#30DaysWild Day 11!

Ophrys apifera - Bee Orchid

So today I visited somewhere pretty special to me, I like to think it's the place that made me fall in love with nature.

Severn Valley Country Park, Alveley (See their website here) is a 126 acre park that has been regenerated from abandoned coal spills to a beautiful park. budding with life every single which way you look. I was a frequent weekly volunteer on the park for over 18 months, working alongside the Park Rangers and the truly valiant group of volunteers who truly keep the park going. And it's pretty safe to say I enjoyed every minute of it (okay, except that day of pulling ragwort on a cold and drizzly day, yep totally didn't enjoy that bit so much ... )

There had been a few new caches put about the park and surrounding area, so for my day off I go up early and got the bus back to my home village. (It's so weird how everything always seems so much smaller than you remember!) In total I wandered around the park, and its many trails and habitats, for about six hours. After a major Geocaching App malfunction (thanks to a souvenier day!) I only managed to find 3 caches :( Some of them were pretty tricky, so I will have to come back and find them!

But no doubt, today was all about the wildlife, as always some of the photo quality is pretty poor, but at the moment there really isn't much I can do about it! The park's natural wild meadow is coming along nicely, with a few years of maturity behind it now, where the Bee Orchid and the Common Spotted Orchids are standing proudly.

Dactylorhiza fuchsii - Common Spotted Orchid

I then went to have a look at the newly refurbished Easy Access Pool, having helped inlay the new wooden sidewalk panels myself. and to see it had now been finished off with a new tarmac surface was brilliant! I sat and watched a moorhen happily collect materials for its nest (I wasn't about to catch a glimpse without risk of being in the pond myself!) I then carried onto the bird hide, a place where I hadn't really had loads of luck, but as I unlatched the shutter, there perched proudly was a vibrant Kingfisher (A bit like buses you see, you wait ages for one and then they all turn up!) I watched it for almost an hour, as it fished for its lunch.

Alcedines - Kingfisher

Gallinula - Moorhen

Possibly a Common Blue Butterfly? 

As I was leaving the park I was instructed my other volunteers to check out the Kestrel nest, which of course I did. Now no photos I'm afraid, there was no way my puny iPhone was going to manage a distance of over 100 meters! (I mean my binoculars only really managed to show me just enough to keep my excited!)

Inside the next was three fluffy chicks, with their proud Momma just standing outside, it really was a sight to see, and its really topped off an already amazing day!

Here's to the next adventure!

Devil's Spittleful (Revisited) and Burlish Top

Gosh, it's been two weeks since I last posted, I hadn't realised how quickly time was passing! So here is my apology to those few that have been checking this space most days. I am sorry but also thank-you! (I like to pretend I'm not actually just talking to myself over here, ha!)

I haven't really been out and about much recently, work has been super busy and the recent autumnal change in the weather has had me snuggled under the duvet.  But, I suppose I should just put my big girls pants on and get outside, seeing as that's where all the adventures happen.

Right, so where have I been in the last 17 days...

Well, firstly I have revisited Devil's Spittleful Nature Reserve (with much better weather this time!) and then followed on to Burlish Top before going home.

As a result of more favourable weather I was able to truly appreciate the landscape and beauty of the heathland habitat. I also managed to find a few caches that I was unable to on the last trip (hoorah!)

Devil's Spittleful Nature Reserve 

View from the top of Devil's Spittleful Rock 

 I then went onto Burlish Top Nature Reserve, which consists of lowland heath, oak and birch woodland and acidic grassland. There are various easy access trails

 spreading across the reserve. There were around 6 caches within the trails, 2 of which I was unable to find that day.

Lowland Heath habitat of Burlish Top 

Lowland Heath habitat of Burlish Top 

Common Red Clover 

Hoverfly - any idea on plant species? 

Bombus Hortorium amidst a flowering Himalayan Balsam 

Speckled Wood Butterfly

The Importance of Binoculars

Pyronia Tithonus - Gatekeeper Butterlfy 

This is becoming a regular thing, myself apologising whole heartedly for not posting for sooooo long. So here I am again, now that life in my new house is all settled, determined to keep this blog going! (Promise!)

Today my lovely friend Sarah  joined me in Bewdley before she jets off to Canada for a whole year!! So we decided on a stroll along the river, having persuaded her to try out some Geocaching! We ended up finding four caches in total, and I think she may be hooked! A good day in my book. We also had a very good day wildlife wise too, although both annoyed we brought no binoculars with us!

A Dopping of Female Goosanders 

We spotted a butterfly on the vegetation alongside the river bank, snapped a picture and carried on. Having come home we were able to identify it as the Gatekeeper Butterfly. We almost settled on identifying it as the Small Heath Butterfly, until we noticed the number of white dots on the wing! (Gatekeepers have two not one!)
Sarah also spied a Kingfisher darting into the shrubbery on the other side of the river, but after waiting silently for some time, we decided to walk on.
I also spotted a dopping of female Goosanders on the river, a bird I had no seen before, so that was exciting, but gutted having no binoculars!
I promise to post again very soon!
If you'd like check out my instagram to see what I'm up to!

The Wilderness Warrior