There is a wolf in my garden!

Lockdown Garden Wildlife - Day 82

Date:  13 June 2020

Location:  Garden, Neath, South Wales
Weather:  Quite warm but cloudy

Who would have thought there were wolves in my garden? Well the Wolf Spider! There are lots of them out at the moment basking in the sun and most of them are carrying egg sacs. They are agile hunters with excellent eyesight and mostly live in solitude and hunt alone. 

Wolf spiders carrying their egg sacks

Wolf spiders are unique in the way they carry their eggs in a sac at the end of their abdomen. Once the spiderlings emerge they clamber up their mother's leg and crowd together on her. They are carried around for several weeks before they are large enough to disperse and fend for themselves. No other spiders are currently know to carry their young on their backs.

(Above and below) Wolf spider with spiderlings

A walk down the canal

Date:  2 June 2020 (Day 2 of #30DaysWild 2020)

Location:  Jersey Canal, Briton Ferry
Weather:  Sunny, warm...beautiful :)

Today was the first time I ventured out for a walk since lock-down. I feel ashamed as I have a beautiful canal less than 5 minutes from my home and only today I went down there.

Today was also the first time Dan could come around and sit in the garden since lock-down. It was such a great feeling being outdoors among nature. The canal as changed a lot since I was last there. The paths have been resurfaced and even the dirt path towards Neath is now paved. 

We took the path towards the old Wern works and it wasn't long before we spotted our first bird: The moorhen, she was with two chicks walking among the lily pads (that were flowering and look splendid).

Moorhen

Moorhen chick

We walked a bit further and spotted the swans with their 2 week old cygnets. they were really close to the bank and we were unable to see or get good pictures of them, so we decided to keep walking and hoped we would get better views on the way back. We did spot some domestic ducks, mallard and more juvenile moorhens. Plus some horses grooming each other!

Domestic ducks

Female Mallard with juvenile Moorhen

Horses grooming each other

After we walked past the horses I looked back and took a shot of the canal..it truly is a beautiful place. Our next stop was the big rock (nb: trying to find out some history regarding this rock, is it there for a reason? let me know), I always look in here to see if there is any fish or tadpoles.

The beautiful canal

The large rock...why is it here? Is it some sort of sundial or just decorative?

It was nice to see none of the foliage had been cut back so time to explore for bugs...I didn't see many butterflies just a Small Blue and a Meadow Brown. I did see a few dragonflies and damselflies, but couldn't get a pic of either. I also spotted a ladybird larvae on some brambles. 

Small Blue Butterfly

Meadow Brown Butterfly

Seven spotted ladybird larvae

Interesting rock face

Just before the end of the canal is the old Wern Works. There were a few deliberate entrances so I managed to get a pic of the colourful graffiti inside. In March there had been an illegal rave in there where more than 200 people joined together for an all-night rave. You can read the article here: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/briton-ferry-rave-wern-works-17845656

The old Wern factory

The canal pretty much ends here so we turned around and walked back. We was so happy to see the swans were now on the bank and you could see the parents and 7 cygnets clearly. We never brought any food, but it wasn't long before someone arrived and they all made a beeline to her for their supper :)

Check out this video too: https://www.facebook.com/SandraEvansArt/videos/256752082243500/

So this was pretty much the end of our first walk in three months. It was lovely to be out, exploring and taking photos of what we find. I am hoping to pop down once a week to see how the swans are getting on :)