Day 8 - 30 Days Wild - Feeding time at the lake

I had quite a busy day today, what with work and a bit of shopping to do this evening - I thought I wouldn't be able to do anything wild. After we left the supermarket we realised that we still had some duck feed left over from yesterday so we went to a nearby lake hoping that there were some birds about.

Fendrod Lake is situated in the middle of an Enterprise Park in Swansea and is around 13 acres. We hadn't visited since winter and were surprised with the amount of bird life on the lake. There were so many swans, Canada geese and mallard that I knew we hadn't brought near enough food!

Here I am with some of the hungry customers

The swans are so cheeky they will even eat out of your hand!

It wasn't long before more and more ducks, geese and swans came over...

...including these gorgeous six goslings.

The goslings weren't the only babies, check our these three cygnets hitching a ride on mum!

"Hello! Look at me!"

Once they came off their mum these white geese chased them off...nasty things!

Lots of birds on the lake.

These white geese were really demanding!

Dan trying to keep up with the many mouths to feed.

A heron even made an appearance, but he was only interested in fishing!

In the nearby banks juvenile sparrows were feeding on some flowers.

We love it at Fendrod Lake and so do these guys x

Even though we thought we wouldn't be doing anything 'wild' today we proved ourselves wrong. Just taking some duck feed to a nearby lake gave us tremendous pleasure and we can't wait to return with MUCH more food!

So my random act of wildness today was 'feeding the ducks'.

Day 7 - 30 Days Wild - Bird watching with the family

Today was my sister's birthday so I thought it would be nice if we all did something wild for day 7. My boyfriend Dan and myself decided to take my mum and sister to the Gnoll Country Park to introduce them to a bit of bird watching. The Gnoll Country Park is literally 3 miles from where I live and I am ashamed to say I have not been for many years. 

Before I go on my sister has an illness called Rheumatoid Arthritis, which means she can't walk far unaided and needs to rest frequently. With this in mind the Gnoll seemed the perfect place to go to enjoy some fresh air and spot some wildlife.

The parking was great and only costs £2 and the paths are flat and well laid. The first thing you see when entering the park is the massive fish pond which had many birds on it already. We got ourselves a lovely bench overlooking the pond and started to identify what we could see.

The pond at the Gnoll Country Park

My boyfriend Dan, sis and mum enjoying the view of the pond

It was amazing how many different birds we could see - we also bought a bag of bird seed from the visitor centre (only 30p!) to entice the birds near to us. 

This is what we saw...

A mallard family with 7 chicks

The cute 7 mallard chicks

A pair of swans and their 4 cygnets (the male was chasing the other ducks around the pond)

We were unsure what these ducks are, but since coming home we have worked out they are called mallard hybrid, it's more than likely the parents were mallard and a white duck - they are also called 'Manky Ducks' :(

A coot

An angry looking herring gull

A pair of tufted ducks

The pond wasn't the only place we saw wildlife, there was plenty flying overhead too - including a buzzard, we were all fighting over my pair of binoculars to see this one! It was great looking through my bird book to see what it actually looked like up close.

The buzzard up high

Identifying it in the book

We must have sat there for almost a hour when me and Dan decided to walk around the rest of the pond to see what else we could spot...

Lots of mature trees and meadows to explore.

An array of wild flowers filled the park

A carrion crow on the march!

A beautiful view of the pond

A weird tree that looks like the face of a cow...what do you think?

The cascades...

...and there were palmate newts in there!

A very scruffy fledgling robin

Beautiful views all around the pond

Collared Dove

A male chaffinch with juvenile.

Well we all had a fantastic time there, so much to see and the weather was beautiful. I think my mum and sis really enjoyed trying to identify the birds, although they knew most of them already.

I will defiantly come back to the Gnoll to explore more of it and if my sister comes again she can even hire a scooter that can deal with any terrain!

So a great day 7 and my random act of wildness was to introduce my mum and sis to nature, they loved it and I loved sharing it with them x

Day 6 - 30 Days Wild - Say hello to our garden visitors

What a day today has been! It was the start of the weekend and we had lots of 'wild' things up our sleeves...but it wasn't to be, due to unforeseen car problems we couldn't really go far.

We were so disappointed and didn't really know what to do. Without realising I was doing anything 'wild' I put the bird food out like usual, got a cup of tea and sat in the conservatory watching the 'regulars' making their entrance. Then it dawned on me, this is 'wild' and I ran to get my camera and started photographing the usual patrons that come to our outdoor cafe.

So my random act of wildness today is to introduce to you the usual birds that visit our garden everyday...

Meet Jack - well it could be Jack 1, Jack 2 or even Jack 3 - we have a number of jackdaws that visit.

This is White Feather - A very greedy magpie that scares off all the other birds, he's called 'white feather' because he has a rogue white feather that sticks out of his wing (see pic!)

Greedy bird!!!

Now here is Woody! Well, that's what he used to be called. From today he his called 'Woodzilla' - I have never seen him look so big, he just sits in the feeder for ages eating and eating and eating! Sometimes a small wood pigeon is seen with him, this must be his girlfriend - we call her Woodetta. He's also not intimidated by the magpies.

This collared Dove is my favourite - so quiet and sometimes there are a pair.
Yet to be named, but lovely birds (any suggestions on names are welcome...)

Here are the sparrows. We have four visiting usually, but here's a male and female - He's looking angry at her having her breakfast! They are not bothered by any of the other birds...except the magpies!

So there we have it, these guys visit us daily - we would love to see other birds coming into the garden like blue tits or robins, but these guys will do for now. We did spot a family of starlings in the garden a few days ago but they did't make an appearance today.

It just goes to show that no matter where you look there is nature everywhere and perhaps not being able to go out today made us appreciate what is on our doorstep. So our 'wild' out and about day turned into our 'wild' stay in and chill out day...and it was awesome!

Day 5 - 30 Days Wild - Cormorants on the Marina

I am please to say the sun is still shining and looks set to stay like this in South Wales for next week too.

We arrived early for work so decided to have a walk along Swansea Marina and the River Tawe. We couldn't believe our luck when we saw a few cormorants bathing on the floating barriers.

Swansea Marina in the morning

Cormorants 

Cormorant sunbathing 

A mallard duck

Day 4 - 30 Days Wild - Breakfast with the starlings!

I woke up to another glorious morning and got up bright and early because my car needed to be in the garage early for a service.

Before I made my breakfast I fed the birds theirs - a delicious mix of dried mealworm and suet pellets. A sparrow was already up singing it's lungs out on the roof, they have had a nest up there for a few weeks.

I walked back into the house and within minutes I could hear that familiar squawking noise - the starlings were here! The starlings have been visiting for weeks and on Sunday they brought their fledglings where I watched the adults feeding them mealworm.

Breakfast is served!

Sparrow singing up high

Two young starlings

Here comes the boys and the food has almost gone!

Something frightened them and they flew up to the roof and settled on an arial

Here is one of the juveniles getting fed

Starling on top of the line post

A lovely start to the day and it is great to see the starlings bring their fledglings into the garden. I'm struggling to fill these birds up with food though, I think they eat better than me!

For some reason the garage where I take my car has dinosaurs on the forecourt - so a picture with a triceratops was a must! Does that count as a random act of wildness lol?

Me with a triceratops!

The day is still young so I may add to this blog if I do something later...