Blue-headed Wagtail

This bird has now been present for at least 3 days. I chanced a few digiscoped shots despite being over 70m away and in a hell of a wind and the results are not as bad as I had feared. This would have been considerably more difficult with the old 995.

Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava flava)


Coolpix P4 handheld to 20x eyepiece of Leica APO77

Studies of Bee-fly

Bee-fly (Bombylius major)





Nikon CP P4 & 995

Nut-tree Tussock and Dotted Chestnut

Two new moths for me during a good session trapping at my parent's place in Hampshire. The Nut-tree Tussock was a female and laid a good batch of eggs in a pot. Follow the attempts to rear these through on the Nut-tree Tussock Blog

125W MV Skinner:
1881 Early Tooth-striped (Trichopteryx carpinata), 1
1927 Brindled Beauty (Lycia hirtaria), 1
1930 Oak Beauty (Biston strataria), 2
2182 Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda), 11
2186 Powdered Quaker (Orthosia gracilis), 1
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi), 8
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta), 2
2189 Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda), 6
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica), 10
2243 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola), 1
*2260 Dotted Chestnut (Conistra rubiginea), 1
*2425 Nut-tree Tussock (Colocasia coryli), 1
* = first for me

Dotted Chestnut (Conistra rubiginea)


Nut-tree Tussock (Colocasia coryli)



Oak Beauty (Biston strataria)


Brindled Beauty (Lycia hirtaria)



Oak & Brindled Beauties


Early Tooth-striped (Trichopteryx carpinata)


Powdered Quaker (Orthosia gracilis)


Nikon CP P4 & 995

Blossom Underwing Again

Blossom Underwing is a rare moth in Hunts (VC31). My first on 29 March 2004 was the tenth for the VC and was thought to be a migrant. However now I've trapped another in the garden I am wondering if there is a population locally. The Moths of Northamptonshire site shows this may be possible:

Totals from two traps:
1524 Emmelina monodactyla, 1
1917 Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria), 3
2183 Blossom Underwing (Orthosia miniosa), 1
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi), 3
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta), 2
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica), 6
2243 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola), 5

Blossom Underwing (Orthosia miniosa)

Nikon CP P4

Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria)

Nikon CP 995

Green Woodpecker display

No Wheatears at Serpentine BP this morning but behaviour from Green Woodpeckers I've not witnessed before. The female in this picture was stretching her head and neck out and moving it from side to side in an exaggerated manner. At first I though this was for the benefit of the male nearby but then I noticed a second female on a branch not far away. This was stationary but eventually flew off.

Click here for a short video clip (1.3MB). The female is towards the bottom of the screen partly hidden by the tree.

Green Woodpeckers (Picus viridis)


Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)


Coolpix P4 handheld to 20x eyepiece of Leica APO77

Oystercatchers

A lunchtime trip to the Dog in a Doublet area provided an opportunity to snap these Oystercatchers and find another four Wheatears (at Stonebridge Corner). Plenty of Swallows on the move today and a couple of Grey Wagtails at the sluice.

Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus)




Coolpix P4 handheld to 20x eyepiece of Leica APO77

Wheatears galore

Following three males here on 29 March, it was good to find another four at Serpentine Brick Pit today. Three males and a female were at the far western end. Yet another four males were at StoneBridge Corner later today.

Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe)
Male


Female


Coolpix P4 handheld to 20x eyepiece of Leica APO77

One day in Purbeck

A short break based in Swanage and some excellent weather provided some good opportunities for trying out the P4. Here are some of the results.

Robin (Erithacus rubecula)


Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis)


Guillemots (Uria aalge)


Rock Pipit (Anthus petrosus)


Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)


Coolpix P4 handheld to 20x eyepiece of Leica APO77

These beetles still need identifying when I can get around to it. Many thanks for the help below. Oil beetles have a facinating life history. Click here for more info.

Darkling Beetle (Timarcha sp. (Chrysomelidae) - with thanks to Gyp')?


Oil Beetle (Meloe proscarabaeus)

Red Chestnut

Mothing this spring has so far been appalling. I recorded 25 species in March last year and 30 the year before but only 10 this year!

The weather continues to be either cool and/or windy which is keeping the moths quiet. Last night was still a bit cool and breezy but wasn't quite as bad as other recent nights so I set an actinic trap and managed the following:

2139 Red Chestnut (Cerastis rubricosa), 1
2182 Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda), 2
2188 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta), 1
2243 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola), 1

Red Chestnut (Cerastis rubricosa)


Early Grey (Xylocampa areola)


Coolpix P4

Fallow Stag at Ring Haw

It was too dark and too far away really but this stag stood very obligingly out in the open so I did the best I could but shutter speeds of around the 1/15th are never going to be great.

Fallow Deer (Cervus dama)

Coolpix P4 handheld to 20x eyepiece of Leica APO77

Redshank

Another digiscoped Redshank from the Sewage Works on North Bank. Not brilliant but it was about 40m away and there was a heat shimmer!

Redshank (Tringa totanus)

Coolpix P4 handheld to 20x eyepiece of Leica APO77

Of Blackthorn and Sallow

If you want insects at this time of year look for these two dominant flowering trees. Its been really sunny for the past couple of days but the strong wind means its hard to observe insects. If you can find a sheltered spot with Salllow and/or Blackthorn it can be great. The sunny leeward side of Jones' Covert was buzzing with Bumblebees this morning and these shots were taken at The Boardwalks LNR at lunchtime.

Small Tortoiseshell and Hoverflies (E. tenax) were also nectaring on these trees, which are used by moths at night.

Really starting to get the hang of the P4 now. This was a very pleasing set of photos; the second Peacock was digiscoped very successfully. Higher resolution versions can be viewed by clicking these pics.

Comma (Polygonia c-album)


Peacock (Inachis io)

*

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)



Sallow (Salix caprea)


All taken with Nikon Coolpix P4.
* Digiscoped handheld to 20x eyepiece of Leica APO77

Willow Chiff Warbler

A silent phylloscopus warbler in spring - always tricky. At first sight I thought this one, feeding in sallow blossom at the east end of Jones' Covert, was a Chiffchaff but as these photos show it has a longish primary projection and pale legs with yellowish feet. There are some good tips on separating the two species on the following link:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=15579

Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)


Coolpix P4 handheld to 20x eyepiece of Leica APO77

Coltsfoot at Serpentine

Parts of this wierd landscape are covered in flowering Coltsfoot at the moment.

Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara)



Nikon Coolpix P4

Long-tailed Tit

A pair of Siskin were using the niger feeder in the garden this morning but typically as soon as got into position to photograph them they vanished. So I made do with this Long-tailed Tit. It is certainly proving easier to get reasonable digiscoped images with the P4 than it was with the 995.

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)

Coolpix P4 handheld to 20x eyepiece of Leica APO77

Ferry Meadows flowers

More fun with the P4. A few spring flowers and an obliging Blackbird.

Lesser Cellandine (Ranunculus ficaria)

Coolpix P4

Common Dog Violet (Viola riviniana)

Coolpix P4

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Coolpix P4 handheld to 20x eyepiece of Leica APO77