A great weekend away in Lincoln/Lincs. with Nichola gave an opportunity to nip in to Donna Nook and have a look at the breeding Grey Seal colony there - something I've wanted to do for years and never got around to. We are a bit early in the season, with the first pup this year born in late Oct and this weekend c240 pups, c10% of the numbers that may be there within the next couple of weeks. I was surprised how busy the place was, with the viewing pathway pretty much full along the main stretch, but I was equally surprised how close to the path some of the pups and cows were - thought I'd need full zoom on my P950 to get a record shot but instead got a few frame fillers. A random selection here, in no particular order, of just under 250 photos I took.
Sunday 12 November 2023
Sunday 10 September 2023
A Good Walk (not) Spoiled
I've not swung a gold club in earnest for quite a long while, and it is even longer since I managed an after-work Friday afternoon round at what was the nearest municipal course to where I work - Western Park Golf Course. Even if I wanted to, there is no chance of playing there these days; it was closed to the public and abandoned as a course by Leicester City Council in (I believe) 2015. The Council could no longer afford or justify having two large municipal courses and closed Western Park GC whilst leaving Humberstone Heights GC open and better funded - the course where I first played in any way as it is just up the road from where I grew up.
Anyway, what I had become completely oblivious to is that at some point the site has essentially been opened up and is accessible. Not sure if that has been deliberate and formal, or just a by product of such a large green space being close to housing estates. I hadn't though about it at all until I noticed that both the tetrad where I work and the adjacent tetrad where the course is are lacking in leaf mine records. So I nipped to have a quick look after work in the week - no intention of recording there and then but just to sense check access and have a quick nosey.
Tuesday 29 August 2023
Wha'ppen?
Where the hell did the time go? Feels like I've been cheated, short changed or robbed. I've barely posted bugger all this year, and it appears nothing since early June. But, for a change, that's not because there was nothing to post about. But between bouts of activity I've been pretty busy and work and, you know, stuff. I'll have a bit of catch up one way or another, though not chronologically (or indeed following any logic). For a starter, here's a few new for garden moths and one or two highlights that haven't been posted.
Sunday 11 June 2023
Lucky Man ...
Last night I was invited to join Margaret McLoughlin and Graham & Anona Finch out for some light trapping at a private site in Charnwood that the Loughborough Naturalists' Club has been surveying. The forecast was looking good anyway, and it certainly turned out to be an excellent night in many ways. I ran a 125W MV over a sheet and 2x 125W MV traps. And my new car is delayed so the pseudo-Uber got another run across terrain it wasn't built for.
Sunday 4 June 2023
Clean Sweep in Heather
I spent a couple of hours vigorously sweeping the (relatively) abundant heathers and bilberry at Warren Hills yesterday in nice sunshine with with the continual strong breeze that we've had for a week or so. My targets were actually a couple of Coleophora spp.: I hoped to find the distinctive cases of Coleophora pyrrhulipennella amongst the sweepings, and perhaps something that looked in contention for the cases of Coleophora juncicolella. No joy with either, which initially made it seem a bit of a fruitless effort, but there were a few beetles and a couple of small vaguely familiar tortrix moths. Turns out that this initial dismay quickly turned into a major win once I checked out the IDs. I was also left wishing I'd brought some clumps of heather and bilberry home for photographic props.
Firstly the tortrix: not the most spectacular thing, which reminded me of a small Holly Tortrix. I retained one for a photo, and quickly ascertained it was the closely related Rhopobota myrtillana. Brilliant; not only a new moth for me but also effectively new to VC55 (VCH listed, so any records are pre 1907 but there are no specimens so cannot be verified).