Lake District Holiday - Leighton Moss and Windermere

Day 1 - Sunday, 17th October

The weather was beautifully sunny as we left home (far later than we originally intended!) but as so often happens when travelling to the lake district the weather deteriorated the further north we went and by the time we arrived at Leighton Moss (RSPB reserve) it was drizzling!

After some lunch the weather had improved slightly and we went for a walk around the reserve visiting the Tim Jackson and Griesdale Hides. Although we weren't fortunate enough to see any red deer we could hear a stag bellowing in the distance. The highlight for me was a little egret - my first of the year (I haven't seen one in Warwickshire this year and even failed to see one at Lymington on our way to the Isle of Wight in June). No sign of any bearded tits though and I seem to have missed one in Warwickshire too whilst I have been away! We had a quick look round an exhibition showing wooden bird carvings - some of these were really rather beautiful.

As we drove away from the reserve I was thrilled to see a fallow deer in the woodland and a few miles away we saw a herd of fallow deer browsing in a field near Milnthorpe.

Leighton Moss - sorry no bird photos still no telephoto lens!













Photos of Windermere from Gummers How Viewpoint







In recent years we have stayed at a beautiful place called Broomriggs overlooking Esthwaite Water on a self catering basis but as we were only going to be stopping for 3 nights we returned to a hotel in Far Sawrey (on the west side of Windermere) where we regularly stopped before we had the children. Its now under new management but the food is still excellent although the legendary six course evening meal is now only three courses!

Its a lovely location - very quiet and peaceful with beautiful views and great walks from the door of the hotel.

My son took these photos with the Fuji Finepix digital camera on a walk from the Hotel towards the village of Near Sawrey.

I'm Back!

Just got back from a few days in the Lake District. Have you missed me? No, I thought not!
Weather was very mixed but we managed to visit quite a few places so I will post some photos over the next few days although my camera really struggled with the low light so none of the photos are particularly brilliant!

Feathered Thorn

I had a nice surprise when I went out to the moth trap yesterday morning - there on the outside of the trap was a Feathered Thorn - my first this year. The only other moth in the trap was a Blair's Shoulder Knot - the number of moths trapped has dwindled even more (at least there were no Large Yellow Underwings)!

Feathered Thorn



Summary of Moths Caught Thursday, 14th October

7.00 p.m. until dawn Minimum Temperature 7.9 degrees centigrade

Actinic 15w Skinner Trap

1 x Feathered Thorn New for Year
1 x Blair's Shoulder Knot

Not a lot else to report in the garden although a wren has been visiting each day. Following the nesting attempt earlier in the year have only had the occasional wren sighting so its great to see one visiting again on a regular basis.

Redwings Return

I spent a couple of hours at Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve, Warwickshire yesterday afternoon. I managed to see 33 species during that time. There were high numbers of lapwings and black-headed gulls on the pools and islands together with coots, moorhen, mallard, shoveler, teal, mute swan, cormorants, tufted duck, pochard, gadwall, great crested grebe, snipe, grey heron and wigeon. There were plenty of feral pigeons, great and coal tits and chaffinches on the feeders at the visitor centre. As I walked through woodland grassland I also saw green woodpeckers, mapgies, robins, blackbirds, collared dove, carrion crows, a jay and blue and long-tailed tits. As I left the Carlton Hide I saw a pheasant (I don't often see these at Brandon Marsh) flying over a nearby field.

As I walked through trees between Goose and Central Marsh pools I was really pleased to see a treecreeper workings its way up the trunk of a hawthorn bush. The real highlight of the afternoon though was a small flocks of redwings which flew over the path behind Grebe pool. My first sighting this autumn and it was great to hear their calls again. I was also really pleased to see a female blackcap feeding on elder berries at the side of the path near the visitor centre.

Path from Visitor Centre onto the reserve



Horsetail Glade







Goose Pool



There were plenty of flowers still around









It was strange to see a pot marigold (calendula) near Carlton Hide



Leaves on some of the trees have already changed colour and there were plenty of seedheads and berries around together with some fungi.





















A perfect way to spend an afternoon

Moth Numbers are Dwindling

It didn't take long to empty the moth trap this morning - a grand total of 5 moths of 3 or possibly 4 species! Not for me a Merveille du Jour or a Burnished Brass or even a Sallow or Thorn. Oh no, it was the usual lbj's of the moth world! There were two Large Yellow Underwings and yet another Shuttle-shaped Dart plus a couple of moths that I am struggling to identify. I thought at first one was a possible Red-line Quaker or Brick but on looking through my Waring "bible" and "British Moths and Butterflies" by Chris Manley plus trawling through loads of websites, I think one may be a Pale Mottled Willow. Both of the mystery moths were worn (as usual!) and, although I thought initially the second moth was a different species I am not so sure now.

I have posted photos of the two moths in question below (heavily cropped). The photos are even worse than usual I am afraid. The moths were quite lively when I got them out of the fridge so I quickly took a few flash photos in kitchen and when I took them outside to try and get a better photo they both escaped within seconds!

Possible Pale Mottled Willow- Edit - thanks to Dean for confirming these as probable Pale Mottled Willows




Is this another Pale Mottled Willow or a completely different species?

Am beginning to wonder if my moth id skills are ever going to improve!!



Summary of Moth Trapping - Sunday, 10th October 2010

7.00 p.m. until dawn

Minimum Temperature 10.1 degrees centigrade

Actinic 15w Skinner Trap

2 x Large Yellow Underwings
1 x Shuttle-shaped Dart
Pale Mottled Willow? Edit 2 x Pale Mottled Willow

Garden Update

Bird-wise the garden is very quiet at the moment - just the usual visits from wood and feral pigeons, blackbirds, house sparrows, dunnocks, blue, great and coal tits, robins, greenfinches and goldfinchs, magpies, carrion crows and great spotted woodpeckers. I haven't seen any butterflies for a few weeks although there was a common carder bee taking nectar from the verbena bonariensis last week.

I can never decide whether autumn or spring is my favourite season but I really do love the autumn "tints" in the trees. Below are a few photos below of autumn leaves in the garden which I took at the weekend.

Blair's Shoulder Knot and Punk Rock

Despite a dry night forecast for Monday night, it had rained yet again at some stage and I opened the moth trap on Tuesday morning to find another load of soaking wet egg boxes. There was, however, a rather nice surprise in the form of not one but two Blair's Shoulder Knots. Although predominantly grey and black this is a really pretty moth which is a fairly recent coloniser. It was first found on the Isle of Wight in 1951by a Doctor Blair and has quickly moved north and is now fairly common in England. It is a new species for my garden. The rest of the moths consisted of four large yellow underwings, a shuttle-shaped dart and a very worn carpet species which flew off as I was trying to take a photo so remains unidentified!

I also caught a very pretty metallic micro moth (at least I think its a moth) - I don't normally bother too much with the micros but this particular one has intrigued me so I am still trying to identify it. Finally, I caught another of the dreaded lbj's (please see photo below). Its fairly worn and the only possibility I can think of is a red or yellow-line quaker but I am probably totally wrong. If anyone reading this has any idea what it may be any help would be greatly appreciated.
Edit - Many thanks to Dean for confirming that this is a yellow-line quaker. Yippee, another new species for my garden!

Summary of Moths Trapped Monday night 4th October

7.00 p.m. until dawn

Minimum temperature 11.1 degrees centigrade

Actinic 15w Skinner Trap

2 x Blair's Shoulder Knot New for Garden
1 x Shuttle-shaped Dart
4 x Large Yellow Underwing
1 x Yellow-Line Quaker New for Garden Edited

Blair's Shoulder-Knot





Mystery moth - Quaker sp ? Edit - Thanks to Dean from DDD (see link on the right) I can now confirm that this is a Yellow-line Quaker



My son and I went to Birmingham Rep last night to see a production called "Punk Rock". The Conservative Party Conference was being held next door at the ICC but, despite my worries there were no problems parking or any signs of traffic chaos due to closed roads although there were cordons everywhere and more police than you see at a local derby football match!

The play was excellent and very well acted by a young and talented cast. It is set in the sixth form of a Stockport Grammar School and concerns the difficulties faced by teenagers in their journey from adolescence to adulthood. Its a very tense play with an undercurrent of violence throughout and there is a very dramatic and surprising moment towards the end of the play and you could sense the shock felt by the audience.

Birmingham Rep closes for several years at the beginning of next year due to the building of a new library next door and renovations to the theatre itself. I shall miss going although they will be using other local theatres to put on productions.

Guess who's enjoying the pyracantha berries

Having more or less depleted the supply of rowan berries the blackbirds and wood pigeons have now moved on to the pyracantha berries but they have competition in the form of the young grey squirrels.








The photos aren't very sharp due to heavy cropping as this particular squirrel was nowhere near as tame as the young one I photographed last week and wouldn't let me get very close. Here he/she is again playing hide and seek in the whitebeam



I had a rare visit from a starling last week who had discovered a suet bar put out to attract the great spotted woodpeckers. Years ago we had flocks of starlings hoovering up food each day but these days we are lucky to see one at the feeders every couple of months. We still get daily visits from house sparrows but numbers are much reduced compared to several years ago.

As the weather forecast is fairly mild and (hopefully!) dry for tonight I have put out the moth trap as there probably won't be many more opportunities. I will try and post details of any moths caught tomorrow.