Millennium Wood

I stopped off at Millennium Wood for a brief walk again this morning. Initially there were just the usual carrion crows, magpies, wood pigeons and blackbirds but then high up in a silver birch, next to a couple of lesser redpolls, I saw a male and female bullfinch (another first for the year). I remembered that last time I saw this species here a pair were seen together and on the few occasions I have seen them in the garden there is often a male and a female. I've done a bit of research and it appears from ringing evidence (according to my ancient set of Living Countryside magazines) that some bullfinches do pair for life which is a rather nice thought. No sign today of redwings but it looks as though most of the berries on the site have been eaten!

A few days ago I saw my first garden mammal of the year - a grey squirrel and bird-wise things are getting more interesting. There were a couple of redwings in the garden yesterday - I've now replenished the supply of apples on the lawn in the hope that they might return! - and one of the lesser redpolls was drinking from the pond today.

I tried out my new macro lens yesterday taking a few photos of some daffodils bought at the supermarket. Hopefully, the photos will improve as I practise and experiment more and I will be more careful of the background next time!

A Fairy Bucket Appears and a few more year bird ticks

I drove past Millennium Wood early this morning for the first time since before Christmas and paid a brief visit. At long last redwings have arrived on this small reserve and a great tit was also added to the list of birds seen here.

Near Millennium Wood is the "fairy door" and, oh look, a miniature "fairy" bucket has been added over the festive period!






A few more birds have been spotted for the 2012 bird list - redwing mentioned above, a coal tit in the garden and jay and jackdaw seen as I've been driving round.

My mum is still in hospital so, with the constant visits, I am not sure when I'm going to get time to visit Brandon Marsh or Middleton Lakes, although I will try and get out somewhere next week.

Slow Start to the 2012 Bird List!

Bird-wise the garden is still fairly quiet although I am really pleased that the flock of lesser redpolls are making daily visits to the silver birch seeds. I am pretty sure they are all lesser although any attempts to open the garage door to get up the garden to take a closer look results in their instant departure!

Other garden birds seen so far this year include blackbird (1st bird of 2012), house sparrow, wood pigeon, goldfinch, robin, dunnock, blue tit, feral pigeon, carrion crow,great tit and magpie.

Apart from the flowers you would normally expect to see in bloom in the garden now, such as winter-flowering heathers, violas, pansies, winter jasmine and primulas, the native primrose (Primula vulgaris) has also started flowering and there are a few blooms on red campion, chamomile and snapdragon.

I finally managed to get out in the countryside today and went a drive around the lanes near Coleshill, spotting several flocks of fieldfare feasting on berries. I stopped off at Shustoke Reservoir




Gosh it was cold and windy and, although it looks as though it was a lovely sunny day, clouds were already gathering on the horizon heralding the return of yet more torrential rain.

You can walk all round the reservoir but today I only had time for a short walk but did add black-headed gull, coot, mallard, tufted duck, mute swan and canada goose to the year list.



The birds are really too far away even with the 70-300mm telephoto lens on the camera.

Happy New Year!

A big Thank You to everyone who has visited my blog over the last year with extra special thanks to those who have become followers, left comments and helped with identification.

Wishing everyone a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year with plenty of wildlife highlights.

Highlights of the Year - Part 4: October to December

Hopefully, a shorter post :D!

Garden Butterflies

The last two butterflies seen in the garden this year were during the hot sunny spell we had at the beginning of October - a Red Admiral on 1st October and a Speckled Wood on the 5th. Buff-tailed bumbles and a common carder bee were also seen during this unseasonally hot weather. Overall a poor year for butterflies in the garden with many species usually seen not putting in an appearance this year.

Garden Moths

Moth numbers were low in the trap during October and beginning of November although there were two new species for the garden - Green Brindled Crescent on 14th October and November Moth aggregate on 22nd October. Thanks again to Dean and Stewart for all the help with moth id over the year. My last trapping session of the year on 6th November resulted in just one species being caught - a Light Brown Apple Moth

November Moth agg



Green Brindled Crescent - have cheated a bit here as I can't find my original photo of the moth caught in the trap (I have thousands of moth photos in the folder really must delete some!) so this is a photo of a much better marked individual caught in the utility room when we were on holiday in Wales!



I did catch a Winter Moth on 23rd December attracted to light and caught on the garage door window.

I've ended the year on 94 species trapped (or seen) in the garden in 2011. Not a brilliant total and I'm sure I could have reached the century if I had been better at identification! or trapped more frequently! Total number of species trapped in the garden since I started is 135.

Garden Birds

A wren began roosting in a hanging basket on the patio at the beginning of October - do wonder if its the same individual who roosted in the same spot last winter and nested there the previous summer.

Was thrilled to see a female blackcap feeding on pyracantha berries on 31st October although she was only seen on the one occasion. We have had blackcaps feeding for several months in the winter in the past so I live in hope one will appear again.

For several weeks now I have been carefully checking small birds feeding on or around silver birch seeds in the garden - up to now the birds have been blue tits or goldfinches but today was thrilled to see around 16 LESSER REDPOLLS feeding on birch seeds in trees behind the pond and in the wooded area at the top of the garden.

This brings the total number of bird species actually seen within the garden to 28 this year. Quite a low total compared to previous years. Usually get between 30 to 35. Edit - Just got round to typing up my year lists and the garden total should read 30 - I forgot about Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff passing through on migration!

A trip to Middleton Lakes (the new RSPB Reserve) on 23rd October produced my first fieldfare flock of the autumn and a long-tailed tit flock although there was no sign of the short-eared owls seen there recently. I'm looking forward to visiting this reserve more next year

Middleton Lakes



After several visits to a local nature reserve - Millennium Wood when I saw very few birds mainly carrion crows, wood pigeons and magpgies with the occasional robin, blackbird or great spotted woodpecker sighting, I was thrilled to see more species on 5th December. A male chaffinch was seen from the entrance road and blue tits and blackbirds on the reserve but the real highlights were a male and female bullfinch and, even better, redpolls (probably lesser) feeding on silver birch seeds. It just shows that perseverance in visiting a site that initially doesn't look very promising can pay off.

Millennium Wood



Returning to the garden - I noticed today that we have red campion in flower in the wildflower meadow!

We spent a few days in North Wales in October - we didn't do much walking or birding as the weather wasn't too good but I loved returning to Portmeirion - one of my favourite places

Portmeirion









And I'm really pleased I found the time to visit Baddesley Clinton, a National Trust property, in December to see the Christmas decorations around the manor house

Highlights of the Year Part 3 - July - September

Garden Butterflies

A Ringlet visited the garden on 3rd July - the first garden sighting since 2005.

The first garden Red Admiral was seen on 9th July



followed by first Holly Blue 11th July, first Green-Veined White on 24th July



and first Gatekeeper on 28th July

Moths

July, August and September produced many more new garden moth ticks - both macro and micro moths

2nd July Heart and Club
Phlyctaenia coronata (photo below)




Also on 2nd July

Bird Cherry Ermine
Crambus pascuella
Agriphila straminella
Spilonota ocellana (Bud Moth)

23rd July Scarce Footman
Dark Spinach (photo below)



24th July - Clay (found in bathroom)

30th July - more micro ticks:
Acleris laterana
Tachystola acroxanthella
Agriphila inquinatella

19th August

Garden Carpet
Brown House Moth
Single Dotted Wave (photo below)



9th September produced an Autumnal Rustic (photo below)



plus Vine's Rustic and on 30th September a Rusty Dot Pearl

Falconry

One of the highlights of August was a visit to a Falconry Display at Castle Bromwich Hall Gardens - a great opportunity to get up close to various species of falcon and owl and a chance to marvel at their flying skills in a flying display





Spotted Flycatchers

Throughout July I had checked out a few local churchyards hoping to see Spotted Flycatchers and on 28th July (tipped off by a local birding blog) I struck lucky at Berkswell and was able to watch a family of these lovely birds. They were too far away for photos so just a poor record shot of one of the juveniles below



Hoverflies

I spent a happy few hours in the garden at the beginning of August watching and taking photos of various species of hoverfly - below a Marmalade Hoverfly



Brandon Marsh - a Lifer and some "Flutters"

We went to Brandon Marsh on 5th August where we watched a Wood Sandpiper (3 ticks in one here - Year, Warwickshire and a Lifer!)

There were lots of juveniles around - long-tailed tits, chiffchaffs, common tern and lapwing.

I used the telephoto zoom lens to take some butterfly pictures

Speckled Wood



Gatekeeper



This Oak Eggar moth was a life moth tick although it was very sad to see one of its wings had been torn off and it was unable to fly



Peacock




Newts
We had sightings of up to 6 young newts, at various stages of development, in the garden pond in the middle of July

Dahlias at Baddesley

I always try to visit Baddesley Clinton at the beginning of September to see the dahlia display







and on 18th September we spent a fun few hours at Lapworth Scarecrow Festival




Hope everyone had a good Christmas - I have a new toy for my camera! A macro lens (a joint Christmas and Birthday pressie off Brian and my mom). Looking forward to trying it out although I suspect I am going to have to get used to utilising the tripod more and practising manual focusing!!!

Happy Christmas!