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 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 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 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.