Day 5 - 30 Days Wild - Birds, Butterflies & Bunnies

*Today's random act of wildness - Birds, Butterflies & Bunnies*

Day 5 of #30DaysWild and another scorching day in South Wales with temperatures reaching 20°C.

We (Dan and I) decided we didn't want to travel far so we visited The Quays, Briton Ferry, Neath Port Talbot. It'a an interesting place on the mouth of the River Neath where it enters Swansea Bay. There are lots of industrial buildings there, but also a sand dune system called 'Baglan Burrows' - it's a real shame that this is not a SSSI like Crymlyn Burrows which is just across the river as we saw lots of wildlife in the few hours we were there.

I read on Facebook a few weeks ago a short eared owl was spotted here, so that was our aim to look out for that. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the owl, but we saw lots of other birds & bugs instead...

Here's Wildling enjoying the view of the docks and the river Neath


BIRDS...

I am not sure if this is a linnet or a twite? If anyone knows can you help me out

Female Stonechat

Male Stonechat

Goldfinch

Male Stonechat

Female Linnet

Male Linnet

Oystercatchers nesting in industrial water pipes

Other birds we saw but didn't get pics are heron, blackbird, sparrow, blue tit, song thrush, gulls, starlings, jackdaws, carrion crow, meadow pipit, swallow and a very surprising lapwing.

BUTTERFLIES...

What a find - a Mother Shipton moth - The moth is named after Old Mother Shipton, a 16th century Yorkshire witch. 
Thanks to Stuart Pike for his help in identify it - check out his #30DaysWild blog here

Common Blue

Painted Lady

Small Blue

Common Blue 

Common Blue female butterfly

Small white moth

Lackey moth caterpillars (lots of them!)

BUNNIES!

Bunnies (Lots!)

Even more bunnies!

My partner in crime Dan ❤ - who is also doing #30DaysWild through his Flickr account
Check it out here!

Day 2 - 30 Days Wild - An evening nature stroll

*Today's random act of wildness - an evening nature stroll*

Today was a very sad day, I found out that my best friend's mum had died suddenly in the night and most of the day I spent walking around in a daze and thinking of the grief my friend was going through.

After work, I decided to go and get some fresh air and clear my head at a local nature reserve called  'Swansea Vale Nature Reserve'. It's a beautiful place and one of the few remaining wetland habitats in the City of Swansea. It has a variety of plants and animals and these are some of our findings...

The first thing we saw is a grey heron lucking in the reed beds...

...it wasn't long before he sets off...

...to find his mate!

There are lots of wild flowers and trees around the reserve, including orchids, lilies and bulrushes. This means lots of insects including damselflies and lacewings.

Water Hemlock

Southern Marsh Orchid

Green Lacewing

Male Azure Damselfly

Apparently there are otters on the reserve, but the only mammal we encountered was this cheeky grey squirrel. We spotted several on our walk and there are houses adjacent to the reserve so no doubt they have these cheeky chappies visiting...what a cool place to live!

Grey Squirrel

There were lots of birds around, but unfortunately they didn't stay still long enough to get any good photos, birds I definitely identified were: Carrion Crow, Heron, Robins, Blackbirds, Blackcap, Dunnock, Wood Pigeons, Blue Tits, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit (with fledgling) and possibly a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Carrion Crow

So our little evening walk proved to be a success, we were literally there for only an hour and managed to see all these 'wild' things. I will definitely go back in a few weeks earlier in the day to see what else we can see. 

When we got home I brushed up on my insect identification with the help from my #30DaysWild mascot 'Wildling' - Who I forgot to take on our walk (but don't tell him that!).

Due to unforeseen circumstances Wildling couldn't make the trip to the nature reserve so helped me identify the animals when I got home.