Wander back home 29.02.16

A wonderful walk back from Tescos to the village this morning. I checked several local woods for possible Lesser spotted woodpeckers but, as with the last 8 years, no success. However, not a disappointment as got good birds all the time. A marsh tit in Plantings Wood and then a blackcap in East Wood were both pleasing finds. Also, in Muggin's Wood, goldcrests, treecreeper and at least 3 nuthatches.
Yellowhammers chipped from the hedgerows as great tits were the soundtrack to the whole walk. A common buzzard and kestrel near Green Street and coal tit in Muggin's Wood, also.
All in all, 32 species for a 2 hour walk: most enjoyable.
200+ fieldfare with a few redwings near Green Street, flocking out of the hedgerow and on to the field where 4 magpies were already feeding.

male yellowhammer

distant common buzzard

great tit

coal tit

long tailed tit

nuthatch

same bird

wren

Species list: Year lister in bold
common buzzard, kestrel, pheasant, wood pigeon, stock dove, collared dove, green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, skylark, wren, dunnock, robin, redwing, fieldfare, blackbird, blackcap, goldcrest, great tit, coal tit, blue tit, marsh tit, long tailed tit, nuthatch, treecreeper, magpie, jay, jackdaw, carrion crow, starling, chaffinch, greenfinch, yellowhammer,

Millennium Wood

A final work party gathered in Millennium Wood on Sunday 21st Feb. Jobs were fixing 8 nest boxes, 1 bee hotel and generally clearing increasingly invasive blackthorn from the entrance. With 14 folk turning up, including 6 children, these jobs were completed rapidly and the enthusiasm of the children to place the boxes was most gratifying. Signs were placed and all in all, a good time. The wood now looks ready for a great spring and we look forward to seeing how the changes we have made begin to show results in the numbers of invertebrates and maybe bird species. Target bird to hear singing within the first 3 weeks of April is willow warbler. This was a regular singing bird until 2011. I suspect the wood then became too overgrown for it, so, hopefully, our clearances will encourage it to return, even if only to sing and then move northwards due to no female being around.

The nest boxes and a bee hotel I made at home, ready for the wood

Some of the party that help make this wood a real Nature Reserve. Great to see so many children from the village

Just the 1 bee hotel, more to follow.

Moth Update

After a frenetic end to January, things calmed down in February, with no new moths until a Clouded Drab to the garden Skinner on 20.ii.16 and then a Small Quaker on 21.ii.16 in Millennium Wood, also to a 125MV bulb.
However, a few pleasing trappings over the last few weeks, with Pale Brindled Beauty, March moth, Acleris ferrugana (gen det confirmed) and Early moth on the 4th. These were followed by more March moths, a first Hebrew character for the garden trap on the 17th, along with a 2nd Dark Chestnut.
The Millennium Wood Small Quaker represented the 100th moth for my list of the year, made up of 14 macro species and 4 micros. Considering only 2 sites within the parish have been trapped, a good return for such an early time of the year.

Clouded drab

Small Quaker

Successful mothing 31.01.16

Common quaker

Dotted border

A quick trip up to Millennium Wood, where Steve and Graeme had set up 4 traps: 125W mv, 50W mv and 2 15W actinics. Upon arrival a dotted border and Acleris sparsana were netted and this continued for the hour we were present. To nets, or noted roosting, were satellites, dotted borders, chestnuts and Tortricodes alternella. We began emptying the traps around 6.30 and were surprised by the numbers and the variety. I had visited the wood on 2 occasions previously in the week, in admittedly colder conditions and only been rewarded with 2 dotted borders.

Satellite showing orange kidney mark

Satellite showing white kidney mark

The species list is very impressive for January:
1 Acleris sparsana
9 dotted border
6 satellite
3 chestnut NFY
2 pale brindled beauty
2 Early moth
3 Tortricodes alternella NFY
2 brindled pug NFY
5 common quaker NFY
1 March moth NFY
2 Hebrew character. NFY

Chestnut

Hebrew character

That's a fair few of the moths I would expect between January and early March trapped by the end of January.
Upon returning home I noted a small micro on the window. Potted and suspected to be Agonopterix heracliana, but need to rule out Ag yeatiana and Ag ciliella. Edit: now confirmed as Agonopterix heracliana, as expected!Just to complete a superb day, a check on the garden Skinner 125W mv this morning gave first records for the year of Spring Usher and Dark chestnut. Also present, another satellite.
In all: 40 moths of 14 species: not a common occurence for January!

March moth

Brindled pug

Agonopterix heracliana

Spring usher