30 Days Wild - Day 21 - Summer Solstice & The Longest Birthday

Summer solstice.
First day of summer.
Longest Day.
My birthday!

One of my 'to dos' on Pinterest is to see the sunrise on my birthday on the solstice at Stonehenge but in the meantime and for 30 Days Wild I made a point of getting up at 4am to watch the sunrise.  I have learnt a few things already this morning:

The times given for sunrises on my weather app can strangely change overnight!
The sun does not rise in the east at this time of year - more north east!
There is a tree directly at north-east from my house!
Summer solstice times given for my town on various websites do not seem to match!
The birds are incredibly loud at 4.30am!
Today will be 16 hours and 38 minutes long.
Solstice comes from the Latin for sun (sol) and stand still (sistere).
I should have got dressed and gone out for a walk for a better view and experience.
The experience was still amazing. Quiet. Peaceful. Well worth getting up.
I'm going to be sooooo tired this afternoon!

Barn owl

Along with the short-eared owls at Wicken we have been lucky to see a barn owl or two hunting. They are quite obvious as they fly low above the fen with the early morning light catching their white wings. On one of our first visits, before we were aware of one particular owls hunting area, it came out of some trees and flew straight at us before we even knew it was around.  The last visit we made a few weeks ago we saw presumably this same owl in the same area, but it flew over the bank of a lode before we had chance to take any photos. However, when we started walking along that lode it popped up from the undergrowth and began to hunt in front of us.  We stood for a few minutes as it hovered over a ditch, moving every so often a few feet either way, its eyes never leaving the ground. One failed dive and it rested on a post for a few seconds before trying again. Eventually it went down again, this time stopping out of sight for a while before finally flying off with its prey, disappearing back over the lode. A beautiful 5 minutes with a stunning bird.

Wicken landscapes

Wicken Fen has become one of our regular walks over the winter and early spring as there is always something to see. This watery reserve catches the low early sun and mists giving warm reflections and frosted reeds. The large expanses of fenland are criss crossed with straight lodes and furrowed fields giving a variety of environments for the thousands of different species that live or visit there. I'm not sure we shall visit quite so often now the weather is warming as being a wetland it is often alive with gnats and mosquitoes who seem to find my husband the tastiest dish on their menu! These are a few photos of the landscape taken over the winter.

Autumn

I love autumn, the colours, the air, wildlife becoming active again - beginning to stock up and hanker down. The later dusks and dawns are easier to view with mists and stormy clouds, pinks, purples and orange skies. Below are a few of my favourites taken over the past few weeks.