30 Days Wild Day 29 & 30 The end of the beginning

Day 29

We went for a mushroom hunt today, found a few that had survived the rain. My son and I found a mushroom we haven't seen before that looks like a little fairy house. My boy wasn't the best at hunting for mushrooms because he kept walking on them. I was teaching him to keep a careful watch out. It gave him a wee bit of excitement anyhow and a laugh too as he was learning how fragile mushrooms are, it was fun times, we had such a laugh!

 

Day 30

Collaged all the photos taken in June for a few hours, My son and I finished our 30 days wild poster. We love it and are very proud of ourselves!

 

It has been a great month and the whole lot of us have enjoyed it so much. It has created a new habit in our lives, particularly:To be STILL
STOP- take a pause
TOUCH- textures, bark, shells, stones etc...
INVESTIGATE- find out what you dont know, through books, internet, library..etc
LOOK-more closely
LISTEN-focus on birdsong

Heres my blue buzzing bush at the begining of June.

The buzzing bush today, well utilised by many insects.

Postscript; Well, there ye go, we succeeded in our challenge. We look forward to continuing on with wildlife, continuing with blogging, continue sharing on the facebook group and continue reading facebook group posts too, so keep on posting!
I'll leave a few photo collages with you below. Enjoy!

30 Days Wild; Day 27 & 28 The Forgotten

Day 27

We went for a nice wee walk outside, it was a lovely sunny evening and I was thinking today I need to focus on the forgotten wild plants or rather the least liked wild plants in the Nettle and the thistle.

I did a bit of reserch into the nettle and learned that some butterflies [e.g. Red Admiral, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Map Butterfly and others] in particluar use nettles to lay their eggs and the caterpillar feeds only on the nettle plant. Also I know that people make nettle tea, relishes and its great with mint and sparkling water. The young shoots also can be used as an alternative for spinach {So my books say}.

Great photo of a Nettle flower , well I think so.

Couldnt have nettles without a Doc Leaf near by.

Thistles; young thistles are good fodder for cattle, horses & pigs

On our walk about I came across more new roses growing amongst the bark.

Theres a great contrast between the roses and the bark

View from above

I realise today that the strawberries growing mad and wild on our wall garden were indeed white strawberries. So hubby and I picked them until we gathered all the ripes ones, some taste like bubblegum and others like normal strawberries so not sure what I think of them yet?! They have been put in the freezer until we figure out how to use them, probably will end up on my weetabix!

Day 28

Found out yesterday that theres an issue with the goosberry bush, i.e. something was eating it. Hubby picked a number of green caterpillars off it. I found out they were Goosberry Sawfly and if not picked off they would eat the whole plant. So I went today again and found another critter, hoping we've saved the goosberry bush.

Decimated Branches by the Gooseberry SawFly

Healthy Branches with fruit

I had a walk about the garden and noticed that our yellow lillies will have an abundant supply of seed pods and also our leeks are seeding as well. That amounts to alot of flowers and an abundance of vegetables. Sounds good, potatoe and leek soup for the table.(yum)

We're gonna have lots of yellow lilly seeds this year

These are our leeks seeding.

30 Days Wild Day 25 & Day 26 Silence is Golden

Day 25

Went to Kilbroney Forest (Rostrevor) to meet with our church family for a BBQ. Hubby and I were early, so he drove to the top picnic spots so I got a lovely view of the forests around us.

 I had to take a selfie, couldn't help myself.

Had a lovely BBQ with my friends and my son had been out on his Sunday School Trip without us as I wasn't well enough to go. So he was out in the wild all day and evening. He was so wrecked we had a very emotional 11 year old at the end of the day. On our way back I saw a whole lot of cotton balls in the valley fields and stopped to take a photo. Hubby said it was locally called bog cotton, so it was either 'common cotton grass' or 'hare's tail cotton grass'. However to me it looks like the lambs have left their tails behind them. The drive through the vale was awesome as the mountainous forests towered above us us on both sides.

Day 26

Today we officially switched off from the internet, computers, tablets and mobiles. I had withdrawal symptoms first thing in the morning as I usually check a few things and see if I've any Facebook messages. We all found it a very difficult challenge.

We headed out for the day to meet up with a friend at her church and then we went for a fab lunch.

As we came home in the afternoon we did a quick bird survey as we were arriving home, so we saw 2 blackbirds with their undeniable bright beaks and we also saw 2 sets of magpies  (5 all together).

It was a cold wet evening and hubby lit a fire. We read two chapters of a book aloud together. Dad and son built a Lego character together while I did some of my puzzle book.
Birds were a wee bit quiet on it so I opened the door, stood in the drizzle and listened to my usual bird-song.
We finished the night off by playing board games and discussing how it would be a good idea to switch off once every week. Ideal outcome of the day for us as a family to be honest.

The following are some thoughts I had today.

It was hard to listen to the quiet, and we almost panicked at the silence at times. We discussed how distracting media is. Switching off is hard to do even when you know its good for you.Why do we fill our lives with stuff that has no positive impact on our lives?
Instead we need to stop, switch off, listen, quiet ourselves, take a deep breathe and think how precious life is for the ladybird as much as us.

30 Days Wild Day 23 & 24 Oh to be a bird

Oh to be a bird!

Day 23

Awoke early listening to birds singing at the top of their lungs. The sun is back for most of the day but due to rain about 5:00pm. Maybe I should have been a weather presenter. Really for fun I wanted to find a weather forecast background and superimpose myself in it. But to no avail, couldn't find one. Lol

Moved furniture about in the living room last week, since then I'm loving sitting by the front window looking out. Don't see a whole load but do see blue skies.

Later on I went to visit one of my favourite local places Corbet Lough. To my delight the swans and water wildfowl were lazing about in the sun. I had a lovely time with a friend and we just sat and took in the lakes sights and sounds.

One grumpy swan was barking at the others , well that's what it sounded like; while  mummy mallards and their young tried to pass, one with tiny goslings and the other with juveniles.

 The swans were busy preening themselves and one male was trying to attract the attention of the ladies. However they were having none of it!

Baby ducklings having a sleep in their nest,
 Mummy was below the nest keeping an eye on them.

Even a wee moorhen swam quickly past, tiny in comparison to the swans. Finches and Great Tits flitted about here and there in the search of scraps left behind by picnickers.

Moorhen

I was fascinated by the webbed feet of the swan and got a good photo of his feet. They remind me of paddles. However, it was sad to see so many cigarette butts about. Does anyone care that a bird picks these up. Makes me want to see if anything can be done about it. I'll have to check that one out.

Snoozing Mallard (male)

These swan's feet definitely look like paddles.

Day 24

I was frantically looking for binoculars so I could watch a wee bird singing at the top of his voice (Pied Wagtail me thinks). A House Martin was chatting away too. Still couldn't find those binoculars but gave up and went out to simply listen to the birds singing away.  Now I think 24 days earlier I would have kept looking for those binoculars and missed the opportunity to listen to their beautiful songs. I'm glad there are still 6 days let in June. After this month I will continue to write a weekly wildlife blog about our escapades in the wild. (no photos today, far too wet for me)

And to finish this day a wee poem I put together today;

            O to be a Bird

O to be a bird singing in the trees,
Sitting in the sun and listening to the bees;

O to be a bird soaring in the sky,
Gliding through the air not worrying how high;

O to be a bird building their own nest
Busy going to and fro, then there's time for rest.

                                 by Elaine Dickson

30 Days Wild Day 21 & 22; Photograph Victory

Photograph victory

Day 21 

Went searching for mosses today. As I went for a wee walk around our gardens, I thought I should chat to my neighbour about permission to photograph in their backgarden. Just in case they thought I was snooping about, which I am , snooping on wildlife of course.

Eurhynchium Praelongum Wide spreading common moss.
Feels like a carpet, seriously.

Wooly Hair Moss
Looks like the body of a hairy tarantula

Possibly Tortulla Muralis? Found on an old brick wall

 The highlght of my day was managing to get a close up of the froghopper insect, I mean it seriously took alot of patience between the camera, the insect and me. I'm delighted with the resulting photograph. No nymph was harmed in the taking of this photograph, he was gently put back on the plant whence he came.

Photograph Victory Froghopper nymph, Cuckoo Spit

Day 22

We observed Great Tits in the front garden playing amongst the rose bushes. It was a glorious sight but too quick for me and my camera. My son loved looking at them flitting about.

In the evening I found a bumble bee sleeping or sheltering from the rain. In hindsight though hope it wasn't because it needed necter. I'll remember that for next time. Signed up for bee conservation and did a wee survey, scored well enough with the type of bee friendly plants we have about here. Of course we will strive to improve the gardens more.

Ended the day by going for a walk in our back garden; hubby and son picked slugs that were causing damage to our plants. The hens were very excited about their endeavours. L'escargot snack for the hens and they loved it.

'Sir Cockerel' and his domain, please note buckets
 harvest water from their roof!

The slug harvest

'Tails' the light Sussex cockerel and his domain

30 days wild days 19 & 20 Ghost Moth

The Ghost moth

Day 19

I identified the Ghost moth from the book I bought yesterday (see photo below) and learned about how the male attracts  the female by hovering in the grass and "swinging from side to side in the air like tiny hosts above patches of grass.'
Attached to my clothing I noticed its lovely fuzzy head, strong legs and impressive wings. I released it outside and it stayed hidden under a leaf for the whole morning as it rained; it was gone by evening. I felt I was privileged with the extended visit.

Book I bought from a second hand shop
 in Portaferry yesterday for 1 pound, Bargain

Also I went up to one of my wee gardens and took photographs of our beautiful lupins. I love the shape and vibrant colours and needed to take a photo before the stormy weather pulled them down.

I took photos of this new addition to our mushrooms collection. They look like black umbrellas to me, I always imagine they are fairy habitats.

Could be Inkcaps?

             

Day 20

Today I spent catching up with my blogs and tidying up my notebook.

Its become a beautiful day and the cats are playing and running about.
The mushrooms are gone already because of the stormy weather, but they don't last long.

Hubby saved a ladybird today from a bucket of water and put it to work on our roses. See the wildlife bug is catching on with pun totally intended.

My favourite fragrant rose at Dusk

                                   


I went for a walk at dusk and took a few photos and at the end of the day tried to take a few photos of the moon.

Even my Iris looks vibrant in the evening light.

Tried my best to take the summer solstice moon,
if you zoom in it looks slightly impressive lol.

30 Days wild Days 17 & 18 Ulster Wildlife

Day 17

I learned even more about froghoppers today; found out that they make a noise when they jump. I was wondering why it sounded like crickets in the back garden.

                                    
My son rolled down a hill after I coaxed him into it and he loved it of course.

A bit dizzy at the bottom of the hill.

Borage among our wild potatoes,
 look forward to seeing it in full bloom

 I am finding I'm getting much deeper into wildlife and its reawakening a love that I had when I was a young teen living in the country side on a dairy farm in the South East of Ireland. It brings back fond memories of watching hares and rabbits in the fields, picking crab apples, and playing in the wee copse between us and the grumpy farmer next door on a homemade swing, made from an old front tyre of a tractor. Those were good days too!

Day 18

We went out for the day and had a fantastic day with regards to being wild in the wild. We went to a festival in Portaferry and as I knew Ulster wildlife would have a stand there  we joined Ulster Wildlife trust as a family. There were a lovely group of volunteers at the stand. Well done to everyone involved. I'm looking forward to reading all the material we got.

Ulster Wildlife Info Stand

Maidenhair Spleenwort (fern)

Then we headed to a lovely almost private beach called Knockinelder on the coastline of the Ards Penisula. We were there as a family many years ago, I have a wee video of my son as a wee toddler but have not been granted permission by my now 11 year old. (lol) This beach is full of rockpools and the rock formations are fantastic.

                

We loved going for a short walk and I thoroughly enjoyed walking in the sand and paddling in the water. It made me feel young again. The water was lovely and warm in spots. There so much to focus on I wasnt sure what to photograph. We discovered as much as my energy would allow me to discover.

Edible crab carcass (Cancer Pagurus)

Sea Ivory (Lichen) grows well above the high tide

Rocks are impressive

Common Limpets and Beadlet Anemones

Random act of wildness, paddling in the sea

Baby Crab carcass???

We ended our trip to the Ards Penisula by visiting an old mill and happily exhausted travelled back across the ferry to home.