Sunshine Birds

Okay, a couple of days late for one reason or another.

Saturday was bright sunshine with warmth right from the off. I decided to head down the lane with bins and camera - maybe something new in the hedgerows or skies.

There was, albeit brief and silent - a Whitethroat skulking in the hedgerow and quite likely fresh in and a bit knackered. Yellowhammers and Skylarks were more evident though ....

Also along the lane, this intensively reared chicken was unphased by an approaching human or passing cars.

Whilst out, I picked up a Tweet from Neil Hagley - a proper birder who lives on the same estate but further over with better all-round aerial views from his garden and slightly less motorway noise. He is far more likely to be out and about earlier in the morning than me, and he'd picked up both Wheatear and Yellow Wagtail. I mis-read the Tweet though and thought he meant he'd had them along the lane, which seemed unlikely for Wheatear at least given the fields are all sprouting with Autumn-sown crops - no nice bare ploughed fields or short grassy/weedy pasture. I checked in with Neil, turns out he meant he'd walked down the lane and carried on across the main A426 onto Whetstone Gorse Lane and past the PYO. Which was good, as it meant my birding skills were not completely rubbish. By the time I had that bit of news I'd already enjoyed Ravens flying over, along with several Buzzards and Red Kite filling the sky and a pair of Swallows milling about around the farm, and I'd headed back home.

But the enjoyable walk kind of made my mind up for what I might do for the rest of the day - which was get back out with bins and avoid that televised funeral! I grabbed something to eat, made up a coffee to take out and a couple of bits of fruit. First off I headed back down to the PYO - I expected the Wheatear to still be present, doubted the wagtail would be. I was right.

Quite possibly the worst Wheatear record shot I've ever taken - distance wasn't the problem, it was the heat-haze rising up from the bare soil. It was turning out to be quite a sun blast out there. Sadly this one is not in the square, but of course is in the 5MR.

I then headed out to Barlestone, outside of the 5MR, but home to a trio of Ring Ouzels for a couple of days. I've seen several Ring Ouzels in the county over the years, and none have been particularly photographic when I've seen them. These were no different - loitering right on the edge of a sheep field, and watchable from the next sheep field only.

The two red arrows mark the rough position and range of two birds fairly close together on the left, and a single bird on the right. When they first turned up, they were on the almost adjacent football pitch giving some cracking views. Apparently! This time distance and the heat really did make for some shocking record shots. All appeared to be male, but I can't rule out a well-marked female for the out-of-range more distance one (bins only, can't be arsed lugging a scope around these days).

Other thrushes in the field were more obliging.

After that I headed back towards home and checked in to the balancing pool at Grove Park and a quick walk around Jubilee Park on the patch. But nothing new or exciting at either. The pool at Jubilee Park seems to be dropping in volume very quickly. Still a handful of Wigeon loitering there but not a lot else. Seeing how low the river is now and walking around the once flooded but now parched grassy areas reminded me that it really it a fair while now since we had any rain. We've had mild and sometimes warm sunny days, very clear cold nights, but it's been bone dry.

In other bird news from Saturday, we were awoken by an almighty clucking from a pair of Blackbirds loudly proclaiming their agitation. Had no idea what was going on, but when I was home after the first walk down the lane, we realised there was a pathetic fledgling in the garden which was barely able to get more than a couple of feet off of the ground. It was almost like it had fledged too early; usually the first fledglings I see in the garden have full tails and are almost bigger (certainly fatter) than the parents - this was slightly smaller than the adults and lacking much of a tail. It can't have flown into the garden, and I surmised that it had launched itself from the nearest bramble on the embankment onto the neighbours shed roof, and from there either flopped into our garden or over to our shed roof before dropping in.

It wasn't happy, but at least the parents were feeding it regularly. But I knew that it would not survive - if not from ours or another local cat (it may as well have had a Nestle Purina logo on its crown) it was going to be another cold night. Later in the afternoon I decided enough was enough and it needed some sort of rescue plan, but it wouldn't let me get anywhere near it to give it a hand up. Eventually it was sat on the edge of a plant pot at the back of the shed, and with some other junk I've got behind there including a pallet, I tried to make a series of steps that it might be able to get up high enough to get back onto the shed roof and jump back into cover. I had no expectations that it would, but after leaving it for half an hour I noticed the parents were not coming onto our fence anymore. A quick check and there was no sign of the fledgling; either my half-baked plan had worked or perhaps it had just hopped through the hedgehog hole at the bottom of the fence line. I checked again after an hour and, amazingly, quite close to the neighbours shed sat a very familiar looking brown blob on the edge of the bramble. A happy ending perhaps ....

Except that yesterday there was very little noise coming from the embankment, not as much calling and squeaking as you might expect. Cut to this morning, and just whilst I made a cuppa the adult pair were making the same raucous agitated racket again. I nipped into the garden just in time to see a Magpie fly out of the scrub with a brown feathery blob dangling from its beak. I knew they would predate nests, but I always assumed it was much younger naked chicks that they'd be after. It must have taken some effort to fly off with this sized breakfast. I'm assuming that on Saturday it raided the nest causing the remaining chicks that were not quite ready to fledge to scatter. Likely that the Magpie has been coming back and searching them out ever since. Still that's life (or death) but at least it's early enough for another brood in perhaps a better nest location.

Sunday was a little more overcast though still with some good sunny spells. But it was a day of sport for me, with the F1 and FA Cup sandwiching a return trip to Croft Pasture with the suction sampler - which I'll cover separately.

Today was, perhaps, my last chemo session - the drug I have on IV is very neurotoxic and some of the side-effects are now lingering beyond the cycle so it is likely to be knocked on the head after this one. They'd already dropped the dose to 75% . Overall since the dose dropped, the side-effects are less intense and more bearable, but they shouldn't be lasting like they are. I can feel my finger tips tingling as I type and there is a chance this will be long-lasting or even permanent.

I was determined to get out though whilst I feel okay as it was an absolutely lovely warm early evening with clear skies and more sun. Whilst I was either preoccupied yesterday or incapacitated this morning, there had been another Ring Ouzel but this one was at a regular but difficult to watch area generally referred to as King's Lock Paddocks on Aylestone Meadows - just outside the patch boundary but within the 5MR. Despite giving the scrubby field and adjacent fields a good grilling for a couple of hours I had no joy - but given that Ring Ouzels generally migrate at night, and it was there this morning, it is possibly that it was still around and just elusive with the extensive scrub and viewing from across the canal. Still, it was very refreshing to be out - even if the inside of my nostrils did start to tingle thanks to the chemo.

Pretty Polly

Whilst supping a coffee this morning and casually glancing at the garden feeders, I mused to myself that as two were empty and one was about a third full that I probably should re-fill them one more time (I usually stop feeding during spring). Seconds later I almost spluttered the coffee all over the place as a small finch landed on the feeders. I dashed upstairs to grab the camera, and thankfully it was still there when I got back to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of shots ....

Well, I wasn't expecting a Lesser Redpoll any time soon! Throughout the day, it kept re-appearing and occasionally spent time loafing in a neighbours large shrub that overhangs our garden. I grabbed a few more shots, but all were through the windows.

Eventually I decided it was time to try and sneak down the path from the front garden and see if I could get shots without a window in the way. I was in luck ....

That'll do to mark this unexpected garden tick.

Seeing as the sun was out and I had the camera, a few other birds hit the sensor.

House Sparrows have always been a garden scarcity up until the last year, there is now a pair nesting in the eaves of one of the houses that backs onto our garden. So nice to see and hear them more regularly. Also on the garden bird front, yesterday I noted both Blue and Great Tits gathering mosses for nests, just before the skies darkened and we had a series of hail showers. I'm still awaiting Blackcap in the garden; they're late this year, I normally see and hear one well before Chiffchaff.

Here's another pretty Polly, coincidentally singing about Good Fortune ....

The sun has been out for most of the day, so it felt quite spring-like despite the temps still not being quite up where they should be. I should have been in for chemo today but it was deferred as bloods not right (possibly an effect of my second Covid vaccine dose) so later in the afternoon we walked down to the Dog and Gun for a pint or two. Aside from enjoying a pub pint in sunshine, the walk also provided unexpected square ticks with a Field Pansy on a roadside verge, and some escaped Wood Spurge and Aubretia.

Also some Ivy-leaved Speedwell growing on my front garden again ....

Finally, I've recently set-up an new fish tank to replace the BiOrb I set-up in 2010 as that was a total pain to clean out and I wanted something bigger. The new tank is triple the volume and should be easier to maintain. Once it was settled I transferred the remaining fish from the BiOrb and I'm gradually adding a few new fish every couple of weeks. Tank cleanliness is also assisted by the likes of these Amano Shrimps ....

Before you ask - I didn't stick the TG-6 in the water to get this shot. Cheers!

Another Surprise Finch

Been a busy couple of days, up and down ladders and stairs painting the hallway and landing. Today I did manage to spend some time in the garden though. Late this morning as I sat out on a quick coffee break I nearly spluttered it all over the place as a Greenfinch briefly landed on the fence and then flew off. Yes, a Greenfinch! No camera to hand, and seemed highly unlikely I'd see it again. C'est la vie. Back inside for another few hours of soul-drenching hard graft delightful DIY and I was done for the day. Cameras ready and I grabbed a net. It was mid-afternoon and the sun was beating down by that point. I was being given the complete run around by at least three individual Merodon equestris that refused to settle for a shot and all evaded the net. And then I heard not one, but it sounded like a family party of Greenfinches. I couldn't see them as I got ready with the camera, and then two shot out of the embankment scrub and disappeared. But I could still hear one wheezing and trilling a bit. You may need to turn the volume up and ignore the wind/motoway noise .....

Eventually I could see a fat motionless silhouetted blob in the twiggery, and managed to get a poor shot that I've had to lighten to reveal the glorious green and yellow blob.

Otherwise it seemed that there was more activity than in recent days, though not much was settling. Perhaps the biggest insect surprise came when I nipped back into the kitchen to make another coffee and noticed that a fly buzzing around the window was not your average housefly ...

Tachina fera - a first for the house/garden

Another first for the garden was this, although it is only a sp. for now ...

Altica sp. - almost certainly lythri, but ....

And a couple of firsts for the year ...

Episyrphus balteatus

Green-veined White

Also some good larval news, or at least I am pretty sure that this is what it is.

Early instar Orange-tip on Cuckooflower seed pod

Less good news for one larva. I idly pointed the camera at a Blackbird and when looking at the image noted something hanging off the edge of its beak ..

Pull out the Pin

Not much about the garden today. Warm during sunny spells, nippy during cloudy spells, and constantly blustery. Whilst out on a phone call though I noticed what appeared to be a small (c5mm) male hoverfly sitting doing nothing. I went in to grab a pot and refound it in the same area but now on a buttercup flower. Whilst it looked distinctly like a hoverfly, it wasn't acting like one and potting it was easy. No distinct markings as far as I could see, though it resolutely sat with wings folded over the abdomen. A quick flick through the guide make it clear that it wasn't going to get an ID without close scrutiny. Sorry fly.

I managed to pin it badly with a D3 when an A1 would have been better. No way of pulling out the pin and starting again, but still I could now check it out and seek confirmation on the facebook group. Wing venation, antennal structure and bits all looked at.

I reckoned it was Pipizella viduata, which is new for me, and Roger Morris agreed. I need to practise opening up the genital capsule and pinning it to dry in the future, but this was just about good enough.

No moth trap last night, but here's a selection from Saturday night's bumper catch - 84 of 34sp across the two traps (125W MV trap 33 of 23sp, synergetic/actinic combo trap 51 of 19sp) including 15sp NFY.

Gold Spot

Broad-barred White

Nutmeg

Knot Grass

Lime Hawk-moth

Pale Prominent

Scalloped Hazel

Seraphim

Spruce Carpet

Grey Pine Carpet

My traps are not usually bothered by the birds until there are fledgling Blackbirds and Robins knocking about. We've got at least three pairs of Blackbirds nesting somewhere nearby, and a couple of pairs of Robins, but until today no sign of any early fledglings. One of the Blackbird pairs were mating repeatedly yesterday, as they were about a month ago. I wondered if the nests have been predated, but today came the familiar squeeks and squawks of fledgling Blackbirds and at least two were in and out of the garden. Any trapping from now until later in the summer will mean extra egg-boxes around the outside and early mornings.