Check It Out

Selby won - excellent. I shouldn't get excited, but historically good things have happened to LCFC in the same month that Selby has won the World Championships ....

We've had some rain at last. More than enough last night to dampen the ground and a few more heavy showers today. Not great for getting out and doing anything but we certainly needed it and I think it will kick-start some activity once we get a warmer spell.

Time for to check out the various 2021 lists I'm keeping.

I've done a quick end of April comparison of the 2021 SP5595ish list vs the 2013list. The basic comparison is 368sp. vs 320sp., but going a little deeper: of the 368 species listed so far, 100 were not recorded at all in 2013 and of those 23 are complete ticks for me. That's pretty good going given that I'm doing it in a very ad-hoc way around how I'm feeling physically and the weather, although on the flip-side I was working full time without hinderence in 2013 and had perhaps less time in the field. It also means that in 2013 I'd listed 52 species that I've not as yet seen in 2021, but spring has been faltering here lately.

The 100 not recorded in 2013 breakdown as: Vascular Plants x21, Coleoptera x18, Hemiptera x10, Fungi x9, Lepidoptera x8, Lichens x7, Birds x6, Diptera x6, Arachnids x4, Hymenoptera x3, Mammals x2, Collembola x2, Bryophytes x2, Psocoptera x1 and Algae x1. Given that the actual target for this year was to better my 2013 totals for plants (Vascular + Bryophytes), Coleoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera and Hymenoptera I take this as showing potential though the next three months will be key.

The 23 ticks within that breakdown as: Coleoptera x6, Vascular Plants x4, Hemiptera x4, Fungi x3, Diptera x2, Lichens x2, Collembola x1 and Arachnids x1.

Here's the overall breakdown:

I expect numbers to rocket in May and June - assuming I can get out and make the effort and the moth trap picks up. Flowering grasses will need some effort, as will bashing hawthorn blossom and sweeping flowering umbelifers.

As for the various bird lists, a little more progress in April but not so much in the square/garden. Of the ten species added to the overall 5MR list, only two were in the garden (Blackcap and Lesser Redpoll), and two more in the square but not the garden (Whitethroat, Swallow). Ring Ouzel, Wheatear, Cetti's and Sedge Warblers and Linnet were added to the 5MR, but the patch list has not increased much. It shouldn't take too much to add a handful in May, as migrants have been a bit slow coming in. Only 28 species seen in all areas within the overall 5MR seems very low; the garden is always going to be the lowest list but there are only four more species seen in all areas except the garden (Grey Heron, Cormorant, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Stock Dove) which almost certainly says more about me not putting in much birding effort than anything else.

A reminder that the 49 species in the square list includes all species seen within the square and garden, rather than square or garden as below.

Update

End of the month, how are the various lists going ....

Today should have been a golden opportunity to add a few bits, if I'd gone out. I was working this morning, watching LCFC capitulate in worrying fashion from midday to early afternoon, and then sat around waiting for the district nurse to turn up and flush and dress my PICC line. I should be optimistic and wait to see if I can add something late this afternoon / early evening, but actually I've got stuff to do.

In between waiting and wailing, I had a play with the TG-6 using a solitary Common Quaker that I'd forgotten was in the fridge since Thursday morning. I've realised a couple of basic things: the camera was set to 'normal' compression, which in the great scheme of things is more noisy than the 'superfine' setting which I've now got it set to. Image file size has more than doubled, as the sensor is gathering more data. I also found that the auto white balance had an additional 'keep warm colours' setting, which I've turned off for indoor use with the daylight lamps. Finally, I found how to force the ISO to lower numbers (which is fine if subject sat still and camera on tripod) - so I forced to 100. All in all that gave me a much cleaner and better colour-balanced starting image than the last moth I tried. Perhaps not perfect, but getting better. Tripod and daylight lamps used as normal, and no more photoshop tweakery than I'd normal apply ....

Later, after chucking this out to fly off, I realised more about the TG-6 that I knew I was missing. Basic stuff that I couldn't see how to set/change from the menus. Essentially pressing 'OK' at any time brings up a series of icons on the right hand side of the screen that are then selectable and options can be changed without having to go through the menus. Including switching between AF/MF, changing white balance and ISO. I also found from that method how to select a RAW and JPEG file. I don't use RAW normally, but until I am happy with a repeatable and reliable set-up it might be worth having the option to tweak a completely uncompressed image. Anyway enough of that for now.

February saw me spend the better part of two weeks not doing anything whilst it was cold/snowy and/or I felt a bit crap. I've not got out into the square as much as I did in early January, and I've not been out with my bins as much either. Still, the lists have steadily crept up.

The SP5595ish square list stands at 222 species (+5 aggregates). It was 159 at the end of Jan, so +63 species. During the 2013 effort the list at the end of Feb was a paltry 158 species. I haven't bothered to analyse the comparison any further than that, perhaps something for the end of April when variance in conditions etc may have equalled out.

As things progress I'll include a separate breakdown of insects (eg splitting out hoverflies, sawflies, moths etc).

The birding lists have also grown, though not substantially. You'll remember that within the overall 5MR list there are various sub-lists: Garden List, SP5595ish square list excluding garden, patch list, and birds within the 5MR outside of the square and patch. The overall total was 51 at the end of January, and is only 58 now. Additions were Raven, Teal, Little Grebe, Coot, Tufted Duck, Skylark and Green Woodpecker. Out of those, only Skylark was added from the square; finally a couple of birds singing over the fields on Thursday, no idea where they disappeared to in the weeks before the snow and subsequent thaw. I am still missing a few obvious common birds including Rook, and so far only 20 species on all four sub-lists. March should see the first returning breeders etc.