It’s June which means one thing – #30daywild 🌿 I’ve now been taking part in this initiative by The Wildlife Trust for 7 years! Blogging, photographing, read, creating and videoing my way through many different wildlife and nature related experiences. I’ve even been on Radio BBC Scotland speaking about the challenge before!

In 2020 it was a completely different experience, need I say why?! Covid! The majority of experiences were local, at home as a family. This year we have the chance to do some new things and go visit some places further afield.

I have to say that this year I am not as prepared as usual, work is busy and with working at home still blurring the lines of work and home life, it’s a bit of a challenge. Some wild experiences are just simple observations which are welcome, some are day trips with the family and others some expressing nature through different artistic mediums as a way for me to relax and get some me time.

Here is what we got up to in days 1 – 5 of #30dayswild

Day 1 of 30 Days Wild- Ranunculus

Ranunculus flowers are part of the Ranunculaceae family which buttercups are also a member. These gorgeous flowers have been blooming in a couple of pots on my back step. I love ranunculus but keep missing them in the garden centres. This year I struck gold, and I’m growing my own from bulb too. How beautiful is this colour?! It makes me think of raspberry ripple ice cream… yum!

Day 2 of 30 Days Wild- Watching a Starling feed their baby

I happened to be in the right place at the right time to capture this, being camouflaged by a tree helped too! It is prime baby feeding season right now, so many birds will be constantly flying back and forth looking for tasty morsels to fuel their little babies. It’s survival of the fittest. Keep going Mr or Mrs Starling, you’re doing great!

Day 3 of 30 Days Wild- Spanish or English Bluebell?

Can you tell your Spanish bluebell from your English bluebell? Or did you even know there were different bluebells?! Well until today when I was looking at the bluebells in my friends garden, I didn’t know which was which.

The Spanish bluebell was introduced by the Victorians as a garden plant, but they quickly made it out the gate and started to spread.

Next time you’re on a walk and you see these purple wonders remember the following:

1. Spanish bluebell flowers tend to come off the main stem and don’t droop to the side like the English bluebells.
2. Check your stamen! If it’s blue it’s Spanish, yellow it’s English.
3. Spanish bluebells like to lift their heads up to the sun, but English bluebells won’t.

Of course you also get them cross pollinating producing hybrids!

Just remember it’s prohibited by law to pick or uproot bluebells. If you want some in your garden make sure you source the English variety, but you may have a wait on your hand. Seed to flower can take 5-7 years!

Quick bluebell fact: Half of the world’s bluebells are found in UK 🇬🇧

Day 4 of 30 Days Wild – Loch en Eilein, Rothiemurchas, Cairngorms

How beautiful is this location? Loch an Eilein at Rothiemurchus is just stunning. Set in the Cairngorms the walk around the loch is 3 miles. Surrounded by pine and birch trees and lots of different variations of fungi (particularly in autumn!) A must add destination to visit if you’re in the area!

Day 5 of 30 Days Wild- a trip to Doonies Farm, Cove, Aberdeen

Today we visited Doonies farm to feed some of the rare breed animals they have there. Last time we visited Robin was 2 and scared to feed the animals, he definitely enjoyed feeding them today .

I made friends with a rather grumpy goose who kept shouting at me to provide more carrots, whilst the Clydesdale horse took my bucket off me and polished off the food! It was great fun feeding the animals and Robin enjoyed learning about all their different breed names.

If you’d like to follow our #30dayswild adventures please follow us on Instagram.

Make sure to come back to find out what we got up to on days 6 – 10 soon.

Camilla