A Wildlife Trusts initiative for June 2015
30 Days wild - Doing something wild everyday
Monday 15 June 2015 - Day 15
Poking a dead Common Toad
The thing I have been enjoying about taking part in 30 Days Wild is the spontaneity and unpredictability of what my wild thing of the day is going to be. These are all things that would have happened to me anyway, but I wouldn't have been taking too much notice and certainly not writing about them.
Today I was on my way to the airport for a school trip to Barcelona. I was running late and I wasn't sure if I was going to see anything wild before I left.
As I opened my front gate, there was the most perfect looking toad in the road. The poor little thing had clearly just been run over, but not squashed. I had to look carefully to check if it was dead. The tiny drops of blood on his back were the give away signs of his demise. I couldn't resist stopping to have a poke around!
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| Common Toad, Compton Martin, Somerset Photograph taken by Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
30 Days Wild - Doing something wild everyday
Tuesday 16 June 2015 - Day 16
Enjoying the natural surroundings in a Barcelona park
Today was my first full day in Barcelona with my Spanish group at Chew Valley School. We spent the day site seeing in the city with very little opportunity to connect with nature.
Then we visited Monjuic Park and had our lunch there. Here I took of my shoes and stood feeling the grass, taking in the beautiful trees, bushes, flowers, grass and sea. The park is next to the sea but above it and has views overlooking the sea and city.
I had time to admire the view over the sea and take in the nature around me. I did look for Spanish Sparrow or any other birds but didn't see anything apart from a few Feral Pigeons. There was just not enough time in our 45 minutes allotted time.
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig (with friend) at Monjuic Park, Barcelona, Spain
Copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
30 Days Wild - Doing something wild everyday
Wednesday 17 June 2015 - Day 17
Visiting the Gaudi Catherdral in Barcelona inspired by nature
Today was my second full day in Barcelona with my Spanish group at Chew Valley School. We spent the day site seeing in the city and visited this amazing cathedral. Gaudi was inspired by nature when designing this cathedral and the photos below are of a doorway of carved leaves with insects in them. There is also a large tortoise within the the cathedral.
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| Leaves and insects decorating an entrance to Gaudi's Cathedral, Barcelona Spain Photograph taken by Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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Leaves and insects decorating an entrance to Gaudi's Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain
Photograph taken by Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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Gaudi's Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain
Photograph taken by Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
Tortoise, Gaudi's Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain
Photograph taken by Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
Tortoise, Gaudi's Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain
Photograph taken by Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig 30 Days Wild - Doing something wild everyday
Thursday 18 June 2015 - Day 18
Visiting the Science Museum in Barcelona and enjoying the amazing nature
Today was my third full day in Barcelona with my Spanish group at Chew Valley School. We spent the day site seeing in the city and visited the Science Museum. Here, amongst other things I saw this beautiful display of rainforest trees, anaconda and beautiful fish.
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| Barcelona Science Museum, Barcelona, Spain |
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| Barcelona Science Museum, Barcelona, Spain |
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| Barcelona Science Museum, Barcelona, Spain |
30 Days Wild - Doing something wild everyday
Friday 19 June 2015 - Day 19
Loving mothing with great young people at Camp Avalon on the Somerset Levels.
One of the Bristol boys was scared of moths but still stayed with us and looked at some brilliant moths like Hawk Moths.
One of the Bristol boys was scared of moths but still stayed with us and looked at some brilliant moths like Hawk Moths.
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Camp Avalon - young people mothing
Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig and Camp Avalon - young people mothing
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
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Camp Avalon - young people mothing
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig and Camp Avalon - young people mothing
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig and Camp Avalon - young people mothing with volunteers
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig |
30 Days Wild - Doing something wild everyday
Saturday 20 June 2015 - Day 20
Learning to sketch birds at Camp Avalon, the camp I have organised for young birders and children from the city who have never engaged with nature
The session was given by the amazing bird artist John Gale with help from his 16 year old son Tom.
It was great to watch teenagers who had never drawn a bird look at a photograph carefully, see the shapes and have a go and produce something brilliant.
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| Bird sketching workshop for young birders at Camp Avalon Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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Bird sketching workshop for young birders at Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig |
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| Bird sketching workshop for young birders and Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig at Camp Avalon Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
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Hoopoe and Spoonbill by Tom Gale age 16 at Sketching workshop, Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
30 Days Wild - Doing something wild everyday
Sunday 21 June 2015 - Day 21
Today I did another ringing demonstration but this time to people between 12 and 17 years old. Most had never watched ringing before or held a bird. The ringing was part of Camp Avalon and took place at the Avalon Marshes Centre on the Somerset Levels.
It was somewhere that no one usually rings and it was great to set up the feeders lines where I thought the nets would be best put up, It was also unusual for all the birds to be unringed.
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig giving a ringing demo at Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig giving a ringing demo at Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig |
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Ringing demo at Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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Ringing demo at Camp Avalon
Photograph taken by and copyright Helena Craig
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About the writer
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| Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig on Scilly Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig |
Mya-Rose Craig is a 13 year old young birder, conservationist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She is looking forward to going Mountain Gorilla Trekking in East Africa in the summer and watching Penguins in Antarctica in December 2015, which will be her 7th continent. She has recently been listed with the singer songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. Please like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter
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