Have you seen my trick with a stick?

The very warm February weather has certainly had an effect on the birds in the garden, a touch of spring fever.

I noticed this Starling turning over the sticks in the garden. I actually appeared be breaking off bits of a length that suited it.

However it didn't seem too sure what it was going to do with them. I had expected it to fly up to a gap in the roof where they normally nest, but instead it kept choosing a piece, walking round with it and then putting it down. I didn't see it take any of to a nest site. As there were several Starlings in the area I wondered it this was a quick demonstration of it DIY shopping ability, done to impress a prospective partner.

A small party of Long-tailed Tits came through the garden. These can be quite early nesters, though I suspect not this early. We do have a couple of bushy clumps in the garden that could be suitable for them to nest in, but so far no luck. The nearest pair I've seen was a couple of years ago in a garden in Chapel Lane.

These aggressive chaps have definitely increased in number in the last couple of days, and although I'm sure the majority will be migrants so do stay and breed in the area. I noticed that there were at least two singing in the garden to day. In fact the garden was full of bird song, this morning I could here Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Song Thrush. Despite there still be a good number round the area I didn't hear the sweet tones of a Blackbird, perhaps they are too busy fattening up at the moment. A female Blackcap visited the pond, so if the male is still around they could be in a prime place for an early start.

The male Chaffinches are beginning to look quite smart and this one was singing from just by the house.

After a few completely blank night my mothing year finally started. I have caught just four moths so far. three of them Pale Brindled Beauties. As you can see from the picture above this name would test the trades description act if challenged!

The Oak Beauty, above has a lot more going for it, with quite an interesting pattern. Looking at other peoples mothing blogs I'm off to a relatively quiet and late start here. It always seem to be the case that early in the season I struggle to persuade anything to visit my moth traps.

One visitor in my actinic trap was this Seven-spot Ladybird. A fairly early date for this species and nice to get a ladybird other than a Harlequin in the trap.

What's this 'ear?

It's was great to go on a nature ramble with these two. Although Jack is just coming up to 10 and Josh is not seven until December, they are both very alert and knowledgeable for their years.

Along with that their keen eyes and ears means that very little is missed. With all this youthful enthusiasm I quickly discovered that they had one thing that I no longer have, and that's the ability to hear very high frequency sounds.

Roesel's bush-cricket (Metrioptera roeseli)

As we walked along Josh kept stopping and showing me Roesel's Bush Crickets hidden away in the long grass. It was a while before I realised that he was finding them by sound and that I was the odd one out in the group, in no longer being able to hear the buzzing song. Well that's not quite true, in ideal conditions, with no noise or wind I could hear them if I was close enough, but I certainly have lost some ability to hear sounds of this frequency. Male crickets and grasshoppers stridulate or ‘sing’ to attract females for mating purposes and each song is characteristic of one species. Grasshopper song is produced by rubbing a row of stridulatory pegs on the inside of the hind femur against the forewings, whereas bush-crickets stridulate by rubbing the forewings over each other. The yellow spots and line behind the head distinguish this from other bush crickets in the UK. The Roesel's Bush Cricket was once confined to coastal areas but is now spreading and more widespread.

Green Shield Bug (Palomena prasina)

Another bug we found was this little shield bug. I wasn't sure what it was at first but reference to the Photographic Guide to Shieldbugs and Squashbugs, by Martin Evans and Roger Edmondson showed it was final instar larva. Green shiled bugs are also known as stink bugs for obvious reasons.

Bugs and Small Elephants

It isn't only moth that I get in my moth trap. Here's one bug and three attractive moths from last night.

The Cockchafer or Dorr Beetle is also known as the May Bug. They are on the wing from May to July and are normally encountered on warm evenings.

Despite to complex balancing system that flying insects have the May Bug is an erratic flier, often crashing into people or objects as it noisily flies about. The adult beetle (Melolontha melolontha) often swarm around trees and are quite destructive as they each the leaves.

At around 3 cm and quite heavily built they can give yo a stinging blow if they fly straight into you. Cockchafers have a 3 year life cycle. After mating the female digs about 20 cms into the soil to lay her 10 to 20 eggs. The eggs hatch after 21 days and the larvae remain in the soil for a further two years feeding on roots. They are sometimes know as Rook worms as they are one of the favourite foods of Rooks.

The wing cases and the pronotum are covered in tiny grey hairs, giving the cockchafer a dusty appearance.

Small Elephant Hawk-moth Deilephila porcellus

One of the gems of English moths in the Small Elephant Hawk-moth, It is tiny for a Hawk-moth but is still exquisitely marked. It is more locally distributed than its relative, the Elephant Hawk-moth, it prefers chalky districts and dry grassy localities, but is found in a range of habitats.

Adults hover while feeding at flowers from dusk onwards. They are attracted to light and can appear in reasonable numbers in favoured localities. The larvae can be found from July until September on bedstraw Galium spp. It overwinters as a pupa.

Tawny Shears Hadena perplexa

The Tawny Shears is another moth that favours dry grassy or stony habitats such as chalk downland or shingle beaches and we've got lots of both round here! The caterpillars feed on the seeds of various Campion species.

Poplar Grey Acronicta megacephala

As it's name suggests the caterpillars of this moth feed on the leaves of Poplar Trees. Although it is particularly distinctive the little "bulls-eye" with a dark centre on each wing is a good charcteristic, and when it flies it has a btight white hind wing.

The Great British day out.

We have a young visitor from Germany, Michel. He is interested in all aspects of natural history, but is particularly eager to find areas of wilderness. He isn't going to be able to in Kent, and on his holiday with his parents to Scotland he will still find most areas modified by the human hand, and that's even without Donald Trumps' hand.

We went along to Samphire Ho, and I was amazed at how crowded the Car Park was. However, true to form for the Sunday outing, once you got more than 50 yards from the Car park, cafe and toilets the place was almost empty. Thank goodness for the inability of most people to walk further than the chip shop. A family party of at least five Kestrel and a couple of energetic Peregrines were in evidence along the top of the cliff.

The pond, it's actually in the centre of the photograph above, had several Emperor Dragonflies zooming about and round one side three or four Black-tailed Skimmers kept landing on the dried mud. A very patient photographer was set up to get pictures of the Emperors in flight. I hope he does better than I've managed, it's a difficult task. He told me that there were some Broad-bodied Chasers around, but i failed to see them.

It's not just moths that I find in the trap. This Weevil, with a very long proboscis was waiting for me this morning.

It is about 5mm long and I think is in the genus Curculio, but I'm not sure which species.

From this angle it looks like the vacuum cleaner out of the Telly Tubbies.

I rather liked this little moth, Evergestis pallidata, it has a wing span of about 25mm, but unfortunately it's got a damaged corner to the right wing. Just the same it's an interesting pattern.

Creepy Crawlies

Moths aren't the only things attracted to the light of a moth trap. I frequently find Ladybirds, Bumblebees, Wasps and an assortment of flies in the trap.

Unfortunately this beetle, which I think may be a Shore Sexton Beetle, has been quite frequent this year. They don't do any damage, but they do smell atrocious. The are normally covered in little mites and are always reluctant to leave the trap.

One group of insects that I know very little about are the Caddis Flies. I don't think that I'd ever seen one properly until I ran a moth trap. I catch quite a number of different species, although I can't identify them, I think the one above might be Mystacides longicornis, it looks quite like a picture I found, but with 190 British species it's a bit of a guess. Most of the adult Caddis Flies are nocturnal and although some may be attracted to nectar most don't ever feed. Nearly all of them grow up in ponds and streams, where the larvae surround themselves with portable "homes" made of sand and bits of debris.

Spider are of course familiar to most people, and despite their reputation, there are none to be worried about in the UK (this may of course change if the climate becomes milder and alien species become established). We already have about 800 species of spiders in the UK, of nearly half are in the very small "money spider" category.

This is the largest Spider I've seen in Europe. It resides outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and is by Louise Bourgeois.