Nowt

Nothing new added to the square list for a couple of days: on Sunday I opted for chilled day in, and yesterday I was tied up with my first IV chemo session (three weekly cycles over six months, along with chemo tablets). The latter left me with a dead left arm that I thought would preclude anything useful but thankfully it has eased off a lot in 24hrs so I was able to get out for a leisurely stroll around the square with Nichola. I took the big lens hoping to get better shots of Fieldfare and Redwing, but found that the farmer had been out 'tidying up' the hedge on a tractor and nothing was around in the fields at all. He was down by the Holly spots when I walked down the lane, but was back up at the top of the lane later as we walked back through the new estate ...

I took a snap of what used to be my favourite Ash tree in the square. This used to be home to a pair of Little Owls, but they were ousted by Jackdaws and I've not seen one anywhere near this tree for around eight years. Part of this tree also came down from storm damage a few years ago. The other owl I've seen near to this tree was a dead Barn Owl that appeared to have flown into that barbed wire on the gate. 

We had a fair bit of overnight rain, which was most evident looking at Whetstone Brook compared to a few days ago.

06/01/2021 left / 12/01/2021 right - from same bridge but not quite same position/angle

Looking towards the lane from the new estate

I've realised that a lot of planted saplings around the open spaces in the new part of the estate are Alder and Silver Birch which might be handy for square listing leaf mines in future years.

Garden doves

Here's an aural recommendation for when you've got a spare 47mins - streaming from your favourite service provider. Probably. A varied and eclectic mix on one album: 'Do Unto Others' by I Believe In My Mess - here's three quite different tracks, a roots dub vibe, an Irish jig feel with electronics, and an up tempo rock driven ditty ....

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.

Not So Tenuous Larva

Been busy today, though I did manage to get out for a couple of hours or so this afternoon, and the bits from that will have to wait. First up though, a quick follow up on the larval tube cases I collected yesterday from Ulverscroft.

No knowing if they were genuinely cases of Infucitinea argentimaculella, or if so were they tenanted, I had to have to go at opening them up to have a squizz. the first one I opened, the biggest, was in fact a dud - no larval workings, just a bit of twig or similar that had been lichenised. the second one, slightly smaller, was immediately more promising as there was a clear silken structure beneath the lichen-coated outer. It was vacated though, with perhaps the remanants of a pupal exuviae at one end.

So onto the third case, the smallest of the three, not much more than a centimeter in length and quite thin. Hold on - is that a ......

So with that, I can far more confidently add Infurcitinea argentimaculella to my list. Not hopeful of rearing this one, but I reckon looking again in a couple of months or so will be more productive.

Something completely different, I've been pleased to note a pair of Collared Doves knocking about the garden lately, often displaying and mating on the fence. Today they were back with another in tow for good measure. This has become a bit of a garden rarity in the last few years. They were milling about picking around the meagre offerings of whatever the Goldfinches had dropped.

I took pity on them and spread a couple of handfuls of sunflower hearts onto a less messy area for them .... and within seconds of me shutting the back door to watch what happened they were ousted by a pair of the usual fat greeder feckers.

Just as well I put enough out to satisfy all of them in the end.

Tits, Nuts & Painted Lady

There - that post title should attract a few inadvertent hits. Mostly today I have moping about the house feeling sorry for myself with a massive banging headache. I wouldn't mind if alcohol had been involved, but it wasn't. So instead of driving off somewhere to enjoy the wildlife like I should have done, I had to make do with watching the locals on my various feeders. However I managed to miss the best bird of the day with the camera - a superb male Great Spotted Woodpecker (garden rarity) briefly landed in our tree and had a look at the nuts before heading off. Oriental Laughing Collared Dove Greenfinches Goldfinch Great Tit Tit on my seed Tit on my nuts Tit on the neighbour's plums Aside from the nice tit action, I was most surprised to see this nectaring on cultivated heather: Painted Lady Pretty sure I've never seen one this late in the year before.

Tits & Breeding

Emptying the moth traps in the mornings will be all the more enjoyable for a few weeks; in one of the adjacent gardens there is a big bush which has attracted Long-tailed Tits to build their fantastically elaborate nest. They've been at it for a week or so now, and are probably about ready to lay and incubate their only clutch. You can just about make out the nest. Just a big oval cup at this stage, it now has the top half complete aswell. We've also had Starlings detroying the mesh in the vents in the underhang below the roof tiles on both ours and our neighbours house for the first time. They've made an access just above our bathroom but I haven't seen any activity, unlike our neighbours who have a pair on the front and at the rear. This is the same neighbour who has the now resident continuously brooding Collared Doves. Resident egg laying machine, you can also see where Starlings have destroyed the vent mesh. Robins, Sparrows, Blackbirds and Woodpigeons have all been collecting nesting material from in and around the garden in the last week aswell, and there was some fervent cloaca pecking going on with the local Dunnocks! Imagine how interesting clubbing would be if prospective partners showed you theirs like this first!

Very Late / Early Breeding Behaviour

Remember that prolific pair of Collared Doves that nested on the neighbours satellite dish and security light last year? After the last nestlings fledged, the neighbours decided that they'd had enough pigeon shite spattered just outside their back door and dislodged the now empty nest. How I laughed when I noticed the Doves collecting twigs and stuff from our garden bewteen 22nd - 28th December. By 29th, the new nest on the same security light was complete, and the female has been sitting tight on the nest since 31st. Surely the latest and earliest breeding bird in VC55 during 2008 / 2009?!

Dove Factory

It's almost impossible to imagine a time when Collared Dove was a major rarity in the UK. In less than 60 years it has turned into one of the most common birds we have. With our resident breeding pair I now know why. They have just fledged their fifth brood (=10 fledglings). After the third they moved nests, abandoning the neighbours satellite dish platform and moving under the eves to their equally redundant security light. Still a precarious looking situation for the usual two nestlings. Female attending the nest and trying to coax out the full-size nestlings - both just visible. This latest pair of fledglings finally flew on Friday. No better looking than their older siblings. No better looking than their older siblings. Still time for a sixth brood!

Garden birds - Woodpigeon 17/06/2008

We often get Woodpigeons on the front garden mopping up spillages from the feeders in winter, and otherwise as occasional roof-sitters. We very rarely get them in the back garden or even sitting on the garden fences.

I was a bit surprised then to find a bulbous throated male on Tuesday evening actively ripping of twigs from bushes in the garden, flying off and coming back for more. I was even more surprised when it stayed put as I opened the door and walked into the garden, and it then allowed a fairly close approach for photography (I'm used to them flapping off like loonies from woodland roosts at night when out trapping).


Tame.

It soon became clear that the activity was due to its partner female building a nest in a large blackthorn overlooking our garden.


Female on pathetic twiggy platform.

The male then landed within a meter of me!


Close.

Meanwhile, the Collared Doves have started again (already) with the female back on her third clutch this year.


Prolific!

At one point, the newly resident Woodpigeon landed on the roof above the sitting female Collared Dove, leading to an aggressive posturing from her mate.


Feck off you fat bastard.

Garden Birds - Collared Dove, 14/06/2008

Remember the pair of Collared Doves nesting on a satellist dish overlooking my garden?
http://skevsblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/sky-nesting.html

Today they fledged their second brood of two, so the choice of nesting site was obviously not that bad. All morning the two gawky dull smaller versions of the adults were knocking around the garden on fences and in bushes. I last saw them in a large hawthorn being mobbed by a mental female House Sparrow.


Elegant, smart, beautiful - three words that fail to describe this just-fledged Collared Dove.


This is the less well known Non-collared Dove

More garden birds

A couple of shots from the garden - a better Bullfinch (although probably the same bird) and Collared Doves.

Smart.

Mundane.

Also something that I wasn't sure of. The generally black plumage, brown-reddish legs and slightly decurved yellow-orange bill seemed distinctive enough. Luckily I got a shot showing it in it's preferred habitat and this was the clincher as confirmed by the BB Club down the road.

Leicestershire's first Alpine Chough.