There was a Skylark singing over the garden this morning and I thought I heard Spotted Flycatcher calling yesterday but not confirmed yet. Strangely there are no Blackcaps in the garden holding territory, although there were 3 pairs last year. The Rooks seem to be doing well and there are 3 Swallows flying round the barn in the Sheep Field. Only 25 species on the garden bird count this morning.
The moth trapping has just started to pick up and I didn't miss much while I was away by the sounds of it with many online moffers commenting it's been their worst year ever, although seems like there has been a bit of an east/west divide across the country with the west fairing better. Top moth here has been a Mocha this morning- a first for the garden. Old Vic moth list now on 583 and the year list is only 62 although that has been climbing fast in last few days. I'm still getting the odd Common Quaker, Clouded Drab, Hebrew Character and Brindled Beauty so the slow and cold Spring seems to have extended the flight period of the early spring moths.
I tidied up the mini-farm today while James has been taking over from Bryan and been covering the lawn and edges. One of the chickens died while I was away due to unknown causes so we are down to two eggs a day now from two chickens (although only one seems to be laying). Now we are staying for this year here I'll get some potted on vegetables to plant out the mini-farm once they appear in the local markets.
Meanwhile in the mini-zoo we sadly lost our treasured Weather Loach (which may have been killed by the Convict Cichlid 'King' that has become very aggressive since the swarm of young have arrived). We seem to be feeling the financial squeeze here with things a bit slow at work and enormous endless bills coming in so I've pledged to slow down on the mini-zoo spending but somehow this weekend still managed to buy two new coral species and Kev from Exotics at Heart also off loaded three Spiny Stick Insects on us so we've added another three species which compensates the loses we had.
The hunt is still on for a new base but what with inflation at over 10% and interest rates on borrowing now on 4-6% and further interest rate rises this week seems a pretty precarious time to be selling and buying and what with the government doing all they can to stop people spending money to get inflation under control it looks like we are going to be well below our target of a £2 million pot to play with. Since I wrote this back in early 2022, the world has completely changed with war in Europe, high inflation and rising interest rates and on a personal level we had a private disaster too with the loss of Bryan and being forced to move out. Fortunately we've managed to succeed in some of the targets in the early 2022 investment drive plan but certainly not all. Still uncertain where we will end up but as each day goes by it seems that our options are getting less ambitious. Still all needs to be executed within the framework of our 'Surviving the Ecological Emergency' Principles here but the pressure is on and it's rising.
Mocha- a first for the Old Vic and a British tick.
Seraphim- a few of these over the last couple of days
I've gone for Mottled Pug (above) and Ochreous Pug (below) but not sure on either
Chocolate Tip
Sulphur Tubic, Esperia sulphurella
My first garden migrant of the year- a Silver-Y
I don't remember seeing a Common Quaker this late in the Spring before
A good sudden appearance of Pale Tussock this morning with six in the traps
The first hawkmoths of the year- a couple of Poplar Hawks
Our Emperor Scorpion never comes out so we decided to look for it in the tank- looking good
Nothing to see here- just a Ghost Mantis riding an Indian Stick Insect bare back and a Spiny Stick Insect on the left
The mini-farm today - apart from a few potatoes we need to start working hard on this to get it all planted up now that we are staying for another season
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