30 Days Wild, 80 Days Whiled

I last went to work in Hull on Tuesday March 17th, eighty days ago. I could have gone round the Wolds with Michael Palin in that time.

As my mobilities have changed, so have my perspectives. Where lockdown (or quarantine, or whatever this is) has been a good thing is in encouraging me to scrutinize more carefully the immediate world around me, and its nature. Staying local on repeat, in the garden, on the common, in the park, I've looked at things differently, looked for things differently.

So, taking part in the Wildlife Trusts' 30 Days Wild seemed a good way to crystallize this. What exactly are the wild creatures with whom I share my suburban spaces?

Day 1, June 1st

Briefly extricated from the clutches of Miss EVH and her demands on my extensive skills in drawing fashion garments for the Grand Galloping Gala, I peer into the garden pond my better half made from our old baby bath. There's a water snail chomping on the pond weed, and I think it might be Planorbarius corneus.

A great ramshorn snail? It's surely a planorbid.

The wasp-like creature basking on the pantiles on the edge of the pond, meanwhile, is probably a footballer. And a good example of a phenomenon coined by a Leicester lad, too.

1-0 to Heliophilus pendulus

Day 2, June 2nd

Last week, Miss EVH and I went to Water End, to walk in the buttercupped meadows along the edge of the Ouse and, much to our surprise, found that the river had a beach, on a meander point bar:

River Ouse upstream of Clifton Bridge, (C) David Dixon (Geograph)

The beach is the pale sliver south-west of the giant 5 (image from Geograph)

If that wasn't exciting enough, upon walking to the water's edge, Miss EVH saw these and shouted "Look Daddy, dinosaur fooprints!"

Riverbank traces of an avian theropod (probably Branta canadensis)
and a caniform therapsid (probably Canis familiaris)

She was right, of course, since those tridactyl traces were made by an extant dinosaur*. I might have to use them in my next Chalking With Dinosaurs episode.

This time, as we walked to The River Beach, the dinosaur was a flit of grey and black from the bankside bushes, as Sylvia popped briefly into the willow tree above our head. I can't think I've seen her since I was a child, though it appears she's fairly common.

Day 3, June 3rd

For the first time since the late Pleistocene, it rained on our house. Miss EVH didn't wish to go out, so - after she'd gone to bed - I combined 30 Days Wild with Grayson's Art Club, and resurrected my collage art project, Wild Britain, which involves cutting up old Guardian posters. I only started it in 2007, so there's no rush, but it'd be nice to get it done by the end of these 30 days.

Day 4, June 4th

The 80th day whiled away in York. I can't think I've ever spent so many consecutive days in the same city in my entire life. I am lucky this city is so easy to spend time in. The rose garden of West Bank Park (which has a very interesting origin) has become one of Miss EVH's favourite places, as it contains a particular coniferous tree she likes to climb. I should probably find out what kind of coniferous tree it is. Whilst I do that, I will make do with being able to identify chaffinches and grey squirrels.

This (image from Wikimedia Commons) is not Sciurus vulgaris.


*I'm impressed to learn that the species canadensis of the genus Branta is now assigned to the subfamily Anserinae within the family Anatidae within the order Anseriformes within the clade Odontoanserae (or possibly Anserimorphae) within the clade Galloanserae within the infraclass Neognathae within the class Aves within the clade Ornithurae within the clade Euornithes (or possibly Ornithuromorpha) within the clade Ornithothoraces within the clade Pygostylia within the clade Avebrevicauda within the clade Euavialae within the clade Avialae within the clade Paraves (or possibly Eumaniraptora) within the clade Pennaraptora within the clade Maniraptora within the clade Maniraptoriformes within the clade Maniraptoromorpha within the clade Tyrannoraptora within the clade Coelurosauria within the clade Avetheropoda within the clade Orionides within the clade Tetanurae within the clade Averostra within the clade Neotheropoda within the clade Theropoda within the clade Saurischia within the clade Dinosauria. I hope you've got that?

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