Wildlife - June 2026

[smallhobbit]

My activity over the past month:

British Trust for Ornithology: I've reported Garden Bird Counts every week.  Lots of sparrows, plus some pigeons.  One sparrow had a bath in our smallest water bowl, much to the disgust of the pigeon which arrived a little later and didn't fancy sparrow bird water.  I've done 8 surveys for Birds in Green Spaces in two sites, including yesterday when it was Birds in Green Spaces Big Day.

UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme: Nothing this month.  It's only just stopped raining for long enough to get out for a survey.

Butterfly Conservation: Butterflies for the New Millennium. 4 counts. It has not been butterfly weather!  Voted for Britain's Favourite Butterfly and took the quiz to see what sort of butterfly I was. (Large skipper - energetic and feisty)

30 Days Wild: Have gone out for a walk every day with an aim to keeping to the theme of the day.  I've practised recognising bird song and downloaded a number of spotter sheets which I can continue to use over the summer.  I also made a wildflower collage for fan_flashworks based on local wildflowers.

Maintenance: Topping up the water bowls and cleaning them now it's not raining.

Sightings of note: The swans together with five growing cygnets. A furry caterpillar. Several damselflies, including beautiful demoiselle.

Other activities: None

Comments

[galadhir]

That is all very commendable. I don't think I could be reliable enough to log everything every day. We did see two bullfinches today, but we are on holiday in the Lake District, so we've seen osprey as well and it's not typical of what we normally see.

[smallhobbit]

Garden Bird Count is once a week with the results from the week - so whenever we spot anything in the garden. The Birds in Green Spaces I deliberately go out and take a notebook with me - it's all part of my plan to go for a walk every day, if there is a purpose I'm much more likely to do so. And I enjoy spotting butterflies, so it's an 'as and when' activity.

[galadhir]

Extra walks is such a good idea. Does it count if you only hear them, or do you have to see them?

Go you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's a great list of wildlife activities.

Re: Go you!

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much!

[thatjustwontbreak]

How fun! The materials made for 30 Days Wild on their website look so cool.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you - I'm enjoying 30 Days Wild. I joined last year and it really inspired me to keep going with my wildlife interests.