The week was a relatively quiet one from the point of view of garden observations and photography, partly due to me being busy building a new mini-pond in the garden. I am, therefore, going to take the opportunity to slightly alter the format of my weekly garden lockdown report in the hope of eliminating some of the repetetive nature that seemed to be developing. I shall mention the highlights on days where there were any, and give a summary at the end of the post.
Monday, 8th June
The excitement on this day was the appearance of a Great Spotted Woodpecker - not a rare bird, but a relatively rare visitor to our garden. The last time a GS Woody visited was on 6th March this year, and that was a female. Without searching through my records, I think it was last year when we last had a male visit, and if it wasn't last year, it was the year before! I have said before that I don't like to post photos of birds on feeders, but sometimes exceptions have to be made, and this is one of those times.
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) (male) - garden on 08/06/2020 |
Tuesday, 9th June
The avian highlight of the day was a brief visit by a Carrion Crow (Corvus corone), but no photos were obtained.
I was out dragon hunting in the afternoon when I got a message to say that the pond kit that Lindsay had so kindly said I could have for my birthday was going to be delivered that afternoon. This had me scurrying back home again.
Thursday, 11th June
A moth followed me into the house during the evening, and this turned out to be a Small Dusty Wave. This only the second time I've seen this pretty little moth, and the first time was a much more drab dark form.
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| Small Dusty Wave (Idaea aversata) - from garden on 11/06/2020 |
Friday, 12th June
I took a break from pond-building as the sun was shining brightly and I could see the potential for a few photo opportunities. This turned out to be a good move!
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| Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) - garden on 13/06/2020 |
One of the joys of dabbling with macro photography is being able to see details that one never would with the naked eye - not only in the main subject of the photograph, but elsewhere too. I have started appreciating the beauty in some of the flowers and foliage that the subjects are resting on (yes, with the exception of the green bit of card that I sit my moths on, David!).
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| Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) - garden on 13/06/2020 |
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| bee species - garden on 13/06/2020 |
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| 'Greenbottle' (Lucilia sp.) - garden on 13/06/2020 |
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| hoverfly (Eupeodes luniger) - garden on 13/06/2020 |
The absolute bonus this day, however, was the appearance of a young Nuthatch. Although not a rare bird, this was our first Nuthatch of 2020. As I write this, we have now been having a pair of young Nuthatch visiting on a frequent basis, and I'm hoping that I might have a few better photos in the can, but in the meantime these are a couple of not-so-good shots from that day.
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| Nuthatch (Sitta Europaea) - garden on 13/06/2020 |
The moth trap went out that night, as we'd had much rain, and a dry but humid night was expected. I managed to get 50 moths of 20 different species. This is quite a small catch compared to what many people with more professional equipment in more countrified regions get, but was possibly my highest catch to date. Nothing particularly noteworthy was caught, but here are a few that show a bit of variety.
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| Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella) - from garden on 13/06/2020 |
This next one is one of several species of the Marbled Minor type that can only be positively identified by disection and so, in the absence of such drastic action (which I am never likely to undertake!), can only be described as 'Marbled Minor agg.'
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| Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia sp. agg.) - from garden on 13/06/2020 |
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| Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) - from garden on 13/06/2020 |
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| Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba) - from garden on13/06/2020 |
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| Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) - from garden on 13/06/2020 |
The trail cams revealed our regular Fox visiting in daylight.
In summary (weekly maxima in brackets):-
We observed 3 species of mammal visit : Hedgehog (2) ; Red Fox (1) ; Grey Squirrel (1)
We observed 1 species of butterfly visit : Small Tortoiseshell (3)
We observed 16 species of bird visit : Blackbird (3) ; Bullfinch (3) ; Chaffinch (2) ; Crow, Carrion (1) ; Dove, Collared (3) ; Dunnock (1) ; Goldfinch (7) ; Greenfinch (4) ; Magpie (1) ; Nuthatch (1) ; Sparrow, House (7) ; Starling (5) ; Tit, Blue (6) ; Tit, Great (4) ; Woodpecker, Great Spotted (1) ; Woodpigeon (8).
I'm expecting to publish a short blog post on my brief dragonfly hunt from the Tuesday this coming Thursday. Until then, take great care, stay safe, and please do your best to observe and help the planet's nature.
