30 Days Wild - Days 7 to 12 - Travelling

I'm continuing with 30 days wild. My first post was about me squeezing time out of a very busy week to see wildlife that had squeezed itself into our lives.  I'm juggling my time between Uckfield and Birmingham but my journey is nothing compared to that of some creatures, which travel enormous distances.



Sunday, June 7th

A week into 30 days wild, I finally some quality time in our garden. As I was trimming back the foliage threatening to overwhelm our windows I loved hearing the bees buzzing and the church bells ringing.

Tree bumblebee on ceanothus.

Many of the bees were tree bumblebees. BWARS tells us that these bees were first recorded in Britain in 2001. Since them they have travelled throughout Britain.

Monday, June 8th

I found a nest and attentive woodpigeon well camouflaged by the shadows of our robinia tree.

A homely woodpigeon with its nest hidden amongst exotic robinia flowers.

Tuesday, June 9th

The river Uck runs alongside our little station. Just before I got on the train, I enjoyed a serene moment watching the ducks.  I had a chat with a fellow commuter who had just been watching a pair of grey wagtails working their way along a ledge near the edge of the platform. We discussed the lack of insects this year and how some exotic ducks have joined forces with our local mallards.

Ducks on the Uck.

Most of the time, I was busy reading documents on my laptop but I was able to glance out of the window and enjoy nature as I travelled. As we pulled into Buxted, I spotted a herd of fallow deer. A carpet of wild flowers was an unexpected treat at Milton Keynes.

Carpet of wild flowers seen from train window at Milton Keynes.

Later, when I looked out of the window of my Birmingham hotel room, I was astounded to see house martins darting around almost at eye level. These little birds will have travelled from Africa and are nesting under the eves of the hotel.

Wednesday, June 10th

On Wednesday morning I got up early and dropped my laptop off in the office and settled down by a nearby pond to watch this little slice of nature wake up.

Just a few steps but a world away from the office.

The first birds I saw were a moorhen and two chicks. Then a coot, dabbling under the surface for its waterweed breakfast.

Rushes provide perfect cover for coots and other birds.

As a female tufted duck ventured across the pond a furious coot appeared out of nowhere. Maybe it was defending a nest?  As I returned to the office, a rabbit lolloped into the bushes.

Thursday, June 11th

On the way out of the Arden, I spotted one of the house martins zoom into a nest made from a thousand beakfulls of mud. I stacked my baggage by the kerb and watched them for a while. As passenger jets roared into the air behind them, about half a dozen of these African visitors seemed to dance in the air by the hotel.

Arrivals.



Departures.

 

Friday, June 12th

Today's wildlife moment was sad but gave me a chance to get close to something lovely. A blackbird had hit one of our windows and died. I was able to examine his subtly coloured plumage and vivid yellow beak. There was a perfect graduation from the tiny soft feathers on his back to the long flight feathers on the tips of his wings.


Blackbird wing.

Of course, my drawing doesn't do the blackbird justice but spending time trying to copy the shapes of the feathers gave me time to appreciate just how lovely this fallen angel was and how perfectly birds have evolved for flying.

So the last few days have been about appreciating how good wild creatures are at travelling. They may be tiny compared to our trains and jets but they are never stopped by a signal failure or lost baggage.

30 Days Wild - Days 1 to 6 - Squeezing in

When I first heard about 30 Days Wild, a challenge in which you do something wildlife related, my heart leapt. Then it sank. I knew it was starting on the 1st of June, the Monday of what was going to be an exceptionally busy week. Surely I would never be able to fit it in.  I decided it would do no harm to try and squeeze in some nature observations while I went about my working week.

Monday, June 1st

I took my phone meeting in the garden. Buzzing bees and chattering sparrows are nicer than a screeching printer! I saw white-tailed bumble bees like the one shown, a tree bumblebee and a marmalade hoverfly on the weigela next to the bench I perched on for the call.

White-tailed bumblebee on the weigela next to our garden bench.

Tuesday, June 2nd

Just before leaving for Birmingham I tweeted that I was feeling and hearing the awesome power of the wind as I watch it toss oak branches. When it became apparent that - in the words of Southern "Tree on the line in the #ForestHill area which has caused damage to a Train as well as some damage to a rail." and that London Bridge was partly closed causing significant delays - I was less impressed.

Wednesday, June 3rd

I enjoyed watching house martins under the eves of my Birmingham hotel.

House martins' nests under the eves of The Arden.

This seemed a particularly miraculous "spot" as the hotel is adrift in a business park bounded by a dual carriageway, a mainline railway and the airport. As I walked to work, I noticed that one of the office buildings had house martins darting under a ledge. I met a fellow hotel guest, who was watching these birds and told him about the hotel nests. In return he showed me photos he had taken in his home country and told me about the birds he had seen in pond at the back of our building.

 

Thursday, June the 4th

Thursday was always going to be tough. I didn't have time during the day and I got home about 8:30pm.  After watching Springwatch and the continuing saga of Spineless Si the stickleback (this clip shows Si before he got his colouring from about 0:15), it was lovely listening to the birds singing their twilight songs while looking at Jupiter in the West.

Friday, June the 5th

I enjoyed running my hands over the craggy textures of a birch tree too big to get my arms round.

 

Birch bark

Saturday, June the 6th

 

I needed to go down the town anyway so decided to make a detour so I could walk through Lime Tree Avenue where I enjoyed the play of light through the leaves of ancient Limes.

Lime leaves.


I also swung through the Hempstead Meadow nature reserve. I remembered being told there were sticklebacks in the stream and decided to look for them. I found one drab-looking fish and a tiny baby in a rather muddy pool populated with skeeters, whirligig beetles and tadpoles.  Then I saw Uckfield's very own Stickleback Si near some flag irises. I could see his red tummy and I was delighted to see him duck into his tunnel nest for a moment. I also found myself explaining about the sticklebacks to a couple of walkers who were wondering why a middle-aged woman was sprawled over the bridge with her head through the bars.

 

Flag Irises near the stickleback stream.

So the first six days was about grabbing bits of time and having a fellow feeling for the wildlife that has squeezed itself into our lives by finding a niche in our built environment or occupying the slivers of land left when the estates grew up around avenues of trees and water meadows.