Well I set up the Trail Camera last night, looking down the garden towards the base of the bird feeders and let it run until late morning. The results were 4 different cats and a mouse during the night, whilst through the morning there was 1 Stock Dove, 2 Wood Pigeon, a Collared Dove, 2 Dunnock and a few Goldfinch. I was hoping for the Linnets, but they didn't turn up this morning.
A Mouse feeding under the bird feeders
This is the first Stock Dove I recorded in the garden
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Old Quarry Lane, Wakeham Meadow, Lower Horse Paddock, Broadcroft Butterfly Reserve and Upper Horse Paddock
Well the weather looked and felt great, when I left the cottage this afternoon, but then as got to the reserve, the clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped like a stone. I had intended on a fairly decent walk, but as I hadn't bothered to bring my jacket, my walk was very much shorter.
Mind you it would have been even shorter, had I not heard a Corn Bunting "jangling" in the Upper Horse Paddock. As I tried to locate it (it was on the ground singing in the long grass and not sat up on a high perch), it took off when the owners of the paddock disturbed it. It and a Yellow Wagtail both ended up in the much larger Lower Horse Paddock.
I tried unsuccessfully to locate both birds, but all I ended up with, was a record shot of the Corn Bunting as it took off again and a couple of the Yellow Wagtail catching flies around the feet of one of the ponies.
Other highlights were 2 House Martin's flying over Wakeham and male Blackcap singing on the reserve.
The song of a Corn Bunting, courtesy of xeno-canto
5 Bunnies
Birds Recorded:
Herring Gull
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
2 House Martin
1 Yellow Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
Blackbird
1 Blackcap
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Wren
Magpie
Carrion Crow
Jackdaw
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Linnet
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
1 Corn Bunting
My first Yellow Wagtail of the year...........
..........catching flies in the upper horse paddock
A male House Sparrow
Large White
Small White
Bees Recorded:
Honey Bees (Apis mellifera)
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum)
White-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)
Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum)
Grey-patched Mining Bee (Andrena nitida)
Gooden's Nomad Bee (Nomada goodeniana)
Gooden's Nomad Bee (Nomada goodeniana)
A Common Carder Bumblebee
A Grey-patched Mining Bee (Andrena nitida)
A Gooden's Nomad Bee. This appears to be the only nomad species I have seen so far this year.
Wasps Recorded:
Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris)
Ichneumon Wasps Recorded:
Ichneumon sp
An Ichneumon sp
And another shot of it as it disappears behind this nettle leaf
White-footed Hoverfly (Platycheirus albimanus)
White-footed Hoverfly
Flies, Craneflies, Gnats and Midges Recorded:
Yellow Dung Fly (Scathophaga stercoraria)
St Mark's Fly (Bibio marci)
1# fly sp
St Mark's Fly (Bibio marci)
1# fly sp
Bugs and Beetles Recorded:
3 Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina)
12+ Common Nettle Bug (Liocoris tripustulatus)
Common Green Shieldbug
Common Nettle Bug
White-lipped Banded Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
Two totally different patterned.....
..............White-lipped Banded Snails
Spiders Recorded:
1# spider sp.
1# spider sp.
1# spider sp.
Caterpillars Recorded:
Probably Brown-tailed moths
Most likely Brown-tailed moth caterpillars. I will check their ID when they begin to disperse
General Shots:
The upper horse paddock
...........and the much larger lower horse paddock
So I wonder what animal snagged themselves on this barbed-wire fence.
Yep, you've guessed it, the one and only Ted
This is the Danish Oil/Chemical Tanker "Bro Nissum" on its way from Dublin to Portland. More on this vessel Here.