Day 6 - The Blue Tit - 30 Days Wild 2017

 

Day 4: Star Species

Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)

The last few days I have had a few Blue Tits visiting the garden with their three fledglings. It was another horrible cold day today, but managed to get a few snaps of the fledglings in my neighbours tree.

More about them - The Blue Tit is a colourful little bird; made up of a mix of blue, yellow, white and green. It was one of the most regular garden birds with numbers increasing in the UK. 98% of British gardens have reported having a Blue Tit in them, especially in winter.

They usually breed the third week of April and can lay anything from 7 to 13 eggs. The chicks hatch naked and blind and as they grow the parents have the hard task to feed them. Their main diet at this age is caterpillars and each chick can eat up to 100 caterpillars each day; if there's 10 chicks that's 1000 caterpillars a day!

When they ready to fledge it becomes am extrememly dangerous time for them. They will stay with the parents for a few weeks and learn how to find food and avoid predators quickly. Unfortunately starvation kills many young birds after fledging and the domestic cat is a major cause of mortality.

Fledgling in the tree (notice how it's cheeks are yellow, not white like the adult)

Interesting Facts:

• An excited blue tit can be recognised by erect, short crest on the nape.
• Hawks, sparrows, magpies and cats are predators of adult birds, while squirrels also attack chicks.

Day 5- World Environment Day - 30 Days Wild 2017

Day 5: World Environment Day

Unfortunately no 'Star Species' today; the rain hasn't stopped all day. it's really cold and very windy too. Is it June? You could have fooled me!

I was stressing what to do for today's #30DaysWild so I discovered it was 'World Environment Day'. I haven't picked up a pencil or paintbrush for the last few months, so I took the plunge and created a quick sketch.

World Environment Day is one of the biggest annual events for positive environmental action, it takes place on the 5th June every year.  The theme this year was 'connecting people to nature'; this is to encourage people to get outdoors and appreciate nature's beauty and importance (very similar to what #30DaysWild are doing).

Day 4 - The Small Magpie - 30 Days Wild 2017

Day 4: Star Species

Small Magpie (Anania hortulata)

Dicovered a small moth in the garden today, did a bit of research and discovered it is called the 'small magpie' moth. 

More about them - There are 2 magpie moths in the UK. The one I spotted is the 'small magpie' which is classed as a micro moth. It's common in Southern England and Wales, although it is the first time I have spotted one in my garden. A day flying moth that spends a lot of it's time in nettles and mint plants.

Interesting Facts:

• The small magpie moth gets its name from the black and white markings on the wings.
• The caterpillars remain hidden from predators by feeding inside a rolled up leaf.

Day 3 -The Spoonbill - 30 Days Wild 2017

Day 3: Star Species

Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

For the last few weeks there have been numerous sightings of Spoonbills in my local Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust in Llanelli. Infact at one point there were 4 - making it a centre record. The Spoonbill is very uncommon and I was lucky to spot a few on my Day 3 of 30 Days Wild: making it my Star Species of the day!

More about them - This species is almost unmistakable to identify. Almost as big as a heron, these tall white birds have long black legs and an impressive long spatulate bill. The adults have a black bill with a yellow tips, whilst the juvenile has more of a pink coloured bill.

They feed in an elegant way, sweeping their bills back and fro in the water for food. Their diet consists of mainly aquatic insects, newts, frogs, tadpoles, crustaceans and small fish. Check out the below video of a juvenile and adult spoonbill searching for food (check out the colour of their bills.)

The spoonbill is a regular but scarce bird in the UK. They were once hunted so heavily that they were virtually wiped out of Britain.  Numbers are increasing though, in 2005, there were under 20 of them but in 2016, their numbers have grown to over 60. 

This is a juvenile spoonbill with a few black headed gulls & lapwings

Amazing spoon-like bills!

Interesting Facts:

• The latin name: Platalea means 'broad' referring to the shape of the bill. Leukos 'white' and erodias 'heron' - Broad white heron.
• In October 2014 - A rare sighting of the largest flock of Spoonbills ever seen in Britain was recorded. 47 birds were sighted at Brownsea Island Lagoon in Dorset. 

Day 2 - The Starling - 30 Days Wild 2017

Day 2: Star Species

Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

Love them or loathe them there is no denying the starling is an amazing bird and regulars in my garden. For many years they have been coming everyday and around about this time every year the kids join them! Today I spent almost all day trying to catch a pair of blue tits with 3 fledglings on camera, but they were proving difficult - so instead I want to concentrate on the starling and the first starling fledgling that showed up today.

More about them - A lot of people think starlings are just dark, dull birds but if you really look at a starling (especially in sunlight) you will be surprised how beautifully colourful it is: glossy with a sheen of purples and greens (see for yourself with the below video...)

Juveniles however are dull brown in colour, some with a pale throat. They moult completely in the autumn to reveal the spotty adult plumage. The chicks are fed an all-invertebrate diet by both parents before and after they fly the nest in around May. 

Adult & juvenile together

Unfortunately Starlings have had something of a bad press. Some people see these birds are bullies and noisy, plus when they visit gardens in groups means they can empty bird tables in minutes, making them appear greedy. I on the other hand welcome them and love to see them. 

Starling singing it's creative song "whistle, click, whistle..."

They are an extremely intelligent and adaptable bird that has the ability to mimic other bird calls and machines (such as car alarms and telephones) - they haven't really got a 'song' just a medley of squeaks, clicks and whistles.

"Safety in numbers..."

Murmurations - Have you ever seen a starling murmuration? If you have, you know how spectacular it is. If you haven't I can't recommend it enough - it's nature at it's best. Starlings are highly sociable and flocks of 1000s gather in the evening and perform fantastic aerobatic displays before dropping into their roost sites. They gather in these huge numbers for safety as predators (such as sparrowhawks) find it hard to pick out an individual bird - they also benefit by keeping warm amongst the other birds and exchange information.

Below is a video I filmed at The Wildlife Centre in Cilgerran a few years ago (a fabulous place to see the spectacle in the winter.)

"they need help..."

Unfortunately the number of starlings have dropped dramatically in the last 30 years - in the UK this result is almost an 80% population decrease. They are now on the red list and even though they still seem a garden regular they have decreased in other areas - they need help. There are several causes of the decline: including loss of invertebrates through the use of pesticides, fewer nesting sites in urban areas and changes in farming practices.

What can we do to help?

• Starlings eat lots of insects, so it's important you keep your lawn: they love leatherjackets (the larve of crane flies) and dig in the grass looking for them. 
• Plant a berry tree (such as an elder) - they love to eat the berries 
• Erect a large nest box with a 45mm diameter hole high up on a shady wall of your house. 

Some of my regulars on a neighbour's aerial

Interesting Facts:

• The word 'murmuration' is used to describe their aerial display, but originally referred to the sound of wings rippling through the flock.
• Do you know how starlings got their name? In winter starlings have lots of pale spots all over their dark bodies. The white spots on dark plumage were thought to look like the night sky - so they were named 'Star'ling (sweet!).

Day 1 - The viviparous lizard - 30 Days Wild 2017

Day 1: Star Species

The viviparous lizard (Lacerta vivipara)

Today is fitting to focus on the viviparous lizard (common lizard) as my footage was featured on tonight's 'SpringWatch' - it was in the segment with Iolo Williams & Martin Hughes-Games talking about sand lizards in North Wales (Episode 4, 2017). 

Where I have seen them? I live in South Wales, near Swansea and I have seen lizards in many places. Along the Gower coast path, next to cycling paths and along boardwalks in nature reserves. Alot of people I know have never seen one, but if you know where to look (and the conditions are right) you can spot them quite easily.

More about them - The common lizard is the UK's most common and widespread reptile. It is found across many different habitats including moorland, woodland, sea cliffs, dry stone walls, urban areas and railway banks. If your garden backs onto any of these habitats then there's a good chance you could have these lizards living in it. They spend a lot of time basking in the sun to warm up enough to be able to hunt. Their prey usually consist of insects, spiders, snails and earthworms. Unfortunately they are vulnerable to a number of predators including foxes, crows and domestic cats.

"Creepy, but clever trick..."

If the lizard feels threatened by a predator then they have a creepy, but clever little trick called autotomy: this means they can shed their tail at will. The tail is able to move up to half an hour after separation, the idea is the predator will attack the wriggling tail, enabling the lizard to make a quick getaway. Here is a video (the one that appeared on Springwatch) of a lizard I came across last year which had done the exact thing...

Luckily the tail will regenerate and grow back - this usually leaves a scar and grows back a different colour and usually shorter.

Common lizards come in various colours (browns to grey) with darker markings along the back bordered. Males tend to be spotty and females tend to be stripy.

The young are mostly all black or brown.

The Common Lizard hibernates and after emerging the males defend breeding territories from other males. They mate in April or May - If the female is not interested she will bite the male fiercely. They mostly breed during April and May and they give birth to an average of seven live young. The adults can grow between 13-15cm and have a life span around 5-6 years.

Interesting Facts:

• The species is unusual among reptiles for 'giving birth' to live young rather than laying eggs. 
• Autotomy is from the Greek auto - "self and tome - "severing"  

30 Days Wild 2017 - Star Species

This will be my 3rd year to do the Wildlife Trust's  #30DaysWild challenge and I thought I would do something a bit different. 

 For 2017 I will be concentrating on one species a day and finding out lots of interesting facts about it. Whether it's a flower, mammal, bird, fungi, insect etc. I will try and discover (and hopefully photograph) something of interest daily and learn more about it by researching the internet and reading books. I will also try and create some artwork inspired by it using different mediums.

 So this year, my #30DaysWild will be all about #StarSpecies