More mothing

A good night's mothing in the garden with another two Lead-coloured Drabs and the first Oak Nycteoline (another scarce VC31 species) for the garden.

33 moths, 8 species

15W Actinic Skinner
1524 Emmelina monodactyla, 1
2182 Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda), 2
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi), 1
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta), 1
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica), 2
**2423 Oak Nycteoline (Nycteola revayana f.undulana), 1

125W MV homemade Robinson type
1934 Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria), 1
2182 Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda), 4
2185 Lead-coloured Drab (Orthosia populeti), 2
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi), 8
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta), 2
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica), 7
Black Sexton Beetle (Nicrophorus humator), 1

**=garden first

Lead-coloured Drab (Orthosia populeti)


Oak Nycteoline (Nycteola revayana f.undulana)


Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria)


Nikon CP995.

Mothing at Cuckoo's Hollow

A fairly productive evening at Cuckoo's Hollow with a great bunch of people. We ran a 125W MV light over a sheet and a 15W actinic over a Skinner box with sugar and wine ropes. We started at 7pm and by 9 it was getting a bit chilly so we packed up.

Perhaps the highlights were not the moths but the Toads and Newts running around near the lake. These were the moths recorded at light (none came to sugar) along with several Square-spot Rustic larvae active in the long grass.

663 Diurnea fagella, 1
688 Agonopterix heracliana, 1
1025 Tortricodes alternella, 1
1054 Acleris cristana, 1
1524 Emmelina monodactyla, 1
1663 March Moth (Alsophila aescularia), 1
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica), 6
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta), 3
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi), 18

Smooth Newt (Triturus vulgaris)


Acleris cristana


Diurnea fagella


Square-spot Rustic larva (Xestia xanthographa)


Nikon CP995.

Early Spring Moths

An active night for moths in the garden began with some searching for larvae. Foxglove, hollyhock and forgetmenot proved most productive.

Lesser Yellow Underwing (Noctua comes) on Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)

Lesser Yellow Underwing (Noctua comes) on Japanese Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)


Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa) on Forgetmenot (Myosotis)


The 15W actinic trap also had a fair few spring moths in the morning. Small Quaker, Lead-coloured Drab, Common Quaker, Clouded Drab, Hebrew Character and Early Grey are in this pic.


Including the locally scarce Lead-coloured Drab for the second year running at about the same date as last year. Distinguished from the similar Clouded Drab by the feathered antennae and the rounded wingtip.

Lead-coloured Drab (Orthosia populeti)


Nikon CP995.

Glaucous Gull, Star Pit

A lesson in digiscoping

• Ensure you are as far away from the subject as possible. This forces you to use the largest magnification eyepiece and maximum zoom on the camera.
  
• Have the subject facing directly away from you to get those all important backside shots.
  
• Shoot into the sun: even on a dull day this will knacker the contrast.
  
• Pick a windy day and try not to hide behind anything that might stop the tripod shaking like there is an earthquake.
  
• And lastly (this is the most difficult) make sure the subject never looks up when the shutter is open.
  

This way you can take forty pictures and still end up with nothing better than these.

Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus), second calendar year




"If you turn your head like this and squint a bit, that looks just like a Caspian Gull."

Digiscoped badly using various bits of Leica and Nikon gear.

Garden Rook

Its nice to have a large bird on your fat balls now and again.

Rook (Corvus frugilegus)

Nikon CP995

Ground Beetle Larva

This little chap was scurrying about the stony ground of Stonepit Quarry at Old Sulehay. One of the few insect about in the still rather cool conditions.

Could anyone confirm the ID please?

Ground Beetle Larva?

Nikon CP995

Bank Vole

This is hardly the best shot in the world but then they aren't easy to see let alone photograph. There were two here busy collecting nesting material by a layby at Old Sulehay Quarry.

Bank Vole (Clethrionomys glareolus)

Nikon CP995

PBC Nestbox Success

This is a testament to the excellent products of PBC's conservation officer Tony Parker. I bought this box at the PBC nestbox day on 13 Feb and in less than four weeks it is occupied (haven't seen by what yet but I guess its a Robin).


Nikon CP995

Mossy Macro Moment

A fine sunny day: a rarity this winter. These late winter scenes were taken at the old stone railway bridge in Great Moreton Sale near Nassington.

Various mosses






Lichen on Oak (Quercus)


Hazel Catkins


Nikon CP995

A couple of hunters

Another visit to my favourite lunchtime patch. This time more lucky with the Tawny Owl and again had great views of a Weasel hunting the holes along the banks of the drain near the sewage works. Even managed a digiscoped photo although they are active little critters so its a bit blurred.

Tawny Owl Strix aluco


Weasel Mustela nivalis


Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Grey Herons at Ferry Meadows

National Nest Box week kicks off and Peterborough Bird Club were selling boxes at Ferry Meadows. I was due to lead a walk around the lakes so headed off to check out what was around and ended up practicing some digiscoping at the reserve, where several Grey Herons were active.

Grey Heron Ardea cinerea




Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Pale Brindled Beauty

Including the melanistic form.

Pale Brindled Beauty Apocheima pilosaria



f. monacharia


Nikon CP995

Bogie Birds

Bogart's strikes again. To my knowledge this is the third time in the past 10 years or so that the same Rowan tree just outside Bogart's Bar on North Street by the Westgate car park has attracted Waxwings. Thanks to Dick and Peter for finding and reporting the birds.

Waxwings Bombycilla garrulus



Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

North Bank sewage works

One of my favourite lunchtime outings is a cycle ride along the North Bank of the River Nene past both the old and new sewage works. Cold clear conditions are best so today was perfect and made better by having the good company of fellow biking birder Chaz Shaw.

The Tawny Owl Chaz had seen earlier at the old sewage works had gone into hiding but at the new works we saw two Chiffchaff, two Goldcrest, a Long-tailed Tit, Wrens, a Green Sandpiper and plenty of Redshank all feeding in the sunshine along the drain.

Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita


Wren Troglodytes troglodytes



Redshank Tringa totanus


Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Red-breasted Merganser pair

A bit of news came in this morning about a male Red-breasted Merganser on the River Welland (Merganser Central) yesterday so with lunchtime beckoning I picked up Weedon's World of Nature and headed off. Would it still be there?

Not far along from Crowland Bridge we both noticed a duck with outrageous wispy tufts on the head: a Red-breasted Merganser certainly but this was a female! The male wasn't far away and they both showed extremely well.

This was only my second experience of this species locally, the first being a male on the Nene many years ago. The River Welland has attracted one or two every year for the past few years but they often do not stay long.

Photography was difficult as we did not want to spook the birds and it was blowing a gale from the north but I managed a few shaky shots from the car.

Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator - Male





Female


Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Bedford Purlieus

Probably the best bit of old woodland in the area and one of my favourite retreats. A visit looking for the elusive Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and the probably extinct Willow Tit. A female Lesser Spot showed very nicely in the northeast block of Pebblegate Sale but as expected there were no Willow Tits anywhere. Marsh Tits on the other hand popped up all over the place and birds were generally very active.

The relatively mild conditions and warm sun had encouraged an overwintering adult moth out and a Primrose to flower.

Acleris ferrugana/notana (most likely ferrugana based on habitat)


Primrose (Primula vulgaris)

Its back!

Ferry Meadows seems to be the place at the moment. As well as this Red-necked Grebe a Mediterranean Gull and Hawfinch are showing occasionally at the moment.

This Grebe was present from 28-30 Dec last year but to the dismay of local year listers vanished in 2005 only to return today. Where has it been in the meantime? Presumably not far away. It is behaving exactly as before tending to stick close to the banks on the southeast side of Overton Lake.

Red-necked Grebe (Podiceps grisegena), first-winter

Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.