Garden Life

The moth trap went out again, with no higher expection but actually a better return: x5 Hebrew Characters, x3 Common Quakers, x1 Clouded Drab, x1 Twin-spotted Quaker, x1 Early Grey, x1 Double-striped Pug and x2 Diurnea fagella. I made an effort to grab some shots late this afternoon, the first moths I've photographed at home for months. I then remembered that I'd cleared out all of my photographic props, so had to make do with a bit of broken fence panel which worked out okay.

Double-striped Pug

Twin-spotted Quaker ab. immaculata

Really pleased to pick this one up; not annual and never in numbers in my garden, so seeing one this year with the crappy wet early spring was unexpected.

Early Grey

Perhaps the best behaved individual I've ever pointed a camera at.

Common Quaker

What you can't see from this shot is that it was tiny; I actually potted it up thinking it was Small Quaker, and only looked at it properly when preparing the camera.

Today has been another lovely sunny day with a bit of warmth, so I made a point of loitering in the garden for ten mins or so every time I grabbed a coffee and rested my eyes from the PC whilst working. It really did feel like things were stepping up, with more new for year insects including Peacock butterflies, Tree and Buff-tailed Bumblebees, Tawny Mining Bee, and a few of these ..

Dark-edged Bee Fly (Bombylius major)

Eristalis pertinax

I also listened and looked out for any bird activity whilst out there, seeing and/or hearing House Sparrow, Chiffchaff, Wren, Pied Wagtail, Common Crow, Feral Pigeon, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Herring Gull as well as the usual ten or so species I get in the garden. I ought to join in the 'lockdown listing' challenges, but I haven't got literally all day to peer hopefully into the airspace I can see from my house and garden.

My garden itself has nothing attractive to a wide variety of birds other than the feeders. Most of the genuinely interesting birds on my garden list are absolute one-offs, lucky flyovers or heard only - eg Woodcock, Kingfisher, Reed Bunting, Sedge Warbler, Black Redstart ...

Most of the stuff that uses my garden actually nests on the scrubby embankment that runs adjacent to my immediate neighbour's garden, and which partially restricts the open view I have of anything flying through. The neighbour's garden is a thin wedge that doesn't get much sun; we got the much better share of back garden space when the plots were laid out, though they have more land at the side and front.

Looking pretty much due-west over our knackered fence ...

... and looking north-west over our front conifer border

Ours is the red dot: sprawling suburb to north/east, sterile farmland to the south, industrial estate and motorway to the west .... but you see where the embankment turns from larger trees (mainly sycamore) to more scrubby before petering out

I pointed the camera at some Starlings which looked superb in the morning sun, and a pair of the Collared Doves that are still knocking about.

"Sunflowers on a snowy day ...

... makes my soul, makes my soul, trip trip trip away". That song by Zoe back in the early 90's was obviously written specfically for this blog post.

We had a bit of snow overnight, maybe 3 inches, certainly enough to bring the whole of the country to a grinding halt and spark fears of being snowed in until after Christmas has finished. Luckily, for the garden avian visitors, I'd topped up the feeders yesterday so no need to wade out into the deep drifts. As usual for my garden visitors, it's sunflower hearts or go somewhere else. I have a had a problem this year with the feeders but that can wait for now. Today with lying snow and persistant tiny flakes coming down throughout the day the regulars were all taking in much needed sustenance. And the regulars are mainly Goldfinches, Starlings, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits, Collared Doves, Woodpigeons, Blackbirds, Robins, Dunnocks and one or two Greenfinches. No Sparrows. Today we also had a couple of less regular visitors .....

Great-spotted Woodpecker

Roll up, roll up, get yer sunflower hearts here.

Bullfinch pair

Much maligned Starling

Aphid munchers

Superb warm sunny weather yesterday had me sitting around in the garden drinking tea and watching the world go by. In between cups of tea I pointed the camera at a few of the visitors. We've had constant squawking from up to three Starling broods just lately, with the recently fledged young chasing their parents and constantly begging for food.

 juv Starling

I've carried on topping up the feeders through the spring this year for a change, thinking it might help the parents, and it's worked to some extent. 

Goldfinch looking smart, but .....

 

... Great Tit and ...

... Blue Tit, both looking haggard from the effort of rearing young.

Robin going for a traditional caterpillar and ignoring the feeders, ...

... and Dunnock foraging around the lawn as usual.

Whilst pottering about the garden I also found two hoverfly maggots muching their way through aphids. And there are lots of aphids this year so good luck to the various larvae that will feed on them - should be good for ladybirds and lacewings too.

Probably Meliscaeva auricollis, living on aphids on Wood Avens

A Syrphus sp., living on aphids on a viburnum bush

I also found this tiny jumper in the house - new for the house and garden list, but hard to get a decent snap!

Euophrys frontalis

Garden tick in the snow

After another 9km or so in wellies yesterday, adding another five species to my Foot It list (Skylark, Yellowhammer, Sparrowhawk at last, Reed Bunting in the morning and Meadow Pipit in the afternoon) today was spent largely indoors apart from collecting Alex from a Cubs camping weekend (I kid you not). I've revised my Foot It target up to 68 (so I'm back to 100%) as I think this is a better reflection of a couple that I should have foreseen and that there are genuine surprises like Barn Owl. There are still a couple of species that I really should see from my original predicted list, plus a couple that I have a chance of seeing given the time and effort. Main constraint is that next weekend I'll be away in France.

But today I added nothing to the list. We had snow falling to some extent throughout the day, though it was mainly piddly little flakes that were not doing anything until mid-afternoon when it got heavier and added another layer on to what we already had. I spent a bit of time looking out at the various feeders in the hope that an elusive garden Coal Tit might drop in, and pointing the camera at various bits (though the shots through double-glazing in low light produced predictably soft or grainy shots). No Coal Tit, but much better was a garden tick Stock Dove. It wasn't a dodgy flyover either, it actually came in with a group of six Woodpigeons and spent time feeding on both the back and front gardens. I'm sure Stock Dove must fly over here quite frequently but I don't tend to spend time out in the garden looking up in hope - virtually all of my garden ticks these days are completely random or fortuitous moments.

Odd bits

No garden trapping last night, I anticipated what a waste of time it would have been. After clear skies and a very cold start, today has perked up quite a bit and we've had some bright sunny skies again though not as warm as in the week. I decided to head down the lane using the farm shop to stock up on fat balls as an impetus. Two pairs of Buzzards wheeling overhead, calling Yellowhammer, singing Chiffchaff, yaffling Green Woodpecker and flyover Great Spotted Woodpecker were all noted, but the avian highlight was a single Swallow over low heading north and chattering as it went. I pointed the camera at a few things, and also potted a few bits up to check out.

Every Dandelion flower scrutinised for inverts ..

Found a load of mullein in a gateway that I normally walk past oblivious - hopefully a few Mullein moths will be knocking about if the plants survive any ruthless mowing/destruction by the farmer ..

Shepherd's Purse - tell me if this is not right ..

Small Tortoiseshell - a better shot but a more worn individual

Pretty sure this is Sphaerophoria scripta ..

Aren't Starlings brilliant?

Here's the list from the Launde Park Wood trapping on Friday night - 99 of 14sp.

0663 Diurnea fagella 27
1663 March Moth (Alsophila aescularia) 2
1746 Shoulder Stripe (Anticlea badiata) 2
1852 Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata) 5
1917 Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) 7
1919 Purple Thorn (Selenia tetralunaria) 1
1947 Engrailed (Ectropis bistortata) 2
2182 Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda) 14
2185 Lead-coloured Drab (Orthosia populeti) 3
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 8
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 13
2189 Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda) 5
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 8
2258 Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) 2

Whilst there I found a small black beetle with four orange/brown dots on the elytra - subsequently identified as Glischrochilus hortensis, a new one for me. The blighter just would not pose for a decent photo - this is the best I got (where the beetle is in focus but its antennae and legs aren't).

Starlings

Here's a few Starling shots as mentioned in the first post this evening. You really can't knock Starlings - ubiquitous and much maligned but undeniably stunning in good light.