30 Days Wild Update

Today is the end of 30 Days Wild, it's been a lovely if rather busy month and the blog posts didn't happen as often as i'd hoped. I've spent a bit of time each day checking out the hashtag on twitter, the response to it has been fantastic.

I spent most of the weekend out and about, some of which i've already blogged about, with another coast blog to follow. Other than that due to work and illnesses (again) mine this time though (who gets a cold in summer?!) it's mostly been garden watching and a quick walk in the woods.

House Sparrow & Blackbird in the woods

We haven't mowed the lawn in a while and this Self Heal suddenly appeared, it's only very tiny little plants and I struggled getting a good photo, I should have waited until the sun moved!

The Lavender and what's left of the Foxgloves have been buzzing with bees.

There's finally been a few juvenile House Sparrows in the garden, we watched them being fed by the adults right by the window. The feeders i've hung by the front door are very popular with them. The juvenile Starlings are still mob handed at the feeder in the back garden, a Squirrel has been turning up regularly again and the Fox has been cleaning up around the feeder on a night. We had brief visits by young Blue and Great Tits and a Robin too.

I found this amazing Vapourer Moth Caterpillar in the garden, i've never seen one before.

This past week i've also contacted my local council about turning part of a neglected roundabout at the end of my street into a meadow. I'm not sure if anything will come of it especially as since the email i've noticed new sponsored by signs go up on it but it's worth asking as there's plenty of room to create a sizable patch on there. I'll post if anything should happen!

We headed out on Easter Monday to Bempton Cliffs, gorgeous weather as we left Leeds but as we got closer to Bempton the fog rolled in and stayed the whole day! Luckily the cliffs weren't completely covered but we couldn't see the sea at the bottom!

The reserve staff were all friendly and helpful and told us where to look for Puffins. So off we went, it wasn't cold just dull. We managed to spot Gannets and Guillemots. I checked with a volunteer on some of the ID's and discovered that we were also looking at Kittiwake and Fulmars. I couldn't tell which were Razorbills till I checked the photos later and spotted two amongst the Guillemots. We saw a few Puffin including two just underneath one of the viewpoints, which are just the oddest but amazing birds!

I had been hearing birdsong all the while we had been walking but the birds were a blur in the fog. Finally got a good look at them and discovered they were Meadow Pipits, another first for me. We were there about three hours including a break for lunch (we took a picnic). We had my little one, she's 3 and my 2 stepsons, 13 & 14 and everybody enjoyed the day despite the fog. I'm slowly turning hubby into a birder too, he can't wait to go back on a clear day either!

There's not many places you can go and get 7 lifers in one go, it was a very cool day. Really looking forward to going back and seeing it all without the fog.


The two top birds are Razorbills and the bottom ones are Guillemots. (My camera is just a point and click, trying to save for a better one but it's not in the near future)


You can just about see the Gannets at the bottom through the fog, the others are Kittiwakes.


Spotted a few of these caterpillars but not sure what they will turn into! Any suggestions?


Puffins!!!!!