#30 Days Wild - Week 2

Monday

I was a bit short of time today so picked one of the suggestions in the Wildlife Trusts #30 Days Wild booklet - "to inhale the scent of a wildflower, a plant or the leaves of the tree". So I wandered round the garden sniffing at all the various wildflowers I could find and some of the garden flowers such as this Valerian.

Tuesday

I picked the moment when I was dancing round the Wildflower Meadow at Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens trying, without much success, to get a photo of a Chimney Sweeper moth. (Apologies if you've read the CBHG post and seen these photos before!).

Wednesday

I planted the French Lavender plant I had bought the previous week in my Green Man pot. Hopefully, it will attract butterflies and bees as it comes into flower.

I also planted some Seedball Salad balls and some more nasturtium seeds. I love these flowers - they always remind me of holidays when I was a child staying at my great-aunt's holiday cottage high on the headland above Widemouth Bay. Nasturtiums tumbled all over the wall by the kitchen door. The flowers again attract bees and are also edible (as are the leaves) and can be added to salads.

Finally, I got round to putting some dried flowers I had bought at Tewkesbury Abbey into the Heron's Cross jug D bought me from Ludlow market for Christmas - a lovely reminder of two great days out.

Thursday

I went "butterflying". Sadly not to the reserve at Prestbury Hill, Gloucestershire, I had wanted to visit as its probably the nearest site to us for Duke of Burgundy butterflies. B didn't want to drive that far so we ended up going to the Bishops Hill/Yellowlands reserve at Bishops Itchington which I visited last year with D.

Bishops Hill was once a limestone quarry and cement works and lime waste from the cement factory has created a limestone-grassland-scrub habitat which contains an insect fauna of regional importance. Yellowland forms a small part of the area and a project transformed the site into a nature reserve in 2008.

Bishops Hlll is rich in kidney vetch and bird's foot trefoil - all food plants of the adult Small Blue butterflies (the target species of the day). The caterpillars feed exclusively on kidney vetch. Small Blue butterflies are rare in Warwickshire and occur at only a handful of sites.

A nice bench to sit and linger :)

We didn't see Dingy or Grizzled Skippers this year and Green Hairstreak continues to elude me but we did see Common Blue, Small Blue and Brimstone

Common Blue

Small Blue

Rubbish photo but I was really pleased to get 3 together in one shot.

Friday and the weekend were a trifle busy. B is gradually redecorating most of the house in case we decide to move in a year or so. It wasn't so bad when he was working on the hall, stairs and landing as you don't live in this area and there isn't much furniture to move around but he's now moved onto the Sitting Room and, as we are having new flooring its easiest to clear the room. So we've been moving furniture into the Family and Dining Rooms and I've had to pack glasses, ornaments, china etc. into boxes (almost feel as it I am moving already!!). I've tried to do some decluttering at the same time which for a hoarder like me isn't easy!!

Friday evening I suddenly panicked and realised I hadn't done anything at all for 30 Days Wild. A bit silly really to "beat yourself up" over something that is supposed to be a fun thing. Luckily, a 30 Day Wild moment suddenly occurred out of the blue as I looked out of the kitchen window to see B wildly gesticulating towards some Valerian. I was absolutely over the moon to get outside and realise we had a Humming-bird Hawk-moth feeding on the flowers. This was the main reason I had planted so much Valerian as I know they attract these moths. It is probably the best garden "tick" I have ever had. Sadly, by the time I had returned with the camera it had gone. It did come back briefly on the Saturday morning and was still there when I got outside with the camera but it only visited another couple of flowers before disappearing yet again. So I didn't manage a photo :( The picture below was taken last year at our holiday cottage garden in Dorset where one visited some lavender flowers.

Saturday

I watched birds going to roost at dusk - a wren foraging in ivy as the light faded, gulls flying over on their way to a safe roost for the night, a blackbird singing from the top of the Whitebeam tree, tits on the feeders having their last food for the day.

Sunday

Whilst clearing items out of a cupboard I came across this book D bought me some years ago. I am sure some of you may have collected the wildlife albums produced by PG Tips etc. I had a lot of wildlife albums filled with collected cards as a child but sadly I really don't remember what happened to them.

This book is on Woodlands

A few of the pages inside the book.

Butterflies at Bishop's Hill

Small Blue

Common Blue




Every year I make a New Year's Resolution to try and see more butterfly species and this year I am determined to carry this through. To do this means travelling further from home and yesterday was such a beautiful, warm, sunny day, ideal for looking butterflies that I decided to drive to a reserve in South Warwickshire that I haven't visited before.

Bishop's Hill/Bishop's Bowl at Bishop's Itchington was once a limestone quarry with associated cement works. Lime waste from the cement factory has created a limestone grassland-scrub habitat which has made it an important regional area for insect species. In fact, as we were leaving I met 2 ecologists who were just about to start surveying insects on the site.

The Yellow Land Community Nature Reserve created in 2008 as a Heritage Project has transformed one acre of the area into a village nature reserve so people can connect with nature and see wildlife (much of it rare) on their doorstep.

There were four species I was hoping to see Small Blue, Dingy and Grizzled Skipper and Green Hairstreak. Two of these species would be life ticks for me if spotted.

Many times in the past I have visited nature reserves with a target species in mind only to be disappointed when, on arrival, its like looking for a needle in a haystack. But on this occasion the reserve exceeded all my expectations.

As we entered the reserve Orange Tip and Brimstone Butterflies were flitting around and within a few metres I had already spotted my first Small Blue butterfly - a life tick for me.

Small Blue (male) - you can just make out the hint of blue scales at the base of the wings.

This was the first Small Blue we'd seen and I was really cursing the fact that I'd put the 70-300mm telephoto lens on the camera as I couldn't get the autofocus to lock onto the butterfly. Actually D, who was with me, took this photo of the male using manual focus and did a better job than I could have done.

Small Blue (female)

Hindwings with little black dots (similar) to Holly Blue and different to hindwings of Common Blue which has spots of orange as can be seen a few photos down.

Two Small Blues about to mate

Common Blue (a male) - the first I have seen this year

Hindwings of Common Blue - the photo is a bit blurred but you can see the difference when compared to Small Blue

Small Blue butterflies are rare in Warwickshire. A few years ago there were only 3 colonies in the whole of the county. Thanks to conservation measures by various organisations there are now nearly 10 colonies - all in fairly close proximity to each other.


I had clambered over the fence to walk up the slope of Bishop's Hill itself thinking it might be better for butterflies when I noticed D gesticulating wildly in my direction from the reserve. It turned out he had seen not one but three of the skipper species I was hoping to see. I scrambled hastily and in an exceedingly undignified fashion back through the fence and there it was - my first Grizzled Skipper for many years.

Even better a few yards away was a Dingy Skipper - again a species I haven't seen for a long time

D also thought he had seen a Large Skipper but we weren't able to relocate this butterfly.

Speckled Wood

Damselfly - Common Blue? to be honest my id skills where damsel and dragonflies are concerned are not exactly good. So please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

There was an amazing variety of wildflowers at the site - sorry no photos as its difficult taking flower pictures with the lens I had on the camera. In fact, I stopped taking pictures and just soaked in the wonder of so many blue butterflies in such a small area.

I didn't see Green Hairstreak but I will definitely be returning to this reserve.


I'd persuaded (bribed) D to come with me with the promise of a pub lunch so we stopped off at the Butcher's Arms in the village - great food and service and excellent value - another reason to return :)



Blue Tit update

Sadly, 4 of the Blue Tit chicks died last Friday night. It was very upsetting especially as all the chicks looked so healthy and of a similar size with plentiful food being provided on the Friday. Usually you can tell when the smaller chicks are weakening.

A poor photo of the remaining four earlier this week.

There is now a huge difference in size with one huge nestling who looks as big as the adults, two medium-sized and one tiny one who is managing to hold his own and compete for food.


The Emperor moth caterpillars have already undergone their first moult and are growing. I'll post a photo soon. Its very quiet here moth-wise at the moment although I have had several new species for the year. Photos again to follow soon.

Finally, just after we moved into the house many years ago a Whitebeam tree self-seeded in the garden and this is probably my favourite garden tree. I have never seen so many flowers as it has produced this year - there'll certainly be a good crop of berries!

Many thanks to Neil for information concerning the location of Bishop's Hill.