I’m walking past a scrubby patch of nettles when my eyes are drawn to a tiny splash of scarlet on a vivid green leaf. I look more closely and find the scarlet is dotted with black. It’s a 7-spot ladybird – a miniature masterpiece of nature and prodigious muncher of aphids. I’m especially pleased to see this one because it’s on a list of 30 animals I’m trying to spot.

I’m having an early go at the Great Yorkshire Creature Count (GYCC) – Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s annual “wildlife census.” On Saturday 24^th and Sunday 25^th June, people across the region are being urged to search for, count and record the wildlife on their doorstep. The 30 target species include insects like common woodlice and marmalade hoverflies, birds such as house sparrows and blackbirds, and mammals like foxes and hedgehogs. You don’t have to be an expert: it’s a fun way of connecting with nature, while at the same time providing important information to help YWT build up a picture of how some of our more common species are faring.

I’m doing the GYCC at Potteric Carr, but you don’t have to go to a nature reserve…every garden, yard and scrubby piece of grass could make a difference.

Back at the nettle patch, I’m taking photos of the ladybird when a large red damselfly – another of the 30 GYCC species - flutters down onto a nearby leaf. When I look more closely, I notice a common blue damselfly and another ladybird. Later, I return to the same place and spot another target – a garden snail. It would have been so easy just to walk past and miss it all.

As a birdwatcher, I tend to look up and into the middle or long distance when I’m walking around. So it’s easy to spot the flocks of goldfinches flitting and twittering in the hedgerows or the black-headed gulls wheeling acrobatically over the lake. But if I hadn’t remembered to look down and close-up every now and then, I’d have missed the tiny ant scurrying at my feet while carrying another insect.

I’d also probably have failed to spot the beetle flying across the footpath and landing on a stalk just in front of me. While I’m taking photos, I’m convinced it’s another of my 30 targets – a red soldier beetle. Back home, I run my photo through the iNaturalist app and discover I was wrong…it’s actually a black-headed cardinal beetle – rarer but not on the list.

My final tally for several hours of roaming round Potteric Carr is 11 out of the 30 species. Some of my missing species – like grass snake and pipistrelle bat – were always likely to be difficult, but how did I fail to spot house sparrow and worm?

Two of my favourite wildlife encounters of the day featured creatures that weren’t included in the GYCC list.

I’m walking quietly round a pond in a secluded spot, hoping I might see a frog. Suddenly, an animal comes round a bend in the path and trots towards me. At first, I think it’s a dog. Then the realisation hits me - it’s a muntjac deer, the smallest breed in Britain. We watch each other for a few minutes; I take a few photos, the deer nibbles some plants. Eventually it saunters off into the trees, where it teams up with another muntjac before they both disappear from view.

Then, just before leaving Potteric Carr, I’m sitting on a bench in a meadow. A dragonfly whizzes past me and lands on a bush a few metres away. I pick up my camera and head towards it. It turns out to be stunningly beautiful, with a gorgeous golden body and wings like stained glass windows. It’s a four-spotted chaser – not particularly rare, not on the GYCC list… but I really don’t care.

One of the great joys of wildlife watching is that it’s unpredictable: you start out looking for one thing and end up seeing something completely different but equally magical. And once you get out in nature to do the Great Yorkshire Creature Count, who knows what you’ll find?