#30DaysWild - Day 1
I woke up this morning, June 1st, and was inspired to take part in the Wildlife Trust’s #30DaysWild campaign. In her instagram post Sophie Pavelle listed some of the many amazing reasons to take part in this yearly challenge. The one that struck a cord with me was “To swap screens for greens”.
Lockdown or not I work online, which can usually be done from anywhere. At the moment I am confined to doing it within the 4 walls of my room. I can’t always swap one for the other so I’ve decided that “Less Screen More Green” is my mantra for the next 30 days - and hopefully after that too!
I’ve been thinking of starting Weymouth Wildlife Diaries as a blog for a while, so why not use #30DaysWild to kick things off and keep my world a little more green?
Day 1 - Gosling Yoga
Mondays are usually a day off for me, so I made use of this one! I left the house around 7am and headed to the lakes near the back of my house. I live in Weymouth town centre, and the access I have to wildlife is outstanding! RSPB Radipole and RSPB Lodmoor are within a 10 or 20 minute walk, and I can be out the door and on the beach in less than 2. It’s just as well because I have no car, and public transport is no-go right now.
The first wild moment of the day was spotting 2 families of Canadian Geese, one of which I am sure I saw about a week or so ago on an evening beach walk! At the time they had 4 chicks.
These goslings look about the right age to be the same ones, so it’ possible this is the same family, minus a couple of goslings that could have been lost to anything from fish, to gulls, to cars.
The other family of geese had just one gosling, who appears to be in an awkward “teenage” period of malt.
I was careful not to get too close to them, as the parents were clearly a bit nervous of me. But the babies were relaxed, and I had a long enough lens to take a few shots without disturbing them, including my favourite one of the morning - Gosling Yoga!
More highlights from Day 1:
Great-crested Grebes displaying (I also spotted their nest!)
I had a nice view of a Buzzard passing over, which I’ve hardly seen at all since moving to the area in March. This is possibly because these birds are breeding in the reed-beds:
Marsh Harriers! I got a wonderful fly-by from one of the Males, and saw the female carrying nest material too, the first time I’ve ever seen that behaviour!
Who doesn’t love a Red Admiral?!
Day 1 gets it’s own blog, but I doubt I’ll be posting one of these every day. That in itself may start to work against my “More Green Less Screen” mantra! I’ll aim to do a weekly review, and you can always come and find me on social media to see what I’m up to in real-time.
Getting outdoors has always been a crucial part of my day for both physical and mental health. It’s never been as crucial as now. I was hugely grateful to see that among the downloads sent after signing up to #30DaysWild was a poster for those working from home. It’s reminded me that I’m not the only one in this situation, and gives back a feeling of community that you often loose when you don’t have anyone to share an office with.
If you’re interested in taking part in #30DaysWild, there’s more information here:
