June is always a special month. It was during June back in 2020 that I was introduced to something The Wildlife Trusts do every year: 30 Days Wild. It’s a wild challenge. A challenge that involves doing a ‘random act of wildness’ every single day. After I completed this challenge two years ago, I decided that 2021 would be a year of 365 days of wildness and, so, I’ve kept up the habit every single day since.
My June round-up is therefore extra special because I completed this challenge for the third time. And I really needed these wild moments this month. It was another 30 days that just flew by, but my wild encounters brought me joy, peace and focus. Hope you enjoy the read! 😊
Artspiration
I don’t usually start with this, but let’s delve straight into some art. A few of my June pieces were for pleasure and others were gifts. My wild adventures featured, along with those of others. I can only really do them justice by giving a brief explanation of each one.
Let’s kick off with a gift for my mum. I painted this watercolour for her after she shared some photos of the ‘rainbow sheep’ with me. She’d enjoyed a few walks over winter with a friend and had loved seeing the multi-coloured sheep. I absolutely loved painting the shades on the white wool, along with the very bright markings!
On a very rainy day in the middle of the month, I had a go at something a little different. I’ve had lots of wild encounters with pied wagtails but my favourite moment was in Liverpool last year over Halloween. I love these black and white birds and drawing one in ink seemed like the best way to show off it’s ‘pied’ qualities.
And, finally, a very bright and colourful watercolour. This was inspired by birds foot trefoil and knapweed from a local walk. I spotted these beautiful flowers, and their wonderful colours, after a very busy day behind the desk. It was a welcome sight and I knew straight away that I wanted to replicate the colours in my art.
Wildlife spots
I only added a little egret to the bird list this month. I can’t believe how many avian beings I’ve seen this year so far and it had to peter out a little eventually.
So instead of birds, I’d like to give a shout-out to the other animals that I saw this month:
- Painted lady
- Red admiral
- Meadow brown
- Comma
- Ringlet
- Marbled white
- Oak eggar caterpillar
- Hummingbird hawkmoth
- Early bumblebee
- Buff-tailed bumblebee
- Southern hawker
- Banded demoiselle
- Pipistrelle – probably common pipistrelle
The butterflies, bees and dragonflies were definitely on-trend as ‘Insect Week’ fell in June too!
Detective work
Many of my wildlife spots required some detective work. Insects, in particular, can be very difficult to identify. I feel I’ve got the hang of birds – I recognise many songs now and they are large enough to be viewed well from a distance. Some butterflies are also familiar. But insects in general are much more difficult, as are bats. So I’ll focus on a couple of these.
First, the southern hawker. I saw this dragonfly on a bit of scrub near Shipston. I realised it was an impressive beast straight away and I used an app (Picture Insect) to help identify it. I’m always a bit sceptical of these apps so I tend to use them in order to narrow down the list. The app suggested it could be a hawker so I took to the internet to get a bit more specific. The British Dragonfly Society was extremely helpful – photos on the webpage confirmed that I’d seen a female southern hawker.
And the common pipistrelle. Well, this was a toughie. Wandering blindly near the Travelodge in Hayes (see ‘Urban Paradise’ below), we saw bats flying around as the last of the light disappeared one evening. Again, the internet came to the rescue. This time from the Bat Conservation Trust. I had absolutely no idea that there are 18 species of bat in the UK and many of these are impossible to identify without a bat detector. However, by a process of elimination, the bats we had seen were most likely to be common pipistrelles (if you’d like to find out more, check out this factsheet)!
Buzz buzz buzz
It’s fair to say that I didn’t shy away from a bit of learning this month. And I am absolutely fascinated by a book I started. It’s called Buzz by Thor Hanson and, as the title suggests, it’s a book about bees. I honestly can’t express how much I’ve learnt and I’m shocked at how much I didn’t actually know. For example, I never realised that bees evolved from wasps and that the really crucial difference between them is that wasps are carnivores and bees are herbivores. And can you believe that bees first evolved from wasps back when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth?!
AND there are over 30,000 different species of wasp and 20,000 species of bee. The variety of bees is just astonishing: 7 different families, some social, some solitary. So many of them are ‘cuckoo’ as well – they use the nests of other bees and leave these bees to take care of their young. It’s honestly amazing.
Urban haven
And finally, one of my favourite highlights of the month. When you live in the countryside, it’s easy to forget that wildlife can still flourish in more urban settings.
In fact, I was lucky enough to spot a variety of wild creatures in an urban paradise on the outskirts of London towards the end of the month. In the middle of a business park in Hayes – near a very modern Travelodge – there’s a wildlife haven that leads to the Grand Union Canal. On this stretch, I saw a heron, green woodpecker, common tern, ringlets, commas, meadow browns, canada geese, coots, moorhens, a whitethroat and countless wildflowers. It was a beautiful place to walk.
I hope you had a good June – here’s my full wild list
Week 22 (cont.)
Weds 1st June: I was stopped in my tracks this morning on my way to my favourite place by some beautiful roses climbing up a wall.
Thurs 2nd June: Enjoyed the sights of the Leeds-Liverpool canal near my hometown. And, in particular, seeing the old railway bridge where my grandma’s dog used to pull me up to the top on the lead.
Fri 3rd June: Spotted some mandarin duck ducklings on the canal!
Sat 4th June: Bought a barn owl card from a local artist – I’ve seen the local barn owl so many times!
Sun 5th June: Delved into the online world to work out what kind of bee I’d seen on a flower in the garden – I think it was an early bee.
Week 23
Mon 6th June: Had a post-work walk around Shipston with a friend 🙂
Tues 7th June: Learnt a lot more about bees in ‘Buzz’ today by Thor Hanson. They evolved from wasps don’t ya know!
Weds 8th June: Took a moment to watch the swans and cygnets at work on a pond.
Thurs 9th June: Tested my tree knowledge on walk to Honington: lime, sycamore, elder, oak, weeping willow, ash, field maple.
Fri 10th June: Indulged in some birdsong on a morning walk – the whitethroat stole the show!
Sat 11th June: Read a BBC Wildlife Magazine article about Britain’s temperate rainforests. It reminded me of a wood I visited in Wales a while ago – Cwm Mynach.
Sun 12th June: Spotted a caterpillar near some scrubland on the outskirts of Shipston. My research suggested it was an oak eggar moth caterpillar.
Week 24
Mon 13th June: Sat in the garden and did some mindfulness this afternoon.
Tues 14th June: Read an extract of Gilbert White’s observations of swifts in Patrick Barkham’s ‘The Wild Isles’.
Weds 15th June: Treated the pot plants to an evening drink. Boy did they need it!
Thurs 16th June: Spent some time on my slow-moving pencil drawing of a snail. Working on this really helps me to slow down.
Fri 17th June: Enjoyed watching the local house martins fluttering and chortling around. We’re so lucky to have them in our neighbourhood.
Sat 18th June: Channeled some wildlife inspiration and worked on a pied wagtail ink drawing today while the air temperature plummeted by 10C!
Sun 19th June: Enjoyed a trip to Brandon Marsh this morning (common terns and chicks, reed warblers) and ended the day with ‘Honington Open Gardens’ where I saw a hummingbird hawkmoth!
Week 25
Mon 20th June: Went butterfly-spotting to kick off National Insect Week. I saw: a painted lady, small coppers, common blues and meadow browns.
Tues 21st June: Witnessed a kestrel chasing away a buzzard from a tree near the Stour. I wonder if the kestrel has a nest somewhere…
Weds 22nd June: Enjoyed watching a montage of the Leamington peregrines. Unfortunately, the male didn’t make it but the three females fledged successfully.
Thurs 23rd June: Practiced some more mindfulness in the meadow – the smell of the wheat really stood out.
Fri 24th June: Explored some urban wildlife near Hayes. Lots of wild flowers, heron, ringlet, comma, swift, moorhen, coot, swan, song thrush.
Sat 25th June: Enjoyed some wildlife-inspired art at the London Museum today. One pot with a bird on it apparently dated back to the 1200s!
Sun 26th June: Some more urban wildlife at Regent’s Park – the meadow brown was the key player here!
Week 26
Mon 27th June: Spotted a beautiful dragonfly on a short walk around Shipston – according to the British Dragonfly Society, it’s a female southern hawker.
Tues 28th June: More wildflowers today. I even managed to identify them correctly from memory – knapweed and birds foot trefoil.
Weds 29th June: A walk around the meadow brought a linnet this morning! The sun was shining on him and his bright rosy head and breast beamed.
Thurs 30th June: I ended 30 days wild with a bit of watercolour – inspired by the knapweed and birds foot trefoil. What a month!
Ramblings of a (very!) amateur artist 