Category: 30DaysWild19

#30DaysWild No. 29. We might have been too successful in attracting wildlife to the lodges. We bought these little alder buckthorn plants because the larvae of brimstone butterflies eat them, and we wanted more butterflies at Wheatland Farm.

This is one of the scrapes we dug last year. They’re still muddy, and it will be a while before they bursting their banks with tall reeds, but already they are attracting 6 species of dragon- and damselflies, as well as supporting baby frogs.

Today’s #30DaysWild moment was to post this fabulously green beetle creature on facebook.

They weren’t here yesterday, but they are today: painted lady butterflies. At least ten are fluttering around the Wheatland Farm wildlife pond.

#30DaysWild No. 23. Sometimes it rains. Well, it has to. Even in Devon. So we wait, like this bumblebee. At least the plants are getting watered and the ponds topped up.

Another spectacular day – and another ‘new for the summer’ butterfly at Wheatland Farm. Small tortoiseshell are flying over Popehouse Moor.

#30DaysWild No. 21 and it’s the longest day. So at Wheatland Farm we’re celebrating the roses of the summer – the wild ones. Happy Solstice!

Today’s #30DaysWild random act of wildness was to spend 10 minutes looking for bumblebees on the marsh thistles around Wheatland Farm’s wildlife pond. We found garden, red tailed, tree, white/buff tailed bumblebees. But what is this?

#30DaysWild No. 18. Today’s wildness was to spend a few moments with the cows. Agricultural rather than wild, you might think, but they are doing a valuable conservation job for us at Wheatland Farm.

#30DaysWild What a creature! Probably a dark bush cricket. Look closely and you’ll see it’s a bit damp, having been rescued from a hot tub by Balebarn Lodge. Random Act of Wildness No. 17.

Our favourite blackbird is so familiar she asks for food now…

#30DaysWild No. 11 ‘A bowl full of birdsong’ someone said of Wheatland Farm the other day, so today we thought we’d just spend ten minutes outside and see what we could hear:

Thistles are coming into flower. Some we welcome, like this meadow thistle (and its tree bumblebee visitor). Some we’re less keen on.

Huge thanks to all you lovely botany (and entomology) people, who helped us survey Wheatland Farm today.

Our random act of wildness for day 6 of #30DaysWild is to follow in the footsteps of our recent guests in Otter Cottage, and sit stil enough to see the water shrew living at the wildlife pond. Here’s a clip we put together.

Wild poppies are blooming at Wheatland Farm’s eco lodges, and that seems an appropriate remembrance for DDay, 75 years ago.

#30DaysWild 4th June – June means foxgloves, and they look all the better in today’s on/off rain.

#30DaysWild No. 3. Meadow Brown Butterflies are emerging in the lodge field. When fresh, they look pretty smart!

#30DaysWild Today’s random act of wildness, by request from our guests in Balebarn Eco Lodge, is to look up and report back on this beastie. It seems it’s a Water Stick Insect, reaching up to 7cm long if you include it’s long tail-end snorkel.

#30DaysWild starts today! Every day this June Wheatland Farm will be doing something wild as part of the Wildlife Trust’s month long project. We’ll be spotting Devon wildlife around the eco lodges, doing some land management, lobbying, looking, learning, and just recording lots of #10WildMinutes.