My wildness was a little restricted today, on day 5 of #30DaysWild: I was dosed up on antihistamines due to a nasty reaction to Horsefly bites and, as even the non-drowsy pills make me feel a bit wonky, I just went for a mini meander around my local park, Penarth’s Alexandra Park. It’s a relic of the Victorian era – think topiary and bird cages, manicured lawns and artificial-looking flower beds – but there are also some wonderful wild areas.

I wasn’t sure what I might find, as it was cooler and quite windy here today, but that also meant there weren’t too many people around to stare at me as I indulged in a spot of leaf turning … because you never know what teeny-weeny creatures you might find when you look at the underside of a leaf (or even the top side, for that matter). The bright reddish-pink constructions caused by one of the Sycamore gall mites were easy to spot on the tops, and various immature bugs crawled around underneath most of the leaves I looked at.

Sycamore gall nites

Immature plant bug

Immature plant bug

Aphid

My favourites, though, were these aphid communities. I think these are Elder aphids (Aphis sambuci) but please do correct me if I’m wrong.