#30Dayswild - Day Nine.

Went for a walk today from Watton-at-stone to Hertford. Quite an eventful day,but I don't have time this evening to write it up fully now.

Some photos to be going on with:

#30DaysWild - Day Eight

Today I tried to attach a hand-lens to my phone and use the camera to take macro photos, for those occasions when I don't have my camera with me.

The results were not great, but they could provide a useful close up of a necessary diagnostic feature.

Herb robert.

Rosemary beetle.

Herb bennet.

#30DaysWild -Day Seven.

Training today in Hatfield.

On my way back, while waiting at the station, I did a quick survey of the 'weeds' growing by the trackside.

     


They included:  Sycamore, bramble, ragwort, buddleia, nipplewort, ribwort plantain, field maple, purple toadflax, herb bennet, cherry, herb robert, willowherb, ox-eye daisy, toadflax, poplar, dog rose, hop, berberis and hazel.

#30DaysWild - Day Six

I spent an hour around midnight at work sitting outside in the dark. Chatting with workmates and watching bats just above our heads. Three times we heard an owl call (toowitt, not toowooh!)

#30DaysWild - Day Five.

I was far too busy today to do much of anything wild other than a snatched, peaceful half-hour spoon carving in my back garden, listening to my local blackbird singing and watching swifts fling themselves about the sky.


Also I went online and downloaded a prospectus for the Open University. I intend to begin a degree in biology this autumn, so studying the wild and coming to understand better my place in the natural world.

#30DaysWild Day four.

I had to do a few errands around town today. I decided to take some photographs in the town centre gardens as I was nearby.

The park is always neat and tidy as there is a crew of volunteers who work with the council to maintain it. There are three 'neglected' areas in the park. One is a deliberate wildflower meadow which adjoins the swimming pool. One has a woodland glade feel and the third is a genuinely neglected strip of land adjacent to a path.

Overgrown flower bed.

Woodland glade. In early spring it has cultivated daffodils,
crocus and winter aconite. Now a sea of cow parsley.

Spear thistle (one of my favourite plants)
about to bloom in the neglected bed.

Woodland glade.

Later I walked by the Stevenage Brook  along London Road.
 Parts of the very artificial banks are awash with hawkweed and ox-eye daisys.

Hopefully the temperature will rise during the days ahead and I can shift my focus to invertebrates. I want to learn much more about them this year. 

I particularly like bees and dragonflies, but they all look the same to me.

#30DaysWild Day Three

I wish that I had planned in advance how to mark Thirty Days Wild. As it is I'm making it up as I go along.

I am already pretty much an outdoor/nature enthusiast. My favourite activity is to visit somewhere new, interesting or beautiful; or, even better, all three. Even something as simple as reading a book is better when done out of doors.

Today I  was working another thirteen hour shift. I decided to photograph the garden of my workplace. There is a formal and fenced garden for the residents. Outside this is a green space which is neglected by humans and dominated by rabbits. This is where I usually take my breaks. I focused on the lawn which is so heavily rabbit-grazed that it is only mown once per year.A close look reveals that , although green, this lawn is mostly formed of moss. I know very little about moss, except that it is beautiful close-up. My camera cannot cope with such close range shots, so here are some of the herbs living in the 'lawn'.

Ground ivy.

Stinging nettle.

Daisy.

Is this ragwort?

Sow thistle.

Spear thistle.

A cultivated geranium escaped from the flower beds.

An Alchemilla.

White bryony.

There was also field forget-me-not, but the photos were not in focus. 

So if you want to plant up a garden that won't be wrecked by rabbits, these are my suggestions!

#30dayswild Day Two.

Today I set off on my cycle to work a little earlier so that I could use a much more pleasant and nature friendly route. I took photos along the way:

Embankment mown only a few times a year. Plants include buttercup, yarrow, ox-eye daisy, knapweed, clover and even fennel.

Meadway, an old road, now free of motor traffic.

Further along, evidence of long ceased hedge-laying.

Symonds Green Common. The west side, adjacent to the
pub, is kept closely mown. West of the road the grass
grows long and is a haunt of crickets and grasshoppers.
 

Two ponds on the common. They flanked the
entrance road to now demolished farm buildings.

Symonds Green Common.

The lane continues, joining Hitchin Road at Coreys Mill.