The cold weather and my adjusted feeding regime have led to a new regular visitor to the garden.
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Red Squirrel, actually just out of the garden but a regular visitor in the last couple of weeks.
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This species is undeniably cute. We usually have one, but occasionally two turn up. The Bank Voles continue to be active in the wall by the feeders, and pretty much everywhere else, I if I take the time to look. Less welcome are the mice in the garage. These are probably Wood Mouse, deployment of the camera trap may be required, indeed deployment of live traps to remove the wee beasties may have to be considered. Roe Deer have only once made it into the garden but are regular close by and Red Deer are a possibility, I'd probably need to leave a tempting snack on the grass.
More cold weather and an accidental spill of nyjer seed brought 49 Chaffinch into the garden. One new species for the patch has been Lapwing, Sparrowhawk sightings are more frequent and Redwing are a constant presence although the Fieldfares seem to have moved through. The kite roost probably continues to include upwards of 80 birds, but counting them is not the easiset. And Woodpigeon numbered a record day count, with a single flock of 350+ the highlight.
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Bullfinch, these have been feeding around the garden in the cold.
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More delving in the fridge produced some interesting and new moths. I'd caught a couple of ear moths in September. Despite being macros the dissections of these are not necessarily definitive. The four species can be paired and habitat and distribution are helpful. One of these was a male and certainly Large Ear Amphipoea luscens. The other was a female and somewhat confusing as a feature highlighted on Moth Dissection is said by Chris Lewis (British Lepidoptera) to be difficult and perhaps unreliable. In the end I decided that on the balance of characters, distribution and habitat it had also to be A. luscens but it was a useful lesson in figuring these out.
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Female genitalia Amphipoea luscens.
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Amphipoea luscens, female, I believe.
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Male Amphipoea luscens Large Ear.
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A. luscens, male gendet, no doubt about this one, although there could have been fewer bubbles in the prep'.
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There were a couple of micros to work out as well. A somewhat worn, tiny white beast puzzled me, but the AI gave me a 100% certainty for Elachista maculicerusella. Checking in the books proved this to be correct so I didn't bother to dissect it. Reed Canary Grass Leafminer is, I think, the new colloquial name for this species.
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Elachista maculicerusella.
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The other micro proved to be more troublesome, I initially thought it was a Coleophora species but when I posted it with its dissection online I was helped to the correct family and fairly soon to an identification of Ypsolopha ustella (thanks BS). This would be the 7th VC record of this species, so well worth dissecting.
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| Male gendet Ypsolopha ustella. |
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Ypsolopha ustella male.
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A couple of water beetles were identified, the best of which was the distinctive, but apparently not especially common Strictonectes lepidus.
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| Strictonectes lepidus. |
In this period I also had a bit of a mooch around the White Church cemetery, and found a few fungi. It will be worth further exploration I suspect. At the moment the photos are evading me. So some pictures from around the patch instead.
