With autumn very much bedding in, I thought I'd do a stock take of my wildlife. I say “my” wildlife because I'm referring to all the regulars I hear and see as I get on my bike or jump in my car in the morning, and all the creatures I share my home with whether I like it or not. I blog about this sort of thing quite regularly. You might've read about some of my rescue missions, or about the creeps that crawl in the night in a past blog. This blog's aim is to get you thinking about your wildlife, and your home through the year.
What do you hear as you open the front door?
I hear a green woodpecker every day. I've only just realised this if I'm honest, and I've never bothered to try and work out where it goes or even if it's the same one. It's call is unmistakable, and I usually hear it in the morning chuckling away.
Who doesn't like a wasp nest in their brickwork? Every morning, one of these busy buzzers collides with my face (Photo: Jack Plumb)
What do you see as you leave or come home?
Just yesterday a friend identified a flower on the verge I park my car next to. I had noticed it before and thought it was particularly hardy for something so delicate, but it was great to get an ID. Most mornings as my car pool bundle into my car, just near my foot is vervain (Verbena officinalis).
Thanks for the help Donal (Photo: Jack Plumb)
What sneaked in through a window this morning?
I could probably start a living minibeast museum with the amount and variety of creepy crawly that's come into my house this year, but my highlight is probably having a shower with a bumblebee on a particularly bright spring morning. An instance of joy, immediately followed by panic as I realised it wasn't waterproof and needed saving.
Shower bee knew it had a good thing going on - all the honeysuckle it could eat and communal showers (Photo: Jack Plumb)
What invited itself over for dinner yesterday evening?
We've enjoyed watching Johnson, then Thompson, and now Johnson II do their ground beetle laps of the living room most evenings this year. The cellar spider society in the bedroom have kept to themselves and dealt with a minor invasion of spiders the size of your hand, and the kitchen skylight has been a meeting ground for hornet mimic hoverflies.
Shelob lives in the shed (Photo: Jack Plumb)
Any other memorable encounters?
As we came home from the pub this year we bumped into a hedgehog. I knew they were around in the graveyard behind our house, but a close encounter firmly cemented the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing you live in a place fit for nature.
What have you seen, or heard? Do you keep a list of the species that visit your garden? Let us know by emailing natureshome@rspb.org.uk
Jack