The Old Vicarage, Jubilee week

The theme of this week has been chicks. There are young birds all over the garden and inside the house! We've got about 28 breeding bird species (I roughly estimated at least 50 territories) in or within the vicinity of the garden. Ebird checklist HERE. Some particularly nice ones to have are Spotted Flycatcher, Tawny Owl, Chiffchaff, Blackcaps, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, Barn Swallows and Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch with Red Kites nearby. 28 bird species holding over 50 territories in less than an acre (many territories overlap though with surrounding area) is pretty good.  The total bird species year list is stuck on 73. 

Had our first 100+ individual moth night a couple of evenings ago but its got a bit wet and cool since. A few new for years but nothing that interesting, still no migrant (I've given up hope). The moth year list is now on 142 species. Nice to see Grass Rivulet, Figure of Eighty, Brown Rustic, daily Hawkmoths. 

On the mini-farm front, the big news is that the chicks have hatched from the incubator. We've got four chicks following a last minute disaster when the incubator overheated (someone left the thermostat on the outside of the incubator) but four is the perfect number as we only want two or three hens. Every raised bed is now planted up with something or other, the pumpkins have yet to go in the paddock and we've harvested our first Rhurbarb and Spring Onions. 

Meanwhile in the mini-zoo, we added a Yellow-bellied Toad (from Exotics at Heart) into the Paludarium to join the two Common Frogs while we continue to develop the environment, the Madagascar Mottled Mantis mysteriously died and the aquarium is lacking a star specimen after we lost the Saimese Fighter, Angelfish and Dwarf Puffer over the last month or so. So what with the incubator disaster too, looks like we need to do some work on keeping things alive despite our best efforts to create the perfect conditions. Even Spot the dog died last week ! (although that was expected)  The Leopard Gecko continues to do well as do all the Glass Catfish, Sword-tail Guppies (been breeding), White-lined Mountain Minnows, Black-finned Corys, Neon and Glowlight Tetras, Platys, Amano shrimps and Pleco and the tropical plants are thriving. 

 

Juvenile Robin- hopefully one of the chicks that exploded from the nest in the greenhouse

A few juvenile Blackbirds on the lawn- this one looks like a male with the contrasting black wings and tail

Recently fledged Wren

Juvenile Great Tit- also juvenile Starlings, Blue Tits, Dunnocks and Song Thrush around

Looks like the Swallows are breeding in the Sheep field Barn

Buff-tip doing what it does 

Still getting confused by these kind of moths. Both Large Nutmegs or is the lower one something like a Dusky Brocade? Yes just two Large Nutmegs (thanks Dave) 

I presumed this was a Rosy Minor rather than one of the gen dent jobs- I was wrong it is just a Rosy form of one of the Marbled Minor agg (Cheers Dave). 

Mottled Rustic 

Yellow-barred Long-horn- actually in the trap (usually just see them on the garden borders

Grass Rivulet

Barred Marble , Celypha striana

Bryotropha domestica (actually not this species, is one of a gen dent species pair but I've lost the comment from Stephen Palmer on the record) , a bit more exciting were the Pine, Privet and Elephant Hawkmoths (below) 

Chicks! 

Rhubarb

Human chick Isaac who nearly poisoned himself eating these Delphiniums on roll back in Asda which we added to the butterfly border (below)

Early June in the mini-farm 

The Paludarium environment maturing. Will next add some cold water fish to the aquatic section. 

The Leopard Gecko shedded recently revealing new bright colours 

The Old Vicarage