The Lockdown Garden - Week 21, 18th-24th May, 2020

This week has been a very quiet week in the garden  - or perhaps I should say it would have been if it wasn't for the Starlings, but more on that later. However, this week I'm appending a section on a wildlife exercise walk that was extremely profitable!

Monday, 18th May 

The trail cams revealed that there had been plenty of Hedgehog action overnight, but no encounters. The Red Fox was back.

We had just 13 species of bird put a foot down in the garden, but this did include at least 33 Starlings. They were with us for much of the day, and the noise was deafening! I remarked to Lindsay that, at this rate, we'd have a visit from a Sparrowhawk, and I was right. However I don't think it (a male) was lucky.

The only photos I took that day were of a Small White butterfly, which was the only butterfly species seen. 

Small White (Pieris rapae) - garden on 18/05/2020

Tuesday, 19th May

A morning inspection of the trail cams showed plenty of Hedgehog activity overnight, but the Fox was absent for the first time in a week.  

I was not particularly observant of the garden that day, and only noted 9 bird species visiting. However, the garden was somewhat more peaceful as we peaked at just 12 Starlings.

Butterflies were showing well, with four species seen - Small White, Small Tortoiseshell, Orange-tip (m & f), Peacock.

However, the only sensible photos taken were of a Buff-tailed Garden Bumblebee (thank you Conehead54 for the correction) on the Rhododendron -  look at that tongue in the second shot!

Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) - garden on 19/05/2020

That night, the garden moth trap went out and came up with a good catch for our garden - 31 moths of 13 species, including 4 'new for garden' records. Here are some of the more interesting ones.

Iron Prominent (Notodonta dromedarius) - from garden on 19/05/2020

Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens) - from garden on 19/05/2020

Cabbage Moth (Mamestra brassicae) - from garden on 19/05/2020 (new for garden)

Buff Ermine (Spilosoma lutea) (male) - from garden on 19/05/2020

Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata) - from garden on 19/05/2020 (new for garden)

Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata) - from garden on 19/05/2020 (new for garden)

Flame Carpet (Xanthorhoe designata) - from garden on 19/05/2020 (new for garden)

Wednesday, 20th May

The trail cams again showed thet we'd had plenty of Hedgehog action but, disappointingly also showed we'd had a large Brown Rat which was eating the spilt sunflower hearts.

Visiting birds were of 11 species.

The only butterflies noted were 2 Small White.

That day I had a short trip out for some exercise on a fine sunny day. My report on this very successful excursion is at the end of this blog post.

Thursday, 21st May

The trail cams showed very little Hedgehog action and, thankfully, no return of the Brown Rat.

We had 11 bird species visit, with nothing of particular note.

Lindsay called me to a Small Magpie moth which had found its way into the kitchen. This resulted in my only photo for that day. For some reason, this moth is classified as a micro-moth

Small Magpie (Anania hortulata) - from house on 21/05/2020

Friday, 22nd May

There was a little more Hedgehog action seen on the trail cams with, probably visits by two hogs.

It was an extremely windy day, and visiting bird species amounted to only 10.  

No photos were taken

Saturday, 23rd May

Another very windy damaging day, with nothing seen on any of the trail cams from overnight. In spite of the wind, we did get visited by birds of 14 species, one of which was indeterminate - I will explain! We have in the area a solitary Rook and a solitary Carrion Crow.  The Rook is a youngster, and still has a rather dark bill, although that now seems to be getting paler.  The Crow has an unusually slender bill, but it does have a good curvature to the culmen. It makes them difficult to tell apart unless one can get a good view with binoculars. On this occasion, one of the two birds briefly settled in our Rowan, but departed again before I could get a good look at it! It was another day without photography.

Sunday, 24th May

The wind had dropped significantly and the trail cams revealed that, as well as a couple of Hedgehogs, we'd been visited by the Fox again - its first visit since the Monday.

We had 13 species of bird visit the garden, including a pair of Bullfinch, which was exciting as they had been absent since the last day of April.

There was further excitement, however, when I found that the ovipositing Orange-tip butterfly on 9th May, mentioned  two blog posts ago, had resulted in caterpillars on the Garlic Mustard. The next two images show the largest, and then the smallest of the three I found. In the second image you can just detect the shed skin of this tiny caterpillar.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (larvae) - garden on 24/05/2020

Today (25/05) I have found a further 2 tiny caterpillars - one is less than 3 mm long!

Garlic Mustard has previously been removed from our garden as far as possible each year as an 'invasive weed'. However, having learned this year that it is a food plant chosen by Orange-tips, I have decided to let it grow. It seems to have paid off.

I might have to wait a long time for any chance of butterflies from these larvae as I have read that these over-winter as pupae - sometimes for as long as four winters! The success rate is also rather low, mainly due to predation.

While photographing the caterpillars, I noticed a moth on the fence just beyond them. This has been quite a common moth in our garden.

Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata) - garden on 24/05/2020

As I came away from the caterpillars I took a few other photos. The first one is of a bee species which seems to love the flowers of the Chives (as shown in the photo) and the Welsh Onions.

Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) - garden on 24/05/2020

Last year we sowed a patch of garden with seed that was supposed to produce a low-height flower meadow. Sadly, the grasses that came up (which, to date, have been all that came up) were far too high for the location, and so were removed again. However, I missed a few and the flowers on the grasses (if flowers is what they are) are quite beautiful. I can see these as being the inspiration for a design for ladies ear-rings! That 'flower', below is about 1 cm long.

grass flower - our garden on 24/05/2020

We ended up the week with just 16 species of bird, 5 species of mammal ( I hadn't mentioned the mouse!), and just 4 species of butterfly.


A Visit To Heather Lake  - on Wednesday, 20th May

My visit to Heather Lake on Friday, 15th May to look for dragonflies and damselflies had resulted in briefly seeing just one departing teneral damselfly, and no visible evidence of emergences of others. There had been a change in weather since then and this was a warm sunny day with little breeze. This seemed like a good day to have another look at Heather Lake.

It is a walk through a woodland ride that takes me from where I park my car to the lake. I saw nothing of interest en-route. As I arrived to the area of the lake, there was a Grey Heron sitting on a man-made raft in the lake about 180 metres away. 

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) - Heather Lake

I soon realised that there had been a major change since my last visit, with large numbers of damselflies around. Most of these were tenerals (newly emerged and flying for the first time, not yet having developed their full colours), but there were also many damselflies that had matured. With just a few exceptions, these were Common Blue Damselfly, but I did find two other species of damsel too.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (teneral male) - Heather Lake

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (teneral female) - Heather Lake

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (male) - Heather Lake

Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) (teneral male) - Heather Lake

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male) - Heather Lake

Part-way down the eastern side of the lake I stopped to look at a displaying Coot. I don't remember seeing a Coot displaying like this before.

Coot (Fulica atra) (presumably male) - Heather Lake

The Grey Heron, a very nervous species of bird, had taken off as I'd  drawn a little nearer, and had landed atop a distant tree. Although these birds nest high up in trees, to my mind they always look incongruous when high in a tree!

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) - Heather Lake

At the south end of the lake, I found a Blue-tailed Damselfly, but didn't get very close before it departed and was lost to sight when I was distracted by movement in the foliage beside me.

Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) (male) - Heather Lake

I looked down and found a dragonfly climbing up a stem behind some reeds. It was a teneral Four-spotted Chaser - my first dragonfly of 2020! It was in a very awkward position for photography, and I chanced trying to move some obstructions to my line of sight - at which point it took off and sailed up into the sky and over the trees. Oh well!

Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata) (teneral male) - Heather Lake

A short way further on, I stopped to photograph a pair of tiny blue beetles.  These flea beetles are about 5 mm long and feed on Great Willowherb. They are very common in these parts.

Altica lythri - Heather Lake

Returning on the west side of the lake I spotted a pair of Common Blue Damselflies in tandem. The female was of the blue form of this species.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (male+female) - Heather Lake

Further along, I noted a newly emerged damselfly playing peek-a-boo. It was a bit far out for any reasonable photography, but it was interesting to watch for a while. Sadly, I didn't have time to watch it fully develop and find out what species it was as it was getting towards time that I'd told Lindsay I'd be home by 'at the latest'. It seems to be a male.

newly emerged damselfly - Heather Lake

A little further on and I had even more excitement when a dragonfly flew right past me and landed on a branch about 10 metres away. Because of intervening brambles there was no chance of a sensible approach, but at least I managed to get some unobstructed distant shots!

Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa) (immature male) - Heather Lake

Shortly after this, I found a pair of Common Blue Damselflies working on the next generation. This time, the female was of the drab coloured variety.

Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum) (male+female) - Heather Lake

As I approached the northern (inflow) end of the lake, a pair of Coot drifted by, seemingly unconcerned by my presence, which I found to be a little unusual.

Coot (Fulica atra) - Heather Lake

Just before leaving this area, this small beetle caught my eye. This species is a bit of a favourite of mine! This is a male, as the females do not have the 'swollen green thighs'.

Swollen-thighed Beetle (Oedemera nobilis) (male) - Heather Lake

I was now in danger of being back late, and potentially causing concern to Lindsay, so set off homeward. As I walked through the woodland ride, I had the added pleasure of seeing a flying Silver Y moth which landed in a bush. I just managed to find a relatively clear shot before it departed again. This species is an annual immigrant visitor to UK, but they usually arrive in large numbers. This one's for you, David - a moth in its totally natural surroundings!

Silver Y (Autographa gamma) - near Heather Lake

I'm pleased to say that I was home some three minutes before my self-imposed deadline. It had been a really uplifting trip out, with some excercise in vitamin-D rich sunshine, and my first dragon sightings of the year. I was also glad that I'd taken the 50-500 zoom lens and not the 150 macro, as  a number of these shots were taken at the full 500.

The header which accompanies this blog post, while current, is of a male Common Blue Damselfly, taken during my visit reported on above.

I'm really looking forward to my next dragon hunt - possibly tomorrow?!


I apologise if this has been a rather long blog for you. This has largely been due to my enthusiastic reaction to my excursion on the Wednesday. Next week, I'll try and be a little more selective - or I might just resort to two blog posts per week.


Take great care and stay safe - it appears that things are starting to get easier for most of us, but it's not yet time to throw caution to the wind as so many people seem to be doing now.