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 25 - burnet moths, purple pea pals and GIANT hogweed!

On day 25 of 30 Days Wild I once again went for a lunch break stroll. The opportunities for finding and photographing wildflowers along the canal near my office have been drastically curtailed since the verges were BRUTALLY STRIMMED a couple of days ago (I'm still upset about this), so I went elsewhere instead. There is a large fairly newly-built road (Aston Webb Boulevard) round the corner from where I work which leads towards Selly Oak, which has some nice scrubby grassland at the edges, especially between the road and the railway track, so I went to have a look at that. Firstly though I took a quick photo of this small cute fern which grows on the railway bridge. I'm not able to identify many ferns but this one is quite easy:

Wall-rue (Asplenium ruta-muraria).

Down along the roadside, there were loads of very fresh-looking burnet moths, I'd spotted a small swarm of them yesterday so had hoped they'd still be around! I'm not very good at identifiying moths, UK Moths says that Six-spot Burnet is the most common, these definitely look to me as though they have five spots though - maybe someone better versed in moths would care to comment?

Possible Five-Spot Burnet (Zygaena trifolii) moths?

They were on a rather washed-out looking Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense).

As well as the burnet moths, I also spotted on my walk a Burnet Companion moth, and Ringlet and Large Skipper butterflies. Not bad for a busy roadside!

I continued onwards and came across clouds of purple, for the most part courtesy of the pea family! Tufted Vetch and Hairy Tare were scrambling all over the place, and there were Garden Lupins galore, just passing their best now but still with a few nice flower spikes.

Purple pea pals.

Garden Lupins (Lupinus polyphyllus agg.) and Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca).

Tufted Vetch (Vicia cracca). The bees love it!

Hairy Tare (Vicia hirsuta), a delicate vetch with tiny flowers!

Further on past all the purple, the view from the roadside opened out, looking across a very small valley towards the railway track which is built up on a tall embankment. Down in the valley was a monster! It looked like Cow Parsley but was about twice my height, it could only have been Giant Hogweed. It's difficult to get a sense of scale from the photos below but I can assure you that it was gigantic!

Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum).

Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum).

I love that I can find all this stuff only a minute's walk from my workplace :o)

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 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 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).