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

Day 21 - 30 Days Wild - Leaping lizards at lunchtime!

* Today's random act of wildness - Lunchtime river walk *

Day 21 - In work and going to an art exhibition tonight so managed to get out lunchtime with Dan and had a walk along the River Tawe. There was a specific spot I remember last year that was full of bee orchids so that's what we went looking for.

We started looking for the flowers and found alot of different insects along the way including the following...

Swollen Thighed Beetle (female)
Thanks to Paul Sergeant & Adele Price for helping me ID this 

Common Blue Butterfly

Ringlet Butterfly

Some small Aphid bug (needs IDing)

There were no sign of the orchids, but judging by the pic below (which is from my 2015 blog) I saw them on the 10th June last year - so I must have either left it too late or they haven't flowered yet. A bit disappointed because they are lovely to see, but the disappointment didn't last long when we stumbled across this gorgeous fellow...

Bee Orchid from last year

Leaping lizards! Look what we found on our lunch break...I have never seen these guys so near to Swansea City Centre, but they were just off the cycle path near quite a built up area. Such a pleasant surprise and  I wonder how many others there are?

Gorgeous lizard

Here's a closeup!

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, so a HUGE thank you to my other half Dan for helping me out with his camera.

Day 5 - 30 Days Wild - Birds, Butterflies & Bunnies

*Today's random act of wildness - Birds, Butterflies & Bunnies*

Day 5 of #30DaysWild and another scorching day in South Wales with temperatures reaching 20°C.

We (Dan and I) decided we didn't want to travel far so we visited The Quays, Briton Ferry, Neath Port Talbot. It'a an interesting place on the mouth of the River Neath where it enters Swansea Bay. There are lots of industrial buildings there, but also a sand dune system called 'Baglan Burrows' - it's a real shame that this is not a SSSI like Crymlyn Burrows which is just across the river as we saw lots of wildlife in the few hours we were there.

I read on Facebook a few weeks ago a short eared owl was spotted here, so that was our aim to look out for that. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the owl, but we saw lots of other birds & bugs instead...

Here's Wildling enjoying the view of the docks and the river Neath


BIRDS...

I am not sure if this is a linnet or a twite? If anyone knows can you help me out

Female Stonechat

Male Stonechat

Goldfinch

Male Stonechat

Female Linnet

Male Linnet

Oystercatchers nesting in industrial water pipes

Other birds we saw but didn't get pics are heron, blackbird, sparrow, blue tit, song thrush, gulls, starlings, jackdaws, carrion crow, meadow pipit, swallow and a very surprising lapwing.

BUTTERFLIES...

What a find - a Mother Shipton moth - The moth is named after Old Mother Shipton, a 16th century Yorkshire witch. 
Thanks to Stuart Pike for his help in identify it - check out his #30DaysWild blog here

Common Blue

Painted Lady

Small Blue

Common Blue 

Common Blue female butterfly

Small white moth

Lackey moth caterpillars (lots of them!)

BUNNIES!

Bunnies (Lots!)

Even more bunnies!

My partner in crime Dan ❤ - who is also doing #30DaysWild through his Flickr account
Check it out here!

Day 14 - 30 Days Wild - A nature walk along Neath canal

On Sunday (Day 14) we decided to have a long walk along my local canal. Before we got to the main canal path we climbed up a nearby woodland where we saw the kestrel on day 3.

We had literally only been up there for 10 minutes when there he was, hovering overhead! We could barely believe it - unfortunately the sun was quite strong so all the pics I took of him are just silhouettes, but nevertheless there he was!

The kestrel

In the woodland there are lots of trees and flowers which were teeming with butterflies, birds and moths. Here are just a few of what I could get photos of...

Skipper moth & leaf beetle

Six spot burnet moth

Silver y moth

Coal tit

Jay

Dunnock

Eventually we made it down from the woodland to start our canal walk and were so happy with what we had already seen. The walk we were now going to do was along Neath canal and then back again. 

Once again there was an abundance of nature in the water and along the banks. The amount of insects we discovered was mind blowing!

Lilies on Neath canal

Speckled brown butterfly

Red admiral butterfly

Common blue male butterfly

Common Blue female butterfly

Common carder bee

Blue damselflies mating (look at the heart x)

A variation of the non-native harlequin ladybird

Red tailed bumblebee

There were also lots of different birds in nearby trees and bushes...

Swallows

Robin

Chiffchaff

Bulfinch

Collared dove

...and so many young birds in the water too including moorhens and their chicks!

Two moorhen chicks

A moorhen chick balancing on a lily pad.

Mum and chick and a photobomb from a damselfly on the right

One of the main reasons we visit the canal is to see the swans and the cygnets. The seven cygnets (there were nine originally) are almost five weeks old and growing at a rapid rate!

I bought them premium duck and swan food and they loved it! Dad was a bit cheeky by demanding to be fed by hand, but we made sure everyone had a fair share. 

Dan feeds the swans and here is mum catching it in her beak.

The swan family with dad leading the way.

One of the cygnets with some new head gear!

There was lots of other activity in the canal, including tadpoles that have not got both back and front legs and, unbelievably, terrapins! We had no idea they resided in these waters, but a man saw us taking pics and pointed them out to us - there were three altogether and they were all basking in the sun! 

Tadpoles are almost frogs with tails!

One of the terrapins basking in the lilies.

Apart from the terrapins on of the strangest things I witnessed on our walk was a white spider! After a bit of research I found out that it's a crab spider. What's fascinating about them is they can change their colour to match their background (this can take days to so). The crab spider sits on flowers waiting for insects to land close by, and then pounces on them - trapping them between their crab-like front legs. I have never seen one before and what a strange creature to witness.

Crab Spider

What an amazing walk for day 14 this was and altogether we had walked 0ver ten miles! It just blows me away how many different species are on our doorsteps and I still get excited when I discover something I have never seen before.