Saturday, 11 April 2020

The Old Vicarage- Pinion-spotted Pug

Highlight of the day was a stunning Pinion-spotted Pug from the light trap last night. A first for the garden. Also had a new bird tick today- a Sand Martin over the garden, which now puts the Old Vic bioblitz list on 689 (on a roll at the moment, especially after a good noc-mig session). 

I did my daily walk this morning (got up at 6am) and did the Worminghall to Ickford to Waterstock/Waterperry and back to Worminghall circuit, Ebird list HERE. Highlights included a male Shelduck, Common Snipe, displaying Curlew and Lapwing, singing Yellowhammers and at least five or six pairs of Skylark in one field alone by the Ickford bridges. Also a few Fieldfares and Redwings still and at least 16 Chiffchaff and 18 Blackcap on the circuit. 

Spent the afternoon working on the kitchen garden- we've now got tomatoes, radish, cabbage, garlic, strawberries, runner beans, broccoli, peas, carrots and sweetcorn growing. Tomorrow we need to build another raised bed and prepare a bed for the sweetcorn.   


 Pinion-spotted Pug. A 'nationally scarce' species and the 24th record for the county (thanks Dave Wilton for status info) 
 Lunar Marbled Brown
 Muslin Moth 
 Male Shelduck- a new bird for the Worminghall area Ebird hotspot, now on 73 species SEE HERE (although I still need to add some archived records from the Old Vicarage) 
 House Martin- there were birds over Waterperry and Worminghall today- possibly returning local birds
There were numbers of this caddisfly flying by Waterstock Mill - Alder Fly I think
The Ickford Bridges- the best area round here are the fields in the vicinity of the bridges- in the fields by the river there are Curlews, Lapwing, Snipe, Yellowhammer, Skylarks and Grey Partridges. 

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