I’m a little late with this round-up but last week was just as wild as ever! The sunshine was lovely while it lasted and, despite the rain, I enjoyed a mini-urban-wild-adventure in the ‘Big Smoke’ towards the end of the week.
A few highlights from Week 23:
🐦 Reading up on rare UK birds
🌸 Enjoying some new garden flowers
🦋 Butterfly hunting by the river
🌱 Ticking off some of London’s green spaces
Many more details below – thank you for reading! 😊
Monday 14th June 2021
I spent a couple of work breaks sitting in the garden throughout the day today. Each time I sat down on my little wooden chair, I tried to switch off and listen to the sounds around me. And when I heard something new, I jotted it down in my notebook.
The first bird I heard was a croaky wood pigeon. It sounded like it was perched in a neighbour’s garden. I then heard the house martins. Their little high-pitched screeches filled the air above me and the even-higher-pitched-chirping from the rooftops behind told me that they had some hungry chicks in their nests. I also heard a local jackdaw cawing away, the soft cooing of a collared dove and the endearing twitterings of a small group of goldfinches.
During my moments of mindfulness, I also paid attention to what I could actually see. Some yellow and pink roses shooting off into the air along a branch from next door’s garden immediately caught my eye. Such an invasion of our green space and yet so beautiful. They match the enormous pink peonies that have just opened as well.
Tuesday 15th June 2021
Did you hear about the Egyptian vulture this week?! It was spotted on the Isles of Scilly and it’s apparently the first time in at least 150 years that this bird has appeared in the UK.
Well, as it happens, there’s a whole Twitter feed dedicated to these sorts of sightings that I was totally unaware of until today: RareBirdAlertUK. I’m not a twitcher, but that doesn’t mean you can’t aspire to be one, so I had a good read through the latest round up of rare bird sightings in the UK, including:
- A sulphur-bellied warbler (which should apparently be in north-western Afghanistan right about now)
- A pacific swift
- Glossy ibises
- Purple herons
- Red-rumped swallows
- Rose-coloured starlings
If you’re sat there thinking ‘I’ve literally never heard of these birds before’ then do. not. worry. Neither had I! And that’s all part of the fun! A purple heron though – who knew they existed?!
Wednesday 16th June 2021
Even though it was another scorcher of a day, I made a bold decision at lunchtime to head over to the meadow for a muggy walk. In weighing up the pros and cons, I came to the conclusion that having a stroll in the midday heat would give me the best opportunity to see some butterflies – and other insects – down by the river and I wasn’t wrong!
As soon as I got through the gate, I was mesmerised by some sort of damsel/dragonfly. It turned out to be a banded demoiselle, probably a male one as my Collins gem: Insects book says that the male has a ‘brilliant metallic blue body and a dark blue patch on the outer corner of each wing’.
My next treat was a kaleidoscope (yes, that’s the official name) of small tortoiseshell butterflies. They were absolutely loving life on the wild mustard by the river while some small white butterflies fluttered past them to enjoy some of the farmer’s crops.
There were loads of other dragonfly-type-insects around too – I just couldn’t get any pictures of them and I don’t know enough of these by heart. I think bees, butterflies, moths and dragon/damselflies are next on my list to learn!
Thursday 17th June 2021
A flower sprouted up out of nowhere in my hanging basket this week. The poor basket has seen better days and it originally started its journey a couple of years ago with some beautiful pansies. Unfortunately, these pansies never saw the light of day in 2021, though they did reappear last year. Riddle me that!
As I’ve clearly neglected the hanging basket this spring, and the pansies had paid for this dearly, my expectations for it were low. However, I spied that something had sprung from its soil this week and, to my delight, a magnificent common poppy decided to make an appearance this morning.
Friday 18th June 2021
My partner and I headed to London today for a long weekend. The BBC’s weather prediction was very changeable all week and, as soon as we arrived into Paddington station, it was clear that the heavens had opened. We got soaked.
After drying off in a pub in Fitzrovia, we continued the trek towards our hotel near Kings Cross. The rain had mercifully ceased and we wound our way through the streets and community gardens at a leisurely pace. I always forget that London is dotted with green spaces and the flowers and trees bring so much colour to the urban landscape.
One of the parks we went through was called St George’s Gardens in the borough of Camden. It started its life as one of the first burial grounds located away from a church. In 1713, the plot lay in the open fields on the outskirts of the city. Walking through in 2021, it’s difficult to imagine what that must’ve been like – the open fields are now a very long way away.
Saturday 19th June 2021
There are also some nature reserves in London and we had a look at one today called Woodberry Wetlands. The wetlands are near Stoke Newington and Manor House to the north of central London. In a previous life, the wetlands functioned as reservoirs and the water was treated with chlorine and sodium phosphate gas. Needless to say, there wasn’t a whole lot of wildlife in the water back then.
More recently, a range of birds, plants and mammals have come back to the area and the reservoirs are now bustling wildlife reserves. On our visit today, there were lots of coots and coot-chicks, reed warblers and tufted ducks. A common tern also enjoyed itself, swooping up and down above the water, presumably catching some tasty insects. It was such a contrast to the tower blocks overlooking the water.
And just as a side note, I think another ‘act of wildness’ deserves a mention today and it may be one that you experienced as well. During the Germany-Portugal football match in the afternoon, a pigeon stole the limelight when it photobombed the pitch looking for some food. It flew off after a few seconds but it hadn’t gone very far – it just went a bit further up the pitch looking for more. What a heroic pigeon!
Sunday 20th June 2021
Our penultimate day in London and we decided to learn a bit more about the Regent’s Canal. We started at the London Canal Museum which is an excellent little place near King’s Cross. After indulging in a bit of history, we then strolled along the canal up to Camden Town. En route, we saw loads of coots (they’re everywhere!), a cormorant drying off its wings and two Egyptian Geese. Not really sure what they were doing here but they were certainly having a good chill by the water!
*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 