Egretta garzetta

Remember when Little Egrets were actually rare birds in the UK? And then seeing them more regularly and further inland started being normal, and then they started breeding in small colonies, and then they're everywhere like small pointy white sticks wherever you look .......

Whilst I was being ferried about by Nichola we headed through what used to be Whetstone village (but is now just the middle of a sprawling sub-urban metropolis called Whetstone). Being a passenger means you notice things, like small pointy white sticks looking out of place high up in a tree above Whetstone Brook. As it was still there when we drove back past, I insisted that Nichola ought to bring me back in a few mins with my camera. It was still there, though trying to get anything like a half-decent shot was not easy with crappy lighting and obtrusive twigs in the wrong places. I got it looking both ways. I expect Great White and Cattle Egret, Squacco Heron and Little Bittern in the brook during the next decade.

'Pointy White Stick' in 'Whetstone Village'

Not much excitement in last night's moth trap, but there was a total of 7 Small Quakers. It feels like I usually only see one or two of these in the garden each year, so I checked back. Five or less in all years except 2010 (7 individuals) and 2012 (13 individuals with the highest garden count of 5 on 23/3/2012). I've had 12 so far this year.

Small Quaker - 22/03/2019

Agonopterix alstromeriana - 22/03/2019

Agonopterix heracliana/cilliela agg. - 22/03/2019

Recoveries, Garden Moths, Pickworth

A mixed update.

First up, I've had details through for two of the colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls in the last post (no news so far on the Polish bird). VH85 was the most interesting as it is a new individual for Leicestershire. It was ringed as a pullus on 05/06/2010 at Hirsholm near to Frederikshavn in Denmark (same place and ringer as Red V028 I posted about last week). It was recorded at Knott End-on-Sea near to Fleetwood, Lancashire on 09/02/2011, and then no further reports until mine. JAN4 from Norway is not quite so enigmatic, as it has now been reported from Watermead Park by six different recorders. It was ringed as an adult male at Grünerbrua on the outskirts of Oslo in Norway on 20/04/2010, recorded at Watermead Park on 10/12/2010, back in Norway at two different sites near to Oslo on 15/04/2011 and 20/09/2011, and then back at Watermead Park on 01/11/2011 and 10/11/2011, and then again on 7 dates between 04/02/2012 to my sighting on 09/03/2012. It is 1086km as the gull flies between the ringing site and Watermead Park  ...

Garden mothing with the Synergetic/CFL trap on Thursday was pants - just 2 of 2sp:

08/03/2012
0688 Agonopterix heracliana 1
1497 Amblyptilia acanthadactyla 1

Friday night was better, with both the Synergetic and MV traps running and the first spring noctuid species at last, but still a bit rubbish with 22 of 6sp. although a late Early Moth was a bonus.

09/03/2012
0688 Agonopterix heracliana 2
1497 Amblyptilia acanthadactyla 2
1524 Emmelina monodactyla 4
1934 Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) 1
1960 Early Moth (Theria primaria) 1 (NFY)
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 12 (NFY)

Agonopterix heracliana

Amblyptilia acanthadactyla

Common Quaker

Early Moth

No garden mothing last night. I decided that with so few moths coming to me, I was going to go to them in big style. I planned to take six traps and a sheet kit all the way over to Pickworth Great Wood where I was sure there would be some moths. Adrian was keen, and joined me with another couple of traps after he'd also left two running at nearby Lady Wood. I knew when I had arrived, as the in-built twatnav in the car showed me stuck in a big roadless green patch ...

Pickworth has got brilliant access all through the wood, though some rides can be a bit damp and the main gate to get in is a right pain in the arse. For this early season session I opted to run at the eastern side of the wood which meant I didn't have to open the gate. I set up three traps along the main ride first and got them going, then another three along a parallel ride and the sheet at a turning point along the entrance track. When Adrian turned up he ran two traps further along the eastern ride from the sheet. This ride and the entrance track are pretty much the boundary with Lincs (Holywell Wood is in Lincs).

Red dot is 125W MV over sheet, orange dots are 125W MV traps, green dot is Synergetic trap,

cyan dot is an actinic combo trap

A good sight, lights = working gennie and traps

This sight wasn't quite so good initially - the nearest MV trap seems to have a dodgy choke wire ....

Moths on the sheet early on - a very small fraction of what we recorded

Plenty of bits to photograph, and it will be a substantial list for an early season session - I reckon there will be close to 2000 Small Quakers alone ......

Scaly / Slimey

The 80W actinic was on all night, producing a massive ..... 1 of 1.

It's not all bad though, as the lone attendant was a first for the year Dotted Border.

Nothing else at the windows either, apart from the Agonopterix heracliana that was there before the trap went on.

The trap is back on again tonight, complete with a newly aquired 100W tungsten after the original bulb popped a few weeks back. Tomorrow night looks to be a superb opportunity for getting out mothing - if I get the car back from an overdue service and get away from work at a reasonable time.

The garden is pretty much waterlogged after a fair bit of recent rain, so no surprises that a few other bits are starting to appear. We get a lot of frogs through the spring and summer, though we have no pond. Various neighbours do have ponds though so I'm sure our first individuals are just coming away from the exertions of spawning. Also a few molluscs out and about in the damp evenings.

Yellow Slug

Inauspicious

Enjoyed a very tasty curry and a couple of Kingfishers at Swatlands last night with fellow VC55 mothers Adrian Russell, Andy Mackay, Keith Tailby and Graham Finch. A really good evening with plenty of discussion and banter, some of it even related to moth recording ......

Before heading out to the curry house, I'd put the 80W actinic out again - surely something would turn up in the balmy 6°C with cloud cover? As I left the curry house and drove home, I saw the in-car thermometer had dropped to 3.5°C and my expectations had dropped. Nevertheless, at least some success when going through far more egg trays than are necessary at this time of year - a massive 2 moths of 2 species!

Chestnut - slightly knackered, but then it did overwinter

Agonopterix heracliana - even by the standard within this group, this is a dull moth!

Despite carefully checking several specimens each year, I have yet to see the almost identical Agonopterix ciliella.