Wander from town to home

Leaving Costa's at 9.15, I headed home via Cradle End, Green Street, Millfield Lane and down the hill to the village pub and home.
In the south west corner of Plantings Wood,5 goldcrests, a marsh tit, 8+ long tailed tits and plenty of blue tits. Further along, there were at least 14 yellowhammers in the hedgerow and a few skylarks over. In Green Street a small party of siskins with goldfinches in the alder tree near Cradle End.
Plenty of wood pigeons and corvids and more yellowhammers and skylarks on the polo fields.
Back home, 7 lesser redpoll over the back garden, heading south west.
Earlier this morning, a woodcock circled over Hadham Ford at 7a.m. as I checked the empty moth trap

yellowhammer

Millennium Wood Work party

A group of 7 children and 10 adults met at the wood at 10am to continue the work begun last month. A chainsaw had been used before 10 so the stumps left over were removed and major trunks and branches cut up into manageable lengths.These have now been piled for an invertebrate area alongside the path.
Other jobs were lopping the thin branches and piling these up for a bonfire next weekend and generally tidying the area of twigs etc. The final few trees were removed to complete the "ride" and then plenty of knapweed, meadowsweet and nettle seeds were thrown around by the children to encourage flower growth for nectaring insects.
Next job is to open a bank account and begin applying for grants so we can purchase some quality nest boxes, bee hotels and bat boxes. Our next work party is Sunday 13th December and it is hoped that these boxes will be put up during this session.

sowing seeds.

should always be times to climb trees

Dennis, busy lopping

final tidy up

some of the children, Liz and Keith

Couple more moths

The moths continue to come to the garden trap, if only in singles or twos, now. An Amblyptilia acanthadactyla was a good find on the 11th and this morning my first garden December moth was found roosting on the outside of the trap. Weather last night showed a considerable drop in temperature and today has remained cold and wet, so maybe in for a few blank days. Realistically, maybe a few micros to find and winter moth being the only possible new macro for the year, so shall continue with the trap for a while longer.

Amblyptilia acanthadactyla

December moth roosting on buddleia seed head

Recent moth round up

Now well into the 2nd week of November, but the moths are still coming, due to the fact it remains around 15C during the day and only falls a couple of degrees at night. Consequently, unusually for this time of the year, moths are still being recorded every night, albeit in small numbers.
Every day, since 30th October, I have taken at least 1 feathered thorn, a run of 12 consecutive nights. On the 7th, 3 of them were present.

Feathered thorn

Other macros taken over the last week: red green carpet, angle shades, green brindled crescent, setaceous hebrew character, beaded chestnut, yellow line quaker and this morning, sprawler and grey shoulder knot. A good cross section of autumnal moths.
Micro wise, highlight was on the 5th, an Acleris hastiana, a worn example showing white edges to the wings, but lacking the tell tale tufts of Ac cristana. Dissection by Graeme confirmed hastiana. This proved to be my 209th micro of the year, whilst the only other micro has been Emmelina monodactyla, taken on 4 nights since the 4th.
Records now stand at 209 micros and 214 macros for the year, made up of 5879 records in total.

A worn Acleris hastiana

Sprawler

Sprawler

close up of Sprawler

grey shoulder knot and sprawler

New North Norfolk Guide

Front cover

Example page

Just received a pile of my latest booklet back from the printers. A Guide to the Birding Sites on the North Norfolk Coastal Footpath.
This is a concise, 36 page booklet aimed at birders who may not be familiar with all the best Coastal sites, such as Stiffkey Fen or Warham Greens.
It mentions over 150 bird species and contains grid references for the 18 sites described. To receive a copy: email me at jforgham"at"hotmail.com giving name and address. The cost, including postage is £5.00 per copy. I shall then forward it with invoice for £5.00. All done on trust, which will change if anyone orders and then "forgets" to pay!
If you are only familiar with the main reserves and would like to know of other less well known sites, this booklet is for you. More to follow in this series.

Unexpected moths and fieldfares

A visit to check the trap last night paid dividends, as roosting on the adjacent fence was a small cream coloured micro. Upon checking the guide book, transpired it was a Blastobasis lacticolella, whilst being a common moth for Herts, still was a new species for me, but not parish records as Graeme reported it from Millennium Wood in May. Quite a surprise to find a new moth at this time of the year.
Upon emptying the trap this morning, 3 moths, a feathered thorn, a red green carpet and a very late Black rustic. Not the latest record for Herts, but nevertheless, basically past its sell by date. Very few records for November.
Whilst at the trap a familiar "chack chack" overhead: a party of 25 fieldfares and 7 redwings over, heading west. My 1st redwings of the autumn, with 9 fieldfares having been recorded on the very early date of 23rd Sept this year.

Feathered thorn: different specimen from yesterday. This has more dark blotches

Black rustic: a late record

Blastobasis lacticolella: 208th micro for the year

Millennium Wood and home light trapping

December moth (214th parish micro 2015)

Colin, Graeme and Steve ran a series of light traps in MW last night after the leaf mining session. In total, 23 moths of 10 species, including 2 new for year parish records: December moth and Sprawler. Back at home, just 4 moths: 2 November moths, feathered thorn and a red line quaker. All in all, an excellent mothing Sunday.
These latest additions now take my year totals to 214 macro moths and 207 micro moths, a most pleasing 421 species for the year in the parish. More leaf mining to come, but only, maybe 2 more macro moths to find this year: Winter moth and Northern winter moth. A session leaf mining in a beech wood should produce some good records, followed by some searching in an alder wood.
Total parish records now an impressive 570 moth species. With some leaf mining searches, could just make it to 600 this year.

red line quaker

feathered thorn

red green carpet

Leaf Mining Day: Millennium Wood

12 children and 11 adults joined myself and Colin Plant for a few hours searching for leaf mines in Millennium Wood. A really pleasing attendance and one that meant we had over 20 bags of leaves to check. The wood holds oak, hornbeam, guelder rose, briar rose, Apple, sweet chestnut, silver birch, ash, field maple and hazel and evidence of moth activity was found on just about all the species. Also, evidence of wainscot, probably bulrush wainscot as well as several fly and beetle species.
Many thanks to Colin for his time and expertise and to all who attended and helped find all the evidence.
If you want to try having a go at finding and identifying leaf mines in your garden, go to: click here and click on the correct plant species. This will then give you a list of all possibilities. Worth a go.
I have now added all new ones found yesterday to both the 2015 micro list and the all time Parish list. see right hand side of this page. Quite a few additions to the parish list. In total: 29 species of micro moth, 1 of weevil, 5 species of leaf mining flies and 3 gall wasp species. Super total for a very young wood.

Millennium Wood Mothing 30.10.15

A brief and hastily planned trip out to the local wood with Graeme last night. All set up by 5.30 ready for a quick two hour trapping session. We ran 3 lights, 2 traps and a bulb over a sheet. Once these were up and running we wandered around netting any we came across with head torches.
By 7.30 we were emptying the traps and in total, had 13 moths as follows:
4 satellite, pink barred sallow (NFY) beaded chestnut, pale November moth, November moth, red green carpet, setaceous hebrew character, Acleris emargana and yellow line quaker. Also a female of the November moth ag, so unidentifiable.
Back home, at the Skinner 125MV just 4 moths, but still better than the last 2 nights which were blank. Moths were: common marbled carpet, November moth, green brindled crescent (f. capucina) and feathered thorn.
This takes the totals to 5789 parish moth records for the year, made up of 212 macro species and 182 micro species.
Tomorrow, could add a good number of micros as conducting a leaf mine survey of Millennium Wood, may add in excess of 20 species in a very short time.

mottled umber from 21.10.15 trip to Millennium Wood

pink barred sallow, 212th macro for the year

Acleris emargana.

Broken Green:Plovers galore

Following a text from local resident, Neale on Monday about golden plovers up the lane where I live, I managed to find time this morning to pay a visit. Between Standon and Horse Cross, on the northern side of the A120 were over 400 golden plovers in a field, accompanied by a similar number of lapwing. In the field over the road, 24 more aloof lapwings. Whilst I walked to the site, 2 red kites and 2 common buzzards showed an interest, putting the whole flock up. Also, roosting in another field near Frogs Hall Cottages, 36 black headed gulls.
Shall keep an eye on this plover flock as they may move into the parish or stay put and attract the attention of more raptors.Weather was drizzly and grey, so nothing too smart with the camera this morning, with the drizzle marking the lens!
However, quite a spectacle.