April 'Odds and Sods', Pt.1 - 7th to 24th April, 2023

I have already published blog posts featuring some April excursions. This post will fill in the gaps with some garden observations and local short visits.

(Good) Friday, 7th April                    Garden

The appearance of a Long-tailed Tit will always lift the spirits, and this day we had two! Here's a photo of one of them.

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) - garden on 7th April, 2023

Hoverflies were appearing. This one favoured the Ipheon uniflorum - a plant that I once decided seemed attractive so acquired some from a nursery and put in a flower bed, not realising how invasive they are! The same can be said for Bluebells and Muscari! I suspect that this is Syrphus vitripennis - a female.

hoverfly (Syrphus vitripennis?) (female) - garden on 7th April, 2023

This Comma also showed up and I suspect, due to its tattered appearance, that it might have been a speciment that had overwintered as an adult.

Comma (Polygonia c-album) - garden on 7th April, 2023

That night, the moth trap went out, but only resulted in three somewhat uninteresting moths of two species.

Thursday, 20th April                    Kelham Bridge Nature Reserve ; Sence Valley Forest Park

The reserve at Kelham Bridge had, I'm sorry to say, been rather unproductive so far this year, but I am not about to give up on this place. It was rather quiet during this visit, with a trio of Canada Geese on the grass to the left of the first hide.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Kellham Bridge NR

Since my last visit to this place, the Sand Martins, the smallest of European Hirundines, had returned to the artificial nesting wall, way off to the left of the hide. This next image, taken with the lens at its full 400mm and already a little cropped, shows the wall. 

Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) - Kelham Bridge NR

I spent some time trying to capture the action, and the best that I could come up with was these next two, highly cropped, images.

Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) - Kelham Bridge NR

It then dawned on me that I should try using the camera's video capability.  The video I took was a bit shakey in the wind so I have applied Microsoft's stabilisation facility, this shrinks the overall size of the video. However, I feel that it better captures the atmosphere.

 

As I left the hide, a Wren was singing its heart out beside the path. It always amazes me that such a small bird can have such a loud voice, but you can see the effort it puts into its output in this next image.

 

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Kelham Bridge NR

I went to the second hide, but nothing much was visible, and the only thing that presented itself anywhere near enough for a photo was a Little Grebe.

 

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - Kelham Bridge NR

I decided to abandon ship and see if I could have any more luck at nearby Sence Valley. The short answer was 'no'.  It was pleasing to find Cowslip in flower beside Goss Water.

Cowslip (Primula veris) - Sence Valley FP

While looking for birds to photograph, I spotted what I at first took to be a day-flying moth go past. Fortunately it landed on the bridge over the Sence, where it flows between Horseshoe Lake and Goss Water. It was an Alderfly but, although the most common species is Sialis lutaria, it cannot be readily separated from the very similar Sialis fuliginosa.

 

Alderfly (Sialis sp.) - Sence Valley FP

Seeing little, and reckoning that it was about time I headed home anyway, I returned to my car. However, I found myself distracted by the butterflies at the roadside within ten metres of my car. I can't remember the last time that I saw six species of butterfly in such a small area. Seen were Orange-tip, Brimstone, Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Speckled Wood, and Comma.

 

Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) (male) - by River Sence

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) (female) - by River Sence

Saturday, 22nd April                    Ashby de la Zouch Cemetery

On the county WhatsApp group, there was a report of a Ring Ouzel seen at the cemetery in my home town. I was not even aware that this place existed! It was soon located with the aid of Google Earth and I set off to investigate.

I found another birder there checking the place out. After a relatively thorough check, no such bird was found. We agreed that the place looked to be a highly unlikely environment for a Ring Ouzel to stop in, and both of us wondered if an inexperienced observer had mistaken a female Blackbird (which often exhibit a pale chest crescent) for this species.

While there, I did use my camera on a couple of very common birds sitting on headstones.

Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) - Ashby de la Zouch Cemetery

Jackdaw (Corvus monedula) - Ashby de la Zouch Cemetery

Sunday, 23rd April                    Garden

Lindsay has a frog phobia, which is why we can't have a conventional pond in our garden. The pond that we do have is a mini-pond, contained in a wooden structure with 18 inch (0.46 m) high vertical side-walls - too high for any frog that I've met! However, we do have a very small part of what used to be my Koi pond that has been retained as a bird drinking and bathing station, and is affectionately known to us as 'the duck pond'.

On this day, I found one of the largest Common Frogs that I've ever seen, sitting on a ledge overlooking the duck pond.

Common Frog (Rana temporaria) - garden on 23rd April, 2023

Having taken my photos, I left it in peace, and it was gone the next time that I looked.

Monday, 24th April                    Garden

Nothing very special was witnessed in the garden during the day, although I did take a few photos, some of which are shown below. However, an interesting event that night was uncovered the following day.

Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) - garden on 24th April, 2023

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) - garden on 24th April, 2023

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) (female) - garden on 24th April, 2023

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) - garden on 24th April, 2023

I deploy three trailcams in the garden each night, and have been witnessing at least three Hedgehogs visiting our garden. Occasionally we will see two meeting up. Usually this ends with a showdown, resulting in the weakest of the two retreating rapidly or just curling into a ball and waiting until the aggressor has departed. Sometimes, however, we witness more amorous activity. This entails the male circling round the female for a while, until she accepts his advances. On this occasion, the camera caught this behaviour and, although no mating was captured, the remarkable thing was the duration of the event. If you look at the time displayed at the bottom of the video, you will see that it starts at 22.19, and ends at 23.24 - 65 minutes in total! Don't worry - I've only included a few clips and the video is only about a minute and a half in duration.

Thus ends Pt.1 of my April O&S account. Pt.2 will probably be in about a week's time. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature.

 

Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard