It’s been a couple of days now since the 30 Days Wild Challenge finished, so I thought I’d have a bit of a look back at all the mini adventures I’ve had over the month. It really was a very inspiring thing to do. Not only was it great doing all the things myself, but it was so nice to read what all the other bloggers were up to and see so many positive posts on Twitter. With so much negativity in the world (particularly towards the end of June with the sad news re the EU vote) 30 Days Wild provided a much needed lift.

So the month started with a visit to a 3000 year old Yew tree and finished watching wild Roe deer in Scotland. I may not have seen “attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion”, but it feels like I’ve seen pretty much everything else. It’s amazing what you can pack into 30 days and how much there is to see and do around Britain.

These are just a few of the things, I’ve been up to over the month. I’ve got up early to listen to the dawn chorus and stayed up late trying to record bats and watch hedgehogs. I did a Garden Bioblitz and participated in National Insect Week.  I’ve raced snails and fished for sticklebacks – reminiscing over a childhood long gone but bringing back many happy memories.

I took part in National Moth night and went on a Moth breakfast, as well of course as the usual weekly Garden Moth Scheme nights. We’ve had both elephants and tigers (of the mothy varieties) in the garden and envied Ghosts and Hawks in other peoples traps.

I heard my first cuckoo in 30 years and watched Puffins in Scotland. I’ve seen baby ducklings and razorbills and watched buzzards being mobbed by crows. I’ve sat in meadows and by rivers and lakes and we’ve walked along beaches and cliffs full of the most amazing seabirds.

We’ve eaten American crayfish and British strawberries. I’ve dined al fresco in meadows, in pubs and in our garden. We’ve been to official nature reserves and roadside verges, gardens, harbours and beaches. Followed (and got lost on) footpaths and tracks, climbed stiles and fences and hopefully not trespassed anywhere we shouldn’t have.

The month has added 2 species of butterfly to our all time list and 3 species of bee to the garden. The garden bioblitz alone recorded 119 species from our Lazy Garden (which meant we came 13th in terms of numbers of species amongst those taking part) and our moth tally for the year is now well over 100 species.

In short, I’ve photographed, videoed, recorded, listened, watched, touched, sniffed and tasted – 30 Days Wild has been a feast for all the senses and I really can’t recommend it enough. Hopefully we can now keep going and continue to go wild through the rest of 2016 and beyond. Thank you to everyone who has been reading the blog over the last month.