwatch Unsprung episode – the #2MinuteBeachClean!ย  The beach I chose to do it on has a high footfall, plus it is the nearest one to where I live, the West Midlands – so it seemed right I did it there.ย  My trusty friend Gary was at hand to assist me again in making the video!

My beach comb collection!
My rubbish beach comb collection!ย  See video below.

Thanks for reading! ๐Ÿ™‚