Nature under your feet – 30 Days Wild (Day 5)

When your out looking at nature you dont have to go far to find it. We often are looking straight ahead or up in our search to find something, that we miss whats under our feet.

Standing on grass? Look down, get down and investigate whats under your feet. The picture to the right is from my back garden lawn.

Lets have a look more closely at some of it. Straight away you can see:

Grass
Buttercup
Clover
Moss

What else can you find?

If you start to move the growth of plants to the side and look into the thatch of the lawn you will find a myriad of creatures.

Ants
Beetles
Grubs
Slugs
Snails
Weevils
Worms

To some gardners these may be pests, but there is a whole eco system going on right under your feet. Have a look. What have you discovered? What plants and animals make a lawn or field their home?

Water – 30 Days Wild (Day 4)

Recently we have had some fantastic weather in the UK. Its been very warm and sunny which has been great. The weather has now changed for a bit and its raining again.

Whilst this can be not the weather we want, its what nature needs after a long dry spell.

During the dry spell lots of creatures cam to drink from the pond from birds to insects. It was great to see the pond being a focal point of the garden at the time. Due to some work in the garden the bird bath was not out, but now that work has finished its back out in the garden and ready to serve its purpose. This for me shows the importance of having a supply of water in your garden.

Grasses in the gardenis a great plant to show the nature of resilience in these times. During the dry spell it has been changing colour as it starts to save its nutriants into its roots to keep alive turning the grass blades to a brown dry colour. The rain has started to revert this process and bring the plant back to life to the colour that most gardeners love their lawns to be.

So have a water feature in your garden or small tub or plate of water to help the wildlife have somewhere to drink from.

Nature ID – 30 Days Wild (Day 3)

There is so much around us to identify in nature that its hard to know everything, but there are animals, plants and nature that you will know the names of and facts about them. To help there are a large number of guides and books available, as well as internet sites.

So many that it can be hard to know what ones to buy and take around to help. Carrying guides can get heavy so having the right type with you can help if you want to do identification in the field.

When I am out looking at nature I will usually have a book or two with me – such as wildflowers or trees. However to save some weight and bag space I have been using id charts from the Field Studies Council.

The fold out charts cover a wide range of animals, plants and nature and being laminated make them ideal for the outdoors. The charts are great for Young People and help them with identification.

https://www.field-studies-council.org/product-category/publications/

The snail picture (Garden Snail) in the blog was a photo I took this morning. The snail was on the top of a fence post having a drink from the rain water.

What do you use to identify nature whilst your out and about?

Flowering Garden – 30 Days Wild (Day 2)

Day 2 of 30 Days Wild and today we have put up some hanging baskets in bloom to help the local wildlife. There are different colours to attract different wildlife.

Lots of bumblebees mainly Bombus Lapidarius which is a black bumblebee with an orange bum, have taken an interest in the flowers today.

Another favourate for the Bumblebees in the garden is some French Lavender (pictured below) that was planted last weekend. As well as providing a great scent in the garden, its a great source of nectar for bees and a hiding place for other nature.

There are many different plants that can attract a variety of nature into your garden from bees to butterfiles.

Here are some links that show great plants to have in your garden.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/gardening-for-wildlife/plants-for-wildlife/

https://www.discoverwildlife.com/how-to/wildlife-gardening/top-plants-pollinators-garden/

https://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/wildlife-friendly-plants/

Even planting one flowering plant in your garden can help wildlife.

A Pond – 30 Days Wild (Day 1)

30 Days Wild is run by the Wildlife Trusts (https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/). There is still time to sign up to the 30 days wild and recieve your downloadable pack and activities.

For the first day here is the Pond I set up in my garden. The build started back in September last year digging out the ground. I have gone for a 1 shelf design with a deeper part for wildlife to be safe during the colder winter months.

One part of the design that was important to bring in is the sloping shelf on the front of the pond to allow any wildlife to get out of the pond such as frogs, but also incase anything falls in an needs to get out. This is where the stones come in on a slope to give a good footing and escape route.

The plants put in are growing well and provide balance with absorbing nitrates etc from the water.

There are a few goldfish and the hexagons on top of the pond help deter the local Heron who has paid a visit to the gardens around before. Added some tubes at the bottom of the pond for the fish to hide in as well which they like.

A waterfall helps provide a way to oxygenate the water as well as some pond weed and plants.

What is amazing is the way that nature finds ponds. We already have frogs and tadpoles as well as some pond snails.

With all the warm weather recently the pond has become an oasis for widlife with Bumble Bees landing on the stones to take a drink before carrying on their journey.

Of course you dont need to go to this full extent of building a big pond. An old washing up bowl buried into the garden and filled with water and maybe a couple of pond plants is enough to attract wildlife into your garden.

Building homes for nature in our gardens is important to help maintain the balance in your gardens and in life.