More of the same

J5N1 from Norway ....

.... which is the 6th CR Black-headed Gull this week that I've seen at Watermead CP

This ringed individual didn't hang about for long enough to get a readable range of shots - should be identifiable by that debris stuck around it's legs though.

This Lesser Black-backed looked a lot daintier than yesterdays ...

... which then pitched up with a headless Common in between to give a good size comparison -

presume they are male/female

Another improved Pochard shot.

A nice female Tufted Duck

The bread-addicted Whooper still knocking about.

Only other interest was a singing Chiffchaff.

Lately, I have been mostly listening to Knife Party ..

I've scored with a cracking young Finnish bird ........

Careful scrutiny of a series of photos confirmed the detail ...

Helsinki - Finland ST255.461

I've submitted the record and await the ringing data and details. This bird was knocking about at Watermead CP South late yesterday afternoon, along with this one ..

AEH1 - Germany, details awaited

and two previously seen birds still hanging around ...

VH85 - Denmark

V028 - Denmark

All three of these were still around later this afternoon when I returned for more staring at gulls legs. Dave Gray and Brian Moore were already engaged in the same pursuit, and we picked up a first-winter individual that we think has been seen previously by John Hague but as yet no one has managed to secure the full detail. It's a Lithuanian bird, and detail gathered so far is that the ring code starts HA and ends 135.

HA?135 - Lithuania

Much less enigmatic was this heap ...

Canada Goose 47N - from the distant lands of Nottingham ..

A couple of other things that caught my eye ...

A brute of a 2nd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull

The most shagged-out looking Crow imaginable - looks like it's pleading to be euthanised

Huge Pickworth List

As I mentioned in the earlier post, I expected the Pickworth total from last night to be fairly big. It is. The grand total of our efforts from c3.5hrs of running light traps was a whopping ......

4355 of 26 sp.

0461 Ypsolopha ustella 1

0663 Diurnea fagella 5

1025 Tortricodes alternella 138
1044x Acleris ferrugana/notana 4
1054 Acleris cristana 2

1659 Yellow Horned (Achlya flavicornis galbanus) 399

1663 March Moth (Alsophila aescularia) 43

1746 Shoulder Stripe (Anticlea badiata) 67

1852 Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata) 3

1925 Small Brindled Beauty (Apocheima hispidaria) 149

1926 Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria) 7

1930 Oak Beauty (Biston strataria) 14

1932 Spring Usher (Agriopis leucophaearia) 1
1934 Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) 11

1947 Engrailed (Ectropis bistortata) 48

2139 Red Chestnut (Cerastis rubricosa) 1

2179 Pine Beauty (Panolis flammea) 1

2182 Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda) 2893

2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 284

2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 135

2189 Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda) 45

2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 66

2237 Grey Shoulder-knot (Lithophane ornitopus lactipennis) 1

2243 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) 2

2256 Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) 2
2258 Chestnut (Conistra vaccinii) 33

Most of the above are yearticks of course (blue text). Small Brindled Beauty is still scarce in VC55, and is pretty much confined to decent woodland over in the far east (at least as far as current records show). Whilst it is to be expected at Pickworth, these number are complete unprecedented with the previous highest total from there being 39.

Small Brindled Beauties

Oak Beauty

Yellow Horned

Grey Shoulder-knot

Small Quaker (1 of 2893!)

Twin-spotted Quaker

Common Quaker ab. confluens

This aberrant form has the orbicular and reniform stigma conjoined

Or, if you are puerile like me, it looks like someone has drawn a comedy penis on it.

Aside from the moths, I also noted a couple of large beetles which looked interesting. Same size, shape and jizz to 'Violet Ground Beetle' but clearly different. I think It is Carabus nemoralis - thanks to Mark Telfer for confirmation.

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 ......

"Look at my ring ...

... they're all the rage you know."

Nipped over to Watermead CP South again this afternoon after work - needed some fresh air and a chance to wield the camera at something. Anything. As it happened, as soon as I got out of the car I noticed a colour-ringed Black-headed Gull and decided to get a few shots. Eventually I got shots of three different ones. I've sent off the details and await the ringing reports, though I already know that a couple of these at least have been recorded at Watermead before and I know where all three are from.

VH85 - Denmark

JAN4 - Norway

T9NH - Poland

Aside from the gull diversion, not a lot to get excited about though the Whooper Swan is still knocking about.

Otherwise, I was entertained for a few minutes by some skanky Brown Rats milling about the edge. Always makes me smile a little to know that the very same people who would go mental at the sight of a rat are the ones bringing the ridiculous amounts of bread n shit which sustains them.

I also noted a few common flowers ..

Colt's-foot

Daisy