Easing Back, a few recent highlights

Other commitments, weather and mild patch fatigue have seen me spending less time on the patch panlisting since the last post.
Hopefully most of the blockers are nearly resolved, and a small investment in a sweep net has been made.
On the 5th May there was a Willow Warbler near the fishing Pool, a rare patch bird in my experience and a welcome addition.

 So far, Kestrel, Garden Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat elude me, as does Swift at the time of writing still.
A nice addition today was my first Hobby of the year, which passed over the pool heading towards Hurcott.

Galls.
A couple of new galls were spotted. Firstly, these Current Galls are nice, but not actually a new species, as they are caused by the same organism that causes Common Spangle Galls, but by the sexual generation.

Current Gall on Oak leaf

These, however these are a new species, I found them on Sycamore, caused by the mite Aceria Cephaloneus

Galls on Sycamore caused by Aceria Cephaloneus

Right, next some inverts. A predictable faithful, but first of the year, Common Froghopper

Vine Weevil

I've got quite a few flowers to finalize ID's on, and the weather wasn't really very good for pics, so I will hold back on them, but one that greatly surprised me was finding Cowslips on a roadside verge, never seen them before on the patch, but then again I've never looked as hard...Total 229

Cowslips

Redstart a great start to the weekend

Having identified a little bit of the patch as a potentially good spot for picking up a migrant or two, I was more than very pleased with myself when it did just that at the start to the Easter break. Whilst scanning the hedge line out popped a stonking male Redstart. He proceeded to work up and down the hedge and then actually flew over to me and showed in the tree next to where I was stood for a while. The header photo is my hastily taken record shot.

Now while all this was going on, a few yards away a Wheatear popped up in the adjacent field on  some sheep shite. .Again, a hastily grabbed record shot, but who cares, what a patch 20 minutes !

This coupled with the arrival of my first Whitethroat and House Martins of the year gave a birdy boost to the patch pan list.

The first Speckled Woods of the year have made an appearance too, as have some Nettle Tap Moths.

Speckled Wood

Lurking on a nettle also was this Phyllobius pomaceus.

This solitary bee was enjoying a Dandelion, those with far more knowledge than me tell me it is Andrena ( melandrana ) Nitida

Oaks really rock. Not only are they chuffin  at the moment  with micro's but I also picked out my first Oak Apple Gall of the year, caused by the wasp Biorhiza pallida  and close by, an Acorn Weevil

Oak Apple Gall

Acorn Weevil ( used to be in The Clangers )

Finally the plants, its a love hate thing but they are growing on me.I'm grateful help is at hand.

Wood Avens, Mares Tail, Garlic Mustard and Ribwort  Plantain are welcomed onto the patch pan  list, which now stands at......

219

Orange Tips it over 200

Couple of weekends ago there were plenty of Brimstones, and a single Chiffy. This weekend Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were very well represented, and Swallows were settling in rising numbers.The first patch Orange Tips were in good numbers also, mostly male.

♂ Orange Tip

Another Butterfly species also made an appearance in slightly lesser numbers, namely Green Veined Whites, including this pair who got straight down to producing some more of the species.

Green Veined Whites

Sunday was excellent on the invert front and other new species from the lepidoptera  representatives came in the form of two species of Micro moths.

Eriocrania subpurpurella

Incurvia masculella

On the Ladybird front,7  Spots were everywhere. There was the occasional Harlequin too. It was nice to find my second 10 Spot, looking a bit more mature than the one I had in February.

10 Spot Ladybird

Even better, this 14 Spot Ladybird was a patch lifer nad the XXth Ladybird Species so far this year.

14 Spot Ladybird

The Hoverfly species Helophilus pendulus   was another year tick for me

As was this Crab Spider Misumena vatia

In among the nettles were a few Green Shield Bugs,

Green Shieldbug

And finally,  the plant  Groundsel tagged on for good measure.As ever , a few species being ruminated over for later, but with no target in mind, I was pleased to finish the weekend with such a nice selection.

Total Species 209

First Swallow's & some Flower Power the 5th &6th April

It was all looking  very uninspiring on Saturday when I suddenly noticed my first Swallow low over pasture heading for the paddocks where it performed for best part of an hour. On Sunday there was a single individual again on the south east edge of the paddocks , despite the mizzle. What a welcome sight !
By Monday at least 2 seemed to be settling in.
Otherwise there were no birding surprises but plenty of activity noted and heard, including this Yellowhammer back on territory.

A Common Carder Bee was my only invert addition on patch. Off patch.. A walk around Monkwood that afternoon produced a stunning but flighty male Orange Tip, as good an early date as you will get in this neck of the woods I reckon. There was a  glorious carpet of  Wood Anemone's , and  Primroses and Wood Spurge were abundant and spurned me on to flower bash the patch the next day.

Monkwood flowers

Back on patch.It's amazing the changes in just a week, but there was so much blossom all of a sudden. At ground level I recorded the following, and there is plenty more growing into a state I can hopefully identify soon. Here are the record shots of what was found and identified, it was far too windy for anything better !
Green Alkanet

Greater Stitchwort

Yellow Archangel

Common Stork's-bill

Hedge Mustard

Ivy Leaved Speedwell

Cow Parsley

Another surprising find while scrutinizing the deck, was some small yellow fungi. Quite unexpected for this time of year, but a welcome addition to the patch pan list was Yellow Field Cap.

Species Total  195

End the month flourish ! 29th &30th March

Plenty of Peacock butterflies on the wing , as well as Comma's, Brimstones and a few Small Torts.  I also had a White sp..it was either Small or Green Veined, but he went to ground and I just couldn't find him.
An early visit to the patch hoping for Wheatear instead yielded Red Legged Partridge, a year first, as was a noisy Blackcap the next day. So, 64 species of bird in the grid now this year.

Revisiting around 10.30, just as it was warming Saturday, I immediately came across new  inverts. This Tawney Mining Bee was warming itself

And this Scarce Footman Caterpillar was, I swear, the same one I photographed in November on the same fence post !

A section of Goat willow has been productive, and on the adjacent ivy I noticed this critter settle. Thankfully I was able to eventually get him with the superzoom. A Bumble Bee mimic Hoverfly called Eristalis intricarius

I hadn't managed any Hemiptera for the list up to this point, but a single Dock Bug and several colonies of Pied Shield Bugs got me off the mark.

Pied Shield Bug

Dock Bug

Fence posts are wonderful things. Also out catching a few rays was this beetle, Oulema melanopa

Plants. Hmm. Work in progress. I added Ground Ivy (which was very popular with the bees ) and Sweet Violet, a small cluster of scented flowers lurking in a sea of Lesser Celandines

Ground Ivy

Sweet Violet

Total 186

March of the list, more signs of Spring..

The lovely Spring weather continued to be both a pleasure to walk in, and a catalyst for some more nice observations 14-16th.
 Both Red Tailed  and  Tree Bumblebee were recorded feeding and hunting out a nest site.

Tree Bumblebee ( Bombus hypnorum )

The first Chiffchaff of the year was present on the 14th and 15th

The wild flowers so far this year have been great. The abundant Lesser Celandine is quite a sight and seems a good enough reason that I connected with not one but at least 6 Brimstone Butterflies ( a butterfly patch lifer) on Sunday 16th.

This coupled with double figures of the Small Tortoiseshells, Comma's and Peacocks made it feel more like summer than early spring. I even recorded a Red Admiral, another year tick !

I have watched at close quarters a pair of  Long Tailed Tits nest building for over a week now, I'm hoping to follow their adventures over the coming weeks.

This Spider was out basking, seems good for Agalenatea redii.

Finally a plant I was really please to find, I didn't know for sure if they were on the patch. Wood Anemone

23rd March

This and the Brimstones were especially pleasing, and with one weekend left of March, I can reflect that it has already been a great month, with some really pleasing records. A Wheatear would round it off nicely !

Species Total 175 

Orange Underwing Moth tops the Weeks finds !

Around  3.30pm Monday I picked up on what I believed was a moth species on the wing. Initially I was wandering if I was picking up more Small Tort's, but further observation revealed a jizz I knew had seen before. Two years ago I had seen Orange Underwing and Light Orange Underwing at Chaddesley. However, that was on a woodland ride, and this was on a bridle path on paddocks. The moths however stayed largely in a young plantation, which was fenced off. I eventually saw one through the binoculars settle a fair way away but I saw enough to be 99% certain it was Orange Underwing.
I was unable to get a record shot, they were just to flighty, appearing out of nowhere, giving me the runaround before vanishing into the ether. They are afternoon flying moths and I was resigned to spending a few hours at the site over the coming days if a record shot was to be procured.
I returned the following afternoon armed with a few litres of water.  This wasn't to glug while waiting, they like to come down to drink from puddles, and the area was puddle free. They roundly spurned my cunning plan. However, eventually I saw one critter settle about 25 yards away at the top of a young tree. Using the digital zoom I was just about able to grab a quick snap ! Suffice to say I'm delighted with this discovery, peak count c15.

Orange Underwing

And if that wasn't good enough, just as I was leaving , A Great Black Backed Gull drifted over lowish, showing very well against the clear blue sky. A patch lifer !
On Tuesday Morning the Bumble Bee list kicked off with an Early Bumblebee ( Bombus pratorum)
Nearby I spotted 3 tiny ladybirds. These were another Ladybird lifer, this time 24 Spot Ladybird

24 Spot Ladybird

Other interesting species identified this week.

Zebra Spider  

Roe Deer
This was pretty mega to be honest. I flushed it whilst walking the set aside adjacent to the wood.

Nursery Web Spider
Buff Tailed Bumblebee ( Bombus terestris)
Agonopterix hercliana ( Micro moth )
Honey Bee ( Apis mellifera )
Goat Willow ( Salix caprea)
Finally, whilst walking today, I heard a a swarm of bees buzzing. Looking up, the Goat Willow held several hundred Honey Bees, quite a sight. The tree also held several Butterflies and a Buff Tailed Bumble Bee.

Species Total  168