This week has been a rather 'thin' week in the garden, mainly due to less than ideal weather for photography.A highlight has been that the Blackbirds nesting in the Ivy seem to have young as food is being taken in.
Monday, 27th April
In spite of fine weather, it was a relatively quiet day for garden observations as I was somewhat preoccupied with other matters - including putting together my previous blog post! The camera didn't come out that day.
We did reasonably well for birds that day, with 15 species putting a foot down in the garden. These included a solitary Long-tailed Tit - not a rare bird, but we tend not to see them very often in the garden at this time of year. The juvenile Robin looked as 'at-home' as its adult counterpart. We also had a brief visit from Wren - a bird that, sadly, has become a little scarce in the garden of late.
The only butterfly observed that day was a Small White.
Tuesday, 28th April
It didn't stop raining all day and the wind direction was such that the windows facing onto the garden were running wet continually which made observation difficult.
We recorded birds of 14 species that day.
From the trail cams we saw that we'd had a visit from a Hedgehog in the night, and we were visited by a Grey Squirrel during the day.
The day dawned dry but dull. However, by lunch time it had turned to virtually constant drizzle.
I noted just 13 species of bird that day, but did take a few photos as I was getting concerned, by now, that this would be a blog post featuring a week without any photos at all!
 |
| Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) - garden on 29/04/2020 |
 |
| Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) - garden on 29/04/2020 |
From the trail cams, I can see that we had at least one Hedgehog that day, but I think probably two.
We also had a squirrel during the day.
Thursday, 30th April
Bird species numbered 14 this day, and I did take a few photos, but only of common birds.
A couple of weeks ago I put out a small dish of mealworms in the hope of getting Robin used to taking them. However, there were no takers until a Magpie appeared. Although other birds occasionally have a go at the mealworms, it's Magpie that has them more than 95% of the time.
 |
| Magpie (Pica pica) - garden on 30/04/2020 |
Blue Tit appears most (but not all) days.
 |
| Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) - garden on 30/04/2020 |
At first we thought that we were seeing a juvenile Robin again, but we soon realised that we'd got our first juvenile Dunnock of the year.
 |
| Dunnock (Prunella modularis) (juvenile) - garden on 30/04/2020 |
Hedgehog was seen on the cameras at night, and Grey Squirrel put in an appearance during the day. No butterflies were recorded.
Friday, 1st May
It was a cold, dull, and damp day for much of the time. Only 13 species of bird were recorded, but this did include Rook - a rather rare bird in our garden (possibly only two previous sightings ever). Sadly I did not get to my camera in time to capture its brief visit. It was a juvenile (our 3rd garden juvenile for the year) and has, however, subsequently been seen almost daily close by so fingers are crossed for the future.
The only photo taken that day was of a rainbow, which forms the header for this blog post while it is current.
Saturday, 2nd May
Both Robin and Dunnock juveniles were with us this day and the total number of species was 13 once more.
 |
| Robin (Erithacus rubecula) - garden on 02/05/2020 |
 |
| Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) - garden on 02/05/2020 |
We had Hedgehog visit in the night, and a Grey Squirrel during the day. The moth trap went out at night, and was found to be empty in the morning, although two somewhat unexciting moths were on the outside of the trap.
 |
| Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata) - garden from 02/05/2020 |
 |
| Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) (male) - garden from 02/05/2020 |
This last one is a species which, I understand, was introduced (accidentally?) from Australia and now seems to be everywhere and is seen throughout most of the year.
Sunday, 3rd May
Hedgehog visited in the early hours, and I suspect, from looking at the trail cams, that there were two of them, and possibly even three.
I was not very attentive to the garden that day, and only noted 13 bird species once more, including the juvenile Dunnock.
No photos were taken during the day.
As nothing had been caught in the moth trap the previous night, it went out again on this night. I ended up with 11 moths of 7 species. The exciting moth for me was my first ever Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet. Here's a few moth from the session - I won't bother you with another shot of Common Pug (x4!) or LBAM (x2).
 |
| Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata) - garden from 03/05/2020 |
 |
| Twenty-plume Moth (Alucita hexadactyla) - garden from 03/05/2020 |
 |
| Bright-line Brown-eye (Lacanobia oleracea) - garden from 03/05/2020 |
 |
| Dark-Barred Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe ferrugata) - garden from 03/05/2020 |
That ends the round-up for the week. We ended up with 18 species of bird visiting during the week and only one species of butterfly seen.
Butterflies - 16th March to 19th April
Here's a catch-up with some of the butterflies seen during the period before I started with the lockdown weekly blog posts.
 |
| Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) - garden on 23/03/2020 |
 |
| Comma (Polygonia c-album) - garden on 25/03/2020 |
 |
| Peacock (Aglais io) - garden on 25/03 |
|
 |
| Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) (male) - garden on 06/04/2020 |
 |
| Small White (Pieris rapae) - garden on 10/04/2020 |
 |
| Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) (male) - garden on 11/04/2020 |
 |
| Green-veined White (Pieris napi) (male) - garden on 14/04/2020 |
 |
| Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (female) - garden on 15/04/2020 |
 |
| Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) - garden on 16/04/2020 |
 |
| Green-veined White (Pieris napi) (male) - garden on 19/04/2020 |
That brings me to the end of this blog post. The weather forecast suggests that my next post might be fairly short as we are expecting some sun, but with a cool breeze, and getting much colder by the weekend. I will possibly add moths as the subject of the
next catch-up.
Thank you for dropping by. I hope that you are able to find nature to observe at, or near, your home. Stay safe!
A lovely thorough post Richard with a great collection of photos. You've certainly got a good variety of wildlife in your garden. Stay safe.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marc. We don't do too badly for wildlife in the garden, but we have found there's been a bit of a drop-off over the past couple of weeks. We started off doing really well with insects, but most of them seem to have disappeared for some reason.
DeleteTake great care, and keep posting those odo images to keep me going!
Nice post Richard. Good to see you are keeping busy. Stay safe. Mike.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mike - the wife and I are being extremely careful, but there's always the possibility of a chink in one's armour! Inspired by your night photography, I'm going to try stills, rather than video, tonight.
DeleteTake great care - - - Richard
Now here's the thing about moths, Richard. Apart from the fact that I find identification a bit of a challenge (understatement) unless you really devote a lot of time to studying these creatures, they do not make good subjects for photographs. An insect on a plain background, with no hint as to its behaviour or habitat, is not the most gripping image, is it? Your bird and butterfly picture are, as always superb, and even knowing that Magpies are a little maligned in Britain, I would be delighted to have them in the garden. I bought live mealworms a few years ago, and American Robins seemed to get the lion's share, but the squirrels relished them too. Right now I am going through bird seed at a furious clip. Whatever money I have saved in gas, which is at record low prices and I am not using much, I have reinvested in bird seed - plus a little, I am sure! Stay well. Best to Lindsay. David
ReplyDeleteHello, David. I can fully understand your feelings about moths. They are quite difficult to ID and some have to be disected and examined under a microscope to positively ID - something I'm not comfortable with and will never resort to! Being creatures of the night (mainly) they are difficult to find and photograph in their natural habitat. Those caught in the trap get potted and put in the fridge for about an hour to make them torpid. They then get taken out and photographed before they warm up (if I'm lucky). I then take them outside to a sheltered spot so they can fly away at leasure. If I put them in a natural setting it probably wouldn't be the correct natural setting, and I'd also run the risk of losing them, never to be seen again!
DeleteMoths were the first things that I ever got serious about recording and submitting records for, mainly from a 'citizen science' point of view - they are a great indicator of the state of the health of the environment. In some cases, I need a photograph of what I have caught to study in order to ID the species. It also gives a record in case my observation gets queried by the County Recorder - although that has not happened yet, mainly because I've not found anything rare yet! I'm hoping that, by publishing some photos of them, I might get more people interested in moths but, if your comments are anything to go by, I'm not going to succeed!!
Magpies do, justifiably have a poor reputation. In the past week we've twice witnessed Magpie raiding Blackbird nests in the garden and yesterday we had a pair of Magpies attack a newly-fledged Dunnock with a pincer-action attack. I'm not sure what the outcome was, but I found a load of down and the odd feather where the attack took place and we've not seen the young Dunnock since. Our bird food consumption has halved in the past month, due to lack of demand, rather than supply, which is a bit disappointing.
With regard to fuel for cars, we're using none. Our main car has not been used at all since 16th March and our two Smart cars have not turned a wheel for two months! Both the Smarts have got just over a year to go on their 4-year contracts, but I'm going to try and dispose of one next month.
Stay safe. Best wishes to you both, from us both - - Richard
It's not possible to include a link, only a google account. There is not field for put a link.
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline. Please forgive me my mistake! When I look at your comment in the email I receive before I publish it for moderation purposes, it appears to show a link to your blog. I now see that it does not actually show a link in your comment. For some reason, this only seems to happen with your comments! Sorry! Best wishes - - - Richard
DeleteBeautiful! There are already a lot of butterflies.
ReplyDeleteThere were a lot of butterflies, Anne, but most of them have gone now!
DeleteBest wishes - - Richard
Stunning the Hedgehog, and the birds, butterflies, and the Moths. Cheers Richard, stay safe.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bob - you stay safe too!
DeleteHello Richard, another nice report on your observations in your garden. A lot of birds! And a lot of butterflies wow. Things are warming-up in the UK Moths I do not see much of them. Except the ones that fly around the day time. But a species that is very important for food suply for Bats and some other animals.
ReplyDeleteStay well and thing will get better in the end.
Regards,
Roos
Thank you, Roos. Unfortunately, the garden is not now so productive of wildlife as it was three or four weeks ago. I usually only see these moths because they are attracted to the light in the trap that I put out. I should emphasise that they are released again in the morning! You are correct - they are an important source of food for many creatures - birds as well as bats, and some others too.
DeleteYes, it will get better one day, but I don't think it will be any time soon. The UK is now the worst country in Europe for Covid-19! I think the thing that I will miss the most this year is the dragonflies, as we do not have a pond.
Stay safe - - - Richard
You seem to be doing quite well with a good selection of birds and insects to photograph. I am fascinated by the amount of moths you are successfully trapping. Not often I see a moth and when I do, I can never ID it anyway!! We have a pair of magpies that have appeared here this year, I wish they would go back to where they came from! A friend not far from us yesterday caught a magpie on camera killing one of their sparrows, If I see that here they will be in trouble I will find someway to remove them!!!
ReplyDeleteTake care and keep well, Best wishes to you both, Diane and Nigel
Hi Diane. Because the Magpies have been attacking nests and young birds, I'm actively discouraging them now. Fortunately they are quite nervous birds, so it doesn't take a lot to frighten them off.
DeleteI've now done something that I've been meaning to do for a long while, and that is to add a link to your diary blog on the bar at the side of this blog.
Stay safe - it will end one day! Best wishes - - - Richard
Hello Richard
ReplyDeletea new Corona week ... but it has turned out very well, what started poorly in terms of image technology has turned to good, I find the butterflies very beautiful
stay healthy
Regards Frank
Thank you for your visit and comments, Frank. I think that we in UK have many more Corona weeks to come!
DeleteStay safe - - - Richard
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeletethis is a really beautiful and rich blog with birds, butterflies and moths :-) The robin and the little robin are fantastic to see. The magpie could also be nicely photographed. Even his back is worth hihi ..... The goldfinch also called goldfinch is a very nice bird with a beautiful head :-)
I see a very nice series of butterflies and I don't know that by name. However, there is a blogger (and a friend of mine) who knows all these moths and also appoints them.
You also show beautiful butterfly and you can see that we have really arrived in the lnetne. Nature just goes on despite the terrible virus. I enjoyed your beautiful photos.
Stay safe and sound Richard.
greetings, Helma
Thank you for your visit, Helma, and your kind words. The virus situation in UK seems to be slowly improving, but I am worried that this week they started removing restrictions, and that it might start things getting worse again.
DeleteTake great care and stay safe - - - Richard
These are fears that I also have in the Netherlands. Now that more is allowed, you suddenly see crowds everywhere and very people. I already read that there were again more infections in Wuhan and in Krea where there were also relaxations, the restaurants and bars and a few other things were locked again.
DeleteI hope that it will not get to us as far as a second wave will come, but I am afraid.
It's nice to see beautiful goldfinch in this photo. You capture the picture of the bird beautifully.
ReplyDeleteThank you. The Goldfinch is a common bird here, but rather handsome - I'm delighted that you like the photo. With my best wishes - - - Richard
Delete