30 Days Wild | Day 9 - commute orchids

For day 9 of 30 Days Wild I checked in on some orchids growing by the canal towpath that I walk to work along. I first came across them during last year's 30 Days Wild so now I know they are there, I've been keeping my eye on them over the past few weeks and watching their progress. They've just started flowering within the last couple of days and are looking lovely! I think there is one Common Spotted and two Southern Marshes. The Southern Marshes are growing behind a somewhat unattractive fence so my photos aren't the best, but the orchids themselves are very attractive indeed. After I photographed them I continued along the towpath, hearing a Chiffchaff and a Whitethroat singing, and spotting one of the University of Birmingham Peregrines soaring overhead - hopefully they've got chicks up in the clock tower!

Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii).

Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa).

Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa).

Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii).

Southern Marsh Orchids (Dactylorhiza praetermissa).

30 Days Wild | Day 30 - Marbled White discovery!

For the final day of 30 Days Wild, I was once again pondering what I might do, not having planned anything specific. However I needn't have worried - as so often happens, nature swooped in to inspire me out of the blue!

I've blogged quite a lot during 30 Days Wild about my commute along the canal towpath from Selly Oak to Birmingham University. I've walked this way since August last year so have really enjoyed seeing the seasons unfold along this route day by day. There are some really nice bits of grassland and scrubby habitat, only small fragments, but as far as I can tell they are undisturbed - I don't think they are ever mowed, due to their inaccessibility. One such fragment is this slope beneath the canal where it crosses a road:

Steep grassy slope, viewed from the canal towpath (that's the railway on the other bridge).

I've often thought this slope looked like it might be a good spot for butterflies, and indeed this year have already spotted a few Common Blues and Large Skippers on it. However, when I peered over onto the slope in passing during this morning's commute, I thought I must have been mistaken - there were two Marbled Whites chasing each other through the grass! Throwing all thoughts of punctuality out of the window, I stopped, leaning over the bridge railings to get a good look and make sure my eyes were not deceiving me.Yep - Marbled Whites they were! I knew that there were only a handful of sites in the West Midlands where they had been recorded (the Rowley Hills being the best) so I was pretty excited at the thought that this could potentially be a previously unknown colony. I contacted EcoRecord once I'd got to work, and they confirmed that they had no records of Marbled White from this site previously - the nearest they had was Woodgate Valley. I couldn't wait to get out for a proper look on my lunch break.

At lunchtime I tried to count the Marbled Whites. I saw a maximum of four on the wing at any one time, there were probably a few more hiding in the grass too. As my camera is very old and a bit rubbish, and the slope itself is not accessible, I couldn't get any good photos of the butterflies, and although I did try to see if I could capture them on video, this was unsuccessful! But here is a Marbled White photo that I took on Saturday in the Rowley Hills :o)

Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) butterfly.

As well as on the slope, the Marbled Whites were also using the grassland at the top of the slope, behind a fence.

Grassland at the top of the slope.

Grassland at the top of the slope.

I'm going to keep checking back every day - can't believe I can see Marbled Whites five minutes from my office! Hopefully their numbers will increase over the next week or two - their peak flight period is mid-July. I'll try and get some better photos too with my other camera. What a great end to my 30 Days Wild!

30 Days Wild | Day 16 - return of lunch break botanising

On day 16 of 30 Days Wild, I was back out exploring the canal on my lunch break for plants and flowers - some I knew, and some I didn't. Here's what I found!

Cut-leaved Crane's-bill (Geranium dissectum) is just starting to flower.

This stuff is absolutely everywhere along the towpath and has just started to flower within the past week. I think it is Corncockle (Agrostemma githago), it may have spread from a wildflower seed mixture or be some kind of cultivar as apparently the wild form is very rare.

I thought this was Thyme-leaved Speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia) but it's quite fuzzy and my book says it should be hairless?

At least this one is unmistakeable, Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum).

I hadn't seen this one before, I think it is Pink-sorrel (Oxalis articulata).

The aqueduct that carries the canal over the A38 looks over this bank, it's too steep to get mowed. I saw a Common Blue butterfly flittering around there.

Some of the grassland between the canal and railway track.

30 Days Wild | Day 15 - orchid mayhem, then time to relax!

For Day 15 of 30 Days Wild, I was looking forward to relaxing a bit. I thought things would calm down after my oceanography exam last week but what with various things piling up while I was doing revision, and more things cropping up subsequently, I hadn't really had any chance to chill out. So I'd planned to set some time aside to sit out in the garden and read on Day 15.

Before that though, while I was walking to work in the morning, I was on the lookout for the orchid I'd found last week. Not only did I see it, but I discovered a further two orchids nearby which must have started flowering over the weekend! I'm fairly certain now that the first one I found was a Southern Marsh-orchid, and of the two I found yesterday, one was a Southern Marsh and the other a Common Spotted.

Today's new discoveries - had to hoist myself up a steep bank via a tree branch to get closer photos!

Last week's Southern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) is now in full flower.

Newly-discovered Southern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa).

Newly-discovered Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii).

I came across the Orchid Observers project via Twitter yesterday so am going to submit my sightings to that too.

Once I'd got home, I was ready for some chill-out time. But what to read? I've a large stack of books awaiting attention, seeing as I rarely have any time for reading things that aren't Open University textbooks. In the end I went for browsing my brand new copy of the BTO Collins Guide to British Birds. This arrived a couple of weeks ago and is excellent, it uses bang up-to-date distribution data from the Bird Atlas, has amazing and carefully-chosen photographs, and includes loads of super-handy identification tips. My favourite features are the calendar wheels, which show the likelihood of the species being seen in the UK month-by-month, and the 'default species' section - a set of common species from each main group, once familiar with these they can be used as a yardstick by which to identify other less common species.

Mmmmm.

After half an hour enjoying this in the garden, with House Sparrows chirruping in the bushes and House Martins fluttering overhead, I was feeling much calmer and ready to crack on with the rest of my evening!

30 Days Wild | Day 12 - more foraging fun

For day 12 of 30 Days Wild, I tried some more wild plants that I'd foraged. As I was at work and already had a packed lunch with me, I had scoped out the canal towpath for potentially edible treats to add to my usual box of salad. I didn't have my copy of Food For Free with me, but a bit of Googling confirmed that a few of the plants I'd thought I could try were indeed edible. I went out just before lunch and collected a few leaves of Ground Elder, Greater Plantain and Ribwort Plantain.

Ground Elder (Aegopodium podagraria).

Greater Plantain (Plantago major).

Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) among other stuff.

My harvest!

I tried to find young, fresh leaves, with varying success given the time of year, as these are supposedly the tastiest. Back at my desk, and after a good wash, the leaves were added to my salad!

Salad of haricot beans, lentilles vert, cherry tomatoes, potato, asparagus and celery with Ribwort Plantain, Greater Plantain and Ground Elder.

My favourite was the Ground Elder - it had a very pleasant, mild peppery herby flavour. Will definitely eat it again! I wasn't so sure about the plantains, they were slightly tougher and more bitter but maybe that's because the leaves weren't young enough. I would give plantains another go, perhaps earlier in the year, to see if younger growth tastes any different.

30 Days Wild | Day 11 - orchid discovery!

As I was walking my usual route to work on day 11 of 30 Days Wild, I was as ever keeping my eyes peeled for plants, birds, butterflies and the like. Today I spotted something I'd never seen along the canal towpath before, and I made myself late for work stopping to inspect and photograph it!

It was an orchid, growing at the top of a sparsely-vegetated dry-looking bank next to the path. This bank, like a lot of the verge alongside the towpath, was recently disturbed - just under a year ago the whole length of the towpath was resurfaced and the verges were consequently churned up and left pretty much as bare soil. Now all kinds of random stuff is popping up! I don't know if this is any contributary factor in the orchid's appearance - I've only been commuting along this route since August last year so don't know what was growing there before that.

I wasn't sure about the identification of the orchid. It looks to me most like a Southern Marsh-orchid, but my orchid knowledge is very limited. Certainly it isn't growing in a marshy spot, if anything the bank it is on looks rather dry, but looks can be deceiving and orchids are known for their wayward nature! Can anyone more experienced in the ways of orchids shed any light?

Southern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa). Maybe.

Stumbling across something unexpected like this is like finding treasure for me - all of nature is precious, but when I find something like this in a place I wasn't expecting it, it's a real treat! It's what keeps nature interesting - there is always something new to see.

30 Days Wild | Day 10 - lunch break botanising strikes again

Back to normal for me now - my exam is done and I'm back at work! For Day 10 of 30 Days Wild, I went out during my lunch break to once again try to identify five different plants growing in the environs of my workplace, the University of Birmingham. Again I went along the canal towpath, although to a different spot to last time - a lush grassy bank between the canal and railway line, which is unmanaged as far as I can tell and is rich in wildflowers. I took the close-ups with my field lens and smartphone; I've found that this works best out of direct sun as I get weird reflections and lens flare sometimes in the sun - this can be seen on one of the photos below. Today's findings have a geranium theme!

Shining Crane's-bill (Geranium lucidum) - there are a few plants of this in slightly shadier spots, they have mostly finished flowering now.

Shining Crane's-bill is probably my favourite of the geranium family so here is another photo, showing its cute shiny leaves!

This was a new one for me that I'd never spotted before! I think it is Small-flowered Crane's-bill (Geranium pusillum). Some strange reflections around the edge of the image, artefacts from photographing through my field lens in the sun.

This is everywhere along the towpath at the moment! Hedgerow Crane's-bill (Geranium pyrenaicum).

Big patch of Red Campion (Silene dioica).

Common Field Speedwell (Veronica persica).

30 Days Wild | Day 2 - lunch break botanising

For day 2 of 30 Days Wild, I nipped out on my lunch break from work to have a look for plants nearby. There are plenty to choose from! There is a variety of habitats along the canal, railway and their environs next to the University campus - wooded areas, scrubby grassland, rank ruderal-y bits and scrappy verges. As time was short, I decided to try and find and photograph 5 plant species. This is a good mini-challenge as I can repeat it several times throughout the month - each time finding different plants, and also looking out for new plants which emerge in the course of the month. It's all part of my continuing efforts to improve my plant knowledge and ID skills. Here are today's findings, all from a slightly stressed-looking in places verge alongside the canal towpath:

Common Mouse-ear (Cerastium fontanum).

Not 100% sure, but I think this is Field Pansy (Viola arvensis).

Black Medick (Medicago lupulina).

Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata).

Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans).

30 Days Wild | Day 1 - commute birding

It's day 1 of 30 Days Wild! As I'll be revising for my forthcoming oceanography exam (a week tomorrow, EEK) during the first days of June, my random acts of wildness during this time will be mainly small things that I can fit easily around my usual day-to-day activities. So this morning I counted all the bird species I saw and/or heard on my commute to work.

I live in the pleasant and chocolatey south Birmingham suburb of Bournville, and commute on foot to my workplace at the University of Birmingham. The walk is about 2 miles so takes 40 minutes, I always enjoy it as it's a good way to get exercise and the route is very nice - I go through the back streets of Bournville, along a bit of main road through Selly Oak, then onto the canal all the rest of the way to the University. I normally see and hear a fair few birds, but much as I love birds, I also love listening to music and podcasts while commuting, so I don't usually give the birds my full attention! However today I did, and here's everything I saw/heard:

Robin
Mallard
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Goldfinch
Starling
Chaffinch
Magpie
House Sparrow
Blackbird
Woodpigeon
Dunnock
Wren
Carrion Crow
Goldcrest
Nuthatch
Long-tailed Tit
Blackcap
Greenfinch
Moorhen
Canada Goose
Feral Pigeon
Pied Wagtail
Lesser Black-backed Gull

25 species, not too shabby for a 40-minute walk through suburban Birmingham. South Birmingham is known for its leafy environs, and while this is a pretty good representation of what I see around my neighbourhood, there are a fair few nice species missing that I have seen on my commutes during the course of the nearly a year that we've lived in Bournville - such as Song and Mistle Thrush, House Martin, Swift, Jay, Swallow, Green and Great-spotted Woodpecker, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Black-headed Gull, Grey Wagtail, Redwing, Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Peregrine......

Here is my commute in pictures! As you can see there are plenty of mature trees and lovely gardens, it gets a bit more urban in Selly Oak before you hit the canal. I think making a conscious effort to focus on looking and listening out for birds made my commute slightly more relaxing than usual, although it's not as though it's usually a stressful journey anyway! And I wasn't even that much more late for work than I normally am.....

Bournville.

Bournville.

Bournville.

Bournville.

Nooooo! Hope they find him.

Bournville.

Bournville.

Bournville.

Selly Oak.

Selly Oak.

Entrance to the canal - this always makes me smile.

The canal.

The canal.

She's been sitting on that nest for weeks now, may be too much disturbance for her to successfully hatch eggs - that's the A38 going over the bridge right next to the nest!

The canal.

The canal.

The canal.

This grassy bank between the canal and railway is great for wildflowers and butterflies in summer.

Looking towards the University of Birmingham.

The canal.

The bridge at University railway station, where I head up to the campus.