With each day bringing new random acts of wildness, June is flying by! On Day 8 of 30 Days Wild, our Foxburrow Farm Learning Officer, Emma Keeble, lead our forest school home education group, where they made elderflower fritters, elder lemonade, chopped firewood, played in the pit, swung in hammocks and got arty creating sketchbooks, diaries and recipe books. A truly wild day!   

Then, on day 9 Lucy, our Wilder Communities Manager, stopped to admire a field of poppies and phacelia. She writes “On the way back from a staff meeting at Redgrave and Lopham Fen, I spotted an explosion of colour which turned out to be a field of poppies and phacelia and couldn’t resist stopping to go and stand in among them. Even over the sound of the busy road to the side, you could hear the noise of the hundreds of bees feeding happily.”  

On day 10, I had my own random act of wildness, when I was joined by a little woodmouse as I topped up my bird feeders. I had never seen one that close before, and it seemed quite content nibbling at the dropped sunflower seeds as I gave the birds their breakfast. I really enjoyed stepping away from my never-ending list of chores to sit and watch it for half an hour.

Day's 11 & 12 saw Lackford Lakes host thier brilliant Bugtastic weekend; drop in session for visitors featuring minibeast hunting on Saturday and pond dipping on Sunday. Emily, our Visitor Experience Officer said "On Saturday, we had our mighty mini-beast hunt and found lots of brilliant beasties including: thick-thighed flower beetle, shield bugs, damselflies, spiders and lots more! Then on Sunday, our pond dipping sessions were so much fun, with our highlights of the day definitely being a big dragonfly nymph and great diving beetle! Some superb finds, well done all!" 

On day 13, I was joined by more wildlife on my doorstep, as I discovered a cockchafer had managed to find its way into my house. Given the very loud buzzing noise they can make I was surprised I did not notice it! When it was safely released outside, I was curious to find out more, and after a very interesting discussion with Lucy (our Wilder Communities Manager), I was surprised to learn of its many names! Such as snartlegog (my personal favourite), may bug, mitchamador, chovy, billy witch, kittywitch, spang beetle, midsummer dor! Lucy wrote a fantastic news piece about these amazing little beetles here in case you wanted to learn more! 

At the end of our second week, Charlotte, our Learning Intern, hosted her Wild Tots session at Carlton Marshes, for Day 14 of 30 Days Wild. She writes "We had a lovely sunny day for our Tots today who enjoyed painting with mud, searching for minibeasts and creating muddy puddles. We had a hedgehog theme this week and thy had great fun finding our lovely little hedgehogs hiding in the woods and reunite them all."

Meanwhile Lucy, our Wilder Communities Manager, admired the wild orchids that can be found growing in Holywells Park. She writes “Hidden away in Holywells Park, southern marsh orchids can be found growing and I always enjoy trying to find them each year. These orchids are one of the most common marsh orchids and grow in damp conditions which Holywells dutifully provides with its natural springs that run underground.”

This weekend is the Big Wild Weekend, and we have so many fabulous events and activities to get involved in!

Check out our Big Wild Weekend events for 2022 here!