Out of the videos I have made, these three videos are definitely some of my ‘favourites’, as I love Water Rails, Whooper Swans and enjoy feeding the birds, and playingaround in the kitchen. 😀
We were pretty much Frozen Britain recently, certainly in the West Midlands…
Summer is a great time to see Butterflies, thanks to Buddleja growing just about anywhere, you can see these beautiful creatures in urban places as well as suburban and rural.
Below are three short videos acting as a guide to the Butterflies of High Summer:
After work, I decided to go for a nice stroll with a colleague and friend, Sophie. We sauntered around the semi-rural outskirts of Northfield Town Centre (in South Birmingham).
Before we got to the location Sophie had in mind, literally just a few yards from where we work, we noticed beside the path (there is a grass verge) was a patch of Bird’s-foot-Trefoil. I informed Sophie it is also know as Eggs and Bacon. We saw some bees buzzing around it, so we observed and followed them from flower to flower.
More info: The course is ran by B’ham Metropolitan College at the Botanical Gardens – the course involves; boundary habitat conservation, ecological surveys and techniques, ecology of trees, woods and forests, game management and environmental studies.
For day three, I caught up on Springwatch and UNSPRUNG episodes that I’ve missed, plus I’ve put together a short video of my highlights at RSPB Minsmere (below) featuring:
I had work today at 7AM and finished around 2.30PM. Due to that and wanting to blog about what I’d do today, I needed something easy for my Act of Wildness. So of course, I was very pleased that I changed my usual route to work (as I needed to grab breakfast), because I ended up walking passed the Mini-Meadows in the video below!
I ran back after realising what I had saw! And then stood there watching a couple of bees (unsure which ones now) buzzing about the various flowers for a minute – whilst listening to a Blackcap singing in the background! 😃 When I got phone out to film, the bees had flown off, naturally! They must have been camera-shy 🐝 Unfortunately the sound didn’t record (I have a new phone and have sorted out the problem now), but luckily YouTube have provided a lovely soundtrack.
If you saw my last entry in June, then you know I spent a week in the amazing Lake District! This post is for the last 4 days of 30 Days Wild/June. For those who don’t know – I stayed in a place called Little Langdale with 4 of my friends, who are some of the best people and I’m truly thankful for knowing them 😀 I’m sharing with you iPhone pictures of my wild-and-natural highlights.
Day 27
We looked and ambled around one of our nearest towns, Ambleside – before heading to our home for the week! It had all the shops we would need 🙂
A lovely view from Ambleside’s recreation ground. Atmospheric clouds!
A few minutes before I took this photo, I saw my first ever Dipper down there! 😀 This is the River Rothay.
We had to walk up a pathway to get to our Little Langdale cottage, we had our very own tarn and everything! 😀
Taken a little way down the pathway, but it was just our wee garden & a field that separated us from Little Langdale Tarn (the lake) ❤
Mary, Scott, Nick, Charlotte & our cottage, High Hallgarth! ❤
The view from my bedroom window for the week ❤
Taken from our garden area, we were surrounded by hills & mountains.
Day 28
We awoke to a downpour… Despite the rain we decided to explore and visit our tarn first! 🙂 Later we found out tarn meant something completely different to our friend Mary (the redheaded lass), in Barnsley it means town! 😛
Even with unpleasant weather, it is fantastic! I loved seeing our Tarn each day!
On the way over to our very local lake, we came across a variety of nature. My friend Scott (the blonde chap) is excellent at spotting small members of the animal kingdom, and allowing me time to document his finds! 🙂
Chimney Sweeper (Moth)
There’s only one Orchid in this picture, but they were everywhere we went, with some fields/meadows brimming with them! Like the field we passed through on our way to the tarn.
We didn’t quite expect to find our selves in boggy conditions, and couldn’t make it down to the Little Langdale Tarn! So we decided to change course, move away from the tarn and get our exploration of Little Langdale underway!
We passed through this wood. Charlotte & Scott leading the way 🙂
We were getting closer to a known part of Little Langdale, Slater’s Bridge! Which relatively, is a short walk from High Hallgarth.
A Common Toad – which was on the path just before the bridge! 🙂
We passed over Slater’s Bridge.
Taken looking back at Slater’s Bridge.
High Hallgarth is the small white spec above the cottage you can just make out.
The last day of 30 Days Wild! We went on a Ten Lakes Spectacular Tour! My highlights/things I managed to take pictures of:
The tour bus! Kindly modelled by Nick 🙂 Behind Nick is Chris, our jovial Mancunian tour guide and his assistant for the day, Tess. (By the way, that’s not a ghost in the window, that’s a patiently waiting Charlotte) 😉
It felt almost as if I was in a scene of a film, Jurassic Park for example 😉
Derwentwater is near Keswick. It was funny feeling like I was in a film and then disembarking to a recently arrived Film Crew! They were setting up for a remake of Swallows and Amazons, I hear it’s a BBC Films production.
I’m going to the Lake District on Saturday (Day 27) for a week. I shall be staying in a National Trust Cottage in Little Longdale near Coniston 🙂 So I made sure I was all organised for my trip to Cumbria! I’m pleased I will be spending the last few days of 30 Days Wild in a stunning part of the UK!
All packed for my trip to The Lakes!
Day 26 – “Save a life”
I’ve allowed what I believe to be a Thistle (and a wee Doc plant) grow in my plant pot; which also contains a baby Pineapple plant (the original inhabitant) on my windowsill at my house-share. I shall consider this as saving a life 😉
I chose the mystery location for yesterdays’ video, because I grew up a short walk away from it and was inspired by an episode of Countryfile where Anita Rani showcases rural Bradford 😛 Incase you’ve not seen the video, I’ll not ruin the ‘surprise’ with naming it. It’s where I cut my teeth as a child and naturalist, so to speak and over the years I’ve seen loads of wildlife there, a few firsts, which includes the time I saw my first Weasel as a child! Yesterday my friend Gary and I observed a Kestrel and Jay up there.
In the second shot of the intro to my video, I’m on the top of Rubery Hill/Cock Hill, with the Frankley countryside and suburb in the background, there are more great views from up there; the Lickey Hills, Rubery and Bromsgrove in the distance – plus the country park I reveal in my video 😉
When we were filming near Frankley Beeches wood, we heard and saw a beautiful male Yellowhammer – it’s the second time I’ve seen one in Frankley, (I’ve mainly distantly heard their song now and again) so I decided to record and feature this Yellowhammers’ song as the soundtrack for the video. We could also hear the beautiful song of the Skylark in the distance, down near Lower Hill Farm. On New Street, near the Greenbelt just before Frankley Hill Lane (which leads up to the Frankley Beeches Wood) I saw a partly Leucistic male Blackbird collecting worms, I almost mistook it for a Ring Ouzel!
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