Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

Hedgehog - Erinaceus europaeus

I have a small chicken house at the bottom of the garden and use straw as litter. One of my "girls" has gone broody and is sitting on 6 fertile eggs.......... due to hatch the same day as my 1st grand child coincidentally!. Yesterday,  I decided to move the three none broody birds in to another enclosure so as not to disturb the broody hen.  During this operation I collected straw and  filled a sack from the original house to scatter in the new enclosure. All was going to plan until I went back minutes later to fill another.  Imagine my shock and then horror when I discovered, lying on the straw, a baby hedgehog, now pecked and a bit bloodied. Moving the straw had disturbed a Sow Hedgehog and her hoglets. They had a lovely nursery nest amongst the straw, and up until this moment had been undetected both by myself and my chickens. I picked up the little hoglet, it had a nasty wound on the head above the (as yet unopened) eye. It was warm and fat with white spines and emerging new dark spines erupting in between. To be honest I didn't give it much hope of survival but, never the less I put it back with mum and it's 3 sibblings. I quickly grabbed my camera and took a few shots. I was obviously worried about the disturbance but it was too late for that because disturb them I had.  I am really quite upset about this.  Hedgehogs are declining in the UK and I havn't seen one in the district all summer. Usually we have one wander through the garden every now and then. The other day I had found some "droppings" which obviously were from this sow.

 After a few minutes she came out of her ball and showed her head and I kept still knowing that a hedghogs  eyesight is poor. She did a couple of circles, sniffing all the time,  and then disappeared back under the adjoining shed, obviously her way in and out. This left the little hoglets who were around 6 days old as their eyes were not yet open and said to do so at a week. I was quite surprised that they differed  in size.  The pecked one was so much fatter and larger than the other three.

After a minute or so I gathered up all the babies who were already squeaking like baby birds, and felt a little bit cold to the touch. I fashioned some kind of depression in the straw to re-made a kind of nest. I covered them over with more straw and left them well alone. I was hoping that they would not get too cold beforemum came back, it was a warm day at least. I hoped that mum would come back and suckle them and just carry on as normal. Animals are not stupid though because when I checked few hours later she had been back but taken them off to a new nest somewhere else. This was agreat relief. In the photo below you can see the damage on the head of one of the hoglets. Having read up on Hedgehogs this morning I now know, and so do you, that the male plays no part in the upbringing and the sow forages locally going back to the hoglets to feed them. I can say that they appeared to be very well fed and fat as little pigs so she must be doing a great job on the slugs in the garden. I plan to put out some cat/dog food for her and perhaps a bowl of Goats Milk. Apparently I share one trait with the hedgehog in that we are both Lactose Intolerant! This will give her an advantage and may help to secure the youngsters survival. I really like the idea of having these wild mammals in my garden. They are the gardeners friend in every way. They eat slugs and other garden pests so who would not want these truly iconic British Mammals living amongst us. The idea of my Blog is to record and share my sightings with the rest of the worls and it is great to be able to do that with you from 77 different countries around the globe so far!

Herring Gull breeding in the Garden

An update of the Herring Gulls on my neighbours rooftop. yesterday was very wet and they survived their drenching very well. They spend their time wandering up and down the roof and every time the adult male sees me he is ready to defend them by mobbing me!

Dartmoor Fox

It was quite odd yesterday evening. I decided to go out to the moor yet again just to see if I could get more photos of Whinchat that had been showing so well just a few days again. I made my way down to the area that I had seen them before and it was disappointing now when I realised that there was no sign of them whatsoever. Just 5 days ago there seemed to be 5 pairs at least and now there were none! Quite odd. Later I did discover one pair but well away from the place where they had been almost numerous. As I wandered around I caught sight of Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary butterflies, at last I photographed the underwing and I was able to confirm the ID. The weather was incredibly hot and humid, very unusual in the UK. I walked very slowly and quietly as usual and caught sight again of a Snipe that is obviously breeding in a little pool and marshy area close to the track. I have seen these Snipe on 4 different occasions now and always in the same place so they must be breeding I would think. On my way back up the path I had a real treat. As I looked up the hill on my right I saw a small Fox sitting up like a little dog just watching out for anything that caught his/her fancy. I quickly got the camera ready and took a few shots but from a distance. It hadn't seen me yet and I took steps nearer and got a few more. As I watched him I could see how intent on looking for a meal it was and it took little notice of me even though I was quite close. Having now taken a few reasonably good shots I tried to get even closer but the fox was having none of it and immediately got up from his relaxed position and disappeared down off his little lookout spot and in to the bracken behind. What a lovely animal it was, very appealing and attractive with piecing dog-like eyes and a rich red coat. I looked around at the sight it would be getting and thought how lucky he was to live in such a nice place. Lots of food around with a Rabbit warren below, berry laden bushes beetles and the odd bird now and then. I would guess that they are not particularly persecuted now that the hunting ban is in force and hope that farmers don't go out of their way too much to shoot them. Surely it would be worth the odd lost chicken to share your environment with a beautiful creature like this. 

Whinchat - Saxicola rubetra............ Dartmoor

I have been studying the behaviour and taking pictures of Whinchat on Dartmoor during the last week or so. They are reasonably easy to find once you have a rough idea of their location. I move off the main paths and follow the sheep trails through the heather and bracken and then listen out for their quite distinctive calls. Stonechat are named for their calls said to resemble the chipping of stones against each other but I find that Whinchat are for more remeniscent of this sound. Whinchat will make a double call this "chip" and a musical note which can appear to be closer to you than it actually is. The birds will settle on the tops of bracken and heather calling and chipping to each other. In my experience females are far more approachable and the males tend to keep their distance, but this is far from scientific and just based on the casual observations of the pairs that I have been watching. Males call with a slightly more musical note. Once in my chair hide the birds will come within a few feet of the hide and chase after small flying insects, "flycatcher-like". From time to time they will dive down to pick up a caterpillar or perched insect. This male is very approachable or should I say approached me, choosing a favourite perch on a growth of bracken and returning repeatedly to the same perch all the time calling and chipping to his mate, she was simultaneously calling some 30 or 40 metres away. I am hoping to go back to the area today to see if I can get pictures of newly fledged youngsters.

Tree Sparrow - Passer Montanus

The last few days, since last Thursday in fact, have been a bit hectic for me and I have been out of the county and visiting my Son and Daughter-in-Law in the county of Yorkshire. I obviously made an effort to see and photograph a few things when we were there. The highlight was my first (UK) sighting of a Tree Sparrow. I have seen them in the Far East, Singapore to be exact where they have been introduced and they are the common sparrow there. In the UK they are very scarce now and populations have plummeted by a ridiculous percentage in the last 20 years..... 90% or there abouts. This is a bird that I possibly took for granted when I was a boy in Derbyshire and overlooked, but of course I will never know that for sure. They are now absent from Devon and Dorset. A small colony, somewhere in North Cornwall is our nearest population. In Yorkshire there are a couple of sites where they can be seen. Bempton Cliffs was the first that we visited and on top of the RSPB visitors centre I caught sight of my first. I have to say that I was very disappointed with the Bempton Cliffs RSPB Reserve and it is all that I dislike about RSPB reserves all rolled in to one. Frankly it was/is a Zoo. The RSPB have taken ownership of the land there and the birds that breed there, and now charge an admission to view the wild birds on the cliffs..... what right have they to do that? There were facilities and cafes and, of course the inevitable gift shop. It was crowded to say the least with at least 500 people milling around the view points, to be honest I have been to Exeter City home games with fewer spectators. Surly, brusque "volunteers" were at the designated viewing points with their spotting scopes permanently focused on the odd unfortunate Puffin that was clinging to the cliffs and they would call out........ the blokes, not the Puffins ....... "Puffin in the scope". There would then be a melee and scuffle as people clamoured to peer at the bird. Birdwatching, this aint!!!! I have to say that even though I am now a member of the RSPB something should be done to tone down the take over by the society because Bempton Cliffs has bee totally ruined. I was appalled by it all. I just hope that they do not acquire the land on the Cliffs here in Devon between Budleigh and Sidmouth, imagine the horror of that with a gift shop, fence and toilets and then the inevitable hordes that would throng in like lemmings. So RSPB, you have ruined Bempton Cliffs! Now Old Moor RSPB Reserve in the Dearne Valley near Barnsley is a success story and even though there is an admission charge they have done a good job in creating a wildlife haven in the midst a typical Northern Landscape of houses and failing industries close to the MI and very busy trunk roads. A chat with Steve, (don't know if he was the manager but if he wasn't he should be), convinced me that they were actually protecting the birds here as well as providing good educational facilities and inspiration for local children. The focus was on Tree Sparrows and they were everywhere. Didn't agree with the children's adventure play area, it's a wildlife reserve for heavens sake and the family hide was better than my house. Is it really necessary to have such well appointed hides? This shows what a rich organisation the RSPB is. This does little to "Protect" birds which is surely the RSPB's aim (hence the title). But all in all I was pleased to see the efforts to protect and encourage the Tree Sparrows and I guess, without the shop, cafe and carpark then there would be no reserve and the Tree Sparrows would continue their decline. So I paid my money and joined the RSPB so I can moan from within!

 This Reed Bunting showed very well and was breeding by a small pond.

(Small) Pearl-bordered Fritillary sp.

I travelled out again yesterday to Dartmoor to try and get one or two better photographs of the lovely Whinchat pair that I have been watching. They had moved just a few yards from their original position, confirming I think that this pair is not breeding. This obviously is a great shame. I have watched them now for more than 6 hours and only once have I seen them carrying food and also apart from a short period yesterday when the male seemed to be absent there is no sign of incubation either. I feel sure that if they they were feeding young it would be pretty obvious and if they were incubating then they would be taking it in turns to sit and I am pretty sure that the hen, for certain has done no incubating while I have been watching her. But first a bit about the fritillary above. The two species of Pearl Bordered Clossiana species are very similar and can be told apart from the underwing. As I did not manage to see the underwing I can not say which of the two this one is. Suffice to say it is a stunning butterfly and posed nicely for me only a few feet away. Pearl Bordered Small Pearl Bordered Click on these links for a Fact sheet of both species from the Defra Butterfly Conservation. Getting back to the Whinchats. I managed some fine images yesterday, mostly of the female who came very close to me. Here are some of the best. As I watched the female I thought she had been joined by the male but as soon as I trained my lens I realised that it was a Male Stonechat.

Whinchat - Saxicola rubetra............ Dartmoor

This is a male Whinchat that I saw and photographed yesterday. As usual there is a bit of a story which is quite interesting. As you will know if you read the blog regularly, Dartmoor is one of my favourite places because it is so beautiful, isolated, quiet and peaceful. Yesterday I sacrificed the delights of Wimbledon for a wonderful late afternoon on the moor at Sousons Plantain (Warren House). I pretty much had the whole area to myself, imagine that! Thousands of Acres of beautiful landscape in bright sun all to yourself with just birds and insects as company. After the walk down the hill to the bottom valley path I caught sight of a couple of Whinchat who were showing beautifully. I quickly unpacked the chair hide and set it up with the sun at my back facing the area that the birds were seeming to favour. The pictures show both sexes and I am sure you can tell which is which. One thing that stands out in both is the very bold eye stripe a diagnostic feature of this species and something that makes them easy to tell apart from a Stonechat, I guess you could confuse hen Stonechat and Hen Whinchat but not if you had seen them. They do share the same habitat though and are basically the same colour. As I sat in the hide which is fantastic by the way and I would fully recommend one to you. (Light and easy to erect in under 20 seconds). The birds quickly settled and went about their activities which basically involved feeding and flitting around. I was hoping that I would get one in front of the hide but they were slightly wary of it and stayed away the nearest being about 20 feet. At one point a pair of Linnets came right in front of the hide so close that the camera was struggling to focus. I was really disappointed because the Sigma 50-500, on the camera at that moment, has a very noisy motor on the auto-focus and the noise of the lens "hunting" spooked the Linnets almost immediately and I didn't get a picture which would have been a cracker, they are hard to get very close to in my experience. After a short while I left them alone because even though I am pretty sure they are not breeding at the moment this was certainly a breeding territory and even though I was not disturbing them it is better not to take risks with birds like this. All in all I had a smashing afternoon and one that plan to repeat today in the hope of something special photographically. This is a nice addition to my galleries of birds though. I have in the past received comments that I must be doing something different to get so close to my subjects. Well I can assure you that this is not the case. I just watch from a distance and then make my move with my hide and sit quietly and then wait for my subjects to settle, usually only a minute or two and then get the best photos I can with good light and a good firm tripod....... something I never mention but I NEVER take a picture without a tripod. I also use military cam netting to put around the protruding camera which is always a big help.

Herring Gull breeding in the Garden

I have to be honest, Herring Gulls are not my favourite! But, the last couple of weeks have been interesting and in the end, quite amusing. At least, amusing for my family and friends. I first noticed last week that the Herring Gulls that are always present on the roof of my neighbours house, and my own was acting a bit strangely. It seemed that they were very noisey whenever they saw me and this then developed in to being mobbed whenever I went outside either to the front or back. You would assume that they would 'mob" everyone but no...... just me! We have proved this to be the case by swapping with other adults and the Gull would ignore them and go back to his safe perch only to get very agitated whenever he saw me and continue then to attack me. Even my voice seemed to get the birds excited and they would swoop down to have a go at me. Then I noticed 3 quite large, and by now, active and fat chicks waddling around the roof. All this protective behaviour directed at me is an effort to protect the chicks now living a precarious life on my neighbours roof. But why just attack me? Well I am pretty sure that this is because they see me so often in and around the garden and have come to recognise me and then perceive me as a threat. I suppose we are in for a noisy time as they grow and get more demanding and start to get vociferous as well.`Like I said, they are not my favourite buteach to his own and they deserve to get the chance to survive, albeit perched on my neighbours roof which is hardly a sea cliff and I can think of better places to be reared. Speckled Bush Cricket..latest. The Bush Crickets in the garden are growing well and I saw one today in a new place, in fact on the leaves of a garden Lilly. Even though this one waas only around 4mm long they seem to be growing well.

East Devon Bird Ringing - Garden Warbler and Marsh Tit

Having made the effort to get up before 6 I am glad to say that today's ringing session was a special one. We met before 6.30 and travelled to a new site (to me) in East Devon . Birds were few and far between in the nets due to slightly windy conditions and only 5 in total were caught. but two were very special. 2 Wren, 1 Dunnock, a lovely Marsh Tit and a Garden Warbler which was very interesting to say the least. Garden Warbler are very closely related to Blackcaps and I was very interested to get the chance to examine one in the hand. As Warblers go this is a big species not a lot smaller than a Dunnock for example and significantly larger and more bulky than a Willow Warbler. They are said to be "featureless" when seen in the field, with no wing bar or eye stripe nor white in the tail, in fact it is said that this lack of diagnostic features is in it's self a feature. First impressions led me to be surprised by the size and then a white belly as well as a faint eye ring. 

Garden Warbler Our bird turned out to be a juvenile just starting a moult with pin feathers on the wing coverts. I noticed on the photographs that it also had a soft gape. You can see that this bird is brownish and not as grey as I have imagined when I have caught glimpses in the field. It is slightly unfortunate that the bird's plumage looks a bit ruffled by the handling which confuses the photograph a little. As far as ageing is concerned we first of all checked for any sign of a brood patch and then when there was no sign of that we looked for pin feathers that would indicate a post juvenile moult. Young birds at the age of 6 or 7 weeks for example undergo this moult of feathers to an intermediate plumage and retain these feathers until after breeding in the first year. The presence of these emerging "pin feathers" in our bird proved it's age as a bird bred this season. This was a nice find for the site proving that Garden Warbler breed here in East Devon. 

Marsh Tit. Under the supervision of Dr. Ian I removed this little Tit from the mist net with ease, and back at the central point proceeded with the job of ageing, sexing (if possible) and ringing. We thought at one point that we were dealing with a Willow Tit such is the difficulty of separating these two very similar species.  They were not recognised as individul species until the start of the 20th century. There was a hint of disappointment from Ian when he realised that it was a Mrsh and not a Willow because this would have been a tremendous coup and a wonderful discovery as Willow Tit are very rare in Devon.

Regardless of the small amount of birds the quality made up for it and I was very impressed to be able to see both these two species so closely. The two Wrens were almost forgotten even though they are such gorgeous little birds and in the hand equally as interesting as they are in the field.  One was a juvenile and the other an adult. I am not surprised that we caught a couple because they were singing constantly with lots of individual territories identified..... too many to count really.  If you are interested in identifying Marsh Tit in the hand here is a nice close-up of the underside of the tail which is crucial apparently.

Branscombe Devon

The last few days have been difficult for the blog because I have my 85 year old mother staying and this has seriously put a damper on my freedom to come and go as usual. However, this afternoon we went to the seaside village of Branscombe, a nice place for an old lady to visit, and a chance for me to be at least outside! This is a typical Devon shingle beach with steep cliffs. A stream meanders down a valley to exit into Lyme Bay but disappears under the shingle beach before it reaches the sea. I had a good look for Grasshoppers and Crickets and spotted two but couldn't get a good enough look to name them, nor get a photo. I took pictures of this leaf hopper. It was one of dozens, all of the same species and easy to see. I think this bug was a bit more unusual and as yet I haven't got a name for it.. Having a good luck around led me to this caterpillar which is a 6 Spot Burnet, I would not have immediately known but it wasn't too hard to identify. later on, at dusk I had a look at the hill between Alphington and Exminster and took pictures of the Rabbits in a warren that has hundreds of occupants. I was really hoping that a fox or stoat would put in an appearance but I suppose that was expecting too much.

A Few interesting insects

At the height of summer insects are the main interest, the birds are a little quiet but Dragonflies and Damsels are abundant as well as interesting Hoverflies and Bees. Today it was hot! So armed with a variety of lenses I made my way first to the Exeter Canal in the hope of capturing some Damselfly portraits. Cow Parsley is a favourite food for lots of nectaring insects and is always a good place to be near if you want to see hoverflies. Today was quite good and I took just about my best ever "macro" photo Also on the "parsley or at least near by was this Brindled Hoverfly, there were in fact several if not dozens and as they are very common to my garden as well I was not surprised. very common to my garden as well I was not surprised.

Volucella bombylans plumata

I went out on a ringing session this afternoon with Dr Ian. It was quite successful and rewarding. lessons were learned and birds were caught. In fact a total of 16 in all. These included Wren, Greenfinch, Robin (adult and juvenile), Chiffchafff, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Song Thrush, Dunnock and the highlight for me today a juvenile Long Tailed Tit.

Dunnock

If you look very closely at the Juvenile Dunnock here you may notice that it has a pink fleshy end to the inside of the beak. This is called a gape and is soft in nestlings, once they have left the nest this gradually decreases but at first the fact that it is a newly fledged bird can be told by the presence of the "gape". In Dunnocks I noticed today that the gape is pink which is unusual because most birds have a yellow gape. 

Volucella Bombylanus 

Referring back to the Hoverfly above. This is the Bumblebee hoverfly, a first for me and although I did not have the correct lens with me I did manage to get a reasonable record shot for my Devon Hoverfly Galleries click here to view. The hoverfly pictured is the yellow "plumata" form and I also saw and photographed the nominate Brown tailed form but not  a good enough shot to post here.  It really was a good little spot for insects and as well as those already mentioned I saw a Large Skipper Butterfly as well as a couple of unidentified Dragonflies.

Wren

This is a very early 2009 bred bird, netted, weighed (9.1 Grams) measured ringed with a unique numbered ring and then released to contribute in a tiny way to science. 

Leaf Hopper sp.

Leaf hoppers are a hard to identify and there are 250 species of them in the UK so I am going to find it hard to put a name to this one. But I have to say that when you have a really good look at them they are fascinating. The one here is only about 1.5mm long and very hard to get a good photo of..... don't I say that about most things?

If this little bug doesn't look like the inspiration for ET then I don't know what does. And below he looks like dangerMouse in a cape! Leafhoppers can be pests in agriculture but in a normal garden I can't imagine that they would do much harm. They suck the sap from plants so if there was a large infestation I am sure that there would be a big impact. Regardless of that I am pleased to see them when I do because they are interesting and make good macro photo subjects.

A few English Flowers

Late evening saw me on my way to Escot near Ottery St Mary. I wanted to have a look to see if the Little Grebe noticed on a previous trip was showing. It was a really dreadful night, the cloud was so low that it blanketed everything in a foggy, damp haze but it wa s still strangely warm. Anyway I persevered because it was just a look at what was showing. Lots of bird calls/songs and I heard Blackcap.Greenfinch,Green Woodpecker, Wren, Chiffchaff and Long Tailed Tit. The conditions were absolutely appalling for photography and I sat in the hide for 30 minutes in the hope that the Little Grebe, if still present would come out and show him/her self, but no! I decided to experiment with the new lens and flash a nd took a few hand held shots to see what I could come up with and I have posted a few here for the record. The first is an Ox Eye daisy, one of my favourite plants.

Dog Rose

This is a Dog Rose, and once the flower has died off a big fat Rose Hip will take it's place. If you are not from the UK,I can assure you that this is a truly wild English Rose, something that we take for granted, but part of the history and folklore of the country.

Clover

This is Clover, typically English but overlooked by most. Fields are deliberately seeded with clover because cattle that graze on it give good quality milk.

PENTAX-DA* 200mm F2.8 ED [IF] SDM Lens

I took delivery today of my new lens, purchased specifically to try and improve the quality of images from the garden hide at short distances I have to say that so far I am impressed with some of the results. It feels incredibly high quality and the auto focus is so silent and quick. I sat in the hide and managed a few shots and have to say that the end results are really pleasing.

 

If you are a spec. kind of person you may be interested in this infor which I have copied from:

 "Digital Camera Review".

 "The two new fast telephotos smc PENTAX-DA* 200mm F2.8 ED [IF] SDM and smc PENTAX-DA* 300mm F4.0 ED [IF] SDM are not only optically astounding but also support the ultrasonic autofocus drive system for fast and quiet operation. Special optical glass including ED glass elements, aspherical lens elements and outstanding lens coating provide for excellent contrast characteristics, a consistent edge-to-edge sharpness and a particularly clear rendition of fine details. As well as the outstanding imaging attributes, PENTAX engineers have raised the mechanical characteristics of the lenses to a state-of-the-art level. Built-in ultrasonic motors (Supersonic Motors) in the lenses provide for extremely quiet and fast autofocusing. Both lenses are also weatherproofed and protected from penetrating dust by appropriate seals. The front lens elements of the lenses use the special Pentax SP - "Super Protect" - fluoride coating technology. This nano-technology protects the front lens against dust, finger marks or smearing, making the lenses exceptionally easy to clean. The Pentax "Quick Shift Focus System" allows the photographer to manually alter the focus point at will without having to take the camera out of the autofocus mode. The new smc PENTAX-DA 35mm F2.8 Macro Limited Lens will satisfy the most demanding photographer with its pictorial quality. Due to its fast aperture and outstanding sharpness this lens is ideal as an everyday ‘standard lens’. Two zoom lenses; the smc PENTAX-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL II and the smc PENTAX-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED complete the new PENTAX lens assortment. With their compactness and extended zoom range they are both well suited for all types of general photography. The SP - "Super Protect" - technology and the PENTAX "Quick Shift Focus System" are incorporated in both lenses. ED glass lens elements are used in the optical construction of the smc PENTAX PENTAX-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 tele-zoom in order to assure the highest image quality possible."

 Perhaps you are the kind of person that prefers to see the results so here are a couple of images taken today and I have to say that they show a lot of potential. The first picture is pretty much as it is with no cropping. I was  around 6 foot from this juvenile Goldfinch from my pop-up chair hide. I particularly like the background.

Juvenile Goldfinch

The next image is a House sparrow perched in a Bottle Brush bush at about 15 foot away and then cropped in Photo Shop. I have to say that I like this image as well and it is still quite sharp and quite acceptable.

House Sparrow

Ringing Session

This evening was a bit of a disappointment because at around 5.45 it absolutely poured down which is no big deal. But at 6 I met Dr Ian to have a look at the Sand Martin colony. Had the weather been acceptable, that is, no rain or high winds we would have ringed some Sand Martins at the colony on the nearby river Exe. . This has now been delayed until next week. I must say that I am looking forward to this very much. It is going to be good to put rings on "my" Sand Martins and then se what/who returns next year. When you consider the immense distance that they travel on their migration it is amazing that they then return again to the same spot on our River. Next week there will be photographs and a report of the session so don't forget to check back to see. 

Tits in my Garden!

One funny aside.......... last night I had posted about the Tits in my garden and without being crude I suspect that it is possible to misunderstand what we are talking of here. Well this is exactly what happened because I had a hit from Korea last night(one of 74 countries that have been on the blog). I have ameans through the stat counter on the post side of the blog to see who has been looking and what brought them to the blog. This man must have been quite disappointed to see the lovely little birds in my garden which is not exactly what he was looking for!!!!!!!!

Tits in my garden

Today has been a good one in the garden for Tit species. I decided to take some experimental photos using a 200mm lens that came with my first camera and am pleased to say that it worked quite well, the final results are a little on the "soft" side as you would expect from a very cheap lens but the principle worked well. I have ordered a high quality 200 mm lens which will be with me tomorrow. This should improve the images taken in my garden even more. I am looking forward to using it. In the meantime I have posted these two images so that we can compare them when I post images with the new lens in the near future. These birds are both juveniles, the first is a Blue Tit and the second a Great. As I sat in the hide waiting I got very excited because I could hear Long Tailed Tits in the apple tree and I was really hoping that one at least would come down on to the feeders and present its self for a photo.......................................................... but no luck and eventually they left the garden. I note that this time last year I had Long Tails in the garden so I can see a pattern there. Later on in the early evening the weather cleared and the sun shone so I decided at the last minute to go out to the moor to continue my Cuckoo study. I heard at least 5 different males calling but didn't have the look of one visiting the tree which I had decided to concentrate on. I did waste a little bit of time though pursuing a pair of Whinchats, the second sighting this year....... and well, you can't resist that can you. I noticed that there was a true pair and it might just be that I have never actually seen a male in true breeding plumage before. As I arrived at the cuckoo tree there he was right at the top and I tried to get as close as I could to him. After a while he flew back over my head to his mate and it gave me the chance to study them both together and note how much more brightly coloured the male is. As I sat in the hide some 30 minutes later he came back on to the top of the tree and I was waiting for him to turn his head in a good photographic pose but unforunately he never did and I cursed as he flew off knowing that I had missed a really good photo opportunity.

Today's garden insects and arachnids.

Speckled Bush Cricket

A completely flightless, very long-legged cricket, the "Speckled Bush Cricket" is virtually wingless, apart from the tiny brown flaps on the top of the male's body. It is bright green, conspicuously spotted with very dark red speckles. Its song is very high-pitched and barely audible to the human ear. It is well camouflaged among vegetation and usually only seen as it hops to bright outdoor lights or windows at night. It lives on well structured vegetation, tall grasses and shrubs, being found as an adult from mid-July through to the autumn. Eggs are laid in bark and the young nymphs hatch the following spring. A common species throughout southern England and the East Midlands, it is absent from the North. Young hatch from mid-May onwards and mature through 6 larval stages to adult, with about one week for each state and one week for the adult to become sexually mature. Males appear to have a shorter adult life than females. Females can still be around in early November but we do not believe that any survive the winter. I last saw them in my garden on the 20th May. I can say that the ones seen today, several in fact were slightly larger than those 2 weeks ago. I find them very photogenic and am looking forward to seeing adults later in the summer.

Wolf Spider

This Wolf Spider sp. is very interesting. You can clearly see that it has what seems to be a sack protruding from its backside. This is in fact an egg sack. The female makes it from her spineret and lays her eggs in the sack which she then attaches to the spineret and carries around with her. After a week, the babies hatch and climb on to the mothers back and she continues to carry them with her. This is a reasonably small spider, around 5 mm long, not including the legs and therefore the tiny spiders on her back are not immediately noticeable but you can see them very clearly in the photo below. There are several theories as to the name of this spider which does not build a web, but in stead either chases down or ambushes it's prey, like a wolf in fact. My theory is that they are very hairy when you look closely. They look like mini terantula. Also look at the size of the "main" pair of eyes which are very animal like and massive in comparison to the rest of the body. Eyesight is obviously an important faculty for a hunter. I will be having a close look for them again. I have an idea that this spider is a cucumber spider, named after it's colour but I am checking this before we go public with it! , I will be confirming this information as soon as I have it but it was one of 4 different species seen today in the garden. I also am pretty sure that this one is a Crab Spider again not sure of the scientific name but I do feel that if the blog is to have anything serious to say then this is very important and I will be giving it a scientific name in due course. Again this spider has large eyes and would indicate that it is also a hunter/ambush feeder. I see this species in my garden every year and have never seen it with a web so pretty sure of my assumptions. If you look at the Cucumber above you can see that eyes are hard to see which would indicate that this is a web builder and I can confirm that this is a fact. Other species in the garden today were 4 different Hoverflies and a Painted Lady Butterfly, the first for a week. I really enjoy being able to step in to the garden and find interesting insects and arachnids to photograph. This is totally different than trecking on to Dartmoor and finding relatively exotic birds like the Cuckoo. In the garden there are discoveries to be made and I think finding the egg/baby carrying Wolves is proof of that for sure!

Cuckoo -

Last Thursday I had been fortunate enough to watch a female Cuckoo in the process of nest finding. I had been pleased to watch her as it's not that usual to get really good views of cuckoos. I was even more pleased when I had a look at the few distant photos to see that it was one of the "rufous/brown" form of females. Males a grey as you know and most females also, but now and again there are brown coloured females and this individual was one of these. The next opportunity I had to go out to the moor was 5 days later on Tuesday and I was excited when I set up my hide that gave me a good view of the area in front of me where I had seen the hen the previous Thursday. I didn't get a good view in front but to my left and up the valley a male cuckoo perched and began to call. Then later another bird or probably the same one was in that area. I decided that when I returned I would place my hide near to that little tree as it seemed to be a calling tree for at least one male anyway. So Wednesday arrived and my plan was to focus on the "calling tree". The idea that I might get a good photo really excited me and I set up the hide only some 20 feet from the tree. I got myself set up and started the wait. After only a short while a male cuckoo flew over my head as if to go to the tree but instead circled and landed on a more distant bush and started to call. As he flew over me I heard the other strange call that cuckoos make. To describe it, image if you were to ask someone to imitate the noise a boomerang would make as it whirred in the air. It is a really weird sound and not one I have heard before to my knowledge. He disappeared after a while and another bird. or the same one was calling to my left. The hide has a convenient flap on each side and I was looking through at the bird 75 yards away. Basically, I had taken my eye off the ball because the female pictured above had settled on the tree as predicted. I was only just ready and managed to get three shots before she flew off up the valley to carry on with her dirty deeds also making that strange sound that I had heard the male making. As you can see it is probably the bird seen last Thursday. Cuckoos are territorial so that would figure. A male never did arrive on the tree but I was happy enough. In fact I had an immense feeling of satisfaction. Yet again I had done a bit of study and a bit of prep and predicted where my best chances were and it had come true.

Cuckoo

Last Thursday I had been out to the moor and had a fortunate encounter with a female cuckoo who was intent on laying. She had been investigating some low shrub and heather obviously looking for an occupied nest. It was an interesting encounter but a bit distant. Last night, armed with a bit more knowledge about the species and realising that they seem to be a more active in the evening I went back with a plan. I took the chair hide and placed it closer to the potential for action. I sat it out for a couple of hour! I knew it was going to be a waiting game and a bit hit and miss. To get to the point, no female arrived in front of me but I increased my knowledge and therefore my chances of getting a photo considerably. As I sat there and the evening wore on the males became really active and I recognised at least 3 by their calls which would have been hard to tell apart but being a trained and professional musician I have a good "ear" and I could tell by the pitch of the calls that there were several individuals. Suddenly very close a cuckoo was literally only feet from the hide but behind me and I can tell you that their calls when close, are very loud! It then flew off up the little valley to my left and perched on the solitary pine tree but now too far away for anything like a good picture. Later on in the evening on my walk back I noticed that this tree was a favoured perch. My plan is to go again this evening and place the hide with a good view of this tree and hope for the best! As I sat in the hide a few bird watchers walked down the path to my right. They were unaware of me which proves that the hide is good but I was certainly aware of them. Firstly they were noisy, and all wearing bright white or very light tops. The first indication that someone was around was the sudden silence around me apart from their talking. The birds were really aware of them! But in their totally unsuitable attire they stood out like beacons in a desert! I wonder if people realise that with just a tiny bit more thought and dressing for the occasion they could be so much more successful and their walk would be so much more fruitful. Earlier in the evening prior to the cuckoo attempt I had gone to take Redstart photos and with the use of the flash got some belting photos. This time I managed better photos of the female emerging from the box. On my walk down to the cuckoo territory I took photos of a Pipit which is 99% a meadow but was perched on the top of this Holly Bush/Tree and giving a good impression of a Tree Pipit. I don't find Pipits easy to separate and I am sure that I am not alone in this, but in spite of wanting to turn every pipit I see in to either a water or tree pipit I am pretty sure that we have a Meadow Pipit here, nice never the less.

Sea lamprey

Out yesterday at the Sand Martin colony as blogged here I had an interesting and great sighting. I stood talking to a dog walker who's Staffordshire Bull Terrier had disturbed my photographic session. We were just casually glancing in to the water when a large, odd looking fish appeared in the shallows. At first I thought it was a Salmon and then an eel but after just a few seconds I realised that it was a Sea Lamprey. It was large,  at least 3ft long and it was very blotchy in appearance with a strangely large and odd shaped tail. here is a description that I downloaded. 

• Lampreys are among the most primitive of all living vertebrate animals. They belong to a group known as Agnatha – literally ‘jawless fishes.’ 

• They only have one nostril – on the top of their head! 

• The lamprey’s saliva contains an anti-coagulant that keeps a wound open so that it can continue to feast on the blood of its host. 

• The male sea lamprey releases a powerful sex-hormone that females find irresistible. They can detect it up to 65 metres away. While insects are known to emit pheromones to attract mates, the lamprey is the first vertebrate creature to use a similar chemical ‘come-on.’ 

And this from Wikipedia:

 "The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is a parasitic lamprey (a kind of jawless fish) found on the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America, in the western Mediterranean Sea, and in the Great Lakes. It is brown or gray on its back and white or gray on the underside and can grow to be up to 90 cm (35.5 in) long. Sea lampreys prey on a wide variety of fish. The lamprey uses its suction-cup like mouth to attach itself to the skin of a fish and rasps away tissue with its sharp probing tongue and teeth. Secretions in the lamprey's mouth prevent the victim's blood from clotting. Victims typically die from blood loss or infection."

My photo shows the 7 gill holes and the large tail as mentioned. (The head is to the left). It was interesting to note that it disturbed the river bed and sent up "clouds" of muddy water. I took this is an indication of spawning activity as they are known to move large rocks on the river bed to get to the sand beneath where they then lay their eggs.

Sand Martin - Riparia riparia

I went back to the local Sand Martin colony today to see if there were any sign of fledged babies. The nest that I had original photographed and watched for a while a few weeks ago , see here, was still active and I managed a great shot of one of the youngsters emerging from the nest.

Common Redstart

I had a great, great day yesterday. The weather was absolutely glorious and in the afternoon I decided to go out to Dartmoor to look for Redstart and Whinchat. I spent around 7 hours, yes I know I am obsessive but I just cant get enough and always want just one more sighting and photograph which hopefully will be better than the last.

 

It goes without saying that I was successful as you can see the photos. I had sat quietly in an are that I knew contained Redstarts but was getting just a little bit frustrated that I hadn't seen any. I sat on a tree stump and was reaching for the coffee flask when to my left, and close, I heard a bird calling which I identified the call, wrongly it turned out, as a Willow Warbler. They make this kind of single repeated call. I caught sight of the bird briefly and trained my lens on it, it was a female Redstart, stupid of me to get it wrong but I was pleased to say the least. The first of the year for me. Within seconds I had caught sight of the male, they are so stunning! Moving away seemed to be the best option because I guessed that I was near there nest. I was right because from a safe distance I spotted which nest box they were using. I made a decision to place the chair hide at a safe distance and waited. It didn't take long and after 3 or 4 minutes the female was first to show her self.

They were feeding youngsters in the nest and I guessed that they were quite well grown because both parents were out of the box collecting food and there was no brooding going on. When the returned to the nest they would not immediately go in spending a few minutes perching on branches nearby, flying back to the box and then back to the branches before finally entering the box. I suppose that this ids a defence strategy and they were checking that all was safe before going in. This was reassuring because it proved that my hide was not considered a threat.

They appeared to take it in turns to bring food but sometimes they would be at the nest box together. I timed the visits at around 12 minutes apart. Here the male is emerging from the nestbox after feeding. 

Then another time he came out carrying a faecal pouch which is quite large and could give further indication to the size of the youngsters.

I tried very hard to get better and better pictures but because of the "sensitive" nature of the birds and not wanting to disturb them I didn't get close nor use the flash so it was not as easy as it may appear. I did like this shot of the hen with a beak full of what looks like a bee but has large antenna, it could be a May Bug? She caught the sun really well so you can see a large shadow on the breast of the bird.

Later I went around to another part of the moor and finished up with really good observations and a few photos of a female cuckoo, rufous phase, looking for likely nests to lay in. More later today or tomorrow.

Painted lady Butterfly

At present there is an eruption of painted Lady Butterflies in the UK. I have seen them twice today, once this morning and then tonight on Aylesbeare Common there was several. Here is a quote explaining all about this occurrence. 

"We are currently experiencing the largest invasion of Painted Lady butterflies this century. This large, powerfully flying insect is orange-brown in colour, with black-and-white patterning at the wingtips. They are arriving in unprecedented numbers all along the South coast, having originated from their core breeding area around the desert margins of North Africa. They have travelled across Europe and the English Channel and are now heading northwards through Britain. Neil Hulme, Chairman and West Sussex Conservation Officer for the Sussex Branch of the charity Butterfly Conservation, said "this is one of the great spectacles of the natural world and everyone will be able to spot these butterflies whether they live in the middle of a town or in the countryside. I have been watching butterflies for over forty years, but have never seen anything quite on this scale. The species turns up here most years, but numbers have been very low for some while now. A migration on this scale may result in the Painted Ladies reaching as far as the Arctic Circle, a journey of two thousand miles — they have already reached Scotland. The butterflies will be travelling by day and night, often through poor weather conditions, snatching brief periods of rest as they glide." He added, "on Sunday afternoon East Sussex Conservation Officer Michael Blencowe was in in a state of excitement, as he could not believe what he was seeing. He was at the end of a woodland ride near Lewes, where he was counting Painted Ladies coming over a five-bar gate. He said it was like counting sheep and that he had already recorded 133 in an hour. A further hour walking around the wood gave him a total of 250 and literally thousands would have passed through this single wood during the day. He was fascinated by their behaviour, which is typical of a mass butterfly migration. They just wouldn't stop for a rest, only landing here and there for a second or two, just to take on a snack of nectar 'fuel'. All were heading purposefully north — they are on a mission. On Monday evening at 8.45pm Painted Ladies were still coming in off the sea in central Worthing, flying northwards up Chapel Road." "Many people have already asked me what causes this phenomenon. It seems likely that when the population increases sufficiently in Africa, this triggers a change in their behaviour. They start to swarm and then head off in huge numbers. Painted Ladies will already be here in their millions. They will breed here this summer, so we will have them around until the autumn, but they won't survive the winter in the UK as a temperature below about 5°C is fatal to the species. Get out and enjoy them while you can." Those seeing Painted Lady butterflies are urged to send their records to the Butterfly Conservation National Painted Lady Survey page at www.butterfly-conservation.org/migrantwatch where an interactive map is being used to plot the migration.

Ringing Session - Escot

Today has been a great one! At some godly hour, well around 6.30 I left the house to attend a ringing training session. I am trying to obtain the necessary permit to enable me to ring the garden birds in order to keep more accurate records concerning movement and populations. This will enhance, not only my own study and knowledge but will give me the opportunity to share information with the rest of the "birdwatching" world. The British Trust for Ornithology overseas the ringing of all British birds and rings are issued by them and all birds ringed are logged and the details sent to the BTO for collation. In this way populations and movements can be monitored and scientific data stored to aid conservation. Enough of that though for the time being. If you are interested in birds as I am this is such a great way to get up and close to lots of different and interesting species. The birds are aged, sexed, weighed, measured and assigned a ring number before release. The first bird caught this morning was a female Blackcap Warbler. As you can see I had the opportunity to photograph them before release. later on we caught a male Blackcap, below. All birds are released as quickly as possible, this is particularly important at this time of the year when they are likely to be breeding. We had heard Blackcaps singing while setting the nets up so I was not at all surprised when we caught them. Bullfinches are my favourite birds and it was lovely to see a pair caught and ringed I am not sure if they could be described as the highlight of the session because they were eclipsed by first a female and then a male Jay. Both were very feisty and took great exception to the indignity of capture taking the opportunity to peck very hard at the hands of the ringers, and who can blame them? I couldnt believe how aggressive they were and they raised their head feathers in to a crest to try and look threatening. They are a beautiful proud bird with lovely plumage, the male being much more richly coloured a fact that would not be obvious in the field though. I am pretty certain that this one shows the female and the one below is the male so not a great deal of noticeable difference. As the male was having his ring put on by someone else I took the opportunity to take this photo of the eye which was so attractive and interesting especially as you can see me reflected in it! On these ringing sessions the discussion almost always arises about the difference betweenChiffchaffs and Willow Warbel., two very similar species. Birders will tell you that they can always tell them apart in the field but my mentor who has been ringing for 30 years or so and handled literally hundreds will tell you/and me that this is rubish and the only real and true way, apart from the call is by subtle wing measurement and shapes. As I hav not got examples of both species here I will not go in to this but here is a Chiffchaff photographed this morning that was thought. at first to be a Willow Warbler until the wings were measured. All in all a great morning and real chance to get some great photos particularly of the Jays. It is a most interesting and rewarding experience. To be handling birds and be instructed about the ways and means to determine age and sex is taking my own bird study to a new level. We also caught a nice Wren which turned out to be a female, they are Sexually monomorphic, that is to say that males and females are indistinguishable by plumage pattern and colour. The one that we caught had a very, very noticeable brood patch which is a very important feature to record. Male Wrens are known to not have a brood patch so this is a certain way of identifying females at this time of the year. The Wren weighed 9.1 grams by the way!

Baby Blue Tits in the wet

Even though it was pouring with rain this morning I sat in the hide trying to get some interesting shots of the Blue Tit family. I notice that Nina and Shaun, my nice neighbours had filled their feeders and the birds spent some time feeding from the new feed source. This is good as it gives them the chance to see the comings and goings. Here is a nice photo of one of the babies suffering a bit from wet conditions. I hope that it stops soon, it cant be good for such small and delicate birds to be wet for too long. I notice that this time last year we had hardly any bird visitors in the garden so the feeding that we have provided this year has certainly encouraged them. Just to repeat, we have had 7 species of young birds in the garden so far this season, a great result! No Robins? We haven't had one in the garden for several weeks, I wonder why?

Bee - Halictus rubicundus

I discovered this lovely solitary bee in the garden today. He didn't look particularly unhappy, nor lonely and I can't imagine why he is on his own, but seriously Solitary Bees are a good addition to any garden and make up 90% of the 250 species of the Uk's bee species. A bit more about them. There are more than 200 species of solitary bee in Britain. They are so named because, unlike honeybees and bumblebees, they do not live in colonies. The first solitary bees to appear in the garden, as early as March each year, are the miner bees (Andrena). Similar to honeybees in appearance, they lack pollen baskets on their hind tibiae. These hairy bees make nests in the ground, usually in sandy soil and along paths. The female will dig the nest, stock it with nectar and pollen and then seal it, leaving the young to fend for themselves. Also to be seen later on in the season are the leaf-cutter bees such as the Megachile species, which cut neat circles out of rose leaves and petals to build nests in dead plant stems or sometimes in stacks of old flowerpots. These bees resemble honeybees but can be distinguished by the bright orange pollen brushes under their abdomens. All solitary bees are excellent pollinators and should be encouraged into your garden.

Baby Birds in the garden

On the 11th January we had a ringing session in my garden. A Blue Tit was ringed, a male as it happened. This can be told for certain by measuring the wing length which is longer in male Blue Tits than females. The last couple of days has seen the return of this bird sporting his ring and now with around 6 young baby Blue Tits and a mate. This morning I took a few photos of him with his youngsters. 

Pretty certain that this is "my" bird because we placed the ring on the left leg which is not the usual leg to ring. On the picture below you can see his ring very clearly.

When I got up this morning there were lots of birds on the feeder, young sparrows, Goldfinches and the Blue Tit family. Without even my first coffee I went down to the hide and got a few photos of them.

I really like this picture and I am very glad to know that my garden has played a big part in the life of the adults and given them the chance to breed and that they have chosen to bring them in to the garden to feed.

More Wrens

I went out in the evening to see if I could bump in to a dog fox that I had been told is a regular visitor to the rabbit warren by the Alphin Brook. I got "way laid" though by the Wren family photographed yesterday. Today they were a little more in the open and at one time I seemed to be surrounded by baby wrens! They were in the dark undergrowth making photography hard and because they were so close, even more difficult. I have to say I love the photo above but in real life they were even more attractive. I never did see the fox! There was also tantalising glimpses of a Garden Warbler and a Chiffchaff perched right in front of me. Lots more to explore and discover there I feel.

Garden Hoverfly - Eupeodes corollae

Today was a good one for Hoverflies. My garden list has been added to after seeing and photographing Eupeodes corollae . Said to be a common Hoverfly and used to control pests. The larvae predate aphids and other garden pests. This one is a female and was laying eggs amongst the garden plants. My list of garden Hoverflies now stands at 16, a good amount for my tiny little patch. Also seen today was an adult leafhopper, "Issus coleoptratus", a Nymph was photographed and blogged yesterday and here, already with a bit of searching is an adult.

Wren -Troglodytes troglodytes

I have found that the Wren is a bird not that easy to get a good photo of, they are quick and keep low, and have come and gone before you realise. They are very common though and I knew that I would get a decent picture sooner or later. Over the last few days I have been exploring the Alphin Brook which flows into the my "village"and joins the River Exe very low down on the Estuary via. the Exeter Canal. This is a wooded valley very, very close to the City and a favourite of dog walkers, (where isn't). The adjoining fields contain horses that belong to the local riding stables. It really is a nice quiet area and the home of breeding birds, Tits, Robins, Blackbirds etc. Kingfishers are reported and there are some nice butterflies to be seen. Wrens were singing their territorial songs as usual and as I stood quietly I watched one carrying food to feed youngsters hiding away in the brambles and nettles. I thought that there was nest quite close to the path but as I stood and watched it became obvious that there were several youngsters calling out and being attended to mostly by the male bird. 

Quite interestingly he would sing loudly even with his mouth closed which was unusual I thought! With the sun very bright today it was a good time to use the flash to get rid of the shadows and I am pleased with the results.

Eventually one of the babies came out of the undergrowth and perched on a low branch giving me the chance to get a nice look at it as it followed one of the parents begging for food.

Issus coleoptratus in the garden.

We have a big patch of Ivy at the top of the garden which even though it's a bit of a mess I am reluctant to cut back because I know that it provides food and cover for lots of insect species and also somewhere for the birds to roost. This morning I was having a close look to see if I could see more Issus coleoptratus nymps, I had seen them earlier in the week and thought how starnge they are. They look as though they were designed by the props department from a Doctor Who show. They are strangely armoured and have a bristle tail, no idea what that could be used for but I read that they feed on ivy so that would explain why they were 3 of them on there! What a strange insect which is a "Froghopper" related to the cicadas but much, much smaller. They feed by sucking the sap apparently. They are said to be common in the East of the country, well we are in the West!

Baby Blue Tits

............

and,  of course a Wren!

Ourapteryx sambucaria

I had a walk alongside the Exeter Canal this morning in the hope of seeing some interesting insects. I spotted a few of the usual Hoverfly species and Large Red Damselfly as well as these interesting Caterpillars. The first is a well grown specimen of "The Drinker" named because of the habit of dew drinking by the adult moth. I am really pleased with this picture because it has brought together all the elements of my new equipment and approach to photography. I am striving to Blog the very very best of photographs and it isn't just a case of pointing the camera at your subject and "hey-presto" there is a good shot. First find your subject and then set about planning the photo with the help of the firm tripod, good light and fill flash. 

More about the Drinker here Next we have a fascinating caterpillar that looks to escape detection by pretending to be part of a twig which is obviously a very convincing strategy and almost had me fooled. The adult moth is a stunner and I will try and find one in July when they are on the wing. It's a Swallow Tail Moth.

 

What a great Scientific name - Ourapteryx sambucaria!

 This Frog Hopper had me stumped but I now know it as Cercopsis vulnerata.  The Black and Red Frog Hopper.

 

That would be just about it but I also took a great picture of an Orange Tip Butterfly, one of my favourites. Look at the coiled tongue just protruding. The mottled markings are really interesting. When it was perched on Cow Parsley it was almost impossible to see it.

All in all quite a nice haul of sightings and pictures to match. Welcome if you are visiting my blog from one of the 70 different countries that have visited in the last 5 months. The latest countries are Pakistan yesterday, and today the United Arab Emirates.  Welcome to the Blog , my  hope is to show you something of the wildlife that we live alongside here in the United Kingdom, a green and pleasant land!

House Sparrows and more

Birds are getting quite hard to photograph elsewhere other than from the garden hide. I put this down to breeding activity, now that pairs are well established breeding and the inevitable secrecy is the order of the day. It is frustrating though to hear Whitethroats singing loudly and Blackcaps but not be able to see them. I noticed a lot of activity on my garden feeder today so I positioned my hide close and waited to see what all the commotion was about. The first thing I saw was the young Goldfinches and a young Greenfinch which I was pleased to see. Then the perches next to the feeder were full of very newly fledged sparrows begging to be fed by their mum who was enjoying the Sunflower hearts and feeding them to her young.

I have no idea where these baby sparrows have come from but there must be a nest close by. Its good to see that we have had so many young birds bred in the garden this year. Goldfinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Collared Dove and Great Tit have all brought their young to my feeders which is really encouraging news. I am particularly pleased that they have managed to escape the local cats! Dad looks pretty magnificent as well.

Whinchat - Saxicola rubetra............ Dartmoor

The Whinchat is one of those birds that you feel you ought to see more often but the truth of the matter is, they are not that common and you have to be in the right habitat to see them Even then you need to be quite vigilant and know where to look. But with most species once you get used to what to look out for then they are not too hard to find. We live close to the famous Dartmoor National Park and yesterday evening I went specifically to go and find one or two. As you can see from the photo I was successful but only just. 

As dusk approached and after a couple of hours wandering, I had watched, in the distance, Green Woodpecker, Cuckoo, Sparrowhawk and a bit closer, Stonechat. There were frustrating songs from Whitethroat, Wren, Willow Warbler, Reed Bunting and an occasional song that I was not sure of. Then as I made my way back up from Sousons Plantation I heard an interesting song, have a listen to one here. I had been hearing it all day as it happens but it had kind of just "mashed" in to the background. The sun was low now and caught the white stripe of the bird and I knew, in fact I said out loud....... Whinchat. I took this photo quickly before I tried to get closer. This one is a male and as I took a few steps forward the female who had been closer to me all along took to the air. This post is really intended to help you locate your own Whinchat and I will use my Dartmoor experience as an example. So, this part of Dartmoor is at the bottom of a valley, it is sheltered and the grass is closely cropped by sheep and ponies but as you can see in the photo there are low heathers and the occasional small Hawthorn or Rowan tree dotted amongst the heathers. The Whinchats that I have seen have always been perched on the tops of Heathers very prominently. This one did not allow me to approach but last year they were much more confiding and not been too quick to fly off but as it happened this was because they had newly fledged youngsters nearby and they were reluctant to leave them. 

Don't be misled in to thinking that they can be confused with Stonechat because they could never in my opinion although the female is basically the same hue. However the head markings are just totally different. I would say that if you see a female Stonechat and you think it may be a female Whinchat then look for any stripe that goes way way back and if there is any doubt whatsoever then it is a Stonechat for sure. Once you see a Whinchat then there is no doubt whatsoever. Also if you look at the RSPB images on their Web Site here you will see that they have an illustration showing the Stonechat and Whinchat having the same basic reddish breast. This is so totally misleading and you should ignore it. Their illustration shows some kind of different species totally unlike any Whinchat I have ever seen either in photographs or real life. (How weird that the RSPB could get something such as this so wrong). At Sousons/Warren House you need to look up on to the heather covered shallow slopes either side of the path and any bird perched, singing on the tops of the heather will be either Whinchat, Stonechat or Meadow Pipit. There are several pairs of Stonechats in this are and my experience is that you will see the Stonechat before the Whinchats show themselves but just keep looking, learn the song by listening to the sound clip before you go out.

So I hope this has helped you if you are looking for either the Whinchats at Warren House on Dartmoor or your own in other parts of the country

Speckled Bush Cricket - Leptophyes punctatissima

Apparently this insect is common in the South and South West of England. That may be so but I certainly have not seen one before let alone in my garden so I was thrilled when I spotted this tiny, and I mean tiny nymph this morning. It wasn't a lot bigger than a greenfly and when I had a really close look at it I was amazed at how lovely it was. The young hatch in spring and reach maturity in July. Now I am aware that we have them in the garden I will keep a good look out for adults later in the summer. Imagine if I were using insecticides in the garden? Great little insects like this one would be killed in an instant. Perhaps if you are one of those well meaning people that does spray your greenfly then think about what else you are killing in the process, and does it really matter that you have a few greenfly? It's easy to understand how people can develop an interest in entomology when you can discover such gems as this only feet from your front door.

Life cycle 
Young hatch from mid-May onwards and mature through 6 larval stages to adult, with about one week for each state and one week for the adult to become sexually mature. Males appear to have a shorter adult life than females. Females can still be around in early November but we do not believe that any survive the winter.

Cheilosia illustrata - Bug Hoverfly

Description: I have to say that I was very pleased to discover this insect today and it has been identified as a bumble bee mimic, Cheilosia illustrata. The body is mainly covered in very pale hairs, but usually displays a well-developed band of black hairs across the thorax, and another across tergite 3. The tip of the abdomen often has a visible covering of reddish orange hairs. The black hair bands can be much weaker on some specimens, especially males, so that entirely pale-haired forms are less-recognisable, apart from the wing cloud. There should be little chance of confusing this species with any other, though dark maleLeucozona lucorum look somewhat similar because of the dark wing cloud. It is a widespread and fairly abundant midsummer species on umbellifer flowers in hedgerows and at woodland edges throughout Britain and Ireland, wherever hogweed or angelica are present.

This Hoverfly was seen by the Exeter Canal today. Unfortunately it was dead!

Oxe-Eye Daisey - Leucanthemum vulgare

Oxe-Eye Daisey Leucanthemum vulgare A Short walk along the Exeter Canal at Turf was not particularly fruitfull as far as wild life is concerned. There were Cettis Warblers singing as well as Reed Warbler and lots of low flying Swifts, the odd House Martin and a few Swallows. Apart from that the only thing that caught my eye were a few wild flowers that seemed to be calling out to have their photographs taken. The first one is an Oxe-Eye Daisey, I like this plant, it reminds me of the time spent in New York State last year where they are very common even though it is an invasive "pest" plant there. Who could fail to be impressed by Flag Iris, this just happens to be my mother's name so I always look out for them and am reminded of the great days I spent as a young lad fishing with both her and my father on the water courses around my local area of Derby. ..................... and finally a bird photo, no entry on the blog would be complete without one! This bird needs no introduction. Lets hope that it stays that way because House Sparrows are under serious decline in Suburban Gardens. Once they were the dominant species along with Starlings but now you are pleased when you have one or two in the garden unlike the 100 or so ten years ago with as many Starlings. I can only remember one starling in my garden so far this year. Finally just a mention that one of my pictures was given 'notable status on the Birdguides web site and was shortlisted as there photo of the week. A great honour............... one day!!!! . Have a look at it here.

Badgers

I was lucky enough tonight to be invited to set up my hide and wait for the family of Badgers that nightly visit a garden on the edge of the Exeter. Arriving at around 7.45 I set up in the porch of the cottage and waited for the arrivals. I hadn't been there long when a Jay came down to grab a peanut. He was really wary and didn't hang around to pose nicely but it was great to see this bird. I don't often see them close up. After about an hour of waiting patiently and very quiet, hardly daring to move there was some movement in the bushes to my left and I guessed straight away that it was no Badger but a big dog fox.He was about to start tucking in to the peanuts but then he detected that something was not quite right and had legged it before I could even get a snap of him. In a way this was good because it meant that I could adjust the camera properly for when the main "act" arrived..... if it was going to! So the hour turned in to nearly 2 and I was getting just a tad fed up and beginning to believe that the Badgers were not going to show and I had been rumbled. But then at around 9.25 a snout appeared and the sound of sniffling and snorting accompanied the badger as it nosed in to view from behind the bushes to my left. It got stuck straigh into the free offerings. Here is the sequence as it unfolded. I am pretty sure that this is a sow and that you can see teats in the photos. This may explain why she is eager to feed and risk being out in the open and at risk. She probably really needs the protein if she is a feeding mother. After around 10 minutes or so and with the time getting on I emerged from the hide and she didn't immediately run for cover as I would have expected but stood up and had a good look at me before moving off from the direction that she had come. What a great experience and one that I will repeat I hope. I have deliberately not disclosed the location at the request of the home owner who does not want any harm to come to her precious nightly visitors.

More fledglings

I am glad to say that things have brightened up a bit later today bit we did have rain and really overcast conditions earlier. Therefore I am pleased to be able to post any kind of photos at all The baby Golfinches are still here and this morning there were 4 on the feeders and oddly no sign of the parents. The Great Tit youngsters are still being fed in the garden and today we had fledgling ~House Sparrows as well so that is 5 species of young bird in the garden so far this year. We had a visit from a greenfinch today, a male who I haven't seen before. The highlight though was the return of the badly mauled Blackbird hen who has managed to grow back feathers on her back and survived the ordeal with broken tail and wing feathers. She is looking so much better than she was even a few days ago. This evening I am out to take photos of Badgers in a garden on the outskirts of the city. I am looking forward to this not only for the photo opportunity but also to have the chance to see Badgers at really close hand should be quite something. Check back for the photos tomorrow. Also today I have been shown the site of a Barn Owl nest. I am pretty certain I could hear young chicks in a nest but didn't catch sight of an adult. I collected some pellets which I will photograph for you and post later. Obviously I will not disclose the nest site nor will I be taking any pictures of the Owls at this site as the Barn Owl is a schedule 1 bird and protected by law.

Garden Fledglings

We are experiencing some dull, damp and overcast weather today which is due to be with us for a few more days. I used the opportunity to study and photograph the birds in my garden with the new "Metz" flash gun. I must say that I am very pleased with the results now that I am starting to get my head round it. It has enabled me to take good pictures in conditions where photography would have been almost impossible without the flash. The first thing that I saw this morning on the garden feeder was a young Goldfinch, obviously newly fledged from a nest somewhere nearby. I am pleased about this. We have now had the young of 4 different species of bird in the garden this year so far which is pretty good. They are Blackbird, Collared Dove. Great Tit and Goldfinch. So in order here are a few photos of the 'creche", starting with Goldfinch:

This is a young Collared Dove, very similar to the adults but with dark feet and darker, not red eye. Then we have a few adult birds. This Great Tit was taking the sunflower seed to feed her youngsters.

This is the male, look at the difference in colour pattern.

This is an adult Goldfinch and probably the parent of the young Graypate on the feeder pictured above. Then later this afternoon this Whitethroat in the local park

Stonechat - Saxicola torquata

Out on Dartmoor at Warren House I spotted this Stonechat, part of a pair. It was odd because the female was far easier to approach than the male. I guessed that they were defending a territory which is pretty obvious at this time of the year when birds are breeding. I didn't disturb them too much because of that. I have recently bought a flash gun and the use of fill light has improved my pictures even more. Don't know what I can do now to improve them further, I have pretty much done all I can to get the best out of my equipment. Out on Dartmoor there were plenty of Cuckoos singing/calling away but I didn't manage to get close enough to see one let alone get a photo. Also, no sign of Whinchats, Redstarts, Flycatchers or Dartford Warblers but there is plenty of time for them. I did listen to and take a photo of, not a very good one though, of a Garden Warbler. The best way to describe them is that they are a very nondescript plain warbler with no distinguishing marks which is the way to identify them. They are closely related to the Blackcap warble and the song is quite similar. 

 

In the garden today I was very pleased to see newly fledged Great Tits, it turns out that the Great Tit photographed last week bathing is the female of the pair. I saw her again today with her much more brightly marked mate as well as the youngsters. 

Sunday Whitethroat

Bumble Bee - Bombus vestalis

I am not usually vague when it comes to naming the species on my blog but this Bumble Bee is not one that I normally encounter. It was in a wood by the River and engaging in a serious grooming session. A large bee, it was longer than those I usually see, tHe White Tailed Bumble Bee for example. I am sure it is not a rare bee but I do need to put a proper name to so that it can be listed correctly. Can you help? I am waiting for reaction from the web site Wild About Britain and I am pretty confidant that I will be able to put a name to it by the end of the day. 

So it's not quite the end of the day and I am glad to be able to name our Bumble Bee! It is in fact a Cuckoo Bumble Bee Bombous Vestalis. Here is a quote about the species: "Various species of cuckoo bumblebees are in existence and quite often they are the spitting image of their hosts! They are also known as parasitic bumblebees. The Vestal Cuckoo Bumblebee below is a parasite to the Earth Bumblebee, to which it bears a remarkable resemblance. Cuckoo bumblebees do not know workers or queens, just females, all capable of laying eggs and uncapable of doing any work. The females of the Vestal Cuckoo Bumblebee are about the same size as the queens of the Earth Bumblebee. Males usually are 15 to 17 mm long and may reach a wingspan of 35 mm. Because they never care about their off spring the females of all cuckoo bumblebees lack the special pollencollecting hairs on their legs. All non-parasitic bumblebees have these 'baskets' as these bushes of hairs are called and use them to transport pollen to the nest. So cuckoo bumblebees not only cheat on their relatives, they fool plants as well. Lacking the baskets they are not very contributive in the pollination proces. The Vestal Cuckoo Bumblebee is not very common in gardens, even though it may be seen in greater numbers in some years, while being absent in others."

Whitethroats and Blackcaps

The sun came out and I thought that it may give me a good chance to improve on my Whitethroat photos. As I stood watching and waiting I began to have a better understanding of what was going on. For starters, the Whitethroat has now been joined by, or attracted a mate seen acting furtively at the bottom of a bramble. She is acting the way I know that Whitethroats do and is really hard to get a good look at. Meanwhile he is still singing away and giving really good views. As I stood watching this Blackcap came and joined in which was a bit of a surprise and he lingered long enough for a photo. From time to time the Whitethroat male changed perches and I still haven't managed to get a good shot of him, close and low down. Not the same with Sparrows though, even though they are nowhere near as common as they used to be they will always let you get quite close. We took them so much for granted!

Whitethroat - Sylvia communis

I am constantly told that Whitethroat are a common bird and who am I to disagree. But all I would say is that it is a bird that I have not had much luck with over the years. I am glad to say that this year has been different. I saw my first just a few days ago, close to home, by the Exe in bramble and willow trees that border the river. Every time I have been back since I have seen one. I am not 100% sure that it is the same bird but probably. Contrary to popular theory this one is very prominent, singing his head off mostly from the highest branch, then sometimes at head height on the top of the brambles. They nest in just such a place, low down in thick brambles and stinging nettles. This male is singing to attract a female so I suppose when he is successful he will quieten down and be a lot more difficult to see. This is a very picturesque pose with the lovely background, this shows the birds features beautifully. I am addicted to him already and I have been trying really hard to get a good shot. I must say, even though this is not the sharpest photo, it is a really nice picture, almost like an Archibald Thorburn watercolour. I have done a fair bit of painting in my time and would have been very pleased to replicate the background in this picture. Just look how this species got it's name, the white throat is very prominant in this picture. I wonder if this is our nicest warbler species? It certainly makes our little brown Chiffchaffs look a bit dowdy and even the Cettis is dull in comparison. His eye is particularly attractive and his flesh coloured legs are a real feature too.

Sand Martin - Riparia riparia

The last couple of days has been spent trying to get good shots of the Sand Martins. This time last year I had managed half decent ones so you could say that I have had a year to think it through and get some good ones. This year I have my trusty chair hide which allowed me to get a bit closer, but a sensible distance from a likely burrow. I took some test shots of the bank prior to setting up and chose this hole which is in a nice photogenic position. I needed to choose a position that was not obstructing access to other holes and nest adjacent to the hide. I have actually spent a total of 7 hours sitting and trying to get the birds accustomed to the hide and my presence albeit hidden, eventually they settled down and took absolutely no notice of me this morning. The light is still not ideal, a bit dull and I could have done with a higher shutter speed but I am sure that we will have the correct combination of light and tide (the river is tidal here) in the next few days. This morning after just 10 minutes they returned and carried on with their domestics. There is an obvious pair at this hole but another bird keeps trying to gate crash which has been fun to watch. You dont sit on the river bank for that long without discovering something else interesting and apart from the Sandpiper that appeared the day before yesterday I have located the vicinity of a Pied Wagtail nest and it has been interesting to see the different birds of this pair, first the male and then the female, very rarely together so I am assuming that incubation is taking place and they are sharing this duty. My main reason for keeping this site private/undisclosed is that I have discovered an Otter Holt which is almost certainly being used, I have seen fresh trackx and very fresh "spraint" this morning. So, wouldn't it be amazing if I managed to post some Otter pictures very soon because I am formulating a plan.

Getting back to the Sand Martins, It is quite hard to take photos of "pairs" of birds and get them both in focus so I was particularly pleased when this almost happened in this picture. Walking back to the Chinese Bike gave me a chance to photograph this very "vocal" Whitethroat that is singing his head off and from time to time showing really well. He seems to have a preference for high points to sing from but with a bit of patience I got him low down.

More Sand Martins........... 

Good Day By the River Exe

Today I decided to park myself, in my pop up hide along-side the banks of the Exe near to home and by the Sand Martin colony in the hope of capturing some action as the bird s came and went. I sat for literally 2 hours  and didn't manage one single Sand martin shot but it was inviting and interesting with lots of comings and goings, mainly Pied Wagtail. I took a few photos most were quite good but they are a hard bird to photograph with their black and white plumage causing some problems with light in the camera. After a while I gave up and came home for dinner and a look at what I had taken.

So after attending to some banking issues and a bit of personal admin I went back at 3 to see what else I could achieve. I had only been there for a short while when the Pied Wagtail appeared in my lens just a few feet ahead of me and I took a few quick shots then suddenly a Common Sandpiper appeared right alongside the Wagtail, 6 feet or more away. As you can see I did manage a good shot which I am very happy with even though the light could have been better. I couldn't believe my luck as I have never been that close to one in the UK before. It bobbed its tail as they do and I took about 6 shots before it moved away and then disappeared behind the foliage ahead.  

The Sand  Martins never did show properly but I am sure they will if I stick at it. The dog walkers are a bit of a nuisance here but I suppose they have the right to be there so I shouldn't complain. So with dogs chasing balls into the river right in front of the hide I decided that enough was enough. I remember just the same sort of scenario last year. On the walk back I noticed a family of Long Tail Tits and as they are one of my favourite species I just couldn't resist the opportunity. I am glad I did because the sun was in just the right place , the bird posed well and I got this great photo (above).

Pied wagtail - Exeter Country Park

I had a walk up alongside the River this afternoon in the dull and almost wet weather on this awful but typical Bank Holiday Monday. I was checking to see if the Sand Martins had returned to their nest site and I am glad to report that there are around 30 pairs nesting on the vertical banks of the River Exe only a mile or two from the centre of the City. Watch this space because I will keep you informed of progress. I watched, as well as the Sand Martins, this Pied Wagtail that was obviously breeding somewhere close. The Martins were intent on hole digging and I watched from a distance the buiding/digging activity. This is a taster of things to come. A hole with bird to follow soon!

Gray Wagtail

 

Late this afternoon we travelled out to the edge of Dartmoor. I was hoping to get a glimpse of a Grey Wagtail and perhaps a photo. They are common birds in Devon but you have to be in the right place to see one and the little rivers on the edge of the moor are good. Having said that, this bird is one that I have yet to get a good photo of and I am afraid to say that is still the case. I discovered a pair in a breeding territory and this stopped me getting too close as I did not want to disturb them. So Yellow Wagtail remains on my list as a species that I need to devote some more time to. In the past we have had them, or should I say we had one on the edge of my tiny wildlife pond. It didn't stay long and was gone as soon as it came. I also see them close to the house down the street on the Alphin Brook, and also at Exminster Marsh but they are a wary bird in my experience and never let me get too close.

 As I walked quietly in the woods a Stoat stumbled on to me. He realised his mistake and had turned and gone before I could raise an eyebrow let alone a camera but I did see him very near, just 6 foot away and saw the black tip too his tail which I remember clearly. I stood waiting for him to come back because I have been told that Stoat will often come back for another look being very inquisitive. I was waiting for 10 minutes or so with the camera at the ready but he didn't which is a real shame, that would have been so good. Once I had got home and tea had been despatched I took up position with the camera and flash ready to try and get some better bat photos. There was only fleeting 'fly-bys" today and not the activity of yesterday evening. My theory which is probably correct is that the weather was a little more breazy tonight and therefore not so many flying insects around, hence nothing for them to catch and eat. So what do they eat when the weather is cold and windy? They are tiny, they must eat eat something! 

I posted one of the Hoverfly portraits from yesterday on my PBase gallery and recieved a very nice comment from a Portugese gentleman who described the photo as absolutely fantastic. What a great thing to say. Have a look at my PBase Gallery by clicking here.

A late addition. I took this photo on the Marsh the other day. It is a Reed Warbler singing his territorial song early one morning.

Platycheirus scutatus (Hoverfly)

I haven't posted any pictures of insects in the garden recently so today having been put off birds by an unfortunate incident recently I stayed in the garden and took out my Tamron 1:1 Macro lens and searched for Hoverflies. These are amongst my favourite insects and well worth studying and recording. This is one of the 15 species of Hoverfly recorded in my garden and a new one for the list  This is a female who is intent on egg laying, and in the shot above is coming in to land an an Aqualegia flowerhead. 

Here she is depositing an egg on the flowerhead. They are a very useful insect in the garden as the larvae, once hatched feed on aphids. that is 'greenfly" and "blackfly". It is quite important not to use pesticides in the garden because the "natural balance" is upset, kill the hoverly and the aphids have no natural predators and hence are allowed to take over!

You can quite clearly see the "greenfly" in this shot so she has chosen wisely. The insect below is a different specimen and I am not certain from this shot iff it is a male or female.

A bit about the "Snow Geese" posted yesterday. After posting the images on the web site"Birdguides" I have been contacted by the admin team to say that people had suggested that they were possibly Ross's Geese and not Snow, or even some kindd of hybrid involving Ross's. I am waiting for confirmation and will post the comclusion here when I know better.

 I have recently added a Metz flashgun to my list of equipment and been trying to get the best out of it by experimenting in the garden. I also had the Bat detector out and was visited by my first bat of the year, a Pipistrelle. I thought I would try to get a picture in the dark using the flash. You can imagine how fast bats fly and how hard it is to try and capture them in the beam of light. Well would you believe that my first shot produced at least a record of a bat in the garden if not in actual fact a good photo!

The white specs are insects that the bat is obviously catching in flight.

Snowgeese at Exminster?

On my almost daily visit to the Marsh today I chatted to a couple of birdwatchers with scopes who casually mentioned the Snow Geese! A quick look through the camera gave me reasonable but very distant views of a couple of geese with white heads and grey bodies. As you can see they may or may not be, if you know better could you please let me know by email if that is easier for you charlesflemning1@mac.com or through the site or leave me a comment. There was not a lot else about apart from Peregrine Falcon that flew over and reports of Hobby. I took a nice photo of a Green Veined White Butterfly, at the bottom, a favourite of mine at this time of year. 

Later on in the evening I went back to the Marsh, I was hoping that the geese would be showing a bit better, or perhaps be nearer to the road? As I travelled slowly down the road I was very pleased to see a large number of Canada Geese in the meadow adjoining the road and sure enough there amongst them was the pair of Snow Geese that had been 300 hundred yards away earlier today. I stopped the car and took lots of photos from about 50 yards. Having parked the car, I walked back and the geese had already moved further down the meadow and nearer to the road, almost opposite the entrace to the industrial site. . I was really pleased to get such good views of them, now only some 30 feet away. I took a few "goodish"  shots and watched them for ages. They are probably escaped birds, perhaps the ones seen in North Devon earlier in the year, who knows. All I can say is that they were acting like wild geese grazing on the marsh in the company of Canada Geese and Greylag and I am pleased to have seen and recorded them with good photos as proof.