Day 31 Skylarks and adder's tongues...

If you go down to the woods today ........... you might just hear the wonderful song of a skylark, particularly if you are at Lower Woods in South Gloucestershire. Situated next to Inglestone Common with it's wonderful open grasslands, this area combines some very special habitats in a very small space. It's not just skylarks you may hear, but also chiff chaffs, song thrushes, willow warblers and blackcaps. Follow the links to the excellent RSPB site where you can hear the call of all these birds. If you have a smart phone, there's also a very good app called Birds UK that you can download which will help you to identify birds and their calls when you're out and about.

We recently took a class of students from Hawkesbury Upton primary school on an adventure here to discover the delights of the Common. Pupils learnt about the history of the common, identified some of the wildflowers, made tiny nature collages and learnt some native bird song, you can find some of the activities and games we played here.

Inglestone Common is one of only two places in the whole country where you can find the rare Adder's-tongue spearwort plant which grows on the edge of the seasonal pond.It is part of the buttercup family and particularly favours ponds that dry out and are trampled by livestock around the edge. The other known site is also in Gloucestershire.

Lower woods is also a lovely place to explore but bring your wellies as the woodlands rise out of damp, clay soil so can get very muddy, perfect for spotting animal tracks and trails. See if you can find deer, badger or hedgehog tracks.

Day 30 - Wildlife in the City with wagtails, toxic plants, eco homes and common mouse-ear

You may think that Bristol city is generally full of noisy traffic, man made buildings and lots of people but use our wildlife walk around the city to explore a different side to urban life. Discover hemlock water dropwort along the old dock walls, it's the most toxic plant in Britain and is also known scarily as Dead Man's fingers. See if you can find the hart's tongue fern, named after the old English name for a deer (hart) and said to represent the deer's tongue which hangs out after death. Look too, for the pellitory-of-the-wall, not a particularly distinctive plant but an important food source for the red admiral butterfly. Away from the river, lurking amongst the grass, you can find the wonderfully named mouse-ear hawkweed, which looks a bit like a dandelion and extracts of which are said to have anti bacterial qualities. See if you can also find bird's foot trefoil, with it's pretty yellow and orange flower and another very important food source for butterflies.

It's not only amazing plants that you can discover on this walk, look out for otter footprints, butterflies, slow worms and a whole range of invertebrates, such as shield bugs, grasshoppers and crickets in the grasslands too.The river is also an important habitat for bird life and if you're lucky you may well spot a cormorant or heron, the black and white pied wagtail, ducks, swans and lesser black baked gulls.

If you fancy a break from all this wildlife spotting, why not visit the Create centre on route. They have a great eco home for you to look round, full of suggestions on how to make your own house more environmentally friendly and a lovely wildlife garden too. There is currently an architecture exhibition on called Retrofit City, looking at the green use of buildings around Bristol, plus an exhibition examining Bristol's green history

If all this wildlife has inspired you then download Bristol's Big Wildlife Map to discover more wonderful places to explore nature around the city centre and beyond. You could write your own blog to let your friends and family know what you've been up to on your adventures (and if you do, be sure to let us know about it too!).

Day 29 Salty towers....

If you're planning a trip to the seaside then squeeze in a visit Walborough nature reserve and the adjacent Uphill Nature reserve, just south of the village of Uphill, near Weston Super Mare, for incredible views across the Severn Estuary. Climb up the winding stairs of the wonderful, small folly on top of the hill for panoramic views across the landscape of limestone grassland and salt marsh, a rich habitat containing nationally scarce plants such as sea barley, slender hare's-ear and sea clover. The grasslands are full of butterflies on a nice sunny day, including brown argus, grizzled and dingy skipper and grayling, so see how many different ones you can find!

Take a wander around the old Norman church, overlooking the sea, dating from AD1080 and choose one of the many walks available to really explore the site. Make a pack of wildcards to play whilst you have a picnic and enjoy the sounds of wildlife all around. After your walk you could visit the little sandy beach near to the boatyard in Uphill. See what treasures you can find that have been washed up from the sea and see if you can make a beautiful castle in the sand.

Day 28 Have a hoot at Portbury Wharf

Visit our wonderful nature reserve at Portbury Wharf tonight for an evening walk with the warden, Bernie D'arcy for a chance to see owls, bats, foxes, and perhaps even a water vole.You'll need to book a place but the walk is free to everyone. Craig Vale said of the last walk: "thanks to Bernie for a lovely evening, we were even lucky enough to see some owls in flight." 

Portbury Wharf is unusual in that it was created as a condition of planning permission being granted for the adjoining Port Marine housing development. Bernie D'arcy (warden) and Neil Hutton (community officer) were employed in 2010 and work on the reserve to maintain and develop the wetlands habitat for wildlife and provide opportunities for the wider community to discover and learn more about the reserve. Large pools, ditches, marshland and of course, the estuary, provide invaluable habitats for species such as water voles and otters, migrating birds and invertebrates including the rare, hairy dragonfly.

Find out more about all the different species that can be found at this lovely wetlands reserve here, find out about the fantastic breeding barn owls here and follow Portbury Wharf on facebook to get news about family events, wildlife sightings and more.

Day 27 Follow the trail around Weston Big Wood

For a fantastic Bank holiday Monday walk visit our nature reserve at Weston Big Wood which has a waymarked trail leading you around the reserve.Check out our virtual tour first and then pack some paper and crayons and take rubbings of the carved wooden posts you discover along the way. Whilst exploring the woodlands see how many things you can find on our scavenger hunt or download a woodland logbook from the Woodland Trust to keep you busy.

Use our guide to the reserve to find out what to look for at different times of the year and make sure you take time to just stand very quietly occasionally and listen to the wildlife going on around you.

Day 26 Get on your bike

If you haven't discovered it yet the Bristol to Bath cycle path is fantastic, family friendly place to take a closer look at nature. At this time of year the route is full of wild foods, from blackberries to damsons, and apples to elderberries.The flat, traffic free path is an ideal place to take a first bike ride or for those more experienced, to get all the way to Bath from Bristol (or visa versa) stopping at the old railway station cafe on route for refreshments. If I have any left when I get home I love making blackberry muffins with my foraged finds.You can access the cycle path at many points along the route which has been photographed in both directions. Stop off along the way with a picnic and investigate the hedgerows, use the OPAL biodiversity survey to help you identify the different plants that might be growing in them.

Day 25 Be a ladybird detective

Take a trip to your local park, or even just go out into your garden and see how many types of ladybird you can find. Use our spotter sheet to help you identify the different species and discover the variety of colours and markings on ladybirds that can be found in your neighbourhood. There are 46 different species of ladybird living in Britain, you can find out more and even play some ladybird themed games here

However, watch out for the Harlequin ladybird. This is an invasive species and is a danger to our native ladybirds, out competing them for food and spreading across the country rapidly. You can learn more about all the ladybirds to be found in the UK and how the Harlequin ladybird came to be here in this short video. You can also do your bit to help by participating in the Harlequin ladybird survey.

happy hunting!