Spring is really breaking out now, over last few days we've had our first House Martins, Swallow and Willow Warbler in the garden and the Noc-mig is picking up a few interesting bits including Whimbrel, Teal, Water Rail and the usual Barn and Tawny Owls, Moorhens etc. The wind is south easterly at the moment so the Waterstock Curlews can clearly be heard singing day and night from the garden which is lovely to hear. Also had a possible Stone Curlew (see below in sounds) but not certain. 2022 Old Vic Ebird list HERE. Lots of signs of breeding behaviour with Blackbirds, Jackdaws and Blue Tits building nests, Woodpigeon already on eggs and lots of singing and territorial disputes. House Sparrow finally made its way onto the Garden List a couple of days ago- they've been at the end of the road all winter, in the hedge at Nicky's but not wandered into our garden until now- presumably a bird looking out for a breeding territory now. Amazing how localised some species can be- literally no more than 100 meters away.
The moth trap has also picked up with the milder evenings with Tawny Pinion a new for site if confirmed. Now on 488 for the garden and 30 for the year. A nice selection this morning (not just Orthosias!) including Brindled Beauty, Doubled-striped Pug, Winter Groundling, Streamer, Hebrew Character, Scorched Carpet, Purple Thorn and Small Quaker.
On the mini-farm front we've put in the Potatoes (four rows, Majestics on fence side, Maris Pipers, Caras and Pink Fir Apples by greenhouse) and got a few seedlings growing in the window. The new raised bed is almost ready and planning now to put in another two.
Big developments on the mini-zoo, the new Palludarium has arrived. This is going to be epic. Great fun to do with the boys.
House Martin
Brindled Beauty
Purple Thorn
Tawny Pinion- waiting for confirmation (above and below) See comments below-it's a Pale Pinion, I'll get these the right way round one day! See HERE (Thanks Stewart).
Midget sp. As far as I know these are all gen dent jobs.
Muslin moth- the diversity in the trap is slowly increasing
Found these in the Walnut logs that we've got in the mini-zoo. I think Black clouded Longhorns, Leiopsus nebolusus sp.
Either Scarlet or Ruby Elfcap (Sacroscypha sp) - thanks to Lee Dingain for id. What a fantastic looking fungi.
In go the spuds
Possible Stone Curlew- either that or something like Tawny Owl but wing beats don't sound like Tawny Owl
A few vids in here of the mini-zoo animals etc
A work in progress but slowly turning Jacob's room into a tropical house
4 comments:
Pete, Tawny Pinion has a dark crest stripe through the thorax, yours looks like a pale front crest making it Pale Pinion. You could do with a shot from above, in field guide pose...
I've added one Stewart. Any good? I read in Waring et al the critical feature was the black band shadowing the trailing edge of the wing? Seems to show dark there?
Hi Peter this is Pale Pinion to me, a darker variant. Tawny shows a very dark mohican down the centre crest, as you can see, this one is pale buffy. Some Pale Pinions can get quite dark like this.
Thanks Stewart!
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