Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens in the Spring Sunshine

I paid a brief visit to Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens yesterday lunchtime and had a very pleasant walk around in the sunshine. Most of the blossom and tulips have finished flowering but there is still a lot of colour as the late spring flowers start to come into bloom.

There were plenty of butterflies on the wing - large, small and green-veined whites, speckled wood and lots of holly blues. We have had a lot of the latter species in our garden this year - it must be a good year for them. Small and green-veined white were new species for me this year.

This climber with beautiful coloured foliage greeted me as I entered the Gardens.




I've been that busy taking photos of flowers on previous visits that I've missed this small unusual stone statue.



Lots of honeysuckle in flower in the Melon Ground





and the peonies are starting to flower.



Inside the Green House



Lupins are starting to flower in several areas of the Gardens



Red campion by the North Orchard




Leaves on shrubs and trees have really opened since my last visit in April as can be seen in the Nut Ground (a copse of hazels) in the Extra Gardens just outside the walled garden.



The holes in this tree (suggesting a gargoyle type face to me!!) would make good nesting holes for birds.





Cow Parsley (or Queen Anne's Lace) was flowering everywhere





This is another species of umbellifer - not quite sure which one but its not cow parsley



Daisies and dandelions



The frothy blossoms of hawthorn



Marsh Marigolds (Kingcups) are still flowering in the South Pond



Back in the Walled Garden, the vegetable patch is ready for sowing.







Parterres



Alium



Golden Chain



Upper Wilderness



Castle Bromwich Hall



Looking toward the Green House



List of the 19 bird species seen in Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens since I first started to visit regularly in January 2010

Robin
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Blackbird
Mallard
Wren
Wood Pigeon
Long-tailed Tit
Goldfinch
Dunnock
Carrion Crow
Magpie
Cuckoo (Heard)
Mistle Thrush
Redwing
Chaffinch
Sparrowhawk
Jay
Feral Pigeon

Hopefully, the list will grow this year. It struck me yesterday what an ideal habitat the gardens are for spotted flycatchers - a species which has declined rapidly since the 1960's. I would love to know if they nested here in the past.

Butterfly species seen in 2011 = 10

Heart and Dart makes an Appearance

Summary of Moth Trapping Session Saturday 30th April, 2011

8.30 pm. until dawn
Minimum Temperature 7.1 degrees centigrade

15w Actinic Skinner Trap

3 x Shuttle-shaped Dart
3 x Heart and Dart (New for Year)

Garden Moth Species 2011 = 14

Heart and Dart has appeared earlier than last year when the first one caught was on 20th May.

Heart and Dart



The photos below are of the "mystery" moth I caught on 23rd April. I know the photos are only record shots but if anyone reading has any idea on its id I would love to know as I have spent ages looking at moth books and the internet and are none the wiser. I thought initially it was a species of carpet as it was holding its wings over its back like a butterfly but I can't find a carpet that matches.

The wing span at the base is about 15mm to give you an idea of size and in some light it almost seems to have an greenish tinge. I've included a photo also of the underside of the moth which is quite distinctive. By the way the moth is fine and was released ages ago - it only looks "comatose" because it had been chilled for a few hours in the fridge!





Nest Update

The female blue tit continued to add an egg a day last week up until Saturday when there were six and she started to incubate the eggs yesterday so I am assuming the clutch is complete.

The wren who was building a nest in ivy a few weeks back has been seen entering the nest several times recently so I am hoping she is incubating eggs too.

The male blackbird is continuing to feed one young bird in the garden so at least one of that brood has survived.

The clematis has burst into flower - here's a photo I took with the telephoto zoom lens after I had finished trying to take newt photos.

A Day Spent on "Safari"

It was my daughter's 21st Birthday yesterday and she asked to spend the day at West Midlands Safari Park.

I must admit I am not keen on the idea of visiting zoos as I don't like seeing captive wild animals in cages or small enclosures but as I had promised daughter she could anywhere she liked I was in a bit of a difficult situation especially as we had taken the children to the Safari Park when they were little. So I had to convince myself that at least most of the animals would be in large enclosures even if its not the most natural of existences.

It did, however, give me more practice with the 70-300mm lens - some of the photos are better than others as, despite the Royal Wedding, the place was packed and as there were 2 lanes to the road through the "safari" part we always seemed to be in the lane furthest away from the animals and I had to try and take pictures between cars. In many of the areas we had to keep windows closed and so the photos are taken through a dirty car window!

Ankole Cattle from East Africa - a species of cattle first domesticated 6000 years ago.



I think these are Blackbuck (native to India and Pakistan)





Rhinoceros





White Bennett's Wallaby from Tasmania



In places the Safari Park resembled a version of Jurassic Park as every time you entered an area with "dangerous" animals you had to queue up at traffic lights waiting for electric gates to open and then move into an area to wait for the gates behind to close and the next set to open. At one point a very interesting looking moth appeared on the bonnet of the car and I was told in no uncertain terms that no I could not get out of the car to look at it as the electric gates to the lion enclosure were about to open!

North American Wolf



The White Lions were beautiful animals. According to the Safari Park Guide they have been part of African folklore for hundreds of years and in 1975 2 white lion clubs were seen in the Timbavati Game Reserve. In 2006 two more white cubs were spotted but they were killed and it looks as though the only White Lions today are found in captivity. They are not albino but leucistic where recessive genes cause loss of pigmentation in the fur and skin but not in lips or eyes.





Elephants



Not quite sure about the identity of this species as I can't find it in the Guide Book!



Bactrian Camel



Baby Bactrian Camel



I was trying to get a complete picture of the head of this ostrich who was busy attacking the wing mirror of my husband's car but I never did manage to get a better image as I suddenly realised it had spotted my telephoto lens sticking out of the window and it looked as though it had decided it would make a better snack than the mirror and as it was advancing rather rapidly I had to beat a hasty retreat as far into the car as I could go!



Burchell's Zebra



We spent the afternoon walking around the rest of the Safari Park. Near the hippo's wallowing pool I spotted my first mallard ducklings of the year



My favourite animals of the day were the meerkats exhibiting their usual cute behaviour.









New since we last visited is a lemur walkway which is an area of woodland where various species of lemur roam.



Seaquarium





And here's one I bought home with me!



When we got home Emily opened her presents and finally got to see her cake - she asked for a "fairy castle" cake and here it is.



Here's a picture of the birthday girl - she wouldn't let me post any recent pictures so here's a scanned photo of her at about 4 months old.



We rounded off the day with a great meal at The Plough.

Nestbox Update

Just a quick update on blue tit nesting activity in the whitebeam tree via the nestbox camera.

The first egg was laid, as previously mentioned on 25th April, and the female blue tit has added one egg each day since with a total of four so far. She usually covers the eggs with feathers around mid-morning and roosts in the nestbox overnight.

Below is a very record shot I took this morning of the picture on the tv screen coming live from the nestbox camera. If you click on the picture to enlarge you can make out the four eggs in the bottom right hand corner. To be honest the nestbox camera was a fairly cheap one and the lens seems quite smeared so the photo is really quite blurred but at least it gives you an idea of what is happening at the moment.