The sun has well and truly set on 2020. This time last year, I was looking
forward to a quiet evening knowing that we were heading out to the
north Norfolk coast for some January 1st sea-air
and an incidental twitch on the way. The chances of going anywhere further
than a local walk tomorrow are slim indeed.
I look forward to spending some 2021 hours in my local square and seeing what
I can find. I'm planning on adding a suction sampler to my array of field equipment in time for
the spring - let's see what looks I get walking down the lane with that. I'm also hoping that I can get out and about as much as I have done
in 2020 - or at least as much as I did before the late autumn. I really should
make a bit more effort with some local birding in 2021, and I very much hope
that I can get back into some out-of-garden moth trapping in the late
spring/summer.
Given that we are absolutely back in the throws of lockdown and pandemic
pandemonium, it seems a little twee to wish everyone a 'Happy New Year'. It
goes without saying that in the immediate context, 'Happy' means safe, sane and
healthy. So, Happy New Year to one and all.
No, I don't mean that I've come over all politically correct. I'm not even
sure what 'politically correct' is meant to mean these days anyway - I don't
think any Politicians from the main parties are correct on anything, and most
of what they spout appears to rile c50% of the population one way or the
other. Anyway .... I mean this Pc ....
A ghost mine of the adventive Phyllocnistis citrella, this one on a
fruiting lemon tree
We nipped out to the local garden centre this afternoon so I could stock up on
another sackful of sunflower hearts. As always whilst there, I checked if they
had any citrus plants in stock - they always seem to have them in the winter
and early spring. They had a load, but I wasn't taking too much notice of what
the plants were until I found mines. Aside from the above I found these on a
plant with smaller and darker leaves ....
One of these is tenanted. Somehow, the mined leaves fell off and into my
pocket to check out. This plant clearly wasn't the same as the lemon trees,
and had no visible fruits like the smaller kumquat plants, so I bothered to
look at the label ....
Sweet. Well, kinda sour actually.
I've found mines on plants at this centre before, and also at a local
supermarket. This is now the third year in a row that I've recorded it; I'm not
that lucky - I guess most people would not bother looking.
We had some snow today as well. A slightly pathetic effort, with some big
clumpy flakes in short bursts that were never going to trouble the roads or give small kids anything to get excited about.
Here's something that I like, which I suspect a large number of people would
find to be not PC ....
I got Nichola to take me out today so we could enjoy a walk in the still,
bright sunshine - a world away from the shite weather overnight. We headed to
Watermead Country Park South; I knew it would be busy and we knew there was a
risk that the easy footpaths would actually be underwater - but it was fine
and we enjoyed a good hour and a half walking around. I was hoping that there
would be common waterfowl and gulls to point the lens at, and I was without
any other optics on the basis that if it was not close enough to photograph it
didn't matter what it was. But I was completely unprepared for any
ornithological interest beyond the common stuff.
There is a large car park at this site, and the nearest area of water to it
has over the last couple of decades at least become a feeding area. I've
moaned about that before, but at least today I could see lots of floating
lettuce leaves and grain spilled out all over the place - much better than
bags full of loaves of white bread. As I watched the Mallards, Mute Swans,
Coots and Black-headed Gulls constantly fighting over the spoils I suddenly noticed this floating about
like a lumbering biscuit ....
My immediate thought was juv Glaucous Gull, based on its size (pretty big,
Herring Gull sized and perhaps a tad larger), pink basal section of the bill,
apparent lack of grey/black tones and brown-centered primaries with white tips.
The legs were bubble-gum pink coloured, and in flight the primaries just
appeared pale.
This is far from a prime site for large gulls. And I am far from a larophile.
Large gulls are not my favourite group of avian beings, and I just don't get
excited about the minutiae of identifying them. Still I couldn't ignore it,
and I got a good number of shots as it loafed about in between shorts bursts
of flight.
I put the news out locally, and an hour or so later whilst waiting in the car
whilst Nichola nipped into a supermarket I managed to download a phone app and
transfer a representative shot from the camera to my phone. I sent it through
to Andy Mackay (ex-county recorder and current custodian of the VC55 bird news
services). He immediately commented that it looked a little dark and was,
perhaps, a hybrid .... sigh.
Once I got home, I sent a series of photos to Andy, Steve Lister (another
ex-county recorder) and Carl Baggot (current county recorder). Carl and Steve
certainly have a lot more recent experience with large gull ID. Pretty swift
feedback was that this would in all likelihood have been recorded as juv
Glaucous on distant/fly-by views, but with the benefit of my photos there were
clear anomalies - but it was an interesting gull.
eg: black on the bill appears to extend too far up toward the nostrils, rather
than a clear-cut black tip; primary projection appears too long; undertail
barring too extensive; tertial pattern too 'Herring Gull' like; looks like it
has moulted some mantle feathers, and despite it's size the head-shape and
general jizz make it look a bit daintier than might be expected.
I think it's fair to say that when any large gull is 'interesting' it means
the ID is far from certain. The consensus is that this is likely to be a
Gaucous x Herring hybrid, and quite possibly a second-generation hybrid at
that. It's likely that this bird will be back in the area so maybe others can
have a look and see if anything more definitive comes out.
In the meantime, here's a much easier to identify duck that refused to come
out in the open.
Wishing peace, goodwill and a very merry festive season to all who stumble on
this blog.
An old snap of hoar-frost artified in Photoshop
This year, like many of you, I will be especially thinking of the hard-working
frontline NHS staff, carers and other keyworkers that have kept us all going
as far as possible through what has been a ridiculously tough year. I'll also
be mindful of the many who have become collateral damage through having their
places of work shut-down/wound-up, and of course of the many families
tragically hit by either the virus itself or as a consequence of our
underfunded and undermanned services. I wasn't expecting to be also thinking
about hoards of European hauliers stuck stationary on vast strips of tarmac in
Kent with no idea about whether they'll see family on Christmas Day -
compounded by being treated to the ultimate in shite hospitality thanks to our
fuckwitted Government having no structure or facilities in place for the very
thing that may well have been fully expected a week or so later.
We are having our main family meal tomorrow on Christmas Eve, as our daughter
(a nurse) will be working a shift at the hospital on Christmas Day. We'll be
raising a few glasses in our Covid-compliant bubble, and being more thankful
than ever that we are able to enjoy such a meal, with company and in comfort.
It's been a shite year for all, but for most of us it could have been so much worse.
I've managed to retrieve my feeders and bird feed thanks to family assistance.
Yesterday afternoon, I managed to get the feeders out and also a mesh-tray on
the moth-trapping slab with some peanuts and suet pellets. Whilst the feeders
keep the finches, tits, Starlings and the odd Robin busy, I usually put some
stuff down low which helps to keep the pigeons and Magpies off the feeders. It
also helps to give any Squirrels something to go at without trying to defeat
the baffle or leap onto the feeders from the fences. Not much activity
yesterday as was to be expected, but today has brought a steady procession of
feeding visitors including a decent flock of House Sparrows for a change. What
I absolutely wasn't expecting was this ....
I've seen very few Foxes around the estate over the years, and I've only seen a
couple at home - always on the front garden. When I first noticed this one, I
had no camera and the mesh tray was still at least half full. In the two or
three minutes it took me to get upstairs, grab a camera and look back out, it
had demolished the nuts and suet and was having a lick at a couple of apple
slices. I grabbed a couple of quick shots through the kitchen window.
Once it had decided enough was enough, and looked like it might move off, I
nipped across and risked opening the patio door thinking it would probably
bolt. It did nothing more than stop to look at me - it wasn't in the least bit
bothered, giving a chance for a couple of shots without a window in the way.
It's tempting to assume that this is an old individual with the greyness of
the fur, but I've got no idea really. It looks healthy enough though, and not
the biggest individual. I suspect it will pop up again sometime. Hopefully not
presented at the back door by our git of a cat.
post-script!
Not more than 30mins after clicking publish, I nipped downstairs and the beast
was back. Another upstairs/downstairs jaunt for the camera, and it must have
noticed or heard movement as I stood at the patio door ....
I imagine from this that it has certainly got used to being fed by someone
around here!
I've managed to get all of my summer and autumn dictaphone lists transcribed
and entered into Mapmate. It wasn't too arduous, which probably tells the
story in itself.
Whilst 2020 has had some excellent periods of hot sunny weather by day, giving
good opportunities for invert recording when out and about, there have been
relatively few periods of excellent overnight conditions suitable for big moth
trap totals. Excessively windy and/or wet weather have scuppered some of the
peak periods, and days when the temps are soaring followed by clear nights
with a significant temperature drop are not great either. Then with one thing
or another, I stopped trapping before some of the autumnal species were out
and about. So I already knew that the 2020 species total was going to be on
the low side.
I've never bothered to run a trap every night regardless, as some do. Whilst
this would indeed be a consistent approach my (usual) work life means that
getting up early every morning is too much. I will try and run it
consecutively for several nights when conditions (or my enthusiasm and working
pattern) make it worthwhile, but more usually I will run for a few nights,
miss a couple and start again. There is still enough trapping to make some
sort of year to year comparison valid, until - like this year - there are big
gaps between trap dates or a late start / early end to the trapping effort.
Before the first national lockdown, we'd had some pretty wet and crappy
weather. The garden was waterlogged for most of the time until mid-March, and
so aside from a couple of nights trapping didn't really start until the back
end of the month. For most of the year I've just run a single trap,
alternating between a synergetic/actinic combo and a 125W MV. I knocked up a
quick summary of traps dates and type because I have nothing else pressing to
do ....
Green blocks are the synergetic/actinic trap (59 nights), blue blocks are the
MV trap (16 nights) and black blocks are the seven nights when I ran both
together. So trapping results from 82 nights in total, with 89 'trap-nights'.
By far the biggest impact on overall numbers recorded are the big gaps between
27th June - 9th July, 18th - 28th July and 15th August - 31st August with
little or no trapping. These are primarily due to weather (or weather-related
apathy!). No trapping after 21st September will have knocked fewer species
from the total.
Aside from trapping, there are a few records of individuals dayflying,
attracted to lit windows or an external light fitting, and a couple of
larval records. In total, I've recorded 319 species in 2020 - way down on
the 425 species in 2013, but actually only around 30 species down on the
average of the last ten years. There is a slim chance of one or two more
species for the year, I'll update this post if that happens.
There were seven new species in the year, and I managed to point the camera
at all but one - an Ypsolopha horridella on 9th August which flew off from
the egg box whilst I fumbled for a pot.
Luffia lapidella f. ferchaultella (26/04/2020)
A surprise find on a low wall in the garden
Spuleria flavicaput (21/05/2020)
One I'd not seen anywhere before - and sadly it was knackered!
Gillmeria ochrodactyla (02/06/2020)
Another full British tick
Brown-tail (24/06/2020)
Maybe not a surprise, although this was still a VC55 rarity not that long
ago
Cydia fagiglandana (25/06/2020)
I've recorded this not too far away at Narborough Bog in the past, but it's
not like we have an abundance of beech around here
Toadflax Brocade (12/08/2020)
Another British tick, and one I was hoping would turn up after arriving in the
VC a couple of years ago
The garden list is up to 705 species. 2021 will definitely see some disruption
in the early spring if the garden works go ahead as planned, but I hope we get
a better run of trapping between June and late August at least. I also hope
that I'll be able to trap in the later autumn again having missed a few
species both this and last year.
We were meant to have the garden ripped up and re-landscaped back in the
spring this year - but Covid scuppered that plan. By the time we were able to
seriously start looking at it again it was early summer, and by then all
potential landscapers/gardeners seemed to be booked out until the autumn. We
had one lined up, with an expectation that he'd start in August. He got held
up on previous jobs with crap weather, and was now expecting to start in
September. I (just about) emptied the garden shed and transferred everything
to my Mum's spacious garage. I did this in the expectation that our garden was
going to be finally done the following week. But then weeks rolled on, and the
landscaper eventually called to say he could start during the week when I was
about to have surgery. Of course we mutually agreed that was not a good idea,
not least as I was not about to demolish the shed and then have gardeners
working at home whilst I was in hospital, and then be left with a lot of work
to do whilst I was physically incapable in winter weather. We agreed to put it
all of until the spring. I though nothing of this until this week ....
Amongst the copious car-loads of stuff that I carted off to the garage space
was a large storage box that houses my bird feeders and feed. I
currently have no feeders out and the garden is not attracting anything more
exciting than the odd Blackbird grubbing about for worms. The other item that
I've now realised I am missing is my box of various moth trap spares and
bulbs. Whilst I have no intention of running a trap any day soon (and actually
have one available if I was minded to) I do like to run a UV bulb in an old
outdoor light fitting on the front of the house in the winter. The 12W blacklight LED that
I've been running in there for the last couple of years has failed, so in lieu
of my spares I've ordered an actinic CFL which hasn't turned up yet.
I could of course just nip over to my Mum's, if I could drive. I could ask my
Mum to bring them over, if I could be confident that the boxes I need were
easily accessible rather than buried at the bottom of piles of other stuff.
And anyway the box with feeders and feed is bloody heavy. I will definitely
come up with a plan in the next week or so, but in the meantime my garden
entertainment is somewhat limited.
I have managed to point the cameras at a couple of bits though.
We seem to have a couple of pairs of Woodpigeons and a pair of Collared Doves
somewhere nearby, They could well be preparing to breed already - I've seen
both species locally on nests in the depth of winter.
Suitably grey, a bit like the weather in the last couple of days.
Winter Moth
x2 to a lit window on the front on Weds evening, x3 to the kitchen window at
the back last night
Well, time flies when you're incapacitated. It's just a day off five weeks
since I had surgery. I'm feeling stronger each week, though I've got a fair
way to go and will have to endure some more chemo (probably in the New Year,
which I will not find out the details for until mid-December). I can just
about sit at the PC for long enough now to do useful stuff to pass some time.
In particular I've been pulling through records from Naturespot and iRecord,
plus additional records from my own notes/photos/Blog, and updating my
personal Mapmate database. I'm also well underway with catching up on
transcribing my garden moth records from my digital dictaphone.
Over the last week or so, I have been able to gradually walk a bit further and
have starting ambling down the lane with my bins. Getting fresh air and
watching a few common birds has been a tonic, with Jay, Sparrowhawk, Skylark,
Meadow Pipit, Yellowhammer, Fieldfare, Redwing and Great Spotted Woodpecker
all adding interest. I've also noticed a number of regular wild plants that
are in flower, or only just gone over - perhaps a sign that the November
weather overall was not particularly arduous.
Whilst shuffling along minding my own business, I started mulling over what
may be possible in 2021. I probably won't be driving much before January, and
currently have no idea what the chemo treatment plan will look like and what
the impact will be. But I am sure that I will have recovered sufficiently from
the surgery itself, and dealing with life-changing adjustments has so far the
least troublesome aspect of recovery. I am sure that I should be able to do
something at least locally, and aside from general aims (like staying alive,
avoiding novel viral infections and still managing to metaphorically put food
on the table), I feel that I need to start setting some targets and personal
challenges. Like all naturalist bloggers seem to do in December!
My mind wandered back to the inaugural 1000 species in 1k square challenge. I
was surprised when I looked back that it was in 2013 - though it does feel
like a long while ago now. I managed to build a pretty good total for the year
(1139 species), but looking back the garden moth trap enjoyed a particularly
good year which helped. Here's a reminder of the species breakdowns:
I started thinking along the lines that I must (or at least should) be better equipped
now than I was then: more literature, even more web resources, more on-line
groups and - above all that - more experience and hopefully I've learnt a bit. I also remembered that, at the time, it seemed to be pretty much all
consuming and that I was adamant I wouldn't be trying again. But .....
I think there is a manageable but still challenging half-way on this. Back in
2013, my botanical skills were even poorer than they are now. I was also only just getting started with some insect groups. So
perhaps in 2021, targeting the same square, I could try and beat my 2013
totals for plants (vascular + liverworts & mosses), coleoptera, diptera, hemiptera and hymenoptera. It
would mean getting back out into local areas on foot regularly, bashing and
sweeping whilst making a note of what I'm bashing and sweeping. It would also
perhaps be a measure of whether I really have have improved my field and ID skills over
the eight years. Or it might just be a measure of how much weather patterns
and habitat change over time affect what is there to be found! I would no doubt see other stuff, but I would not be trying to beat my 2013 total. I will mull over this a bit more before finally making a pledge to myself as
to whether to go for it.
Over the next couple of weeks as I finalise my 2020 records, I will re-assess where
I am with some of the 2020 personal targets I set and, no doubt, out of that
will come a few more challenges.
Sunset down the lane - 26/11/2020
I've been listening to some varied stuff lately, including some old prog stuff and some late 70s punk/new wave. But my general favouritism for all things electronica means that decent new
releases from Inner City, Faithless, Sub Focus and a couple of tracks from Pendulum have been repeatedly played.
I'll be away from blogging for a while, at least in the sense of creating and
posting anything, entirely as a result of having nothing to blog about whilst
I am incapacitated and recovering from major surgery next week. I mentioned a
few weeks ago that I was having to make a decision that I didn't want to be
making, and this was it: life-changing surgery to give the best chance of
longevity. It's clear from the most recent scans/checks I've had that the
chemradiotherapy and subsequent contact radiotherapy last year was not
successful and my cancer is coming back. It is what it is, I've got over the
disappointment and I'm resigned to what is coming.
I will be hospitalised for a couple of weeks from Thursday. Whilst away I will
be avidly checking out other's blogs, keeping myself entertained with varied
music, watching some long-forgotten films on my iPad and following the LCFC
European Tour.
2020 has been a bastard of a year for many, but overall I've had one of the
most interesting years for a while in terms of new species, photographic
opportunities and varied blogging. The early part of lockdown and working from
home presented stuff from the garden and locally that would normally have been
missed, and I've had some good times out and about looking for and at things
that I'd usually overlook.
My surgery will be life-changing, but after recovery it will not be
life-limiting. I am very much looking forward to being back to some sort of
normality in time for the early spring ento-action well before the clocks
spring forward. I will be back to blogging as soon as I am able and have
anything to share.
In the meantime peace, good health and positivity to all*
* Except those that believe victimising the most vulnerable and desperate in
our society is justifiable; that whittling away our protections and standards
behind the scenes is progress; feel that money bunged to private companies to
profit from Covid whilst dismantling the NHS is acceptable; that 'them
bastards in the EU' are the problem; that destroying ancient woodland and irreplaceable habitat to trim
minutes from journeys out of London to anywhere north of the M25 is necessary;
think that any kind of 'levelling up' is really going to happen, or thinks
that everything this despicable Government is doing is fair. If that fits you,
we really have nothing in common.
We enjoyed another couple of hours out walking today, over at Bradgate Park.
The car parks were all rammed, but I've been here more than enough times to
know that you can quickly and easily veer away from the main drag and enjoy
huge swathes of open vista with few others around. I'm sure if anyone could
watch the park from high up above and create a heat map, the main pathway
through the center, the car parks and the toilet/tea buildings would be
burning orange, whilst the rest would barely register. There was no agenda
other than fresh air and enjoying the massive ancient oaks. When we did head
nearer to the ruins and the main path, it was still easy enough to maintain
distance.
Some of these huge oaks are barely holding themselves together. Huge hollow centers, barkless and split trunks, and yet they continue to flourish and survive, their ancient status fully justified.
We briefly nipped over to nearby Swithland Reservoir before heading home,
mainly so I could enjoy the sound of a Wigeon flock and see a few ducks for a
change.
I managed to get out this afternoon with Nichola. We had a great couple of
hours wandering around Swithland Wood on our own, and we were lucky
with the weather as during our walk the wind dropped, the sun shone a
little and it was pretty mild. The only shower was the constant fall of acorns.
Almost the moment we got back to the car it started to darken and within five
minutes of leaving it was full-on torrential rain all the way home.
Whilst it was very pleasant, it wasn't quite the autumnal spectacular it might
have been. Most of the trees still held plenty of green leaves, and the colours
otherwise were mainly yellows. The Red Oaks were the exception, but these had
gone over to brown already.
Within the wood there are two water-filled slate quarries, with one in the
middle being pretty large. Trouble is for as long as I can remember these have
been fenced off and are inaccessible - they can only be glimpsed through the fence and trees.
I've got no idea if there is anything in these pits that would properly support wildfowl,
though I do remember seeing Little Grebe on here years ago so there must be
something in there.
Whilst mooching about looking at any fallen trees, we came across this old log that has been embedded with coins ....
I've never noticed this log before, or seen anything like it. Searching on the
web this evening though suggests that this is a 'wish tree', whereby people
hammer in a coin and make a wish - probably derived from some mediaeval belief
of wishing away ailments.
Once I read about that, I immediately wished that people would stop being such bellends. Notably this log was devoid of fungi, moss or anything else.
Perhaps corroding coinage leaches chemicals into the wood?
Happily I did find fungal interest on other trees. One I'd not seen before was
this ...
Bulgaria inquinens - Black Bulgar
I also found one of these, only the second I've seen though I'd like to find a
fresh one ....
Phallus impudicus - Common Stinkhorn
Others were more expected or less identifiable ....
Pholiota squarrosa - Shaggy Scalycap
Ascocoryne sarcoides - Purple Jellydisc
Xylaria hypoxylon - Candlesnuff
(probably) Hypholoma fasciculare - Sulphur Tuft
Some sort of bonnet ....
Some sort of slime mould ....
I also pointed the camera at this, and realised when I got home that there was
a missed opportunity (I wasn't focussing on anything entomological whilst out)
....
