Pre-snow Park

Wind back to Friday, cause for one reason or another I've not been arsed to sit at the PC to sort out some pics and post. For the first time in a fair while, I was forced to be up and out relatively early. It was bloody cold and frosty, requiring a good window scraping before I could get going. I was heading out to get my first Covid vaccine dose - yes, I can't believe it happened either and I'll put it down to the efficiency of my GP Surgery and local NHS Trust rather than anything to do with the shower in Parliament. I'm not the first in our household to have it, as Isabelle got hers the week before as a frontline Nurse. She had the 'Pfizer should be three-week interval between doses but being strung out to twelve' vaccine and I've had the 'AstraZeneca derived from adenovirus extracted from Chimpanzee shite' vaccine. There was no choice in the matter. My arm does ache like buggery, whilst when I had the flu vaccine I felt nowt. However I have not grown excess hair or started craving PG Tips tea.

Anyway, I had to go to a vaccination hub that has been set up in a large event hire type place called The Kube that is right next to Oadby racecourse. On the aerial shot below, it is the right-hand red dot. The other red dot denotes the car park for Knighton Park, which as you can see appears to have something resembling woodland. It also happens to be just within the 5MR boundary, and the roadway between the two is the main road to head back home ....

After the jab I nipped over to see my Mum, just a bit further north on the edge of the City boundary, and then on the way home I decided to drop into the park for a mooch about. By then it was c10:00, crisp and bright. But it was late enough that there were plenty of dog-walkers trawling the main path and also mums with tots starting to gather around the play areas. As ever, it's easy enough to walk away from the madding crowd and enjoy some space, and as usual I've managed to grab a few snaps that make the place look a whole lot emptier than it actually was. I couldn't erase the noise of screaming kids though.

Knighton Park is long established, and has big areas with planted trees, some formal gardens, kids play area and butts onto some big open sports fields. It is exactly the sort of place within my 5MR that is likely to be a good bet for some species that might otherwise be found in woodland. I had bins, and enjoyed the quick walk around, but sadly did not see or hear what I was hoping for, ie: Treecreeper, Nuthatch and Siskin. I suspect a proper look around earlier in the morning and perhaps a couple of weeks or so later will be much more productive. I did find a small group of Goldcrests in the conifers in the above shot though.

I could only give it c45mins as I had another GP Surgery appointment to get to. Later in the afternoon, I had a walk out into the square and a bit beyond, heading down the lane, onto the meadows area and then walked Whetstone Gorse Lane. Still no Skylark - where are they? Another Red Kite drifted over, and I found a big mixed flock of Fieldfare (c150) Redwing (c80) and Starlings feeding in a flooded stretch of the meadows. The whole flock was very flighty so I couldn't get anywhere near for closer shots and left them to it quickly.

Whilst walking back toward home along Whetstone Gorse Lane, I took this photo on my phone which preceded the most bizarre birding experience I've had for a while ....

Just as the phone hit my pocket, an unmistakeable raucous squawk hit my earholes and I lifted the bins to see a Ring-necked Parakeet flying directly above and following the line of the trees you can see on the left in the above shot. This is the middle of sterile farmland in Leics. - not Surrey. We have had numerous sightings over the years in Leics. and Rutland of odd individuals that the former County Recorder always dismissed. However in the last decade, and particularly in the last three or four years there has been an increase in sightings and it has been added to the County list. We now appear to have two resident and growing populations - one in Evington and one in Braunstone. Neither of which I've ever made an effort to see, so this bizarre flyover was a County Tick! And it's not even my first VC55 parrot - years ago I was bemused to find a Budgie at Ketton Quarry.

All of this preceded the snow that we've had since. It snowed a little on Friday night, but that didn't last much beyond Saturday late morning. It started again last night which has just continued on and off through the day. I've been watching the garden feeders expecting something to drop in but no - just the same regular crowd. No Great Spotted Woodpecker so far this year, and no Bullfinch either. We've been getting up to 15 or so Goldfinches at a time for weeks, but today we had a flock of c40 battling for feeder space. Also one or two Greenfinches at a time but only briefly and generally once or twice a day. This is completely the other way around to how our garden feeders were a couple of decades a go when Greenfinches always markedly outnumbered Goldfinches. We've also had a couple of brief Chaffinches today - again they used to turn up here much more regularly.

The snow is still lying now, and has already just about recovered footsteps around the feeders. It's not exactly deep, but the kids around the estate have made the most of the day. I doubt it'll last too long though, back to floods next week I expect.

Here's some charmingly witty jingoistic 70s/80s television advertising ....

Pull out the Pin

Not much about the garden today. Warm during sunny spells, nippy during cloudy spells, and constantly blustery. Whilst out on a phone call though I noticed what appeared to be a small (c5mm) male hoverfly sitting doing nothing. I went in to grab a pot and refound it in the same area but now on a buttercup flower. Whilst it looked distinctly like a hoverfly, it wasn't acting like one and potting it was easy. No distinct markings as far as I could see, though it resolutely sat with wings folded over the abdomen. A quick flick through the guide make it clear that it wasn't going to get an ID without close scrutiny. Sorry fly.

I managed to pin it badly with a D3 when an A1 would have been better. No way of pulling out the pin and starting again, but still I could now check it out and seek confirmation on the facebook group. Wing venation, antennal structure and bits all looked at.

I reckoned it was Pipizella viduata, which is new for me, and Roger Morris agreed. I need to practise opening up the genital capsule and pinning it to dry in the future, but this was just about good enough.

No moth trap last night, but here's a selection from Saturday night's bumper catch - 84 of 34sp across the two traps (125W MV trap 33 of 23sp, synergetic/actinic combo trap 51 of 19sp) including 15sp NFY.

Gold Spot

Broad-barred White

Nutmeg

Knot Grass

Lime Hawk-moth

Pale Prominent

Scalloped Hazel

Seraphim

Spruce Carpet

Grey Pine Carpet

My traps are not usually bothered by the birds until there are fledgling Blackbirds and Robins knocking about. We've got at least three pairs of Blackbirds nesting somewhere nearby, and a couple of pairs of Robins, but until today no sign of any early fledglings. One of the Blackbird pairs were mating repeatedly yesterday, as they were about a month ago. I wondered if the nests have been predated, but today came the familiar squeeks and squawks of fledgling Blackbirds and at least two were in and out of the garden. Any trapping from now until later in the summer will mean extra egg-boxes around the outside and early mornings.

Aphid munchers

Superb warm sunny weather yesterday had me sitting around in the garden drinking tea and watching the world go by. In between cups of tea I pointed the camera at a few of the visitors. We've had constant squawking from up to three Starling broods just lately, with the recently fledged young chasing their parents and constantly begging for food.

 juv Starling

I've carried on topping up the feeders through the spring this year for a change, thinking it might help the parents, and it's worked to some extent. 

Goldfinch looking smart, but .....

 

... Great Tit and ...

... Blue Tit, both looking haggard from the effort of rearing young.

Robin going for a traditional caterpillar and ignoring the feeders, ...

... and Dunnock foraging around the lawn as usual.

Whilst pottering about the garden I also found two hoverfly maggots muching their way through aphids. And there are lots of aphids this year so good luck to the various larvae that will feed on them - should be good for ladybirds and lacewings too.

Probably Meliscaeva auricollis, living on aphids on Wood Avens

A Syrphus sp., living on aphids on a viburnum bush

I also found this tiny jumper in the house - new for the house and garden list, but hard to get a decent snap!

Euophrys frontalis

May Day Pseudo Birding

Yesterday, May Day. Another Bank Holiday, and another opportunity to wander birdlessly with family in tow around what should be a reasonable birding site. Or at least that was the prospect until I devised a cunning plan. I mentally hypothesized that if we went out to a really good birding site, then I would stand a more than good chance of actually seeing some great birds despite the best efforts of my offspring. And so it came to pass that we had a family day out in north Norfolk (sweetened with a suggestion of 'let's go to the beach'). This great plan was not without flaw of course: Firstly, there was no way on Earth that said family were going to get up and ready at a very early hour, and so we would not be arriving until c10:30. Secondly, the weather forecast was not great (although likely to be a lot better than staying in Leics.).

First destination was the famous RSBP Titchwell Marsh. I really like this reserve on the whole, though when in extreme birding mode the presence of complete novices and dudes can be annoying. Of course on this occasion, I was heading up the list on both counts and we fitted in perfectly!

Before we'd left the car park, I pointed out Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Cetti's singing around us - though there were only just audible against the strong wind which was to be a key feature of the day. After the obligatory pass through the visitor centre, we spent a few minutes watching the feeders and I got the boys onto a cracking male Siskin through the scope (Nichola and Isabelle were quite happy to tow along without looking at anything through optics).

Robin - just about the only thing I could be arsed to point the camera at whilst at Titchwell, everything interesting was well out of my photographic range!

We ambled down the boardwalk trail through the reeds, picking up a singing Blackcap in open view on the way. I got the boys onto some Brents, a couple of Egyptian Geese and a pair of Redshank over on the saltmarsh, whilst a Reed Warbler chuntered away behind us. Once we were in Island Hide, it was clear that virtually everything was huddled over on the far side of Freshwater Marsh tucked up against the shelter of the Parinder wall.

Freshwater Marsh

I spent some time scanning through and then getting the boys onto various birds in turn, the best being Little Terns, Red-crested Pochard, Oystercatchers, and of course Avocets. Also plenty of commoner wildfowl to look at, including Pintail, Shelduck, Shoveler, Gadwall and Teal. Not too many hirundines and Swifts over, though I picked up a handful of House Martins amongst them. A superb male Marsh Harrier quartered the reedbed behind the marsh, but it was clearly having to work to get anywhere with the wind strength. Otherwise a few Common Terns loitering, but sadly no Little Gulls whilst I was there.

Alex - working out which eye to use to grill a Red-crested Pochard

Josh - keeping a look out for Marsh Harrier whilst waiting for a turn on the scope

Another look over the saltmarsh produced a superb breeding plumaged Spotted Redshank - a real stunner. We carried on down the track but Parinder Hide is no more - work in progress on improving the sea defences and building a new hide.

Parinder Wall - work in progress

Sheltering on the Tidal Marsh was a spanking Grey Plover and a Turnstone, but not much else. The path onto the beach was effectively impassable due to the strong wind whipping up the sand and blasting your face - had I been alone I would have braved it to look although I reckon anything out at sea would have been virtually invisible with the deep swell.

Working our way back, I eventually got good flight views of a pair of busy Bearded Tits - I'd heard them pinging away on the way down the track. We headed back to the car and filled up on our packed lunch and tea, before walking back down the boardwalk trail through the reeds to Fen Hide. Amazing how you bump into people when away from home, and loitering in there were some of the VC55 birding stalwarts headed by Roger Davis. A quick natter confirmed that, amazingly, despite my handicap I hadn't missed anything other than a few Sanderlings in the sandstorm on the beach. A Kentish Plover had been claimed earlier in the morning but it seems that no one else saw it. As we chatted, a shout went up and there in all its glory was a superb Bittern flying over the reeds right in front of us. Josh managed to see it, but Alex had pretty much lost interest by then and wanted to know why we weren't on the beach I'd promised - time to head off somewhere else.


We headed further along the coast to the Wells-next-the-Sea beach / Holkham Pines area, arriving at c14:30. The beach here is superb - a vast area of nice fine sand with loads of shells. Like just about anywhere facing the North Sea, the water is far too cold and a bit shitty but it's a long way off.

Wells-next-the-Sea Beach - looking great but you can't feel the wind

Shiftting Sands - that conveys it a bit better!

We braved the cold and sand-blasting for half an hour before heading into the Pines for what turned out to be a really nice sheltered and sunny walk through the pine woodland and scrubby margins.

A fair bit of activity, expecially in the margins, with plenty of singing warblers amongst the other common residents. Aside from Willow, Chiffchaff and Blackcap, I got nice views of both Common and Lesser Whitethroats, a manic Sedge Warbler and half-glimpsed a singing Garden Warbler.

Whilst stalking the Garden Warbler, I was amazed when a pair of Muntjac ambled past without noticing me. I really needed to get the camera up fast but I didn't want to spook them, but I just managed a couple of shots before they slipped out of view.

Next we moved further along the coast to Salthouse. The wind blowing over the huge shingle ridge was ridiculous, but I was rewarded by a constant movement of Sandwich Terns close in shore, all heading west toward Cley - not a single one coming back east. The marsh was littered with breeding Avocets, including one pair roped off close to the path - shame the light had gone by then.

I have mixed feelings about Avocets: great to look at, really smart birds, but they are bloody aggressive! Also a Wheatear here, and several more Marsh Harriers noted around the area.

By now it was getting on for 17:30 and we needed to head for home with today being back to work and school. Overall we had a great day, and whilst it was by no means the greatest birding day out I've ever had, I was pleased to catch up again with some nice species.