Well, it’s been a scorcher here in the UK for the past week. Makes a change! 😎
It was also the second week of ’30 Days Wild’. I took part in this challenge for the very first time last year and it inspired my own ‘wild year’ this year. Some of my highlights are different to the Wildlife Trusts’ ones but I’d definitely recommend getting some inspiration by checking out their Twitter feed if you fancy taking part.
So, during the last week, I particularly enjoyed:
🐝 Spotting a white-tailed bumblebee on some long-headed poppies
🌳 Having a couple of walks through the fields
🌅 Watching the (wild) world go by on the train
🔍 Identifying a Mother Shipton Moth!
Read on to find out more. Thank you 😊
Monday 7th June 2021
The duck-billed platypus. Arguably one of the most bizarre creatures on our planet. I read a nice little article about this mammal/not-mammal today. This time in a history magazine. The piece focused on 19th century views of the platypus. It isn’t too difficult to believe that many naturalists at the time were sceptical when a preserved skin, accompanied by a sketch, made its way from John Hunter (Governor of New South Wales) to Europe.
I’ve only ever seen a duck-billed platypus once and it was in captivity – at Australia Zoo. I remember seeing it swimming around in its tank and thought it looked so happy. Potentially a very misleading consequence of its duck-bill; in hindsight, I doubt very much that it was happy in that tank. And I can’t imagine what it must be like to see one of these critters in the wild. Even though we know they’re definitely real, they definitely lay eggs and they definitely have poisonous spines, I can sympathise with the sceptical 19th century naturalists!
Tuesday 8th June 2021
The garden is absolutely thriving in the summer sunshine at the moment. The pot plants, less so. In a desperate attempt to keep them alive, I water them every morning – they dry out so quickly in the heat!
Hopefully I’ll be able to tell you more about the pot plants once they flower (if they flower!) but, today, I’d like to draw your attention instead to a plant that really hasn’t had the airtime it deserves. And it hasn’t needed much attention or TLC at all. I’m pretty sure I never planted it, it just appears each spring out of nowhere. It’s the long-headed poppy. Beautifully orange in colour, it’s apparently a ‘weed of arable fields and waste places’ but I don’t think that description does it justice!
And the bees are absolutely loving life on the poppies – later in the week, I spied on an enormous white-tailed bumblebee which was hopping from one flower to the other. I say ‘spied’ but, actually, it couldn’t have done more to draw my attention to it. It was HUGE, had an extremely loud buzz-buzz-buzz and was wriggling around ridiculously as it enjoyed the nectar!
Wednesday 9th June 2021
After a lovely warm day, my partner and I headed out for a very short walk around the meadow this evening. It isn’t very far – probably about a 30 minute walk in total – and we took it quite slowly. Although the sun shone for most of the day, the clouds had swarmed in by the time we went out and it threatened rain/thunder for the whole of the walk.
We were spared a drenching and enjoyed our quiet stroll. We only really had to share the meadow with a handful of swifts flying above and a couple of herons who landed in a nearby field. The swifts always intrigue me. I love their shapes as they fly through the sky – their pointy tails and wings create a much sharper outline than the swallows and house martins – and I often wonder what sort of tropical places they’ve come from. And why on earth they decide to come to this particular spot every year.
Thursday 10th June 2021
Whilst I’ve been doing this challenge, I’ve noticed that I’m spotting wildlife in everyday life more. Not as in physically seeing wildlife more (though that’s probably true too) but as in noticing wildlife in things like TV dramas, films and novels.
I recently read Jane Eyre and I really noticed it in this. In the book, Charlotte Bronte’s characters regularly walk through the fields to travel to the next village. It’s so easy to forget that this was often the only practical way to get from place to place – within a reasonable distance – back in the ‘olden days’. One bit did absolutely terrify me though: when Jane Eyre is ‘dropped off’ at a road junction that appears to be 10 miles away from the nearest place and she has to sleep on a moor overnight. Can you imagine?!
Friday 11th June 2021
My first solo morning walk in nearly 3 weeks! I decided today was the day to try and go out on my own around the meadow to start building up some more strength in my ankle. I love morning walks and, over the course of the year, I’d managed to get to a point where they were a core part of my daily routine so it felt like the right time to try and get back into the swing of things.
As I walked around, a few things really stood out to me. It’s so interesting how you can walk the same route and still notice different things. Even if you’ve walked it a million times! Today, I was drawn to an old ash tree wedged into the bank of the Stour, all of the cow parsley hugging the sides of the river and the reed warblers chattering away in the foliage, totally hidden from view and yet, from their calls, so obviously there. I also had a good look at some dog roses – so beautiful and pink in the morning light.
Saturday 12th June 2021
I had a trip into London today. It was my friend’s birthday and it’s the first time in absolutely ages that I’ve seen him, my other friends, and London itself! This may sound a bit odd but my wildlife highlight was actually the train journey there and back. I just love staring out of the window, taking in the views.
I think one of the reasons why I like this so much is that the train line gives you a totally different view. It shows you secret ponds, hidden burrows and treelines that you would never be able to see from a road or a footpath. I travelled back while dusk set in – I think a summer dusk is starting to become my favourite time of the day. As the sun was setting, I saw some swans and a heron enjoying a secluded pond, a buzzard chilling on an overhanging branch (right near the train) and a deer nibbling about in a field.
Sunday 13th June 2021
I spotted a Mother Shipton moth today! Not gonna lie, I’d never heard of this moth before. We were out on a short walk through the fields and this rather distinctive moth appeared in the long grass near the river. When I say ‘long’ grass, I mean very very long grass – our legs were covered in grass seeds by the time we’d weaved our way through!
Anyway, back to the moth. I’d say it was probably about medium-sized, but I honestly don’t know my moths very well at all. I always find it fascinating when I’m reminded that only 20,000 of the 160,000 species of moths and butterflies are actually butterflies. So, basically, there are a hell of a lot of moths out there!
The Mother Shipton moth belongs to the Erebidae family and, according to Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, it is so named because the shapes on its wings resemble a witch’s face. Like old Mother Shipton.
I grew up knowing a bit about Mother Shipton because she apparently lived in Knaresborough (Yorkshire) and my dad used to work near there. There’s even a visitor centre at the cave where Mother Shipton was said to have been born in 1488 (during a thunderstorm, no less) and the website has this rather unflattering description of ‘England’s most famous prophetess’: Her nose was large and crooked, her back bent and her legs twisted. Just like a witch.
I also have a few pieces of art to share with you – some birthday cards and birthday gifts! The ‘Claude & Jolene’ cards are inspired by my cats and the watercolour pieces are inspired by some little postcards I painted in May:
Claude & Jolene cards
Materials:
✉️ docrafts Anita’s square quality white cards & envelopes (135 x 135mm)
✏️ Faber-Castell polychromos pencils
Watercolour flowers and trees
Materials:
📜 Daler Rowney ‘The Langton’ A5 watercolour paper (300 gsm)
🎨 Winsor & Newton Cotman watercolour pocket box (12 pans)
✒️ Uni PIN fine line pens
*For anyone new to my blog, let me explain a bit more about what these posts are about. Every week I share a summary of my daily ‘acts of wildness’. This wildlife challenge was inspired by ’30 Days Wild’ and ’12 Days Wild’ from The Wildlife Trusts. The ‘356’ isn’t a typo – typically, I only thought about doing this after 2021 had already started so I won’t be able to do a full year this time. Next year will be different though! Thank you and I hope you’ve enjoyed the post!
Ramblings of a (very!) amateur artist 