30 Wild Days
Just over a month ago I wrote a blog post stating I would be giving the Wildlife Trusts 30 Days Wild a go, and I certainly succeeded in having 30 wild days, although not all of them in quite the way I had intended.
I knew it was going to be a busy month as I was starting a new job, luckily that is not something which automatically robs me of opportunities to 'go wild'. In fact it requires me to do so because I am working on a large scale moorland restoration project in the Peak District National Park. As part of 'work' over the last month I have spent a day on Kinder Scout, visited Bleaklow, Saddleworth Moor and various other places. While I've been working I've seen Mountain Hare, Common Lizards, Bilberry Bumblebee, Cranberry, Red Grouse, Wood Tiger Moths, Small Heath Butterflies and many many other species.
In my still ongoing work at The Riddy Wood Project I found more Lesser Stag Beetles, loads of Toads and plenty of Mosquitoes (I wasn't looking for these!). I also started the work on a 'classroom' which will enable us to provide better environmental education opportunities.
I also had a chance early in the month to spend some time down on the Suffolk coast, and got to see among other things loads of Fallow Deer, loads of grass hoppers in the short heathland grass, a common seal at a tiny little coastal village, the first 'proper' sighting I've ever had of a seal and (another first) a ruby-tailed Wasp. Sadly no pictures of the last two.
What I haven't had a lot of time to do was to photograph these experiences, or to write about them! As such this blog post isn't quite what I had hoped for at the start of the month... but I certainly had a wild month. Going forward I'll be trying my best to #staywild, which is what the Wildlife Trust are now encouraging people as a follow on from the efforts in June,
Maybe I'll be better at writing about that...
Richard
