Day Fifteen of Megan & Matt Go Wild!

Welcome to our joint-blogging series for the Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild Challenge – you can read more about the campaign and ourselves in our introduction page.

Matt (in London)

Wild In Westminster

Between my four meetings in westminster today i went and sat in victoria tower gardens next to the palace of westminster and made a few calls. Watching the river flow past I spotted a peregrine flying west over the south bank.

There are few more poignant reminders of the importance of the people sitting in the palace of westminster taking action for nature, or of taking a few moments to stop and look for wildlife, even in the heart of london.

Megan (in coastal Dorset)

I wasn’t able to head out with the Pan-Species Listing Group when they went looking for a rare beetle on Chesil Beach on Friday, so attempted to look for it myself during lunch. I didn’t find it, but I did enjoy seeing what was out and about. The thrift (Armeria maritima) is beginning to go over, with many of the pink blooms losing their petals and becoming paper-like. An interesting-looking fly also caught my eye, and helpfully stayed in place for me to take a photo.

Being out on the beach, I just couldn’t walk past the litter that is strewn around (especially since one of my 2015 Wildlife Resolutions is to pick up litter!). It is a neverending job at Chesil, more litter is always being blown in from the sea or dropped by visitors. I did a #2minutebeachclean whilst looking for the wildlife.

That turned out not to be enough for me – after work I headed up to Portland Bill. I had seen Lulworth Skipper (Thymelicus acteon) butterflies there last year, and wondered if they were out yet. Turns out they aren’t (that I could find anyway), but it wasn’t a wasted trip. I saw around 25-30 butterflies – no lifers, but my first Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) and Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) butterflies of 2015. This takes my butterfly list of 2015 up to 25 for the year I think.