30 Days Wild 2023 - Week 4

 

As I said in the previous post, I didn't quite expect to leave such a long time between posts, but life got in the way. Finally, we've reached the finish line though and this is the last post of 30 Days Wild 2023!
It's been wonderful to look back on all the photos I took and the things we did a couple of weeks back, I hope you enjoy them too.

30 Days Wild is an annual challenge run by The Wildlife Trusts to encourage us to participate in 'Random Acts Of Wildness' every day in June. In turn helping me to actually really enjoy June which is otherwise, this year in particular, too hot to cope with. 2023 marks my 7th year taking part in 30 Days Wild!

Unless you are completely new here you will know we are a very wild family to begin with! However, it's not only an excuse to share nature and wildlife-themed photos every single day of my Project 365. It is also a fun way to mix up my wildness to include things other than just my obsession with photographing every bird that enters my garden haha. Beware though, this will still be a very bird-heavy post!

Here is our Week 4 of 30 Days Wild 2023.

Check out the other 2023 post here: 
30 Days Wild 2023 - Week 1 
30 Days Wild 2023 - Week 2
30 Days Wild 2023 - Week 3

Day 22 - 22nd June 
Homegrown Raspberries!
Our Golden Raspberry bush didn't produce last year, though the normal variety did.
This year both have given lots of goodies for Josh (and any wildlife who fancied them)!

Day 23 - 23rd June 
The pigeons often hang out on our roof but this particular little one has taken to lounging in the gutter!
I've missed seeing all our regular birds while we were away and I was excited to see Mr Blackbird bring his baby by for some food and water.



Day 24 - 24th June
I didn't know if we'd get a visit from the wasps who strip the bamboo on our fence during this 30 Days Wild, but this beauty didn't let us down! 
I can hear them munching away before anything else so it's like a game of  'spotting the wasp'!
Beautiful skies are always appreciated here too.

Day 25 - 25th June
I popped out back to litter pick early this morning and spied an Eyed Ladybug and a 2-spot ladybug!

Day 26 - 26th June
A rainbow of flowers from our gardens!

Day 27 - 27th June
We bought a new Foxglove for the garden recently and the bees love it! 
This old guy seems to have an issue with his wings and has hung around the same area in our garden recently.
I offered them some sugar water and moved them to the Foxglove for some shelter.
I also was happy to photograph a (Marmalade?) Hoverfly enjoying some of our wildflowers.

Day 28 - 28th June
Mr H and I volunteer for a Ringed Plover conservation project at one the beaches nearby, so we popped down to check on things.
We only were able to locate one RP today but it did seem like they were attending to a nest which is exciting.
I also got to dip my feet, see a Cormorant, some Common Terns and lots of Butterflies, Bees and Hoverflies, as well as the Herring Gulls with their babies on the rocks. 
You'll see I made a heart with some small pebbles - I cautiously chose them and I returned them straight back to where they came from as soon as I took the photo.

On the walk along the cliffs back to the car, we were treated to the sight of seals!
Growing up by the coast, I saw seals on a regular basis but I've never seen them in this area before.
There were about 3 adults feeding in the sea and then we spotted the baby lounging on the rocks!!

Day 29 - 29th June
Making the time to do some potting, I got the Foxglove into its new home and potted some other little bits.
We haven't grown much or bought many plants or flowers this year but it's still nice to have something.

Day 30 - 30th June

The final day of 30 Days Wild and my gorgeous, beloved mice family popped up to say hello!
I'm always over the moon to see them, but extra so that I could include them in this year's project.

Today also saw a very happy occasion when we were able to re-release our young rescue pigeon Hypnos.
There will be a separate post talking more about his rehabilitation, hopefully soon.

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What a month! I always love 30 Days Wild and this one has been no expectation - so full of such great memories.

We visited some of our favourite places, Washington Wetlands Centre, we camped in the Rhinns of Galloway, and two special beaches nearby us.

There was a whole host of birds featured, as well as seals, spiders, bees, snails, fish, ladybugs, hoverflies, and even field mice and a hedgehog!

Of course, my wild adventures don't just end because the month does. This is my life and my love. Nature and Wildlife are a huge part of who I am and I can only wish for others to care for it as much as I do.

I hope you have been able to get outside recently, do something wild and appreciate how incredibly lucky we are to have the nature and wildlife we do. Look after it!
Until next time...

Check out 2022's posts below:
30 Days Wild // Week 1
30 Days Wild // Week 2
30 Days Wild // Week 3
30 Days Wild // Week 4

And for 2021's posts, see here:
30 Days Wild 2021 // Week 1
30 Days Wild 2021 // Week 2
30 Days Wild 2021 // Week 3
30 Days Wild 2021 // Week 4

Life Lately - June

 

To start, here are all the blog posts I've published in June over my 2 blogs -

Underland to Wonderland - Right here!
Life Lately - May
The Birds of 2022! // June
30 Days Wild 2023 - Week 1
Cats I Loved in January 2023

Adventures of the Hallows - My Photo Diary Blog!

I have taken daily photos since 2013 (2014 were weekly photos) and I share them each week in blog posts.
 Check out the past month's worth of posts below!
2023 Daily Photos // Days 148 - 154
2023 Daily Photos // Days 155 - 161
2023 Daily Photos // Days 162 - 168
2023 Daily Photos // Days 169 - 175


And below is June's daily photo overview in calendar form.
Many days have more than one photo so make sure to visit the posts above to see all the photos!

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Our daily photos are usually a pretty good representation of what goes on in our life throughout the month, but for the things they don't show see below...

Loving
30 Days Wild!

Hating
The heat and midgies.

Feeling
Hot and stressed haha.

Thinking
About how lucky I am to have my husband, pets and parents.
How thankful I am for having a home and appreciating how fortunate we are.

Reading
The Bootsie Files by Charles Harrison 
The Way of Dog by Zana Fraillon 
I, Cosmo by Carlie Sorosiak 
One And Only Bob by Katherine Applegate 
Toto by Michael Morpurgo 
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo 

- 1362 pages

Watching
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Pan's Labyrinth
Because of Winn Dixie
Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets
RPDR All Stars 8
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps S7-9
King of Queens S5
Taskmaster S15
How I Met Your Father S2
That's So Raven S1
The Goldbergs S10

Doing More
Outside time!

Doing Less
Photo editing...blogging...laptop work in general!

Stand Out Moments
- 30 Days Wild!
- Lots of baby bird visitors.
- A visit from a Hedgehog
- ...and a Sparrowhawk.
- Repainting the toilet room.
- The latest casualty stopped by the Hallow Rescue
- Our North Rhinns camping holiday!
- Craft for Cats.
- Seal spotting at the coast (including a baby!)
- Our mice family stopping by for the last day of the month.

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This year I also started yet another new project, alongside my daily photos, 1 second of video each day. See below for our June video!

30 Days Wild 2023 - Week 3

 

Well I didn't quite expect to leave such a long time between posts, but I've had a lot on (of which I may post about in the coming weeks) but we're still slowly catching up on these posts! It's quite fun to be looking back on all the photos I took and the things we did a couple of weeks after the fact, as it's been such a busy time I can't always remember it all. 

30 Days Wild is an annual challenge run by The Wildlife Trusts to encourage us to participate in 'Random Acts Of Wildness' every day in June. In turn helping me to actually really enjoy June which is otherwise, this year in particular, too hot to cope with. 2023 marks my 7th year taking part in 30 Days Wild!

Unless you are completely new here you will know we are a very wild family to begin with! However, it's not only an excuse to share nature and wildlife-themed photos every single day of my Project 365. It is also a fun way to mix up my wildness to include things other than just my obsession with photographing every bird that enters my garden haha. Beware though, this will still be a very bird-heavy post!

Here is our Week 3 of 30 Days Wild 2023.

Check out the other 2023 post here: 
30 Days Wild 2023 - Week 1 
30 Days Wild 2023 - Week 2

Day 15 - June 15th
Finally replaced the temporary bird-crash deterrents on the kitchen window.
I used some matt black sticky back plastic and traced/cut out some bird shapes.

Day 16 - June 16th
It was a bit of a traumatic morning as this stunning Sparrowhawk sadly took one of the gorgeous fledgling Starlings that have been frequenting our garden.
I am absolutely gutted because they are drawn to our garden as it's made for them, and then one has been taken right outside my gate.
Of course, I know it is the circle of life and in a way, it is amazing to see a bird of prey up close.
Still very sad though.

Day 17 - June 17th 
Water is life!
We thankfully got a little bit of rain today and I went to sit outside in it.
I got to see a spider running to escape the raindrops, a bee stopping by for a drink from the water bowl (that I was just about to clean out!) and photograph the drops in the bird bath.

Later in the day, an injured young pigeon appeared in our front garden.
We kept an eye on it, but it didn't move in over 3 hours and was in danger from cats, foxes and other animals that frequent our area at night so we decided to step in.
I'll share more about our latest rescue soon.

Day 18 - June 18th 
I popped down to the recycling village today to get rid of some wood and found this guy in the middle of a busy path.
I was petrified that they would get stood on and there was no safe place to relocate them nearby, so I brought them home and put them in our garden.

Day 19 - June 19th
Return to the Rhinns!
Last year we took Baker on holiday to the Rhinns of Galloway for his 10th birthday.
He enjoyed it so much that we decided to go back this year.

We arrived in the early afternoon, and this was our first evening at the campsite.

Day 20 - 20th June
Portpatrick!
Day 2 of our camping adventure we decided to take the short drive over to Portpatrick and do our 'Treasure Trail' that we'd brought with us.
It ended up being a lot busier than I'd expected and the weather was insane, super hot with an intense fog, so I was quite overwhelmed. 
However, we managed to find some hidden gems due to the trail and spotted some gorgeous wildlife,
including Black Guillemots which I have never seen before!

Day 21 - 21st June
This morning we went back to the bay that Baker and I swam in a year previously for another swim.
The three of us only managed a short time in the water because high tide was approaching and it's a very pebbly beach which was difficult to walk on.
We were happy to see that there were still lots of Gannets around though and also spotted a ladybug, A Greenfinch and some Linnets (from afar, they were not easy to photograph!) which was another first for me.

As our day at the sea was cut short, we decided to have a drive and ended up at Port Ryan, an absolute highlight of our holiday. 
It was relatively quiet, a perfect temperature and just beautiful!
We saw (what I'm hazarding a guess as being) a juvenile Stonechat as soon as we left the car, then an adult a little later on as well as another bird on the rocks that I'm struggling to identify - possibly a Skylark...though it could just be wishful thinking and it might just be a Thrush.

Ending our day with a rainy evening at camp we enjoyed the company of the sheep and a wet little Robin stopped by.

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I hope you have been able to get outside, do something wild and appreciate how incredibly lucky we are to have the nature and wildlife we do. Look after it!
Until next time...

Check out 2022's posts below:
30 Days Wild // Week 1
30 Days Wild // Week 2
30 Days Wild // Week 3
30 Days Wild // Week 4

And for 2021's posts, see here:
30 Days Wild 2021 // Week 1
30 Days Wild 2021 // Week 2
30 Days Wild 2021 // Week 3
30 Days Wild 2021 // Week 4