Post 409 - Coming soon - wonderful wildlife events

Hey everyone, thought I'd do a little post today just to tell you about some wildlife events that are coming up that I'm really looking forward to.


The one you have probably heard about is the Wildlife Trusts 30 Days Wild. This is a great idea and it's really good to have an excuse to try and get in a bit more wild time than usual. If you don't know about it you can find out about it on the website link above. It's quite simple really, in June just get out there, to somewhere where you can get in touch with nature and spend a little wild time and try to do this every day that month. If you sign up for the pack you can get from the Wildlife Trust there's loads of ideas of things to do if you can't think of any yourself. I'm looking forward to moth trapping, bat detecting and lots of other activities! I'll also be trying to get to a few reserves carrying on Yorkshire Reserves challenge.


Whilst this is on there is another great event happening - National Insect Week. This is also great and I'll be taking part in this - my 30 Days Wild activities will no doubt be bug themed from 20th-26th June which is when this is happening. Look at the website as there are lots of events happening all over the country. I'm hoping to get to at least one round by me but I also hope to organise a bug hunt with a great Entomologist I know that lives near to me, Dr Roger Key. Roger and the Royal Entomological Society have been great supporters of me and my blog so I hope to be doing lots of things to support this great event too.

That's just June, there's even more over the summer that I'm looking forward too.

A Tansy Beetle at Rawcliffe Meadows

I was doing something bug related today. The River Ouse in York is home to most of the UK population of a special beetle - sometimes called the Jewel of York. It's quite a rare beetle, but quite easy to find around the Ouse where it lives as it's quite bright and lives on one particular plant. I'm talking of course about the Tansy Beetle.

I went to Rawcliffe Meadows last year to see these lovely creatures. I'm hoping to go back there soon to see them this year too. I also joined the Buglife project to be a Tansy Beetle Champion. We'll it was part of that project that kept me and Dad busy today (well mostly Dad as it was tricky).  You can read my post on the Tansy Beetle by clicking this link.

My Tansy plants being potted up.

I have been growing Tansy plants and the seedlings needed potting up today, so that's what we did. There's quite a few plants now, I just need to keep watering them so they grow big enough to plant out somewhere to help the beetles have more places to live. This is important as if the River floods at the wrong time of year these beetles could be in big trouble.


Well that's it for today, but I do have a special visit planned tomorrow so look out for another post real soon.

Hope you enjoyed,

Zach