Day 12 - 30 Days Wild - Exploring nature on my mum's birthday

* Today's random act of wildness - Nature with the family *

Sunday 12 June was my mum's birthday so myself, Dan, my sister and my mum went to a pub for Sunday Lunch. Dinner was nice (Butternut Squash lasagna) and after lunch we sat in the beer garden to see what 'wild' things we could see.

Beyond the garden is the River Afan and whilst my mum and sis were drinking their coffee we managed to spot Mallard, Wren, Robin and Grey Waytail.

Wren

Robin among holly (very festive in June!)

The River Afan

Grey Wagtail

Male & Female Mallard

After the pub we decided to go to one of my favourite nature reserves Parc Slip in Aberkenfig. The day had been quite dull, but now the sun was coming out and so did all the damselflies...hundreds of them! The feeder near the visitor centre was very active. Here's what we saw...

Siskin on the bird feeder

Chaffinch (male)

House Sparrows

Juvenile House Sparrow

Juvenile Robin

My mum, sister and Dan listening to recording about Parc Slip and the visitor centre in the background

Large Red Damselfly

Broad-Bodied Chaser (Male) Dragonfly

Male & Female Common Blue Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

Common Blue Damselfly

Common Blue Damselflies mating

Hoverfly

Stunning Common Lizard

Wildling admiring the lizard

Day 11 - 30 Days Wild - A trip to Crymlyn Bog, Swansea

* Today's random act of wildness - A meet up with my local Wildlife Trust group *

On Saturday 11 June, Dan and I met up with our local Wildlife Trust group (Swansea) to visit a local nature reserve - Crymlyn Bog, Swansea. It was a good turn out, about 20 people, and it was great walking around the reserve learning all about the plants and other wildlife that was there. Our guides were Wildlife Trust's Peter Hatherley & Tara Daniels, but we all helped each other identifying different things - all the people in the group were so friendly.

This is what we discovered...

flowers...

Southern Marsh Orchid

Marsh Lousewort (Thanks to Mark Barber for helping me ID it)

Common Cottongrass

Common Sundew

Marsh Cinqufoil

Ragged-Robin

Water Dropwort

The group walking along the boardwalks

insects...

Damselfly (needs Identifying)

Damselfly (needs Identifying)

Azure Damselfly

A funnel web created by the Labyrinth Spider

Beautiful jewel Dock Beetle

Dock Beetles mating

More Dock Beetles

Wolf Spider

Nettle Tap Moth (Thanks Dan Newton for helping my ID it)

Hoverfly

A species of Cranefly (?) mating

Sabre Wasp (correct me if I am wrong)

Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonfly (male)

Brown China-mark moth (Thanks Dan Newton for helping my ID it)

Some of the crowd exploring the reserve

birds...

A Song Thrush's egg - we found two on the floor, one was broken - who knows why they were there or what had stolen them from the nest.

Great Tit with it's dinner

It was a fantastic day out and even though the weather was a bit dull and grey we still managed to see lots and learn about all the different things we discovered. When everyone went home Dan and I decided to have one more walk around the reserve while things were quiet. It was starting to brighten up a bit and it was definitely getting warmer so we headed to the boardwalks where we had seen lizards before. 

Quietly we walked around and it wasn't long before the lizards started coming out - we saw three altogether and one was even growing a new tail, which I am never seen before.

This lizard must have lost it's tail and growing a brand new one

A common lizard 

Another common lizard

Here's Wildling helping me trying to ID some of the flowers!