Day 27 - 30 Days Wild - Foxes in the churchyard...

* Today's random act of wildness - Exploring a churchyard *

Day 27 of 30 Days Wild - oh no, only 3 days left after today :(

In South Wales there are many graveyards and sadly many of them are neglected and over run with foliage. With so many plants and grass left to grow unattended there is no doubt that these sacred grounds must be teeming with nature.

I asked a few local people on Facebook which ones they felt were worth visiting for wildlife and I had a long list back, which was quite sad really that these once beautiful maintained areas are now left to the elements.

After work we went to the graveyard on Carmarthen Rd, Swansea to see what we could see. Unfortunately we couldn't access the place - it was so overgrown we couldn't see the paths for the graves - so we decided to leave this one.

A graveyard on Carmarthen Road, Swansea - not accessible due to the overgrown foliage

Gravestone lost under the brambles

Next stop was a church about 10 minutes drive away where the graveyard was full of bramble, balsam and other creeping plants. It was hard to see some of the gravestones due to the ivy, but there were indeed an array of insects. Many wildflowers were growing among the graves including clover, vetch & daisies - which brought the bees, wasps and butterflies. Here are some of the insects and flowers we found...

Purple Vetch

Clover

Bee on Yellow Vetch

Large Bee on nettle 

Insect needs IDing

Ringlet Butterfly

Micro Moth

The time was about 6.30pm when we reached the middle of the graveyard and we noticed a flash of orange through the long grass - as we got nearer we realised there was a beautiful red fox there just chilling out. We were very quiet and managed to get a few photos including a big yawn, we must have stood there for about 30 seconds until it spotted us and then it was gone. What a treat!

Red Fox just chilling out.

Big yawn!

The undergrowth began to get a lot thicker and harder to navigate so we made our way back to the car and drove home. In the evening I finished my kingfisher painting and was over whelmed by the response on Facebook when I posted it on there - over 450 likes is mind blowing and made me realise that perhaps I should have more confidence in my work and maybe consider selling them :)

My watercolour of a kingfisher - June 2016