More Moths and Garden Update

Common Quakers


GMS Week 2

There were 4 moths in the moth trap this morning - 3 Common Quakers and a Hebrew Character. I've made a much better start to this year's mothing than in the previous two years. In 2011 I didn't trap my first moths until 18th March and in 2010 I only caught two moths all March - two Common Quakers on the 21st of the month.

Common Quaker



Hebrew Character - so named because of the black markings which are shaped like the Hebrew letter Nun.



Summary of Moths Trapped Friday, 9th March 2012

6.00 p.m. until dawn

Minimum temperature 6.3 degrees centigrade

15w Actinic Skinner Trap

2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) x 3

2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) x 1

Moths species for 2012 = 7



Garden Update

Finally, managed to catch a glimpse of a frog in the pond this morning - hoping for some frogspawn soon! A long-tailed tit has been collecting feathers from the lawn so it looks as though they are building a nest in a nearby garden. The wren is still roosting in the hanging basket and I am wondering if it is planning on building a nest there again as I have seen it enter the basket several times during the day.

I had a wander around the garden today trying out the macro lens again as more and more spring flowers are appearing

Viola - I know I take a lot of pictures of violas and pansies but I just love their little "faces"



A cyclamen flower - I bought several plants from Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens recently to go in the wooded area at the top of the garden.



Primroses - although I have lost two out of three of the original clumps another 3 have appeared nearby



Cowslip



Primula



The camelias are starting to flower - we have watched a grey squirrel picking these flowers in the garden next door - I'm not sure if it eats the whole flower or is after the nectar!



The two lungwort plants I bought last year have survived the winter



Lichens- I have got two FSC id guides to lichens and one of these days I will get round to having a go at identifying some of them!

Packwood House

I paid a brief visit to Packwood House at the end of last week and finally got round to sorting out the photos today. (My mum finally came out of hospital a few weeks ago but sadly her condition (she has Alzheimer's) has deteriorated rapidly since Christmas and there's a lot of sorting out to be done about her long-time care and decisions to be made - so life has been rather hectic recently.)

A photo of one of the sundials which are to be found on buildings at Packwood




Various species of hellebore were putting on a lovely show











Euphorbia



Twisted wisteria branches on the walls of the house



I don't remember seeing this tin bath before - it will be interesting to see if it becomes a feature somewhere around the grounds





A plaque of the Green Man





The Seventeenth Century Yew Garden is believed to represent "The Sermon on the Mount"





The Carolean Garden

















There's a lovely display of snowdrops at the side of the house in a meadow but unfortunately part of the gardens and grounds are still closed so it was only viewable from the lane



I popped into the Kitchen Garden before I left and found this Dipping Pool. Apparently Dipping Pools have been a feature of gardens since the 14th/15th century and were used for watering garden plots. Although more ornate shapes were made, a typical pool was round and shallow and usually placed at the centre of the garden. This particular pool at Packwood has been based on evidence from an old garden plan and has been constructed using recycled bricks from the estate.







Edith Holden regularly visited Packwood House gardens and grounds but I will do a "Following in the Footsteps..." post later in the year to tie in with her mention of Packwood in the Country Diary.

Finally, a photo of some lambs I spotted in a Warwickshire field yesterday - the first I've seen this year although these look several weeks old.

Robins Galore at Brandon Marsh NR

At lunchtime yesterday I headed over to Brandon Marsh NR - my first visit this year. Brandon Marsh, situated to the east of Coventry, is the headquarters of Warwickshire Wildlife Trust and a flagship reserve. It consists of a mixture of habitats - pools, reedbeds, grassland and scrub, mature woodland and wet woodland and willow scrub. I spent a couple of hours at the reserve - although it was sunny and spring-like there was a very cold wind and I was glad of my gloves.



After walking from the Visitor Centre through Hope Wood, I made my way to Horsetail Glade first of all. This is often a good place to see Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but I wasn't lucky today and, in fact, I haven't read of any sightings yet this year. There were lots of blue and great tits and a few long-tailed tits about.

Part of Horsetail Glade




As I walked through woodland along one side of Goose Pool there were loads of tame robins about - many singing away, like the one in the photo below, to establish territories.




This particular individual was the tamest of them all









A view of part of Goose Pool



As I walked past Primrose Bank there were several primrose plants coming into flower.

Normally Jon Baldwin hide is very quiet and its where I usually manage to get some photos of duck species as they approach the hide closely but today it was heaving with photographers taking pictures of the goldeneye (both male and female were present). My 70 - 300 telephoto couldn't compete with the massive 500 mm lenses on show but here's a record shot of the drake!



Oystercatchers have recently started to arrive back at the reserve and one flew onto a nearby island but the real highlight for me was a kingfisher skimming low over the water with the irridiscent blue colouring gleaming in the sunlight. There were a pair of great crested grebes about but I didn't see any sign of courtship displays.

I carried on to the East Marsh Hide - here's a view of part of East Marsh Pool from the hide



and was thrilled to see the drake pintail (a male and female have been present for at least a week) - a new year tick and a new species for my Brandon Marsh list. Too far away again to photo so another record shot



There wasn't much to see from Carlton Hide which overlooks the Newland Reedbeds so I retraced my route



and came across yet more tame robins. I believe lots of people take food and mealworms - you don't really need a telephoto lens to take photos. I quite like these shots even though there were twigs in the way!



I love the way the robin is puffing out his chest here in a territorial display either at me or more likely yet another tame robin just behind me!



I just had time to walk around the back of Grebe Pool before returning to the visitor centre spotting a pair of bullfinches. There were lots of grey squirrels



and rabbits about.



Following the reintroduction of water voles to the reserve late last summer I did keep my eyes open - but no sign of any today.

Twenty eight species wasn't a bad total for a couple of hours and kingfisher, cormorant, goldeneye,oystercatcher, shelduck, pochard, pintail and lesser black-backed gull were all new species for the year.

Finally, a photo of a row of cute recycling frog bins that line one side of the courtyard at the visitors centre.