Madeira Days Two and Three

A hectic couple of days mainly doing family stuff but also been sneaking in a bit of birding and mothing. Yesterday we did the Aquarium at Porto Moniz and then the beach in the afternoon and today we headed over to Monte Palace Gardens via the famous Funchal Cable Car. 

All the WP ticks under the belt now- Trocaz Pigeon, Madeiran Chaffinch and Madeiran Firecrest. The great thing about Madeira is that these species can be easily seen from the top tourist spots such as the Monte Palace Gardens so makes for perfect family trip. I don't need Zino's Petrel as saw an extralimital one on the Azores in 2012 which is fortunate as would have been a push with a young family doing a proper pelagic.

A few moths in the trap included my first Striped Hawkmoth and also nice to get a Silver-spotted Veneer, Euchromius ocella (considering the recent influx in the UK). Also Scarce Bordered Straw and a few others yet to identify.

Male Madeiran Chaffinch (above and below) 

Madeiran Firecrest

'Madeiran' Yellow-legged Gull (2nd cycle above and first cycle below). 

Madeiran Wall Lizard 

Striped Hawkmoth 

Silver-spotted Veneer

Cable car over Funchal to the Monte Palace Gardens 

Madeira Day One

Our first day on family holiday on Madeira mainly involved us getting settled in our cottage for the week. We arrived late last night so overnighted at a hotel in Funchal before driving to our cottage in the west of the island today. Spent the afternoon doing the shopping for self catering and doing a little bit of local exploring. 

Managed to do a little bit of birding from the garden and already had Trocaz Pigeon and a few local specialities.

I've got the LED moth trap out in our garden so will see if anything flying tonight.  

Canarian Kestrel, F.t.canariensis, according to local birding sources the Kestrels here are canariensis. There is a small group of 6-7 birds outside our cottage that are quite active doing display flights and calling. Haven't got much information out here on the local Kestrels but they do appear smaller and all seem to have 'female-type' plumage

View from our Funchal Hotel this morning. Immediately striking was the density of exotic plants.

Our cottage for the week at Calhau Grande near Calheta

Fingers crossed for the moth trap tonight. Had Monarch flying around today and also a couple of Clouded Yellows. Also plenty of Madeiran Wall Lizards on the road up to the cottage. 

A few more moths and winter Acleris

 The garden moth list is now up to 15 with a few expected new for years. Still no Acleris here. I used to get winter Acleris moths quite regularly when based at Beddington Farmlands during the winter but even at the Old Vicarage they were not regular in winter, so presumably a bit of a London heat anomaly thing. 

I had a look back at some photos of the ones I used to get at Beddington with a fresh eye since having Nick Asher's book and the latest version of the Micro-moths bible. A few notes below on winter Acleris that have been on this blog. 

Not much else has happened this week, I caused chaos on the M25 on Wednesday after the van drive shaft broke on the M25/A3 junction. It took me all day to get the van to the mechanics and get back to Wood Street. 

Off to Madeira tomorrow for a week family holiday (and some stealth WP twitching). Been far too long since I got off this maddening island so very much looking forward to a break.  

Oak Beauty- always a mile stone on the slow trudge to Spring 

A beautiful fresh Hebrew Character- the main late winter/very early Spring suspects are all beginning to fall now 

A rather plain and dark looking Pale Brindled Beauty - presumably 'monacharia'

Up to four Common Quakers a night now. What with the first crocus and daffodils out in the garden now and some of the Prunus trees about to bud I guess we are now officially in the very early Spring period

Acleris sp from last winter at the Old Vicarage. This could be an Elm Tortrix A.kochiella or possibly A.ferrungana/notana. The CMR team looked at this and concluded it was a gen dent job.

Acleris sp from Beddington, 02/20. Another possible Elm Tortrix candidate? They do winter as an adult and can get disturbed during the winter but the flight season is more lates summer/autumn. 

A winter beauty from November 2022 at the Old Vicarage. White Birch Tortrix, Acleris logiana- confirmed with gen dent by Peter Hall 

Another grey looking Acleris sp from 02/21 at Beddington. The most likely Acleris candidates in winter are Sallow Button, Acleris hastiana, Tufted Button Acleris cristana, Viburnum Button, Acleris schalleriana, Ashy Button, Acleris sparsana and the impossible Tawny Oak/Tawny Birch, Acleris ferrungana/notana. There's also the two pale species discussed above -Elm and White Birch Tortrix, Acleris kochiella/logiana which may also be present in the winter months. I guess Viburnum Button is the closest fit here. 

A January Acleris from Beddington. Maybe Ashy Button? If not maybe Sallow or Viburnum button which are the only other candidates I think. 

A rather tawny looking acleris from December at Beddington. Maybe Tawny Oak/Tawny Birch, Acleris ferrungana/notana. Any of these Tawny coloured jobs in winter are probably this species pair. In the autumn there is also Small Rufous A. aspersana and Fern  Tortrix A. shepherdana to consider and at other times of year even other Tortrix moths like Brown-barred, Rufous (Privet) and of course Light Brown Apple Moth in the winter too. 

A November tawny looking Acleris from Beddington. Maybe Tawny Oak/Tawny Birch, Acleris ferrungana/notana.

Tawny Oak/Tawny Birch, Acleris ferrungana/notana? Not even sure if this isn't a heavily marked Light Brown Apple moth? 

A couple of easier ones- Tufted Button (above) from Beddington and Sallow Button from the Old Vicarage last February (below). 

The week that was

Another quiet winter week but surprisingly quite busy at work so I spent most of the week unfortunately working for the man.  However this week we are doing a nice little job for the London Wildlife Trust at Spencer Road Wetlands and also doing some bird and bat box installations which is the most rewarding kind of work. We should be back at the London Wetland Centre this month too which is always one of our favourite jobs of the year.  

Back at the new rental there has been some mild evenings so the moth trap has been a good respite with a few new species added to the new garden list. Still no Waxwing in the garden or on my travels (still holding out to find my own).

Been getting through Portuguese Rarity Committee work and a couple of papers for Dutch Birding, trying to get the winter work done before the Spring comes. A couple of things caught my eye in my weekly reading particularly a review article in Ibis about the Causes of Vagrancy- certainly seems to be an uptick in research on this subject. I'm still holding out that I got down the main gist of what was going on in this Birdguides/Birdwatch article in 2008 HERE where I've postulated that vagrancy is a no small part of the process of natural selection that leads to the evolution of migration routes and population range change. When I submitted to Birdwatch I mentioned that we should now wait to see how long it takes for that idea to work its way up into professional academic circles. The answer was about 14 years as this paper appeared recently in the Ivory Towers HERE although to be fair lots of researchers have hinted at that in less overstated ways. That's got to be a couple of points for Pleb/Citizen Science right there.  Coincidentally Fred Jiguet also made contact with the exciting news that we might start tagging some of the vagrants on the Azores soon which could be the basis of some work that brings together all our Azores data to push the envelope a bit further on that too. 

Satellite- no migrant Silver-spotted Veneer, Euchromius ocellea unfortunately in the trap which are currently occurring on the south coast- fingers crossed the odd one gets blown inland 

Spring Usher

Chestnut 

Common Quaker- after an early one in December this is presumably the harbinger of the main push 

Drama at the mini-zoo this week after one of the frogs died. We've handed it over to the meal worms to generate a skeleton for us that we can mount and preserve- a work in progress above

Tree of the week. I had 16 jobs to look at this week which is quite unusual for the winter. This beautiful London Plane in Hackbridge needs a little bit of attention. This tree has never been reduced which is what all trees should ideally look like (not always possible if too close to buildings and pavements). All something like this wonderful specimen needs is to remove major dead wood as its over a public space and some big dead branches fell off in the recent winds (which is why we got the call), a light cut back from the surrounding buildings and some thinning of the canopy to reduce the impact of high winds in the future. This tree was next to the river Wandle in Hackbridge (below) on an estate that we covered in our Neighbourhood Plan - preserving this tree was in that plan.  

Genocide and Birding

We were always asked at school what we would have done if we were German civilians as the Final Solution was being executed and whether or not we would stand up and speak out against it. I presume most students including myself thought that we would. 

In the most horrific example of cultural childhood trauma, the victims of the Final Solution genocide are now committing a huge massacre/genocide of their own in what appears to be a classic case of a cycle of trauma and violence where victims become the monsters and create more victims that become monsters that create victims ad infinitum. It now appears in hindsight after listening to the vile denialism and gaslighting by Israel of what everyone on this planet can see with their own eyes clearly, that they have been slowly walking towards becoming genocidal for decades. I suspect this has crept up on Israelis and blinded them now to what they are doing. 

I took part in the Champions of the Flyway in Israel in 2014 and was criticised by good friends at the time for supporting an Apartheid. Champions included Palestinians and a Palestinian team and was seen as a way of bringing these communities together through birds and birding. By-passing our elite governments and forming our own autonomous communities  is what I stand for and I would rather support the birding community than stand with global narratives which are the narratives of the elites anyway. Birding has it own politics and should not be controlled by global elite narratives.

However sadly since 2014, the organisers of that event have been dragged into war and at least one of the key organisers has become what appears to be brainwashed and appears to support the massacre of children. Zionism was also promoted at the event (whether there can be a just Zionism is of course a possibility). In hindsight now, it appears that the 'true colours' of this event was bubbling below the surface and personally feel like I was duped. I haven't seen anything from these event organisers or Birdlife Israel calling for a Ceasefire now although of course due to information overload I could have missed it. Also many participants and NGOs now appear to be PEPs (Progressives expect Palestine).  

Like 99% of the humans on this planet I have no meaningful power and nearly all of us live in  a world ruled by minority elite groups who lobby, hack and buy democracy and control narratives in which the majority of people are non-player characters, livestock and commodity. We can only watch as ecocide and genocide is committed and then can only watch as the consequences of that, a  divine punishment such as the effects of climate chaos, dehumanisation and oppression is delivered on us all. 

The only thing we can do is bleat in protest, detach as much as possible from a genocidal and ecocidal system, call it out for what it is, do all we can to save us much nature and our own humanity and pray that the horrific consequences of our leaders behaviour is something we can overcome. 

So I know this is a birding blog and we are supposed to stay on topic and in line but to be talking about birds when thousands and thousands of children are being murdered with the backing of 'my' government (UK) seems vulgar and makes me complicit in it. Also in this blog I am regularly trying to contextualize birding as everything is connected and nature conservation is part of a moral system that is multidisciplinary. While the threat of a World War 3 hangs over all our heads, nature is side-lined as food security and security become priorities and it's destruction is hastened. 

 It comes back to when I was at school and asked what would I do if my government were involved in a genocide? (I know the UK government have been involved in wars etc but never before have we seen them supporting a genocide by a nation who perform in the Eurovision Song Contest). Not a lot is the answer but I will use any platform I have to highlight the need to call for the end of the mass  murder of children (to be honest I don't feel so compelled to call for an end to murder of adults who are complicit in murdering each other but on this occasion Hamas have no chance of murdering as many IDF and in any fight a referee would intervene in such a situation). I have the privilege of a freedom of speech (or sorts) that I can criticise my government without being executed so unlike the German citizens during the Final Solution there is no risk to condemning them- which only deepens the feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness- they now commit these atrocities with pride and in plain sight.   

I don't like the Guardian, its a sensationalist leftist rag (the equivalent of the Daily Mail on the right side of aisle) and the problem with polarisation is that we all learn to ignore everything anyone says who has been crying wolf  in the past. It becomes impossible to know what is important and what is not important and this is how things slip into the darkness.  However the content on the piece of journalism in the link below is something being shared across the entire media spectrum and on this occasion the Guardian have actually nailed the journalism on it.  Israel's response to the 7th October attacks has been completely disproportionate and unjust and there is a real chance it could trigger a third world war that we could all be pulled into. We need a ceasefire now or an immediate evacuation of all the children before the Genocide is completed.  

To be clear I am not 'pro-Palestinian' (I'm pro-justice and represent nobody but myself- a powerless citizen) and rightly or wrongly I believe that Hamas would commit an equally atrocious genocide on Israel if only they could. Massacring children is never the answer and if somehow you have constructed a story in your mind that justifies it- that is called something, its called a Psychosis. I don't know what the answer is but I know that massacring children is not the answer and should stop immediately. 

Cuttlebrook

I'm getting quite into this new little local patch. Had another patch tick this morning- Peregrine. Ebird list HERE. Other highlights included 3 Chiffchaff and Stonechat. Cuttlebrook Ebird hotspot now on 75 species HERE. One of the Great Egrets was out on Shabbington Meadows with six Little Egrets this morning when we went out to drop Jacob off.  

The evenings are a bit milder now and had the best moth night of the year last night with 4 species- Angle Shades, Early Moth, Clouded Drab and Pale Brindled Beauty.

I finished my objection letter to the council in response to their plan to build all over this lovely little area. Objection letter HERE. 

LETTER OF OBJECTION

PLEASE LOG YOUR OBJECTION HERE

Chiffchaff- a bit drab looking with yellow tones confined to the wing so along the tristis lines but I didn't hear it call and prefer my tristis to look more like this HERE. 

Female Stonechat

Peregrine patch tick. 

Nice to get an out of season Angle Shades to re-appreciate what a stunning moth this is 

Clouded Drab

Pale Brindled Beauty 

Thame Meadows Estate SUDS- I'm keeping my eye on this little hotspot 

Several hectares of this habitat made of  scrub, rough grassland and ruderal is what we will loose if the planning application is approved. This hosts a wintering population of House Sparrows (10 is my highest count so far) and other wintering birds and as a habitat type in the planning system is erroneously undervalued as proven by Knepp and other re-wilding projects, The attitude that this common habitat only supports common species is no longer a valid argument as these habitats are no longer common and common species are no longer common either.  My planning application objection HERE. Please log your objection HERE. 

Please Sign the Petition to Save Thame Meadows/ Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve

Great Egret

 Please sign the petition to save Thame Meadows/ Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve.

 PETITION HERE

Also if you feel like being a soldier this morning for five minutes please leave a comment on the planning application site. Can be something like: 

I object to this development, this site should be an extension of Cuttlebrook Nature Reserve as per the Thame Neighbourhood Plan. Building on green space and ecological habitat is in conflict with South Oxfordshire District Council's declaration of a climate and ecological emergency and in conflict with numerous environmental and ecological policies of the National Planning Policy Framework, the South Oxfordshire County Council Core Strategy, The Thame Neighbourhood Plan, The Thame Green Living Plan and UN Sustainable Development Goals.   

COMMENT ON THE PLANNING APPLICATION HERE

 Update 300124: MY OBJECTION LETTER

Bird survey results on from last few weeks recording on Ebird HERE.

Kingfisher

Muntjac