I could learn from my Grandson!

I talked to my eight year old grandson, Jack, this morning. He was pleased that he identified the micro moth that they had trapped in Clitheroe. I also had a few moths last night, mainly the same as for the last few nights but I also had a micro, but I failed to identify it.

Diurnea fagella

Nigel Jarman popped in this evening and immediately recognised it as Diurnea fagella, the same species as Jack had caught in Lancashire. It's the third one I've caught, the other two were in April 2006, so I aught to recognise it from now on. Its Caterpillar feeds on various deciduous trees, and it is one of the earliest micros around each year.

Early Thorn, Selenia dentaria

One of my favourite moths of the moment is the Early Thorn. You could almost mistake it for a butterfly, were it not for the feathered antennae. It has a brood in Spring (late February to April) and then again in August and September.

The Engrailed (Ectropis bistortata)

The Engrailed is a fairly common Geometer and it also is around both early and late in the year, it can have up to three broods. I have only caught two before in April, it being much more common here in August and September. The previous April records were in 2006, the best year I've ever had for moths, so perhaps it a good omen for both mothing and the summer.

The Gentle Moorhen?

After a short walk at St Margaret's and once again failing to get pictures of the Meadow Pipit in its parachuting song flight I intend to get I met Ben Ring in the car park. He told me that the Drake Scaup was still on the Restharrow scrape, so I decided to take a look.

The Scaup was there, but at the far end of the lake, meanwhile near by a couple of Moorhens were providing the entertainment. For some reason I normally think of Coots as pugnacious and Moorhens as essentially gentle and quiet birds, but these two proved me wrong.

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After the "fisticuffs" the victor saw off the vanquished, although I must admit it didn't last for long and the loser was back for another round a few minutes later.

In the meantime the drake Scaup had worked its way much closer. It even managed to get into an area when the light wasn't too bad.

I was diving all the time and certainly gave the impression of being a healthy bird. Wintering birds, in castal locations, feed mainly on crustaceans, but according to BWP (Birds of the Western Palearctic) they are omniverous and in some habitats seeds form an important part of their diet.

Sometimes it lifted quite high out of the water when it dived,

The back end I'm sure will prove a useful picture in a quiz a sometime.

While I was watching the Scaup a noisy Little Ringed Plover flew round before landing on the Island for a few minutes. Here it was joined by a Redshank and they were quietly working their way round the edge until they were disturbed by a couple of quarrelsome Canada Geese.

The fighting theme continues when a Lapwing and Jackdaw duelled overhead for a few minutes. I wasn't all that clear which was chasing which as they seemed to take in in turns to be chaser and chased.

Back at Home a male Brambling was feeding very near to the house. I hope this will be the first of a decent number over the next few days, the males plumage is certainly stunning.

A Bird in the Air is Worth a Shot!

Visible migration this morning at the Monument was impressive, with lots of finches moving all the time. For full details see the Bockhill page on the KOS Website.

While we were watching and waiting for something major to arrive I took a few photos of the Kestrel that was hovering very close to us.

On this picture you can see the alula just lifting up, it helps the bird prevent stalling, rather like the aerolons on an aircraft.

It seemed to have something lined up on the ground, but when it dropped down it left without any prey and hovered a few yards away.

At around 10 a.m. all the gulls started alarming and flying out from the cliffs directly away from us. This is normally a sign that a raptor is arriving and fairly quickly Jack got onto a Red Kite coming towards us.

As it flew in it twisted and turned showing the remarkably flexible tail.

The bird is a juvenile (one of last years crop), it is paler than an adult with extensive pale streaking on the under body and a pale streaked head.

The pale fine line on the upper wing, formed by the pale tips to the greater primary and secondary coverts is a reliable aging character.

This bird appears to have lost the tip of what should have been the longest primary on the left wing. There are more pictures of the Kite and Kestrel here.

One of the more unusual features of the migration today was he number of Coal Tits around. In total there were 28 counted.

This one was amongst a group of 5 that perched in a bush for a couple of minutes, with the Monument in the background.

At 11 a.m. a group of raptors appeared over Kingsdown Wood, one of them was a Red Kite, probably the same bird, in addition there were up to 5 Common Buzzards, one Rough-legged Buzzard and a Peregrine. With several Sparrowhawks around as well, the sky was the place to be looking this morning.

Jingles at the Bell.

A message that a Dipper had been seen last weekend at Kearnsey Abbey had me change my plans this morning. It's an interesting area and just in case the report was correct and it had stayed around for a week I decided to go and take a stroll along the river there.

As I walked past the lake I took a few photos. I quite liked the one of this foot. Another mystery photo, with the owner at the end of this post.

I had a good look round, but no Dipper (other than me!). I wasn't surprised, any Dipper in Kent in March is probably a continental bird that has wandered a bit farther than usual. If that was the case by the first week in April it really should be getting back to its breeding area. For a compensation I watched this Grey Wagtail taking nesting material to its chosen site.

The male was around as well. The light was poor today and it was impossible to use a fast enough speed to stop the movement of the ever wagging tail.

On the way back through River I stopped at the Railway Bell to watch a group of Morris dancers, who were touring the area.

I was told by a knowledgeable watcher that one of the Dances should really be performed on April 1st. I must admit that although I don't think you'd get me in those costumes, they did seem to be having a good time. Since it normally involves performing at a pub I guess there good reasons to enjoy yourself.

Again, I don't know enough about this, but I thought that this chaps costume and make-up was rather striking.

At the end the ladies performed a stick banging dance of some sort, before the whole team moved off to give a repeat show at the plough at Ripple.

This Dabchick was the owner of the foot in the first picture.

Being a Landlord

The BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) runs many surveys and recording schemes. The current major survey is the new Bird Atlas, with recording taking place from 2008-2011. Thes basis is to plot the winter and summer population of birds in Britain and Ireland, using tetrads (squares 2km x 2km) as the basic unit. While I was filling in some results on this survey I noticed one I hadn't seen before, "The Nest Box Challenge". Over the years I've made, or had given to me, a few nest boxes that I have distributed round the garden. I'd almost lost count of haw many there were and even where I'd put them. I've worked on the principle that even if only a couple are used the fact that there is a choice available encourages some nesting. I was surprised to find that the choice now runs to 16 potential addresses. The full catalogue can be seen here.

So far this year there's been activity that I've seen around just a couple. As usual a pair of Blue Tits have become the tenants of the Woodcrete nest box that was a present from the Bird Watching class I ran in Crayford.

At the opposite end of the scale is this box I put together from some bits lying around, I doesn't look so desirable but I have seen a pair of Great Tits moving their furniture in, so hopefully it will have some occupants this year. There are a lot of boxes that I hoped would be used by Sparrows. I've got two semi's and a a line of three closely neighbouring detached boxes. One of the was used one year, but apart from that the only use has come once from a pair of Great Tits and once from an unsuccessful pair of Blue Tits. Mean while the sparrows still insist in nesting under the eaves, although I suspect that as in many places their number has dropped.

Moths I caught a few moths last night, new for the year were an Early Thorn and two Small Quakers.

A deadly visitor.

I spend too much time watching out of my study window, instead of getting on with whatever I'm supposed to be doing. So when all the feeding birds disappear at speed I know that something is up.

Today's been a busy day on the feeders, lots of Greenfinches, Goldfinches and Chaffinches, a couple of Siskins making a return visit with Blue Tits, Great Tits and a Robin also in attendance. This must look like a fast food outlet to a Sparrowhawk, but we've made sure that there is plenty of cover for the feeding birds to dive into.

This small adult male arrived and sat in the tree right next to the house, and as I was trying to photograph it Jack phoned and Pam gave him a commentary of my antics, squeaking at it from the carefully opened window to get it to turn round. It worked and instead of just a back view I did get a couple of pictures of it turning its head, looking of the source of the squeak!

Newted

I was moving a bag of chipping the other day and noticed a newt underneath, where the bag had been. I moved the bag carefully and found two more, smaller newts as well.

The Common Newt or Smooth Newt (Triturus vulgaris) is the most common of the three newt species found in the UK. They can live up to 20 years although the average life span is 6 years. There are quite small animals with a length of 7-11cm. Males are slightly larger than females.

This is the largest, it is an adult, but not in its breeding "dress"

Outside the breeding season, they can be found in deciduous woodland, wet heathland, bogs, marshes, gardens, parks and farmland. When they are breeding they prefer standing water with plenty of weeds, such as lake margins, ponds and ditches.

Another view of the adult

Outside the breeding season, they can be found in deciduous woodland, wet heathland, bogs, marshes, gardens, parks and farmland. When they are breeding they prefer standing water with plenty of weeds, such as lake margins, ponds and ditches.

This one is probably coming up to its first birthday

They are nocturnal and spend the day hiding under large stones or compost heaps (or bags of wood chippings). They hibernate in the winter, emerging in February or March and head back to the breeding sites. On land they feed on insects, worms and slugs by projecting their tongues to catch prey. In water they rely on their minute teeth to grab onto the prey of shrimps, water lice, insect larvae, water snails and frog tadpoles.They are free-swimming and hunt for prey near the surface of the water. Newt 'tadpoles' feed on aquatic invertebrates and crustaceans. It takes three years for them to become mature adults and as they grow smooth newts shed their skin once a week.

I think this one is just at the end of its first year.

Although they are protected in Britain under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, their numbers continue to decline across Europe. They are vulnerable to urbanisation, agricultural change and pollution of their habitat.

Moths

I'm only running my actinic trap at the moment, as I am having trouble with the electrics on my MV light trap. Despite it being cold and clear last night I caught a few more moths, 9 Hebrew Characters, 6 common Quakers, 3 early Greys and two each of Clouded Drabs and March Moths.

March Moth Alsophila aescularia

Despite it being the 31st March (the date when the trap was started) the March Moths were my first of the year, so they onl just got into their eponymous month. The females are wingless and climb up the trunks of trees and then use their pheromones to attract males.