Big Butterfly Count

So the Big Butterfly Count is over! My total number of counts is about 6, if I had more of a garden I would have done several more. I have seen a few butterflies that I haven't seen before, which is always a nice a surprise, the biggest of which was on my birthday. So the total count of my counts is:

Large White (Pieris brassicae) x1

Speckled Wood (Paragre aegeria) x5

Small White (Pieris rapae) x8

*Small Copper (Lycaena phlaes) x1

Green Veined White (Pieris napi)

*Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus)

*Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithanus) 

The (*) butterflies are the species that I have never seen before. My personal favourite was the Clouded Yellow. I spotted this when out for a walk on my birthday, its bright yellow wings flashed in the Himalayan Balsalm. We chased after it and thought it may have been another species but the shape and brightness of the wings proved that it was in fact a Clouded Yellow. It is a migrant to the UK, so not something you are able to see that often.

There were plenty of other butterflies that I saw out of the count, like Peacock and Red Adrimals. But butterflies wasn't the only firsts for me this summer. I was lucky enough to see Gooseanders and a Black-Tailed Skimmer, photos of both are below. It just shows that once you get out and enjoy nature, even if you are just sat around in a field you will see lots of new things and increase your knowledge of the area around you.

Top (left to right); Red Adrimal, Speckled Wood
Bottom (left to right); Gooseander, Black-Tailed Skimmer

You can still upload your results from your surveys until the end of August by clicking on this: Big Butterfly Count


I hope you guys have seen special things this summer. What is your total surveys and what did you see? Please comment and let me know.

Keeping yourself busy in the summer

So I have finished university for the summer and now I have lots of spare time on my hands. Despite attempting to get work experience in many places, those plans have fallen through and as August approaches (my busiest month), I see no point further perusing the chance for experience in my field. So, along with my craft stuff (more on the other blog) I am using my summer to do surveys of the wildlife in my area.

There are many surveys that anyone can take part of, as it is citizen science, which means anyone can contribute to the results. Most surveys do not take up a large proportion of time and some you can do on the go, whether your in a walk in the local park or out and about in the car and you manage to spot a bird.

So far I have taken part in the Big Butterfly Count and a bee survey. The Big Butterfly Count is done every year and is run by the Butterfly Conservation, it is to monitor the population and distribution of butterflies throughout the UK.

All of these surveys are vital as it is important to record the populations and distribution so that we can observe the impacts of the many potential detrimental factors to our wildlife, such as urbanization and climate change. So if you have the time to get involve even if it is just for one occassion then please do check out the links below and see if you could contribute to any of them, you never know you may find a new hobby!

Hope you are all enjoying your summers and coping with the warm weather we have at the moment. If you have any nice photos from surveying then please don't hesitate to post them in the comments.

Scottish Wildcat Project

Holt Blackbird Project

Parakeets

Hedgehogs

Gannets - you can do this one from home

Bioblitz

Ladybirds

Barn Owls

BeeWatch

Hunger Games Book Thoughts

So I am ashamed to say that I had never read the hunger games series until after the second film came out *hangs head in shame*. But I have caught up and now I have read all three =). Here is what I thought on them. Well this is my first sort of review, it isn't in depth and probably not that good. But it contains no spoilers. Hope it is okay.

The Hunger Games (First Book)

I really enjoyed this book, it hooked me straight away. I liked the back story of Katniss Evergreen. When I saw the film, everyone was saying that it wasn't that great, whereas I thought it was awesome. I can now understand there point of view, as I thought the background to the pin was interesting and it was a shame they missed it out in the film, however I don't think it would have been pulled off as well. I did struggle to put the book down throughout my read. If you haven't read the book or the film, then I would say watch the film first as you then learn to love both.

Catching Fire (Second Book)

Now this didn't grab me as much as the first book. I have to admit, watching the film first helped me continue with the book as I could imagine it better. But I found there were a few inconsistencies with the first book, but nothing major. A lot of the book is description based, obviously there is a lot to try and describe, the author does a great job to build up the environment in your mind.  The ending of the book does leave you on a cliff hanger, so I am grateful that I didn't have to wait for the third book!

Mockingjay (Third Book)

Again I found this book difficult to get into. Although it is a good book, it goes really slow in the beginning and then suddenly everything happens all at once, so much I did get a little lost at the end and had to reread to see if I had missed anything. I am curious on how they will pull the film off as with the other books it is all in 1st person and a lot of it consists of thoughts and feelings, which can be difficult to portray in films. There are also plans to split the last film into 2 parts, I am struggling to see where they will finish the first film, especially as I said nothing really exciting happens in the first half of the book. Although I do have one or two ideas I will just have to wait and see what it ends up being.

Happy Birthday Darwin!!

Today, in 1809, Charles Darwin was born. This day would have seemed no different to the scientific world but this man along with a few others would come up with a theory which would re-shape the biological world and create the theory which most of the biology would centre around.

You will find many blogs about how this man inspired others and many other works that he did throughout his life time. But I thought I would discuss something else, a dream of mine.

In this dream I was in a hotel in London and sat on my bed my an old looking Charles Darwin on the phone to his wife (so not realistic.. oh wait I am talking to an 205 year old man!). He comes off the phone and asks me to explain what has changed since his death. Now I couldn't decide if to tell him the good news or the bad news first. But I decided to go with the good news, and I told him that his theory of natural selection is going strong and despite there still being some people who don't think it is correct, that is was one of the most important theories for biological sciences. Then came the bad news, I had to tell him that his theory on how traits were passed onto to the next generation, Pangenesis wasn't correct. But I got to explain the revelation of DNA and how this has helped support his theory. Whilst telling about DNA we were walking to the Natural History Museum to show him how the building had changed. Unfortunately my dream ended after me telling him about the advances of DNA and him replying, "Hmm, it is something to think about".

But this dream got me thinking. If this was possible, what would people say to influential people. Like Martin Luther King, Einstien, Newton and other people a like. I guess I would try and tell them how there actions and ideas had changed the world for better or for worse. How they would take it, as well as all the other advances in the modern world, no one will ever know. That is until time travel is invented!!

So what people from the past do you find influential and what would you tell them today?

And finally,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLES DARWIN!!!

Good Reads Challenge!

Okay, so this is a bit late for my new year challenges. I am sorry but the past two weeks have been filled with deadlines and assignments! Hope you can understand.

Now, if you don't know what Good Reads is, here is a quick explanation.

It is a site (there will be a link below) which allows you to list books that you want to read, read reviews and also keep record of the books you have read. Now you can set yourself a challenge for how many books you want to read in a year, which I think is awesome! Especially if you are competitive. My target last year was to read 20 books.. I got no where near! But I personally think this is down to the number of scientific papers I read over the year (they should account for at least 10 books!). So this year I have set myself the same challenge and with hope that I will complete it, with the aim of reviewing my books on here and compiling a list of my favourites at the end of the year.

If you are signed up to the site or thinking about it, what will be your target?

You can keep an eye on my progress in the side bar.

Keep Reading!!

December Month!

December has been a mixed month, with lots of deadlines but lots of fun at the same time. The main theme throughout this month is Christmas. My housemates and I have our own Christmas Eve and Christmas Day earlier in the month before we go home. We have a house party on Christmas Eve, this years involved Articulate and a Harry Potter Drinking game, which was a lot of fun! On Christmas day we have secret Santa and we cook a Christmas dinner, we cooked for 8 people and there was plenty of food for everyone. I was very lucky and I got a small box which had a photo frame in and had been decopauged with animals on it, a large cross stitch of African savannah and a book on how knit zoo animals, I am going to need to get a lot better at knitting before attempting any of those! Sadly, I don't have any pictures of them as they are still in Bangor.

After deadlines, it was time to go home and get ready for the real Christmas, I was also very lucky and got lots of craft things and other objects to keep to occupied! I helped with Christmas dinner and made the roast potatoes and helped prep the veg and serve up. On Boxing day we went over to my Grandmas, to have my third and final Christmas dinner!! It was lovely to see them all and we had several hours of fun playing cards after exchanging presents.

The day after arriving I joined my dad and his partner on a walk through an area near Oldham, the details of which are on the previous post.

My next adventure after this, was heading over to Birmingham on the 29th to see friends. I stayed over in a hotel by myself for the first time and it was quite weird, I have to admit. I didn't feel comfortable to head to into the big city for tea so I had my left over sandwich from lunch! But I am sure I will be better for next time. I went around the bullring and was treated to a visit to the SeaLife centre there, it was very good. On the second day, me and some other friends went to the art museum, in which I saw a beautiful quote.

This hath no end,
My sweetest friend,
Our loves be so,
No ending know.
-English Posy 17th Century

Later we went around the bullring again, this time I did treat myself to a book journal and a address book. Who wouldn't?

On New Years Eve, I went back to my dads in Liverpool, we didn't really do a lot but stare at the TV but it was nice to be there. Plus his partner has two cats, which are lovely and I got lots of cuddles off one in particular, which makes a change.

Well as you can see not a very interesting month but it is the busiest I am going to be for a while. The only thing I have to look forward to in this month is exams and deadlines!! Hope you all had a wonderful December and that your January isn't as dull as mine!