far closer: Nature notes from Haweswater and beyond

Lake View wildlife report for September 2010

2010-10-14T20:42:00.002+01:00

This is written in mid-October, so a bit late with my summary of last month. September saw the end of summer and the beginning of an Autumn bumper fruit harvest. Like everyone, we've got plenty of apples, damsons and plums; come and get some cooking apples and damsons if you wish, both picked and pick-your-own. Some red admiral butterflies found some fallen plums and I took a photo of them eating the sugar.

Caz id'd a Chiffchaff for the first time here by call; it looked slightly different to the normal Willow warblers which would have already gone south. I took a photo of a bathing juvenile robin. The swallows gathered, like notes on a music stave, on our power lines. A swallow or two roosted in our shed, with the last overnight stay on 18th September.

Below is our smallish crop of onions and the remains of our broad bean patch. Our kale goes to seed each year and we string it through the field gate so we can see the birds feeding on them. As an experiment, I made a small haystack after a first late summer cut of the 'meadow' on the 12th. Our three compost heaps are still being used in rotation, with occasional replacement of the front boards; we seem to have stopped bothering to cover them up - my corrugated iron covers are a bit lethal.

We were given 3 more young trees by Wendy, which we managed to squeeze into our already pretty full patch. In shed I found an interesting bit of ironmongery, possibly a chimney access door, or an oven door?

We've helped out at the RSPB Haweswater, both taking down the battle-weary hide shed for the winter, and weeding in the tree nursery.

I took a turn round Swindale and Mosedale. If you look very closely at the photo of Mosedale cottage you can see tree guards along the top of the quarry containing junipers planted by the RSPB:

At the end of the month I bought a copy of Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland: a field guide - quite a thick book with 848 pages which I've yet to get to grips with properly, £24.95. I'm not sure if the binding will last though it is in plastic cover. I'd like an English names index. There's a brief introduction but I'd probably prefer that to be bigger to help the boggled aspirant.

Moths on 3/9/10: Antler 4, Common marbled carpet 2, Flame carpet 1, Lesser Broad-bordered Yello underwing 2, * Phoenix (f) 1, Rosy rustic 1, Large yellow underwing 1, Centre barred sallow 1, Dark sword grass 1.

The linked table below shows the maximum count of each bird species seen, along with best breeding code, primarily in our back garden near Bampton Cumbria in NY51 VC69 (and in our surrounding 1km square) in the period from November 2007 until September 2010, with a total count of 54 species, 24 this month.

Full Lake View Monthly Max Bird Count Seen table

Species	Sept-10
Blackbird	3
Blue tit	10
Brambling
Bullfinch
Buzzard	2
Carrion crow
Chaffinch	10
Chiffchaff	1 S
Coal tit	3
Collared dove
Curlew
Dunnock	2
Fieldfare
Garden Warbler
Goldcrest
Goldfinch	5
Great spotted woodpecker	4
Great tit	3
Greenfinch	2
Grey heron
House martin	2
Jackdaw	8
Jay
Kestrel
Lapwing
Linnet
Long-tailed tit	10
Magpie
Meadow pipit
Mistle thrush
Nuthatch
Peregrine
Pheasant	7
Pied flycatcher
Pied wagtail	1
Raven
Redstart
Redwing
Reed bunting
Robin	2
Siskin
Skylark
Song thrush	1
Sparrowhawk
Spotted flycatcher	1
Starling	1
Stock dove
Swallow	70
Swift
Tawny owl
Willow warbler	2
Woodpigeon	1
Wren	1
Yellowhammer
Total: 54	24

Lake View wildlife report for August 2010

2010-09-06T09:33:00.002+01:00

Come and get both blackcurrant and plum jam from our gate, and raw plums as well! We desperately need more jars to make more jam.

Our bird species count was less this month (because we were away on holiday?) but we saw three species that we hadn't seen before at home: House martins, Pied flycatcher and Meadow pipit. (OK, mipits cannot be far away at Knipe Scar.)

We had a frog in the pond one day. I took some Marsh Marigold seed from Berneray in Scotland; I've sown them in a protected tray, which I'll keep damp before planting out any survivors next year near the pond.

The swallows in the garage second brood fledged on 3 August. Another swallow had been desperate to get into the kitchen shed, but we had kept the door closed. We finally relented when it was too late for another brood; a couple of swallows happily roosted there until the end of the month.

This summer has been very good for vegetables in the garden and fruit on the trees in the field. We had an OK crop of onions; perhaps the dry spell earlier hadn't helped their development and the damper July and August meant a hint of rot. The tatties were good, even some rogue Pink fir apples. As well as some cherry plums, the old plum tree "over the end of the world" did well. This was the tree that had been pruned by chain saw severely earlier on in the year; unfortunately, the weight proved too much and the main branch cracked. Perhaps the good year for produce was a result of the very hard winter; and perhaps the dry spring help. There seemed some less insects around. There were less wasps, though I still managed to get stung two times while mowing over a nest hole in the ground in the field.

Out in the field my planted cornflowers did well. I transferred some cowslip seed into the field; hopefully they will come up next year.

We walked round Riggindale Haweswater on the 29th, stopping off initial for a quick view of the Golden eagle, helpfully located by expert volunteers Pete and Debbie. Then (Caz mostly) identified lots of plants en route round the valley - see the list below. Apparently the eagle flew in the afternoon but we missed it. On the way back down, we stopped at the weir at Blea Tarn; the water was rushing over the weir at regular intervals, say every 30 or 60 seconds, presumably as the tarn was being agitated by the wind. We were just too late down to offer Pete and Debbie some (you guessed it) plum cake.

Riggindale walk: Butterwort, Tormentil, Hare bell, Ling, Lousewort, Other heather, Bedstraw, Eyebright, Scabious, Round-leaved sundew, Hawkweed/bit, Sphagnum, Broom, Bilberyy, Cowberry, Milkwort, ?Scorpidium scorpidiodes, Dor beetle, ?Fairy flax.

Moths 5/8/10: Antler 5, Common Wainscot 9, Snout 1, Large yellow underwing 33, Muslin footman 1, Dark arches 16, * Least yellow underwing 2, * Dotted Clay 3, Burnished brass 2, Scalloped Oak 1, Common footman 3, * Lesser broad-bordered yellow underwing 2, Lesser common rustic 1. Sexton beetle 1 - covered with lots of mites.

Moths 7/8/10: Brimstone 2, Large/Lesser yellow underwing, Antler 2, Burnished brass 1, Grey chi 1, Lesser broad-bordered yellow underwing 3, Common wainscot, Dark arches, Flame shoulder 1, Tawny speckled pug 1, Least common rustic 2, Flame carpet 1, * Broad-bordered yellow underwing 1, * Fan-foot, Rosy rustic 1, Rosy minor 2. Sexton beetle 3

Moths 25/8/10: Yellow underwing 4, Dark acrhes 1, Lesser broad-bordered yellow underwing 2, Flame carpet 1. 3 others.

Moths 29/8/10: Grey chi 2, Rosy rustic 2, Silver Y 1, Antler 1.

The linked table below shows the maximum count of each bird species seen, along with best breeding code, primarily in our back garden near Bampton Cumbria in NY51 VC69 (and in our surrounding 1km square) in the period from November 2007 until August 2010, with a total count of 53 species, 25 this month.

Full Lake View Monthly Max Bird Count Seen table

Species	Aug-10
Blackbird	3
Blue tit	5
Brambling
Bullfinch
Buzzard	2
Carrion crow
Chaffinch	6 S
Coal tit	2
Collared dove
Curlew
Dunnock	3
Fieldfare
Garden Warbler
Goldcrest
Goldfinch	1 S
Great spotted woodpecker	3
Great tit	4
Greenfinch	3
Grey heron
House martin	5
Jackdaw
Jay
Kestrel
Lapwing
Linnet
Long-tailed tit
Magpie
Meadow pipit	6
Mistle thrush
Nuthatch	1
Peregrine	2
Pheasant
Pied flycatcher	1
Pied wagtail	1
Raven	5
Redstart
Redwing
Reed bunting
Robin	1
Siskin
Skylark
Song thrush	1
Sparrowhawk
Spotted flycatcher	1
Starling
Stock dove
Swallow	34 NY
Swift	1
Tawny owl
Willow warbler	1
Woodpigeon	1 S
Wren	2
Yellowhammer
Total: 53	25

North Uist machair, bees and coast, August 2010

2010-08-25T09:29:00.002+01:00

As I type, towards the end of our week on North Uist, it's blowing a gale outside our holiday house. Already this evening's ferry sailings between Uig on Skye and Lochmaddy here have been cancelled. We were booked on a sailing back later tomorrow but we've put it back until Sunday morning, mainly so we get home at a civilised time - we have an 8 hour car journey back.

Earlier today at the great Claddach-Kirkibost cafe, looking out of the window, the nearby rushes were blowing about madly in the wind, like writhing snakes in the grass. Behind, the flooded strand out to Baleshare and Kirkibost was a lovely green in the sun with choppy white tops everywhere. I had splendid mini oatcakes made at the cafe with a selection of cheeses, chutney and salad. Viv's "wee bowl" of butternut and chilli soup was spicy and very warming. We'd been out at Hosta beach this afternoon: windy but dry; gannets were zooming past like concorde as Caz and I explored the coast; Viv did an admirable sketch of the shore; the southerly wind was blowing back the top of the waves out to sea.

Earlier on today at the house while it was raining I did some postcards. Viv was bored so we played top trumps with cans of soup and tomatoes, along with a mind-treasure hunt, describing something in the house for others to guess. As I looked up I happened to spot a male Hen harrier slowly lolloping around looking for prey across the back croft.

Our holiday house at Sollas is owned by a family, whose name Caz had found online as one of those who rebelled against the clearances. The house was built reasonably recently but presumably still on the family croft land. It was described as being on the hill; this being North Uist, the hill was only a few metres above the surroundings, with great views out over the sands to Vallay, with its ruined big house and associated steadings etc.

Our book "The Scottish Islands" (Haswell-Smith) describes Vallay (and Baleshare and Kirkibost as "drying islands" perhaps as it's written from a sailor's point of view; anyway, it means that the island is cut off at high tide but can usually be reached safely at other times. We went out to Vallay, taking the route that vehicles use. We set off as the tide was going out so some of the water was above our ankles. We inspected the house with crow-stepped gables and great interior views of dereliction through a couple of windows where the boarding had come off. The steading's roof had partially collapsed in a lovely curved way. We went over to the other side of the island past weird scarecrows and a permanent kite over the traditional machair crops of rye, oats and barley, with some corn marigolds and tufted vetch growing underneath. Pretty definite spot of a female hen harrier. There were a couple of abandoned good fish boxes which I thought about rescuing for tree nursery work back home. We made our way back in good time, with the kids singing exuberantly across the sands. The following day various farm machinery: cutters, balers and trailers went over the sands to cut the crop.

Caz met our neighbour Angus picking his tatties; he said it had been a bad year for them as July here had been bad, but he was picking them anyway. We saw tatties growing in a few other places. In one spot on Berneray, we passed right by a patch and Caz could not resist picking a few up which were uncovered.

It was Angus' job to scare the geese off the crops on Vallay, so he went over regularly and fired rockets to frighten them off. He also cuts his peats off the "committee road" across the island - built to provide employment in hard times. Angus said his plot was a good place to spot golden eagles. We had seen a pair early on in the week, but none since, which we'd hoped for, since there are 9 pairs here along with 3 pairs of sea eagles. However they can be pretty elusive as we know from Haweswater. We were pleased at seeing the hen harriers; quite a few buzzards as well, but no merlin. Or golden plover, which we thought might have been around. We did see Bar-tailed godwit for the first time, after careful identification by scrutinising lots of photos.

The main exhibition at the Lochmaddy museum, art gallery and cafe was about Vallay's history, including Ernest Beveridge who had the big hoose built, with all mods cons: piped water from the mainland and central heating. There were interesting diary entries; spreading seaware must mean putting seaweed onto the fields, as is still done often traditionally nowadays; There's an organic farm nearby that still does only this; others use commercial fertilisers as these contain Nitrogen which is missing from seaweed which is mainly Potassium and Phosphate.

How come I've got this far without mentioning the birds and bees? OK, I've mentioned some birds and touched upon the machair. At RSPB Balranald, the warden led walk concentrated on the machair, as it's a critical resource in itself and vital for interesting birds such as corncrake and corn bunting. We spotted rare Great Yellow and Moss Carder bumble bees and northern mining bees. The large bees were mainly now on the Knapweed. However they need a succession of flowers over the summer to survive.

The crofters are encourages to set aside rough areas for corncrakes in early summer, and later on cut the crops from the centre towards the outside so the birds aren't stranded in the middle. They cultivate the machair in a 4 year rotation, with 2 years of fallow followed by two years of cropping. Delicate flowers come in for the first fallow year, with hardier ones the next. It was great to see various flowers growing amidst the main crops.

The warden said he'd been here for 20 years. Soon after arriving the postie had asked what could be done about the starlings nesting in the postboxes. They tried putting up a nestbox beside each postbox, but ended up with 2 pairs! So most postboxes now have a flap to stop the starlings getting in - we'd previously assumed it was to keep the weather out.

3 of us went up North Uist's highest hill Eaval (pronounced a-val not evil as we'd imagined). It was boggy on the way. There were some stepping stones over a small river near the beginning which looked odd as seaweed was on the upstream side; we since found out that the upstream loch is tidal - luckily we'd timed it so that it was OK to cross and get back. En route we found a dwarf rowan growing on a rock. Nearby was an interesting dragonfly which we've identified as a male Common Hawker: "They can be quite variable in colour. This one has perhaps lost some of its lustre having been on the wing for a while."

While we were away, Viv back at the house was visited by some Jehova's Witnesses. She was busy with some toast so made her excuses. She could have shown the shelf full of bibles in the porch. Most strange that they are visiting this pretty religious part of the country.

We snatched a snack at the cafe, came home for a quick tea, and then went back to the community centre cafe soon after for a very informative talk on the Insects of the Hebrides by SNH expert Tracey Begg, including more details of the rare bumble bees.

We took almost 1,000 photos on the holiday: here's a few more:

Birds: Bar-tailed Godwit, Black Guillemot, Blackbird, Black-headed Gull (1st summer), Buzzard, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Golden eagle, Great Northern Diver, Great Skua, Greater Black-backed Gull, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Guillemot, Hen Harrier FFM, Herring Gull, Hooded Crow, House sparrow, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Manx Shearwater, Meadow pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Puffin, Raven, Razorbill, Red throated diver?, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Rock Dove, Rock Pipit, Shag, Snipe, Starling, Swallow, Tern (Sort?), Turnstone, Twite, Wheatear, Willow Warbler, Wren

Flowers: Amphibious Bistort, Autumn Gentian, Birds-foot trefoil, Bog Asphodel, Bog Pimpernell, Bogbean, Bugloss, Buttercup, Butterwort, Common Fumitory, Common Poppy, Corn Marigold, Cross-leaved heath, Crowberry, Cut-leaved Cranesbill, Daisy, Devil's bit scabious, Doves' foot cranesbill, Eyebright, Field Pansy, Fir? Clubmoss, Frog Orchid, Hare bell, Kidney Vetch, Knapweed, Ladies Bedstraw, Lousewort, Mare's tail, Michaelmas Daisy, Milkwort, Mugwort, Orache, Oxeye Daisy, Primrose, Ragged Robin, Ragwort, Red Bartsia, Red Clover, Scentless Mayweed, Sea Campion, Sea rocket?, Sea spurge?, Self heal, Silverweed, Sun Spurge, Thrift, Tormentil, Tufted Vetch, White clover, White water lily, Yarrow, Yellow Rattle

Others: St Kilda, Seal, Great yellow Bumble Bee, White-tailed Bumble Bee, Moss carder Bumble bee, Northern mining bee, Hoverfly, Common/Highland Darter, male Common Hawker, Green-veined white, Common blue, Tortoiseshell, Dark arches, Antler, Rosy Rustic, ?Archer's Dart

Lake View wildlife report for July 2010

2010-08-06T20:17:00.004+01:00

The long dry spell has broken, with the weather turning more mixed but not atrocious, causing the hoped-for Mountain Ringlet survey to be abandoned. There was one particularly windy night when someone was camping in our field. That same night, the roof blew off the RSPB Haweswater eagle hide hut roof - we were part of a rescue party that put it back together a few days later.

We've seen two red squirrels at our feeders regularly over the last month, one with a dark back and tail, and another with a light tail. Meanwhile local avid Red Squirrel supporter Wendy has been looking after a red squirrel kitten that was found abandoned by Buttermere. Initially Eddie was inside her house and two of us had him climbing over us, in particular on me as I was taller - a bit tree-like? Later on, he was moved into an outside cage. Some cases of parapox were found nearby killing some reds, so an outer cage was hastily erected to protect Eddie against any contact with infected reds or greys. As I write, he's doing fine and is due to be released shortly.

Our pond has been progressing, with some more plants added. We may have Canadian Pondweed, but it's not taken over so far. We've an offer of some Curly Pondweed so we might go for that. The Water Snails are doing well - laying egg masses on the underside of some floating leaves.

On a walk up onto Knipe Scar, we came across some very large bracket fungus on a sycamore, protruding over a foot...

We did two Bird Atlas summer visits this month, going round two 2km x 2km tetrads to do a bird count for 2 hours, while recording the likelihood of breeding for each species. We use the standard breeding evidence codes - which we also use to record the species in our own garden bird list below. We saw 31 bird species on the first tetrad and 27 in the next. These late summer visits are trickier because all the trees are in full leaf, required us (or rather Caz) to identify the birds by the call or song alone. Caz can now distinguish Garden Warbler and Blackcap. On the way back after the first tetrad we saw a large sessile oak on the road verge; we hugged it to get an estimate of the tree's girth and reported it for The Woodland Trust's Ancient Tree Hunt.

I've put the moth trap out a few times getting some reasonable catches, including some species new for here, including the V moth:

The birds seen at home nicely include a Nuthatch and Bullfinch. The Greater spotted woodpeckers have done well, rearing the usual two young. We've had Swallows nesting in the garage and the log shed, with the garage pair producing two broods. The second brood were above the permanently up (and therefore horizontal) garage door. One young bird fell onto the top of the garage door and died overnight. When another one fell, we rescued it and successfully put it back in the nest. Overall we know of 3 dead young swallows: as well as the one just mentioned, one fell out of first garage nest and another fledged youngster died just recently when it flew into a window. Under the log shed swallow nest was a strange black pile which we think is insect cases dropping to the ground under the nest - see below. We've also seen 3 Peregrines flying overhead, to and fro from a local quarry, being quite noisy, as we understand young peregrines are wont to be. We have also heard a Tawny owl hooting nearby occasionally, but so far not roosting under in the winter roost spruce trees.

The linked table below shows the maximum count of each bird species seen, along with best breeding code, primarily in our back garden near Bampton Cumbria in NY51 VC69 (and in our surrounding 1km square) in the period from November 2007 until July 2010, with a total count of 50 species, 31 this month.

Full Lake View Monthly Max Bird Count Seen table

Species	Jul-10
Blackbird	6 FL
Blue tit	6
Brambling
Bullfinch	1
Buzzard	2
Carrion crow
Chaffinch	7
Coal tit	2
Collared dove
Curlew
Dunnock	4 FL
Fieldfare
Garden Warbler	1
Goldcrest	1 S
Goldfinch	4 S
Great spotted woodpecker	4 FL
Great tit	6 FL
Greenfinch	8
Grey heron
Jackdaw	1
Jay
Kestrel
Lapwing
Linnet	1
Long-tailed tit
Magpie
Mistle thrush	1 S
Nuthatch	1
Peregrine	3
Pheasant	6 FL
Pied wagtail
Raven	2
Redstart	1
Redwing
Reed bunting	1
Robin	2 FL
Siskin
Skylark
Song thrush	1 S
Sparrowhawk	1
Spotted flycatcher	2 FL
Starling
Stock dove	1
Swallow	25 FF
Swift
Tawny owl	1 S
Willow warbler	2
Woodpigeon	2 S
Wren	1
Yellowhammer
Total: 50	31

Lake View wildlife report for June 2010

2010-07-05T15:06:00.004+01:00

Unfortunately, the Spotted Flycatchers didn't seem to breed successfully on our patch, though I did get the nice photo above of one trying to catch a moth behind a summerhouse window. Two pairs of swallows have bred this year (only one last year), in our garage and the log shed. The garage pair have fledged theirs; last year they had 2 broods, so that's possible this year as well. In the last few days, the log shed swallows have been 'mobbing' a red squirrel which has started coming regularly again; I guess a squirrel could easy attack a nest:

In the field, some planted Ragged Robin has been flowering again, and in the house a cactus flowered. I've recently made a new pond for wildlife using a liner obtained for free on Freegle, along with some plants. I obtained some plants and 'seed' water (hopefully containing lots of nice wee beasties) from nearby Wendy's pond - thanks! Some tadpoles snuck in as well - hopefully they'll grow into frogs.

It's been very dry here for the last 2 months. A walk late in June on the High Street hills showed how much Haweswater has gone down, though not by as much as previous drought years says Dave. Nice cotton grass blowing in the wind. I saw 5 Mountain Ringlet butterflies on High Raise, at the top of the area where a survey happens each year by the RSPB; a survey had been planned for a few days later, but the weather finally turned so it was called off; there's still time this year (another couple of weeks). We also have a small trough pond - a toad dropped by briefly for a soak when it was parched all around.

We've had a good rhubarb season - and I made some delish rhubarb and ginger jam. And we've had a good batch of strawberries. The gooseberries etc may be suffering due to lack of rain. So far the apple, plum and damson fruit trees seem to be producing a good amount of fruit; no "June drop" or "Pocket Plum" so far; I wonder if it was the very cold winter or the very dry spring?

My yearly wrestle with the petrol lawnmower has continued, though I just got it working well at the end of the month, having dismantled it a few times...

The linked table below shows the maximum count of each bird species seen, along with best breeding code, primarily in our back garden near Bampton Cumbria in NY51 VC69 (and in our surrounding 1km square) in the period from November 2007 until June 2010, with a total count of 49 species, 28 this month.

Full Lake View Monthly Max Bird Count Seen table

Species	Jun-10
Blackbird	2 FF
Blue tit	3 FL
Brambling
Bullfinch
Buzzard	1
Carrion crow
Chaffinch	6 FF
Coal tit	1
Collared dove
Curlew
Dunnock	4 FL
Fieldfare
Garden Warbler
Goldcrest	1 S
Goldfinch	5
Great spotted woodpecker	3 FL
Great tit	5 FL
Greenfinch	3
Grey heron
Jackdaw	8 NY
Jay
Kestrel
Lapwing
Linnet	2 S
Long-tailed tit
Magpie
Mistle thrush	1 S
Nuthatch
Pheasant	6 FL
Pied wagtail	2
Raven	2 F
Redstart	2 FL
Redwing
Reed bunting
Robin	2 FL
Siskin	2 S
Skylark
Song thrush	1 S
Sparrowhawk
Spotted flycatcher	2
Starling	8 FL
Stock dove	1
Swallow	8 NY
Swift	9
Tawny owl
Willow warbler	2 FF
Woodpigeon	3 S
Wren
Yellowhammer
Total: 49	28

Moths in trap 25 June 2010

2010-06-30T14:39:00.009+01:00

Here's the list of moths etc in our 80W MV Skinner trap on overnight on 25 June 2010. Any suggestions for the photos below very welcome.
* means first sighting here.

Previously on 19 June, I trapped an Elephant Hawkmoth for the first time.

Common Swift x 1
Silver-ground Carpet x 10
Spectacle x 7
Map-winged Swift x 2
The Flame x 1
Peach Blossom x 1
Beautiful Golden Y x 7
Small Magpie x 1
Flame Shoulder x 2
Gray Dagger sp x 1
Coronet x 1
Double-square Spot x 1
* Garden Tiger x 1
Poplar Hawkmoth x 1
* Buff Ermine x 1
Green Carpet x 1
Heart and Dart x 1
* Marbled Minor x 4
* ? Tawny Marbled Minor x 2
Dark Arches x 2
Pale-shouldered Brocade x 2
* Lychnis x 1
Brimstone x 1

Green Carpet

Grey Dagger sp

Marbled Minor

Lychnis moth

Double Square Spot

Buff Ermine

Map-winged Swift

Garden Tiger

?Tawny Marbled Minor

Elephant Hawkmoth

Moths in trap 3 June 2010

2010-06-04T16:13:00.012+01:00

Here's the list of moths etc in our 80W MV Skinner trap on overnight last night. Any suggestions for the photos below very welcome. Thx again to Liz at CumbriaMoths for her help.
* means first sighting here.

I got a Swallow Prominent moth for the first time. I left it in a specimen tube overnight - by morning it had laid some eggs. We decided to try to rescue them. Willow is one of the larvae host plants, so we used PVA glue to stick the eggs to the underside of some leaves on two different willow trees. We've marked some of the leaves with wool.

Cockchafer x 1
Brimstone x 1
Silver Y x 1
Flame Shoulder x 1
Spectacle x 4
Lunar Thorn x 1
Flame Carpet x 1
Common Carpet x 3
White Ermine x 1
* Swallow Prominent x 1
Knot Grass x 3
Common White Wave x 1
Grey Dagger sp x 1
Coronet x 1
Brown silver-line x 1
Pale-shouldered Brocade x 6
Scalloped Hazel x 1
Spruce Carpet x 1
* Alder Moth x 2
* Clouded-bordered Brindle x 1
Foxglove pug x 1

Clouded-bordered Brindle

Common White Wave

Grey Dagger sp

Spruce Carpet

Alder Moth

Pug2

Foxglove Pug

Pale-shouldered Brocade

Swallow Prominent

Pug3

Lake View bird report for May 2010

2010-06-01T22:25:00.006+01:00

I'd just moved one of the bird boxes onto a tree in the open visible from the kitchen window. On the 1st, we had a pair of Redstarts investigating the box, but they didn't stay; they have nested a few years ago in our garage but not this year. We were pleased when a pair of Spotted flycatchers found the box later in the month and seem to be setting up camp there. Again, we've had them before in a different location under the spruce trees.

Caz' ear is definitely getting 'in' as she identified a Garden warbler here, a first for us. She also spotted a Goldcrest family with newly fledged young out and about at the end of the month. Nice to see after the cold winter.

We don't seem to have had Kestrels nesting at the nearby barn this year which is a shame. We had one Tawny Owl roosting in our spruces until the middle of the month, and one sighting at the end.

We had a trip to Dodd Wood to see the Ospreys for the first time. The eggs hadn't hatched but we caught a brief changeover at the nest. We also saw a cuckoo for the first time as we peered down from the top of the Dodd. A nice pair of Jays around. I wore shorts and had to pick off 4 ticks in the next day or two.

I managed a brief walk on the Pennine Way near Alston with Freegle Ed on his way to John O'Groats. There were nice views of Lapwings, probably a Common sandpiper, and nice river-side plants.

The Tawny Owl pellet analysis for April 2010 showed Brown rat appearing in the species list, amongst 31 prey items in 19 pellets. The list in order is: Field vole, Bank vole, Wood mouse, Brown rat, Common shrew, Large bird and Amphibian.

The linked table below shows the maximum count of each bird species seen primarily in our back garden near Bampton Cumbria in NY51 VC69 (and in our surrounding 1km square) in the period from November 2007 until May 2010, with a total count of 48 species.

Full Lake View Monthly Max Bird Count Seen table

Species	May-10
Blackbird	2
Blue tit	2
Brambling
Bullfinch
Buzzard	1
Carrion crow	1
Chaffinch	3
Coal tit	2
Collared dove
Curlew
Dunnock	2
Fieldfare
Garden Warbler	1
Goldcrest	6
Goldfinch	5
Great spotted woodpecker	2
Great tit	2
Greenfinch	2
Grey heron
Jackdaw	4
Jay
Kestrel
Lapwing
Linnet	2
Long-tailed tit
Magpie	2
Mistle thrush	1
Nuthatch
Pheasant	9
Pied wagtail
Redstart	2
Redwing
Reed bunting
Robin	1
Siskin	2
Skylark
Song thrush	1
Sparrowhawk
Spotted flycatcher	2
Starling
Stock dove	4
Swallow	6
Swift
Tawny owl	1
Willow warbler	1
Woodpigeon	1
Wren	1
Yellowhammer
Total: 48	29

Moths in trap 21 May 2010

2010-05-22T19:51:00.028+01:00

Here's the list of moths etc in our 80W MV Skinner trap on overnight last night. Any suggestions for the photos below very welcome. Thanks to Liz at CumbriaMoths for some identifications.
* means first sighting here.

Cockchafer x 3
Peppered x 1
Scalloped hazel x 3
Water carpet x 8
Hebrew character x 13
Common carpet x 2
Garden carpet x 1
Flame carpet x 2
Lunar thorn x 1
* Scorched wing (m) x 1
Brimstone x 2
* Knot grass x 4
Brown silver-line x 1
White ermine x 1
Coronet x 3
* Least black arches x 2
Flame shoulder x 1
* Pale-shouldered brocade x 4
* May highflyer x 1
* Brindled pug x 1
* Foxglove pug x 1
* Dwarf pug x 3
Common Quaker x 1: slightly aberrant with the oval and kidney marks slightly joined
* Agonopterix arenella x 1: slightly faded, overwintered
??possibly some clouded drabs
?Striped twin-spot carpet

Least black arches

Pale-shouldered brocade

Knot grass

Brown silver-line

Common carpet

White ermine

Flame carpet

Scorched wing

Pale-shouldered brocade

Knot grass

Coronet

Scalloped hazel

Lunar thorn

May highflyer

1: Brindled pug

Foxglove pug

3: Dwarf pug

4: Dwarf pug

5: Dwarf pug

Common Quaker

Agonopterix arenella

Scorched wing

Lake View bird report for April 2010

2010-05-01T09:35:00.007+01:00

We had been hoping that the Tawny Owl pair would settle down in my new nest box. However this doesn't seem to have happened. Both were roosting in our spruce trees until 9th April 2010; since then we have only seen one owl. Does this mean that the female is elsewhere? It has been suggested that the owls may not be breeding because they'd have a harsh winter with little food available while snow was covering the ground from December through to March.

Caz has been collecting Tawny Owl pellets from under our spruces since January and sending them off each month for analysis by the Mammal Society. During March 2010, these were the results:

Species	Number of prey items
Field vole	24
Bank vole	16
Wood mouse	2
Common shrew	8
Pygmy shrew	2
Water shrew	2
very large bird	1
amphibian species	2
Total:	57
No of pellets:	33

Pygmy shrew and Water shrew have appeared in the list for the first time. There are no water courses very close to us; the owls must have been ranging wider (down to the River Lowther?). Bird prey items are divided into 5 categories; a 'very large bird' might be a pheasant.

Full Lake View Monthly Max Bird Count Seen table

Species	Apr-10
Blackbird	2
Blue tit	2
Brambling
Bullfinch
Buzzard
Carrion crow	1
Chaffinch	5
Coal tit	1
Collared dove
Curlew
Dunnock	2
Fieldfare	15
Goldcrest	2
Goldfinch	4
Great spotted woodpecker	2
Great tit	1
Greenfinch	4
Grey heron
Jackdaw	6
Jay
Kestrel	1
Lapwing	1
Linnet	1
Long-tailed tit
Magpie
Mistle thrush	1
Nuthatch
Pheasant	1
Pied wagtail
Redstart
Redwing
Reed bunting
Robin	1
Siskin
Skylark
Song thrush	1
Sparrowhawk	1
Spotted flycatcher
Starling	2
Stock dove	2
Swallow	5
Swift
Tawny owl	2
Willow warbler	1
Woodpigeon	1
Wren	1
Yellowhammer
Total: 47	26

Sea eagle seen at Haweswater

2010-04-12T10:59:00.010+01:00

A sea eagle was seen near the Haweswater Golden Eagle at Riggindale yesterday Sunday 11th April 2010. RSPB volunteer warden Pete reports that it was definitely a White-tailed Eagle:

"No doubt whatsoever. Although before I got the scope on it I was hoping it was female golden. Massive wingspan, wings held outstretched, with golden eagle making size comparison easy, fan tail(though not obviously white), protuding head. As it split from golden eagle a raven mobbed it as it left valley over by Kidsty. A moment I do not think i will forget! Dave has said that there was a report of sea eagle [earlier] at Leighton Moss yesterday at 12.50am."

It now seems likely that this sea eagle is a young 2 year old from East Scotland which has been wandering far and had been seen previously near Newcastle, North Yorkshire and Hull. It doesn't have wing tags but is wearing a radio transmitter (not satellite tag). More info on the East Scotland Sea Eagles blog.

The previous day we saw the Golden Eagle being mobbed simultaneously by a Buzzard and a Peregrine during a 45 minute flight. Certainly an eventful weekend.

Lake View bird report for March 2010

2010-04-06T14:40:00.011+01:00

March started off very cold - indeed our shaded front garden had been in permafrost since mid December, and it only thawed out in mid-March, enough to move the spike that holds a peanut feeder.

We saw a good number of bird species, 26, with the return of Curlews nearby and a Pied Wagtail. We were concerned that we'd lost our Wren as none had been seen all month (though one has been seen at the time of writing in April). The continued cold meant we saw a Jay again along with two male Reed Buntings. Nice to see a Goldcrest again. We have been keeping a daily eye on the pair of Tawny Owls that regularly roost in the spruce trees next to our house, noting which trees they roost in each day - still no sign of taking up residence in the Tawny Owl box that I've put up there. The only sign of nest building was from the Jackdaws in the old Barn Owl box.

Full Lake View Monthly Max Bird Count Seen table

Species	Mar-10
Blackbird	6
Blue tit	4
Brambling
Bullfinch
Buzzard
Carrion crow
Chaffinch	8
Coal tit	1
Collared dove
Curlew	2
Dunnock	2
Fieldfare	20
Goldcrest	1
Goldfinch	3
Great spotted woodpecker	2
Great tit	2
Greenfinch	3
Grey heron
Jackdaw	6
Jay	1
Kestrel	1
Linnet
Long-tailed tit
Magpie	1
Mistle thrush	1
Nuthatch
Pheasant	1
Pied wagtail	1
Redstart
Redwing
Reed bunting	2
Robin	2
Siskin
Skylark
Song thrush	2
Sparrowhawk
Spotted flycatcher
Starling	40
Stock dove	2
Swallow
Swift
Tawny owl	2
Willow warbler
Woodpigeon	1
Wren
Yellowhammer
Total: 46	26

Tree planting at Orton 13th and 20th March

2010-03-05T17:06:00.007Z

"Diggin' the Trees" Community woodland planting day at Orton 13th March 2010, 11.00 - 3.00

Please come again on 20 March from 11am until 3pm to help finish the job.

We hope to plant coppice, orchard and nature trail among the majority woodland space. An island of trees surrounded by a sea of sheep grazed pasture.....

Please bring sandwiches though I'm told the Chuch Hall is doing cream teas as it's farmers' market day

Meet near High Rigg, Orton.

Monthly max bird count to Feb 2010

2010-03-03T12:59:00.010Z

Full Lake View Monthly Max Bird Count Seen table

Species	Feb-10
Blackbird	6
Blue tit	4
Brambling
Bullfinch
Buzzard
Carrion crow
Chaffinch	14
Coal tit	2
Collared dove
Curlew
Dunnock	2
Fieldfare	20
Goldcrest
Goldfinch
Great spotted woodpecker	2
Great tit	2
Greenfinch	6
Grey heron	1
Jackdaw	5
Jay	2
Kestrel	1
Linnet
Long-tailed tit
Magpie
Mistle thrush
Nuthatch
Pheasant	1
Pied wagtail
Redstart
Redwing	1
Reed bunting	3
Robin	3
Siskin
Skylark
Song thrush	1
Sparrowhawk	1
Spotted flycatcher
Starling	1
Stock dove	2
Swallow
Swift
Tawny owl	2
Willow warbler
Woodpigeon
Wren	1
Yellowhammer	1
Total: 46	24

Moth records for 2009

2010-03-03T12:37:00.002Z

Here is a summary of my moth records for 2009 for our back garden near Bampton Cumbria in NY51 VC69. The moths were primarily caught using my Skinner trap that has an 80W MV bulb. Our height asl is 260m. The immediate vicinity is rough grassland and mixed woods but very soon we are surrounded by grass sheep fields. Some non-moth records have sneaked in.

Let me know if you have queries about any of these records.

Names	Date	Count	Photo
Hebrew Character	12/04/2009	1
Hebrew Character	20/04/2009	2
Clouded silver	27/05/2009	1	IMGP7046
Flame carpet	27/05/2009	1	IMGP7060
Spectacle	27/05/2009	1	IMGP7059
Brown silver-line	27/05/2009	1	IMGP7065
Flame shoulder	27/05/2009	1	IMGP7063
Brimstone Moth	28/05/2009	1	IMGP7069
Cockchafer	29/05/2009	2	IMGP7082_Cockchafer.JPG
Lunar thorn	29/05/2009	2	IMGP7117a_LunarThorn.JPG
Brimstone Moth	29/05/2009	1	IMGP7118_BrimstoneMoth.JPG
Clouded silver	29/05/2009	1	IMGP7102
Spectacle	29/05/2009	1
Scalloped hazel	29/05/2009	1	IMGP7092
Peppered moth	29/05/2009	1	IMGP7121_PepperedMoth.JPG
Flame shoulder	29/05/2009	1	IMGP7101
Common carpet	29/05/2009	1	IMGP7113_CommonCarpet.JPG
Common marbled carpet	29/05/2009	1	IMGP7108_CommonMarbledCarpet.JPG
Chinese character	29/05/2009	1	IMGP7112a_ChineseCharacter.JPG
Beautiful golden Y	01/06/2009	1	IMGP7140.JPG
Common swift	01/06/2009	1	IMGP7151.JPG
Brown silver-line	01/06/2009	1	IMGP7157.JPG
Ruby tiger	01/06/2009	1	IMGP7154_RubyTiger.JPG
Spectacle	09/06/2009	1
Green carpet	13/06/2009	1	IMGP7183a.jpg
Flame shoulder	13/06/2009	1
Brimstone Moth	13/06/2009	2	IMG_8824.jpg
Beautiful golden Y	13/06/2009	2	IMGP7171.JPG
Lunar thorn	13/06/2009	1	IMG_8843a.jpg
Silver ground carpet	13/06/2009	1	IMGP7177.JPG
Flame shoulder	21/06/2009	1	IMGP7214.JPG
Silver ground carpet	21/06/2009	2	IMGP7202.JPG
Common swift	21/06/2009	2	IMGP7204.JPG,IMGP7229a.JPG
Map winged swift	21/06/2009	1	IMGP7220a.JPG
Spectacle	21/06/2009	1	IMGP7211a.JPG
Silver-ground carpet	24/06/2009	1	IMGP7242.JPG
Map winged swift	24/06/2009	2	IMG_9000.jpg
Common swift	24/06/2009	1
Spectacle	24/06/2009	1
Flame shoulder	24/06/2009	2
Large yellow underwing	24/06/2009	1	IMG_9029a_LargeYellowUnderwing.JPG
Green carpet	24/06/2009	1	IMG_9035.jpg
Beautiful golden Y	24/06/2009	2	IMG_9030a.JPG
Red twin-spot carpet	24/06/2009	1	IMG_9038a.JPG
Coronet	24/06/2009	1	IMG_9042a.JPG
Broken barred carpet	24/06/2009	1	IMG_9015a.JPG
Flame	24/06/2009	1	IMG_9014a_TheFlame.JPG
Map winged swift	26/06/2009	5
Silver Y	26/06/2009	2	IMG_9107.jpg
Green carpet	26/06/2009	1	IMG_9108.jpg
Common swift	26/06/2009	1	IMG_9109.jpg
Beautiful golden Y	26/06/2009	1	IMG_9111a.jpg
Brimstone Moth	26/06/2009	1	IMG_9119.jpg
Silver-ground carpet	26/06/2009	1
Large yellow underwing	26/06/2009	1
Heart and Dart	26/06/2009	1	IMG_9123a.jpg
Light emerald	26/06/2009	1	IMG_9118a.jpg
Spectacle	26/06/2009	1	IMG_9121a.jpg
Flame	26/06/2009	1
Snout	26/06/2009	1	IMG_9112a.jpg
Chimney sweeper	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9238_ChimneySweeper.jpg
Ringlet	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9244a_Ringlet.jpg
Map winged swift	01/07/2009	10	IMG_9247.jpg
Silver-ground carpet	01/07/2009	4
Barred yellow	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9249a_BarredYellow.jpg
Spectacle	01/07/2009	2	IMG_9288.jpg
Flame shoulder	01/07/2009	2	IMG_9276.jpg
Light emerald	01/07/2009	3	IMG_9270.jpg
Peppered moth	01/07/2009	1	IMGP7284a_Peppered.jpg
Green carpet	01/07/2009	2	IMG_9289.jpg
Silver Y	01/07/2009	2
White ermine	01/07/2009	2	IMG_9294.jpg,IMGP7279a_WhiteErmine.jpg
Barred straw	01/07/2009	3	IMGP7269a_BarredStraw.jpg
Poplar hawkmoth	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9302a_PoplarHawkmoth.jpg
Grey dagger	01/07/2009	1	IMGP7285a_Dagger.jpg
Common footman	01/07/2009	1
Swallow prominent	01/07/2009	1	IMGP7292a_SwallowProminent.jpg
Lempke's gold spot	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9259b_LempkesGoldSpot.jpg,IMGP7266a_LempkesGoldSpot.jpg
Burnished brass	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9327a_BurnishedBrass.jpg
Common wave	01/07/2009	1	IMGP7282a.jpg
Plain golden Y	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9297a.jpg
Snout	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9287a.jpg,IMG_9316a_Snout.jpg
Flame	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9280a_TheFlame.jpg
Muslin footman	01/07/2009	1	IMGP7270a_MuslinFootman.jpg
Dark arches	01/07/2009	5	IMG_9312b.jpg
Brown china-mark	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9313a.jpg
Clay	01/07/2009	1	IMGP7307a_GrassVeneer.jpg
Garden Grass-veneer	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9312a.jpg
Small magpie	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9305a_SmallMagpie.jpg
Small dusty wave	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9267a.jpg
Ingrailed clay	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9309a.jpg
Coronet	01/07/2009	1	IMG_9310a.jpg
Spruce carpet	01/07/2009	1	IMGP7308a.jpg
Map winged swift	05/07/2009	9	IMGP7331.JPG
Silver-ground carpet	05/07/2009	1	IMGP7325.JPG
Brimstone Moth	07/07/2009	1
Flame shoulder	07/07/2009	1
Silver Y	07/07/2009	1
Silver-ground carpet	07/07/2009	1
Dark arches	07/07/2009	1
Snout	08/07/2009	3	IMG_9385.jpg
Map winged swift	08/07/2009	3
Flame	08/07/2009	1
Brimstone Moth	08/07/2009	1
Silver-ground carpet	08/07/2009	1
Snout	09/07/2009	4
Flame shoulder	09/07/2009	2
Silver-ground carpet	09/07/2009	1
Ghost moth	09/07/2009	1	IMG_9419a_Ghost_Female.jpg
Large yellow underwing	09/07/2009	1	IMG_9407.jpg
Muslin footman	09/07/2009	1
Antler moth	09/07/2009	1	IMG_9406a_Antler.jpg
Flame	09/07/2009	2
Brimstone Moth	09/07/2009	1
Green carpet	09/07/2009	1
Barred yellow	09/07/2009	1
Barred straw	09/07/2009	2
Dark arches	09/07/2009	1	IMG_9399a_DarkArches.jpg
Flame carpet	09/07/2009	1	IMG_9415a_FlameCarpet.jpg
Double square spot	09/07/2009	1	IMG_9422a_DoubleSquareSpot.jpg
Silver Y	09/07/2009	1	IMGP7338a_SilverY.jpg
Coronet	09/07/2009	1	IMG_9420a.jpg
Common carpet	09/07/2009	1	IMGP7355a_CommonCarpet.jpg
Muslin footman	01/08/2009	1
Map winged swift	01/08/2009	2	img10213a.jpg
Gold spot	01/08/2009	1	img10222a.jpg,img10235a.jpg
Burnished brass	01/08/2009	1
Clay	01/08/2009	1	img10259a.jpg
Common plume	01/08/2009	1	img10249a.jpg
Antler moth	01/08/2009	1	img10250a_Antler.jpg
Twin-spot carpet	01/08/2009	1	img10215a.jpg
Riband wave	01/08/2009	1	img10233a_RibandWave.jpg
Scalloped oak	01/08/2009	1	img10248a.jpg
Dark arches	01/08/2009	1	img10220a_DarkArches.jpg
Brimstone Moth	05/08/2009	1
Antler moth	05/08/2009	1
Large yellow underwing	05/08/2009	10	img10271
Dark arches	05/08/2009	1
Silver Y	05/08/2009	1	img10278
Muslin footman	05/08/2009	1
Snout	05/08/2009	3	img10276a
Flame carpet	05/08/2009	1	img10280a_FlameCarpet
Common footman	05/08/2009	1
Riband wave	05/08/2009	1	img10264a_RibandWave
Sexton beetle	07/08/2009	1	IMGP7400a_SextonBeetle
Antler moth	07/08/2009	3
Large yellow underwing	07/08/2009	10	img10329a
Dark arches	07/08/2009	1	img10321
Burnished brass	07/08/2009	1	img10335a_BurnishedBrass
Common footman	07/08/2009	1
Barred straw	07/08/2009	1	img10342a_BarredStraw
Muslin footman	07/08/2009	1	IMGP7402a_MuslinFootman
Barred Red	07/08/2009	1	IMGP7398_BarredRed
Rosy Minor	07/08/2009	1	img10370a_RosyMinor
Tawny speckled pug	07/08/2009	1	img10362a_TawnySpeckledPug
Twin-spot carpet	07/08/2009	1	IMGP7396a_TwinSpotCarpet
Snout	07/08/2009	1	img10337a_Snout
Silver ground carpet	07/08/2009	1	img10353a
large yellow underwing	16/08/2009	5
Silver Y	16/08/2009	1	img10409_SliverY
Common carpet	16/08/2009	4	img10411_CommonCarpet
Flame carpet	16/08/2009	4	img10405_FlameCarpet
Large yellow underwing	17/08/2009	5	img10420a_YellowUnderwing
Flame carpet	17/08/2009	2
Common carpet	17/08/2009	1	img10431a_CommonCarpet
Grey chi	17/08/2009	2	img10432_GreyChi
Snout	17/08/2009	1
Centre-barred sallow	17/08/2009	1	img10430a_CentreBarredSallow
Dark arches	17/08/2009	1
Flounced rustic	21/08/2009	1	img10445a_FlouncedRustic
Dark arches	21/08/2009	1
Flame shoulder	21/08/2009	1
Large yellow underwing	21/08/2009	1
Garden Carpet	22/08/2009	2	img10469a_GardenCarpet
Antler moth	22/08/2009	1
Large yellow underwing	22/08/2009	5
Dark arches	22/08/2009	1
Flame shoulder	22/08/2009	1
Centre-barred sallow	22/08/2009	2	img10466_CentreBarredSallow
Flame carpet	22/08/2009	1
Common marbled carpet	26/08/2009	2	img10473a_CommonMarbledCarpet
Flame shoulder	26/08/2009	1
Centre-barred sallow	26/08/2009	3
Grey chi	26/08/2009	2
Large yellow underwing	26/08/2009	10
Common carpet	26/08/2009	1
Dark marbled carpet	27/08/2009	1
Grey chi	27/08/2009	1
Silver Y	02/09/2009	1
Lesser yellow underwing	05/09/2009	1
Common marbled carpet	05/09/2009	2
Large yellow underwing	07/09/2009	1
Garden Carpet	07/09/2009	1
Silver Y	07/09/2009	1
Autumn green carpet	07/09/2009	1	img10500a_AutumnGreenCarpet
Lesser yellow underwing	10/09/2009	1
Large yellow underwing	10/09/2009	1
Garden Carpet	10/09/2009	1
Grey chi	14/09/2009	1
Large yellow underwing	14/09/2009	3
Lesser yellow underwing	14/09/2009	1
Dark arches	14/09/2009	1
Red-green carpet	14/09/2009	2	img10515_RedGreenCarpet
Dark arches	17/09/2009	1
Large yellow underwing	17/09/2009	1
Silver Y	18/09/2009	1
Large yellow underwing	18/09/2009	23
Lesser yellow underwing	18/09/2009	2
Pine carpet	18/09/2009	2
Dark arches	18/09/2009	1
Autumnal rustic	18/09/2009	1	img10537a_AutumnalRustic
Large wainscot	18/09/2009	1	img10541a_LargeWainscot
Red-green carpet	18/09/2009	2
Centre-barred sallow	18/09/2009	1
Spruce carpet	18/09/2009	1	img10540_SpruceCarpet
Rosy rustic	18/09/2009	2	img10538a_RosyRustic
Common marbled carpet	19/09/2009	1
Black rustic	19/09/2009	1	img10543_BlackRustic
Large yellow underwing	19/09/2009	13
Autumn green carpet	19/09/2009	1
Silver Y	19/09/2009	1
Rosy rustic	19/09/2009	1
Spruce carpet	23/09/2009	10
Lesser yellow underwing	24/09/2009	1
Common marbled carpet	24/09/2009	2
Spruce carpet	24/09/2009	2
Rosy rustic	25/09/2009	1
Green-brindled crescent	25/09/2009	1	IMGP7446a_GreenBrindledCrescent
Autumn green carpet	25/09/2009	4	IMGP7447
Large yellow underwing	25/09/2009	5
Spruce carpet	25/09/2009	4
Red-green carpet	01/10/2009	1
Spruce carpet	01/10/2009	1
Silver ground carpet	05/10/2009	1
Spruce carpet	13/10/2009	2
Yellow-line quaker	13/10/2009	1	IMGP7453a_YellowLineQuaker
Brown-spot pinion	13/10/2009	1	IMGP7452a_BrownSpotPinion
November Moth agg.	13/10/2009	1	IMGP7458a_November
Feathered thorn	15/10/2009	2	img10660a_FeatheredThorn
Spruce carpet	15/10/2009	5
Red-green carpet	15/10/2009	2	img10659a_RedGreenCarpet
November Moth agg.	15/10/2009	2
Rosy rustic	15/10/2009	1	img10665a_RosyRustic
Spruce carpet	17/10/2009	4
November Moth agg.	17/10/2009	1
Red-green carpet	17/10/2009	1
Total species count: 81		Total moths count: 436

Winter here and there

2009-12-27T19:47:00.009Z

The long snowy spell for the last week or so has been beautiful, although a bit treacherous at times. The number of birds outside our kitchen window has increased dramatically, going from 2 blackbirds initially to about 10 once word had got around; there were 4 robins and 10 starlings, some standing on top of each other. We've had to put out prodigious amounts of seeds and peanuts, as well as keep the water bowls free of ice - and bread at times. A red squirrel visited us a couple of times.

The view towards High Street and Haweswater has been amazing:

Viv and I made a couple of snow robins, although it looks very bloody:

On short walks towards Knipe Scar, we've seen lapwings and fieldfares by the small streams nearby, along with a grey wagtail. The stonechat high in the ash tree confused us initially as these aren't normally so high. Further on we saw fallow deer nipping away through the woods, and interesting tracks through the snow.

Can you suggest a caption for the photo of this wren underneath a large rook's nest?

We found time for the odd snowball, but quite powdery snow so it didn't hurt, though cold going down your neck.

Can you see why this local feature is called "the eyebrows":

After being out, we've treated ourselves to some pancakes, made using soya milk and no eggs as normal:

Leighton Moss birds, 8 Dec 2009

2009-12-08T21:17:00.010Z

Us, the volunteers at the RSPB Haweswater reserve today had an end of year trip down to Leighton Moss, just outside Cumbria, driven and lunched by our knowledgeable RSPB staffers Spike and Dave. OK - it was a Christmas trip.

We got a treat with Bearded tits, a Cetti's warbler, Marsh tits, side-by-side Redshank and Spotted Redshank, and a Kingfisher to finish off - with clear December visibility while the light lasted.

Walking towards the Public Hide, we soon heard Water rails' unusual shrieking, almost like a bird of prey. About 10 Bearded Tits were coming to the grit trays by the footpath. The others identified a Cetti's warbler by the path - I got a glimpse of the cocked tail, a bit like a Wren but much bigger. A pair of reed buntings also came down to the path.

There wasn't a vast array on the water at the Public Hide, but plenty of Coots and Tufted duck, with a cormorant going overhead. The path round through the trees to the Lower Hide was plentiful, with a first for me, Marsh tits, and 3 Treecreepers, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Chaffinch, Great tit, Siskin, Blue tit and Long-tailed tit, with some plentiful ear fungus and candle snuff fungus.

At the Lower Hide, we saw Gadwall close up, Teal, Wigeon, Greylag geese, Cormorant and a Black-headed gull. On the way back to some large cakes we picked up some Spindle red fruit.

In the afternoon we headed round to the "salt water" hides Allen and Eric Morecambe, the latter sloping downwind. There was a ringed Raven but we couldn't get a close view. Lots of Lapwing were a delight. Spike spotted a Spotted Redshank and we were able to see it right beside an ordinary Redshank as a good comparison: longer straighter bill and longer legs. There was also Shelduck, Shoveler, Pintail, Mute Swan, Greenshank and Gray Heron. "It's all about birds of prey" said Dave, unsuccessfully scanning all the visible fenceposts - though we finished off with fine views of a Kingfisher on close-by fence-posts.

On the way back we parked in a nearby layby to view the starlings. Only a few were seen, but we were rewarded with lots of Little Egrets like cotton wool in a distant tree coming into roost - after a while they moved more into the tree undergrowth. I estimated by 30 but Spike insists that flocks are always undercounted, so it could have been more.

Bracken fiddleheads and fungi

2009-11-01T10:07:00.007Z

An email came through recently asking if I had any dried bracken for sale. Did you mean the photo of dried bracken - on the right? No, yer actual dried bracken! And what colour is it after boiling? Stupid here actually went and collected some dead bracken and tried boiling it - made a terrible smell in the kitchen.

After applying a brain cell, I looked up bracken and found that the tightly furled young bracken shoots are called fiddleheads - so called because they each look like the scroll at the top of a fiddle/violin. Now, fiddleheads are edible apparently, provided you boil them long enough - that's a project to try in spring. (Fiddleheads would be a great name for a band - and sure enough, it is the name of a band! Or two...)

Round here, bracken is viewed as bit of a pain, as it is poisonous to some animals - and tends to squash the small saplings that the RSPB have planted out round Haweswater. However it is harvested commercially by the local Dalefoot Composts to make various composts - I added their use and link to the bracken wikipedia entry.

On my stomp to get some bracken, I came across some nice fungi on Knipe Scar, in particular what I think is Golden Spindles Clavulinopsis fusiformis. Here are some others I photographed but not identified:

Earlier in the week in the Naddle oak woods, I saw a nice Hen of the Woods fungus and what I think is Moasaic Puffball as we collected acorns:

Westmorland Damsons for sale

2009-09-27T19:20:00.005+01:00

We have limited supplied of Westmorland Damsons for sale at our gate for £1.50 per lb.

These damsons make excellent jam, though it is hard work de-stoning the mixture. 5 or 6 lb of damsons makes about 12 standard jars of jam.

We were given suckers from Lyth Valley damsons several years ago. We have tended our five trees without chemicals, with occasional pruning. The trees suffer from Pocket Plum disease (also known as Bent Banana!) so we pick this infected fruit off mid-summer and now in Autumn during picking. Some view this disease as a useful means of reducing the load on the tree so the crop quality is better. We may have some spare suckers.

Please use my work Contact Form if you want to get in touch

Nature update: moths, beetles and wasp

2009-08-17T09:51:00.009+01:00

The first moth reports are in our back garden, near trees, wild areas and grassland. * means new for here
Various other moths still need to be identified from these nights.
Will add photos at some point.

1 August 2009 overnight
Yellow underwings, Muslin footman, 2 x ?wainscot*, 2x Map-winged swift, Gold spot, Burnished brass, Clay, Common plume, Antler, Twin-spot carpet*, Riband wave*, Scalloped Oak*

5 August 2009 late evening
Brimstone, Antler, Yellow underwings, Dark arches, Silver Y, Muslin footman, Snout, Flame carpet, Common footman, Riband wave

7 August 2009 overnight
Sexton beetle (Nicrophorous investigator)*
Yellow underwings, 3 x Antler, Dark arches, Burnished brass, Common footman, Barred straw, Muslin footman, Barred red*, Rosy minor*, Tawny speckled pug*, Twin-spot carpet*

16 August 2009 briefly late evening
Sexton beetle
Large yellow underwing, Silver Y, Flame carpet, 4 x Common carpet, micro: possibly Eudonia mercurella*

Tarn Hows moth evening, 12 August 2009 late evening
At the Butterfly Conservation Society event at the National Trust visitor centre car park at Tarn Hows, quite a few carpets were identified, including (provisionally?) the rare Yellow-ringed carpet. Also nice Phoenix and Small phoenix, Square spot rustic, Green carpet, Common carpet, Flame carpet, Snout and Dark marbled carpet. Unfortunately we didn't see the rare Netted carpet which might have been nearby.

Burnbanks, 12 August 2009
We saw a digger wasp in a picnic table, carrying in paralysed flies. The only one that we could find listed that digs in wood is Ectemnis cavifran.

Lewis Outer Hebrides species report

2009-07-31T09:33:00.018+01:00

We've just had a good 11 day family holiday on Lewis, Outer Hebrides, staying for a week at Port Nis (Ness) near the Butt of Lewis, and then camping for the remainder at Cnip campsite near Valtos/Riof/Uig.

Our arrival was delayed as the Isle of Lewis ferry had suffered mechanical difficulties the previous day. CalMac got it fixed during the Saturday and we finally got away at 1:30am on the Sunday. We were slightly surprised to be filmed and waved at when we arrived at 4:30am, but this was the day of the first scheduled Sunday sailing from Stornoway; going by the TV news later, this seemed to be be widely welcomed with only a few dissenting souls.

We had been on the look out for dolphins, propoises and whales all week, but only saw a few seals and possible hint of an otter. Apart that is, from the dead pilot whale calf washed up at Europie beach. On the way back from Stornoway to Ullapool, we were pleasantly surprised to find that there was a wildlife watching event on board, various helpers from SNH, MCS, RSPB etc looking for dolphins, propoises, whales and birds. A useful new SNH booklet was launched: Marine Life from Boat and Coast: a sightings guide for North-west Scotland. I saw Manx shearwater and Puffin, and a floating deceased cetacean. It would have been helpful if all the helpers had prominent badges on so we could identify them. We did not see any publicity for the event at Ullapool or Stornoway terminals, nor on the CalMac web site when we booked. It was good to chat to someone from the MCS about our plastic bag free campaigns.

[Later: more suggestions for wildlife watching event. This is a great idea, even though it will be very hard to point things out to people as everything whizzes by very fast on a ferry - and things are usually at a distance. For the same reason, there might not be many occasions when it is possible to announce something to spot over the tannoy, except when near port. So, tell people to shout quickly to one of the observers if they spot something. Have a waterproof white board on deck to list all things spotted - this will act as a focal point. Talking to punters and having spare binoculars to help spot more common occurrences such as birds was good. Have wildlife posters up permanently inside would be good, eg the Lewis&Harris SNH poster. I'd suggest setting up watch stations on land on good view points with telescopes, eg run by volunteers, would be useful and would raise awareness (we didn't go to Tiumpan Head - what's there?) Ideally there should always be someone on longer summer ferry crossing (during day time) to spot wildlife, with permanent telescopes fixed onto the deck; I know that the ferry to North Spain over the Bay of Biscay is used for special whale watching trips, with special access to high decks. ]

The gannets were amazing, visible from our cottage windows fishing at Port Nis and all along the coast. Plenty of arctic terns said hello - Caz here seemed to want to be attacked. The machair on the west coast was amazing. Elsewhere there was lots of horsetail around. Hearing my first corncrakes was great, as well as seeing a red throated diver family on an inland lochan, with one parent bringing in a fish. The hare bells at Cnip were the largest we've ever seen, three headed monsters.

Birds: Gannet, Fulmar, Razorbill, Arctic Tern, Shag, Cormorant, Herring gull, Pied wagtail, Oyster catcher, Greylag goose, Arctic skua (pale+dark morphs), Black Guillemot, Guillemot, Kittiwake, Great black-backed gull, Rock dove, Blackbird, Great skua, Rock pipit, Black headed gull, House sparrow, Ringed plover, Raven, Lesser black-backed gull, Corncrake, Curlew, Starling, Buzzard, Mute swan, Eider, Dunlin, Shelduck, Redshank, Hooded crow, Sanderling, Meadow pipit, Wren, Golden plover, Snipe, Stonechat, Red throated diver, Common gull, Lapwing and Gray heron.

Flowers: Bog asphodel, Sundew, Birds foot trefoil, Butterwort, Lousewort, Eyebright, Ragged robin, Meadow Cranesbill, Heath spotted-orchid, Horsetail, Bog pimpernel, Red clover, Ragwort, White clover, Field gentian, Sea mayweed, Tufted vetch, Sea sandwort, Thrift, Red bartsia, Brooklime, Self-heal, Crowberry, Marsh marigold, Yellow rattle, Milkwort, Wild carrot, Devil's bit scabious, Kidney vetch, Sea campion, Yarrow, Bistort, Silverweed, Primrose, Knapweed, Lesser meadow-rue, Spearwort, Bogbean, Scots lovage, Cross-leaved heath, Ling, Bell heather, Hare bell, Rose root, Hawksbeard, Stone crop and Moss campion.

There were probably more types of orchid, but we aren't experts on their id. There was possibly another sort of gentian.

We also saw several butterflies (painted lady, tortoiseshell and meadow brown), moths (antler, dark arches, northern rustic) and lots of rabbits (several very black coloured).

Golden eagle viewpoint 11 July 2009

2009-07-12T11:13:00.007+01:00

Caz, Angela and Phil were the volunteers on duty at the RSPB Haweswater golden eagle viewpoint yesterday.

Eagle spotted at lunchtime on lower Short Stile near crag-fast sheep. Flew to top nest crag and perched for a couple of hours, in a rocky alcove to the right of nest, barely visible. At 2:30pm, flew towards middle nest and perched on a tree very close to the nest. Clearly visible - preening loose feathers - mobbed by a male ring ouzel which bravely perched on the same tree for a while. Eagle flew again at 3:30pm and was lost to sight.

One of the visitors thought that it was incredible they'd gone for a short stroll and seen two rare birds in one go - on the same branch!

Weather: clear and bright, clouding over after lunch. Visitors: 20

Moths in trap on 9 July 2009

2009-07-10T12:00:00.016+01:00

Here's the moths found in our Skinner trap last night - light only on for about an hour. Some ids still needed.

Snout x 4
Flame-shouldered x 2
Silver-ground carpet x 1
Large yellow underwing x 1
Muslin footman x 1
The Flame x 2
Brimstone x 1
Green carpet x 1
Barred yellow x 1
Barred straw x 2
Double square spot x 1
~~Unknown~~ Common Carpet x 1
Unknown x 1
Ghost moth - female x 1
Silver Y x 1
~~Unknown~~ Coronet x 1
Flame carpet x 1
Unknown x 1
Unknown (?Chrysoteuchia culmella) x 1
Antler x 1
Unknown (?Ingrailed Clay) x 1
Dark arches x 2
Unknown x 1

Buzzard tried to pirate Peregrine's prey

2009-07-09T18:23:00.010+01:00

This is an old sighting, from 2007, but as it was a rather special event, I think it's worth reporting now - written by DS who was running our RSPB Haweswater volunteer working party of four, accompanied by my photos.

A failed attempt by a Buzzard to pirate a Peregrine's prey

On 11th December 2007 at 10.30 am on the northwest side of Haweswater Reservoir our group were alerted to a peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus kill above us by a dull thud! We were unable to identify the prey item but believe it to have been either a Wood Pigeon or a male kestrel. A second peregrine was in the vicinity and the kill may have been the result of co-operative hunting. The bird carrying the prey attempted to head east across the reservoir but the item appeared to be too heavy and the peregrine got progressively lower. We also became aware that a common buzzard Buteo buteo was following the falcon about 20 metres behind. When level with the surface of the water the peregrine dropped its kill and the buzzard alighted on the water presumably in an attempt to retrieve the food! Both peregrines circled the buzzard briefly in agitated fashion and were extremely vocal. One came and briefly landed in a dead tree within 20 metres of us and close to the original kill site. Following this, attention switched to the buzzard and subsequent behaviour by the peregrines was not noted though they took no further interest in the buzzard or prey.

The buzzard was floundering in the water a good 200 metres from the shore. For the next 30 minutes, during which time it was briefly circled over by an inquisitive grey heron Ardea cinerea, it flapped its way in short burst to the safety of the shore. Disappointingly, it did not have the prey item in its possession! Having made dry land it stood bedraggled for several minutes next to large boulder. At this point we left, but the bird was no longer in the same position when we returned about an hour later. A Buzzard, possibly the same bird, was however flying from tree to tree adjacent to the shore in the same vicinity.

Luckily I had my camera out, and caught some of the action, even though it was quite far away:

Peregrine with prey:

Buzzard swimming to shore:

Buzzard reaching shore:

Bedraggled buzzard drying off:

Moths in trap on 27 May 2009

2009-07-09T17:01:00.006+01:00

Let's start by listing the moths found in our Skinner moth trap on the night of 27 May 2009 at our house. The trap has an 80W mercury vapour blub. The trap was just on late in the evening - not overnight. If you can identify any unknowns, or think our ids are wrong, let me know - very possible.

Clouded silver x 1

Spectacle x 1

Brown silver-line x 1

Flame shoulder x 1

Flame carpet? x 1