30 Days Wild: Idea 22-Get closer to the grass

Previous years I’ve walked barefoot on the grass but as Alice doesn’t like going barefoot very much we’ve just looked today at getting closer to the ground. While she might not like going barefoot she is quite happy rolling it and sniffing it.

Grass has many potential benefits. It can improve air quality by capturing carbon and it acts as a pollution filter. Areas of grass stay cooler than many hard surfaces. Then there are the mental benefits of green spaces. Green spaces can lower blood pressure and help mental well-being. Well worth celebrating and getting a bit closer with to connect with.

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30 days of wild: Idea 18-Listen to birdsong

With the break in the rain, the birds are back out in force. The dusk chorus has been singing away and it was a joy to listen to.  Taking a few minutes to sit and listen to birdsong is a simple pleasure but a very enjoyable one. Earlier in the year, the RSPB put birdsong in the chart with let nature sing. If for some reason you are unable to get outside or to a spot you can hear birdsong through this track and it gives a donation to the RSPB.

While it is nice to hear the songs I’ve been working on tuning into the bird’s songs to be able to identify through their sound. The RSPB has a new book and CD set out to help identify birdsong. Earlier in the year, I was gifted this lovely set that gives details of each bird then has tracks it plays through a built-in speaker.

For a free option, the long-running BBC Tweet of the day gives you a way to gradually build your knowledge. There is a massive back catalogue of episodes to listen to all for free. With many people following this blog for my gardening content you may enjoy Monty Don on the return of the swallows.

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30 Days Wild: Idea 17-pick up litter

Today might not be the most glamorous act of wild but it can make a huge difference. Wildlife can suffer very badly with waste humans have left. More an more plastic has made it into our oceans. It is now thought that this may be having an impact on us through the water we drink and the food we eat.

Just picking up one or two pieces of rubbish during the day could save an animal. My local community is aiming for the plastic-free beach. They have set up a beach hut where on weekends you can go pick up a litter picker and a bucket to collect. Across the country, there are many 2-minute beach clean stands. I keep a set of work gloves under the pram for if we find anything on our strolls. It doesn’t take any time out of the day but helps make a difference to the community and wildlife. Our beaches are much cleaner since these initiatives began. On recent strolls, I’ve hardly found anything. The main find being cig butts.

30 Days of Wild: Idea 16-Download the app

So we are halfway through 30 days if you’re short of ideas you could try and download the 30 days app. I downloaded the app today in seconds. It then gives you a suggestion of something to do. f you don’t like it you can select again. It then gives options to share what you’ve done by taking a photo or sharing on social media.

Today it gave me this idea.

A quick trip out into the front garden I discovered a fern growing up the cracks in the brick wall. I think it’s some form of Asplenium it is slowly colonising the cracks. We are looking to rebuild the wall so I may have to try and transplant this to another spot.

The top of the wall has patches of moss. If you stop and take the time to observe moss it is rather interesting with a soft carpet of green and red spikes coming out.

Very quick task but satisfying achieving.

A lot of people expressed concern about the seagull chick in my garden featured on yesterday Six on Saturday. It has moved around to the back garden where it has found a number of spots it can hide from the rain. I’ve seen the neighbours cats in at the same time and so far it isn’t bothering the chick. It has found one of the apples I put out for the blackbirds and seems happy tucking into this for breakfast.

Enjoy your Sundays. The weather is looking a bit better and might be able to get outside a bit more.

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30 Days Wild: Idea 15-Butterfly banquet

Today’s idea will get some use out of any overripe fruit. We buy in a lot of fruit for Alice but as her tastes shift from one week to the next we find we usually have a bit left over. Bananas are commonly left over.

The peel is cut and put under the flowering shrubs. The hydrangeas seem to benefit from the extra nutrients. They don’t show under the hydrangea as it has thick enough growth.

Then the banana I put out in a bowl. As it ripens the smell brings in many insects but butterflies particularly like this. Red admirals seem to be the commonest visitor I attract.

Last year grapes brought in many visitors. This idea works well in Autumn when many of the flowers are fading away and the butterflies have few choices available.

If you give this a try. Have some patience. The butterflies seem to like it as it gets well past the point we’d eat it.

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30 Days Wild: Day 13-snap something blue

For today’s 30 days wild idea I’ve gone with an easy one I’ve done in previous years. Try to take a photo of something blue. If it’s a nice day you hopefully have the easy option of a quick photo of the sky.

Or how about a cornflower.

Or spend a bit of time chasing damselflies trying for a photo.

What can you find in nature that is blue today?

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30 Days Wild: day 12-bug hotel

For day 12 of 30 days wild, I am encouraging you to get out and build a bug hotel. There are loads of ways to do this and it is great fun. It makes for great fun with the kids. Alice helps maintain mine and I’ve made ones in school as well. By building you potentially create a home for hedgehogs, toads, bees, woodlice, beetles and many more.

For an easy option stack pallets. Fill with wood, sticks, leaves and grass cuttings to provide opportunities for many species. Here is one at our local community Floral Hall.

Mine was made with bricks and decking tiles. The bricks were largely free from Facebook. The decking tiles about a tenner for the lot. So, it isn’t a great expense for a solid structure for the garden.

Alternatively, you could buy ones to hang from the fence. Some of the commercial varieties have issues with splinters and tubes too small or too big for local insect life so read advice and try and buy quality. Increasingly, we get gifted bug houses. The most recent was this nice butterfly house. My butterfly houses have only ever attracted spiders but it isn’t doing any harm having them on the fence.

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