These are the 365 Day Nature Play Challenges we didn’t have to go far to get… The brown marmorated stink bug; DRAGONFLY ATTACK!!!!; The seagulls nesting on our chimney and their wandering chicks (it’s a sad tale) and the baby fox waiting for us on a friend’s door step (it’s like it knew we were coming to visit).

107 – The brown marmorated stink bug

Tuesday 16 September, mixed, 18°C

We’re about to go out and pick pears when we get totally side tracked. On the coat hooks in the hall is what I think is a shield bug… but brown. It looks happy enough but I reckon it would rather be outside. B thinks we should check what it is before removing it. I quite like not knowing but she’s worked out google’s latest identifying things gadget…

First go, it says it’s an ‘alligator snapping turtle’… we don’t think this is right. It’s small and nowhere near water… we try again and this time it comes up with ‘brown marmorated stink beetle’. The picture it’s found matches but these are, apparently, native to Asia and not to the UK. A bit more googling finds it’s an invasive species that likes apples and can infest your house. Marvellous.

We were going to put it in the garden but I reconsider.

L: “How about you keep it as a pet?”

B: “How stinky is it?”

In the end we get her caterpillar net, fill it with various leaves and a pear (the apples have finished now) and scoop the beetle in. Then we hang it under the tree in the garden so it can be outside but on its own. We don’t notice a smell.. but aren’t getting close enough to check.

115 – DRAGONFLY ATTACK!!!

Saturday 6 September. Cloudy. 18°C

B has a new fear. This was the biggest dragonfly either of us have ever seen and for some reason it’s managed to fly into our kitchen. Wasps, flys and bees have done this a lot but this is different level of magnitude. It’s like a little helicopter, swirling into the velux roof lights and bouncing off with a bang. B had a flying fairy that was a bit similar once but you could control that a bit. We squeal, scream and duck while it bulldozes it’s way from one side of the room to the other.

I’m trying to think of solutions. I could open the window but this means standing on a chair and I don’t want to get hit!

B: “Could we use a glass?”

Me: “NO!”.

Apart from the fact it’s too big for any of ours I’m not sure what happens if it stops being able to fly! Plus it’s too fast to pin down.

Then, thankfully and suddenly, it finds the door and is gone. This is a relief but tinged with sadness that we were too busy screaming to admire it as much as it deserved… We wonder where it came from… and if we will ever see one again.

189 – Finding seagulls nesting on our chimney

Thursday 26 June. Sunny. 21°C

I stepped out the front door a few days ago and a seagull started making low dives and lots of noise above my head. Yesterday a neighbour confirmed my suspicions. “You’ve got two seagull chicks on your chimney”. We are VERY excited. We walk up the street opposite the house trying to get high enough to see. We don’t see babies but definitely see mum and dad. They’re keeping an eye on us.

We try the back of the house. We can see dad’s bottom very well but nothing else… then we listen… and there is the definite, not that quiet, squawking of baby seagull chicks.

180 – Seagull chick soap opera (part one)

Thursday 3 & Friday 4 July. Cloudy. 20°C

It’s mid afternoon and the seagull parents on the roof are going ballistic, swooping over and screeching constantly. We head out into the garden and look up at the chimney… and spot a small grey bundle of fuzz on the roof. It looks like it’s fallen off the chimney and can’t get back. We watch it for a while as it wanders around and conclude there’s not much we can do really. We head back inside.

An hour or so later a seagull is staring into our velux windows and cawing loudly. The chick has fallen off the roof and onto the wall. The wall is our cat’s favourite place. He’s muttering back and it’s like a soap opera’s arrived in the kitchen. Again, after a bit of angst, we decide there’s nothing we can do… except for getting the cat to go a different way. He grudgingly agrees and we leave the seagulls to sort it out.

In the morning there’s a new development. The chick has disappeared… turns out its now in the neighbour’s garden. We’re not sure that’s a good idea. We don’t think the parents can get down into it – it’s too small a space with too many trees. After some discussion I take a pet carrier round and some gloves and, after a bit of effort, we catch the chick, put it in the carrier and return it to the wall… a few hours later it’s back in the garden. We repeat and try and build up the wall a bit to keep it in… but the next morning it’s on the ground again..

Reluctantly we give up. Its a lesson for B in how much you can and can’t interfere. We can hear chick calling but no idea if mum is getting food to it. Its sibling is now out on the top roof… hopefully they’ll pick a better nesting spot next year!

165 – Fox on the doorstep…

Sunday 20 July. Mixed. 20°C

Our 200th challenge! We’re meeting friends T & F and heading off to a park near their house in Crouch End so F and B can find something to make a challenge out of. We go via their flat and F, who is ahead, stops and turns back.

F: “There’s a baby fox on the doorstep”.

She’s very matter of fact. T and I are confused… then we arrive and see what she means.

There is indeed! It’s quite an old baby. It sees us watching it and decides to move on to the front garden. There’s blood on it’s back leg but it moves ok.

What to do? T and F find some potential food for it and put it in the front garden. Then the cat that’s recently adopted them arrives and clearly isn’t happy about another contender for their affections. It stands on the wall and hisses. The fox cub looks confused and scared. After some discussion about rescues we decide to leave it be. We move on to the park where the girls make a 165 in celebration. When we get back we see it in the distance heading into another front garden – clearly looking for a better hiding space. F names it Cinnamon.

162 – The seagull chick soap opera (part two)

Tuesday 22 & Wednesday 23 July. Cloudy. 21°C

We come back from the weekend away with a warning from next door.

“Round two. The other chick’s on the wall”.

We’re hopeful it’s going to do better. It’s quite a bit older though, we think, still not quite old enough to fledge. It’s been on the roof for over two weeks and surviving surprisingly well, wandering about and providing entertainment for the street. Now it’s on the cat run wall above our kitchen and parents are going ballistic again.

It wanders up and down. Mum comes over to say hello. It finds a nice place to sleep under B’s bedroom window and we stop the cat going out that way. He seems resigned and wanders off in the other direction.

It lasts two days but in the morning of the third day it’s gone, just like its sibling. We scour the gardens, no sign. Just disappeared. We think probably a fox. It takes mum a while to realise it’s not there – and then she goes too. A sad saga. B doesn’t want to talk about it. She’s wise on this – she wouldn’t name the chicks as she thought it was tempting fate.