30 Days Wild #Day 1

I have signed up to 30 Days Wild to do something Wild everyday in June. Not too hard for an enthusiastic amateur Naturalist and jobbing Ornithologist you may say. Perhaps but it reminds me to engage all the time and to get my girls to engage as well.

Day one had me monitoring a schedule one breeding bird. I just hadn't been told what it was! Imagine my delight when a pair of Peregrines saw off a Buzzard and circled over their nest site in the East Midlands. Away from here I managed to find this gorgeous Malachite Beetle Malachius bipustulatus. It was hiding on a Spear Thistle Cirsium vulgare. The beetle is a mini-predator, hunting amongst the flowers and has a decent pair of jaws that can be seen in the photo. Sadly the planned afternoon looking for inverts disappeared thanks to the weather. If the rain ever stops then I will do that today!