GMS Begins

The first trapping session for the Garden Moth Scheme last night.

I trapped four moths of four species.

Dotted Border (New for Year)
A Geometrid and this one is a male as the females are flightless. This species overwinters as a pupa.



Satellite (a Noctuid) (New for Year and New for Garden)
I've wanted to trap one of these for ages - so named because of the two small satellites close to the stigmata



March Moth (New for Year and New for Garden)
Another member of the Geometridae family - again a male as females are flightless



And now we have a lbj of the moth world - id headaches have started early this year with a worn brown noctuid! My best guess for this one is a Dark Chestnut but I am probably hopelessly wrong!




Summary of Moths Trapped Friday, 2nd March

15w Actinic Skinner Trap

Minimum Temperature 5.6 degrees centigrade

1934 Dotted Border (Agriopsis marginaria) x 1

1663 March Moth (Alsophila aescularia) x 1

2256 Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) x 1

plus possible Dark Chestnut???

Edit - many thanks to Dean (from ddd please see link on the right) for identifying this moth as a Chestnut (new species for year and new for garden too!)

As always please feel free to correct any wrong id and any help with the mystery moth would be very appreciated! Sorry about lack of italics for the scientific latin names for some reason I can never get the blogger italics to work.



Garden moth species for 2012 = 4 Edit 5

Garden Moth Species since 2009 = 135 Edit 136


Garden Update

I saw my first garden buff-tailed bumble bee yesterday nectaring on winter flowering pansies and last weekend we turned on the camera in the nest box to watch a blue tit pecking around and taking away any loose pieces of wood it could find. Still no sign of frogspawn.

And I've made a start on making the garden more bee and insect friendly buying cosmos, sunflower, candytuft,nasturtium and night-scented stock seeds and a packet of mixed bumble bee friendly flower seeds. Whilst at the nurseries I also bought an Oriental Poppy with a bee friendly plant sticker on it - good to see Sarah Raven's campaign is working!

St Giles, Packwood

Following on from my previous post on Edith Holden's journey to Packwood Hall and Church - here's a bit more information on St Giles Church, which is over 800 years old, and more photos.

The first church on the site was probably wooden and was replaced by the present stone nave and chancel in the late thirteenth century. Nearby Packwood Hall, now privately owned, was, it is thought, once a residence of priests from Coventry Priory Cathedral.

In June 1706 Michael Johnson, a bookseller from Lichfield married Sara Ford from Packwood in the church. Their son born in 1709 grew up to be Dr Samuel Johnson of literary fame.




The church tower, known as The Tower of Atonement, was added in the late fifteenth century by Nicholas Brome, Lord of nearby Baddesley Clinton, as an act of atonement for murdering a local priest who he found his parlour "chockings his wife under ye chinne" (Ferrars).




These pilgrim marks scratched in stone underneath the windows near the altar were made by pilgrims leaving their mark when visiting the church in the past - in the same way we might sign a visitors' book today.




Original pews once situated around the side of the church





The wall paintings shown in the photos below have been dated to the fourteenth century and are known as Packwood's Doom Painting. They were concealed by plaster during the Protestant Reformation and were only revealed again in 1927. They represent the Day of Judgement.





The font could be as old as the church and at one time disappeared - only to be found being used locally as an animal trough. The lack of engravings signify that the church had little revenue.



This ancient chest is believed to be Norman and could be older than the church. It was hewn from a tree trunk. It was once used to keep parish records and has 3 locks which could only be opened when the priest and both churchwardens, who each possessed a different key, were present.



Local children helped in the embroidery of this delightful cloth



One of the stained glass windows




The church is dedicated to St Giles - a French patron saint who is depicted in the stained glass window in the photo below. His symbol was a fawn who it is reputed provided him with milk when he was a recluse.




Many thanks again to the lovely lady I met for her time and giving me so much information on the church.

The churchyard is one of the best in the country for wildflowers and I can't wait to visit in a month's time to see some of these for myself.

Reference: Guide Book to St Giles Church

Following in the Footsteps of an "Edwardian Lady"

I've recently been re-reading one of my favourite books "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" by Edith Holden.




In 1906, when she was living with her parents in Olton, she kept a diary of Nature Notes filling it with poems, observations and charming paintings of wildlife seen through the months of the year in the surrounding Warwickshire countryside and whilst on holiday in Dartmoor and Scotland. For 70 years the diary was undiscovered and when it came to light a facsimile reproduction was published in 1977 entitled "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady.

Edith had also kept a similar diary in 1905 and this was also later published as a predecessor to the "Country Diary" and was called "The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady".



On 24th February 1906 Edith cycled from her home in Olton to Packwood Hall and she noted in her diary that the garden of the Hall adjoining the churchyard held huge clumps of snowdrops. She picked a huge bunch of these flowers and was also able to hold in her arms a newborn lamb shown to her by the farmer who then lived at the Hall.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to visit and see if the snowdrops were still there.

(Not the best of photos - it started to rain half way there and the light was awful!)

Here's the entrance to Packwood Hall and yes, there are still lots of snowdrops!




The Hall is now privately owned so I didn't really like to take the risk of marching up the drive to get a photo! but here's a picture of the moat which surrounds the Hall. Most of the house seen today is fairly modern but the east wing 17th century timber framing survives.



There were plenty of snowdrops along the path to the church



St Giles, Packwood, adjoining the Hall grounds. The churchyard was full of snowdrops and a few primroses were flowering.







I did have a look round the church which has some fascinating features but I will write about these in a posting later in the week.

Crocuses in the churchyard



Looking across the churchyard towards Packwood Hall




More than 100 species of wildflower have been recorded in the churchyard which is managed for wildlife and I hope to visit again later in the spring (in drier weather!)when the flowers are at their best.

I did drive round nearby lanes and, although there were plenty of sheep about, I was unable to find any lambs to photograph!

EDITH HOLDEN

Edith Holden was born in Kings Norton in 1871, one of seven children. Her father was a paint manufacturer. She attended art school and worked as an illustrator and many of her drawings of animals were published in books. The Holden family lived in Moseley, Birmingham between 1871 and 1880 when they moved to Warwickshire occuping various houses in Darley Green, Kingswood, Dorridge/Knowle, and Olton. In 1911 Edith met and later married Ernest Smith a sculptor and lived with him in Chelsea, London. They had no children and tragically she died, aged 49, on 16th March 1920, when she slipped whilst gathering chestnut buds and drowned in the River Thames.

The places in Warwickshire mentioned in her diary are all fairly close to where I live so I am hoping to visit more of these over the course of the year.

Many thanks to the kind lady (sorry I forgot to ask your name) I met in the church who had come to replenish the supply of church guides and gave me such an interesting tour of the church and churchyard showing me many things I would otherwise have missed.

A Theatre Trip

I haven't been to the theatre for a while so it was nice to get the opportunity last night to go and see a new play called "Gravity" at the mac theatre presented by the Birmingham Rep. The publicity material describes it as a "contemporary and dynamic new play about provocation".

It is set in a school where David, a science teacher with a passion for physics, is struggling to cope with the stresses induced by today's educational environment. One student Kyle is interested in science and gaining knowledge but he is targeted by two of the school bullies/troublemakers. This sets off a series of events resulting in a shocking ending.

The acting was excellent and the play was incredibly thought-provoking. A really lovely evening out.





Publicity photo for the play taken from the Birmingham Repertory Theatre's website.

Brief Visit to Middleton Lakes

I paid a quick visit to the RSPB reserve at Middleton Lakes in the Tame Valley yesterday afternoon.

The herony was a hive of activity - I counted at least 14 nests. The feeding station was full of birds - chaffinches, blue, great and coal tits, blackbirds, dunnocks, house sparrows, greenfinches, goldfinches, robins and a reed bunting.

As I walked through Mill Plantation Wood there were lots of chaffinches, robins and blackbirds and a flock of long-tailed tit were feeding near a small reed fringed pool. Dandelions and lots of dog's mercury in flower and from the amount of bluebell leaves shooting through there will a good bluebell display in a few months time. The rookery in the wood was very noisy with several birds bringing in twigs and sticks to add to the nests.

I didn't have time to look round Fisher's Mill meadow or do the whole wetland trail but the first pool after Fisher's Mill Bridge had mallard, canada goose, coot, mute swan, black headed gull, tufted duck, lapwing and shoveler.

When I arrived back at the car park there were several pheasants nearby and dozens of redwing feeing on pasture as I drove out.

I managed to see 26 species in an hour and a quarter and greenfinch, reed bunting, lapwing and shoveler were new species for the year. Sorry no photos - it started to rain as I arrived at the car park! One of these days I will get some more photos of this reserve although I think bird pictures are unlikely as the birds are just too far away. Hopefully, they will build a hide there soon which might make photography easier.

Here at home - saw my first bumble bee of the year today but it whizzed past the kitchen window so fast I couldn't tell which species it was. After chasing away other robins who tried to intrude on his/her territory over the winter the resident garden robin has now paired up with a female as two birds were feeding amicably together today.

Fisrt Moth of the Year and Inspiration

In view of the incredibly mild weather and the fact that the Garden Moth Scheme begins soon I gave the moth trap its first outing of the year last night in a test run.

The temperature ranged from 11.3 down to 8.3 degrees centigrade and I was rewarded this morning with my first moth of the year - a micro called Emmelina monodactyla (one of the plume moths).

It looks like a tiny plane about to take off in the photo below!




The imago hibernates and is often attracted to light early in the year.

I gather there is a new book on micro identification due out soon - can't wait!



I've been watching the recent brilliant tv series by Sarah Raven on Bees, Butterflies and Blooms. Concerned with the rapid decline in British bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects she has been on a mission to try and reverse this trend by the planting of nectar friendly plants in our gardens, countryside and towns. If you missed the series it is still available on BBC iplayer.

I've been totally inspired by the programmes. Although we get a lot of pollinating insects on flowers in the wildflower meadow and perennial bed, I shall certainly be rethinking the type of plants I put in my patio pots and will be scattering seed like cosmos in any bare patches of soil I can find in the garden.

Miniature Worlds

Apart from an initial attempt taking photos of daffodils and amber, I haven't got round again to trying out the new olympus macro lens I had for Christmas and Birthday. This morning I spent half an hour or so using it to take some pictures in the garden. I really wanted to find out if it was usable without a tripod! I experimented using different ISO's (400 and 800 as although the sun was trying to break through the light wasn't brilliant) and various wide apertures.

Using the lens (when I get the hang of it!) opens up a totally different world with clumps of moss and lichen looking like miniature forests.





Seedheads









Hazel Catkins

Female flowers (they always remind me of miniature sea anemones)



Male catkins doing an impersonation of lambs' tails



Primrose



Viola



I love the colours in this leaf



and a species of leaf miner on a bramble leaf



I really am going to have get my act together regarding focusing as the last photo shows although it does produce quite an interesting effect!



All in all I was quite pleased with the attempts although I think using a tripod would definitely improve results and I am going to have resort to more manual focusing I think or perhaps experiment with the different AF targets. One lesson I have learnt this morning is what a lot I still have to learn re: photography and my camera!

If anyone has any tips on taking photos with a macro lens I would love to hear them!

On a different note the lesser redpolls are still regularly using the garden pond for bathing and drinking.

And on a completely different subject I know that many other bloggers as well as myself are having problems with Blogger's new word verification. I did turn mine off for a while but found I was getting lots of weird looking spam so reluctantly I have turned it back on. I am just hoping that, with the problems it is causing, Blogger will reinstate the original version. So apologies in advance if you are trying to leave a comment and have problems!