Consolation Prizes

After being humiliated by 6 non-showing Hawfinches at Bookham Common last weekend, the appearance of a Black-necked Grebe in the unusual location of Richmond Park was surely going to be a routine tick and run operation. My alarm is very under-used at the moment, and despite setting it for un-timely hours to check the moth trap before the Robins do, it always seems to have mysteriously turned itself off by the morning. Luckily, it didn't let me down this morning, and I was up and scanning Pen Ponds by 9am.

In the half-asleep state that I was in, it could easily have been perching on the end of my lens and I still wouldn't have noticed it, but with no sign by half 10, I turned my attention to the more 'showy' locals.

All thoughs of Grebelessness were lost when a stunning male Wheatear popped up in the bracken near Lower Pen Ponds, fresh from its winter vacation in Africa, and one of only a dozen or so in London at present. It was extremely skittish, opting for high vantage points in the dead ferns, but crouching under a fallen branch allowed for my closest approach yet with the new lens, and a 1.4x teleconverter slapped on the end...

Reed Bunting and Meadow Pipits were much more confiding than they ever have been in Bushy Park, and weren't scared to hop down and take seed from the main paths once the coast was clear.

Just checking the 'best by' date of a nearby slice of bread...

Meadow Pipit...

Springs a Springin'

The first butterfly of the year is always a refreshing sight, and nothing yells out spring more than a Comma butterfly... or ten... as it so happened, down on Bookham Common at the weekend during the first LNHS survey of the year. The males are already busy holding territories, seeing off others in the show of hormones I'd expect from Ryan Giggs after a night on the town... without his wife.

Plenty of other signs of spring about the Common, with singing Bullfinches on every footpath, and the odd burst of chiffin' from a Chiffchaff. Hawfinches are currently the main attraction to Bookham, with birds being seen daily in trees bordering the station, but despite a 2 hour search for them, and up to 8 being sighted the same morning, I came away completely empty handed. I can't end the post without a photo of a bird; especially after 4 consecutive (moth free) posts just on birds, so here's the next best thing to a Hawfinch, a Dunnock...

For those who don't know, the Bookham Common Survey is run by the London Natural History Society on the second Saturday of every month, meeting at the LNHS hut around 11am. All aspects of wildlife are recorded and monitored on the Common, with a particular emphasis on invertebrates during the summer. It's a great opportunity for beginners and experts alike to broaden their knowledge, or delve into a specialist area and help produce further records for this SSSI. I'll certainly be back in the next few weeks for those Hawfinches...

New Glass

After many joy filled years spent shooting my trusty little Nikon D60, its finally started to show signs of wear, and isn't really allowing much expansion of my photography skills (not that I ever had any...). Last week, I finally took the plunge and ordered myself a few new pieces of glass in the form of a Nikon D300s, and a Sigma 120-300mm f2.8 OS HSM lens.. for those who want the technical nit-grit.

Neither are like anything I've ever held before. The D300s has a new mode for every day of the year, whilst the Sigma is just 3kg of pure beast waiting to be unleashed on an unsuspecting avian. I finally found a short window of opportunity to take my new toys out for their first play date in Richmond Park last weekend.

The attached were taken with the use of a Sigma 1.4x teleconverter, effectively increasing the focal length from 300mm to 420mm...

 

All these shots were taken in very bad lighting, so the images count for nothing of the lens' capabilities, but first impressions couldn't be better. Focusing was very quick and near silent, with a firm, but silky smooth zoom barrel that won't accidentally 'wobble' into another focal length, as previous Sigma lenses have been known to do in the past. If you are (in some massive coincidence) looking into buying this lens, don't let the size of it put you off. The tripod mount is adequate enough to make carrying hassle free, and the lens doesn't feel too over-powering when hand-held, as I was made to believe. For a zoom lens at f2.8, it's a class construction, and I'll be taking it out properly sometime in the near future.

Lastly, I'd like to apologise, as I'm sure that none of the above had any relevance or meaning to you whatsoever. I'd also like to make an apology to my bank account...

Pocket-sized Pecker

With numerous reports of Lesser-spotted Woodpecker in Bushy Park in recent weeks, I've been desperately trying to catch up with this compact little bird, but so far to no avail. Locating a LSW is a complete game of luck (of which I've had very little), but in the last few days a pair have been showing on and off in a confined alder plantation in the north of the park. On Friday, it seemed like luck was finally on my side, and my visit co-incided with the appearance of a female, albeit deep in cover.

With any luck, the pair will stay for the breeding season, and I'll try and fit in another visit in the near future as the males begin to display.

Double-glazed Fieldfare

Whilst 'nothing much' continues to happen in the world of wildlife down in Surrey, here are a couple of photos of a Fieldfare that took up residence in the garden during the recent cold spell. It developed a particular taste for the Pyracantha berries right under the bedroom window, fiercely guarding them from the endless flow of Redwings. A relatively close approach could be made, albeit shot through double-glazed windows...

Tits... and a few Ducks

As expected, January has kicked up few opportunities for any kind of wildlife excursions, and coupled with the next few weeks being completely filled up with exams, driving tests and work reviews, the outlook for the rest of the month looks even bleaker.

Unfortunately, time doesn't allow me to chase rare spuggies around Hampshire, but I did managed to slip in a brief visit to Bushy Park early yesterday morning with the camera, for a brief walk about.

The woodlands were alive with roaming tit flocks, consisting mainly of extremely inquisitive Long-tailed tits...

Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers, one of the more rarer associates with tit flocks, are often sighted in the Park, but alas none showed amongst the Treecreepers and Goldcrests that were also tagging along.

Close but no cigar...

Plenty of activity also around Heron Pond...

In the absence of the less common wintering Gadwall and Shoveler, both Pochards were putting on a show...

Top 10

In my most humble of opinions, 2011 hasn't been a very good year for moths. Putting aside a brief period of mouth-watering migration moth activity back in early October, resident moths have been way down in numbers. In the garden alone, over 20 usually 'common' species simply never put in an appearance, and those that did decide to show their antennae, turned up only in ones or twos in most cases.

Despite this, the garden produced a healthy total of around 350 species, and I've just about managed to cut it down to make a little 'Top 10' for this year's garden moths...

10) One of the more stunning species to be on the wing in early spring, and fortunatly, one of the commonest, this Oak Beauty made me go back for a second glance when I caught it in early March...

9) Many-plume moth has about the same rarity status as a Blue tit, and so most moth-ers simply ignore it when going through a trap. On a cold morning in April, my trap was completely empty, apart from this fella. Not wanting to accept defeat I took a few shots of it for the record, and only then did the delicate individual feathered plumes really become visible...

8) No other moth can depict the colours of Autumn as well as the Barred Sallow. Despite this one not being in the best of shape, you can't help but admire the shades of pink, brown, orange and yellow that allow it to merge in with the dying leaves during its daytime roost. And just as you thought it couldn't get any better, it also happens to be a garden tick. Get in...

7) The name was enough to get this moth into the top 10, but the fact that its pretty rare is always a nice bonus. Just 10 years ago, Hoary Footman was confined to the sea cliffs of the South west coastline, but more recently, has taken to the London area by storm, with a recent upsurge of moths into Surrey. 4 were seen in the garden this year, one in July; two in August and one in September.

6) The Old Lady is up there with one of those animals that you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley. Its built like a tank, and is the closest your going to get to the David Haye of the moth world. When I saw the silouette of the one below pelting towards me at 30mph, it did make me start to question my hobby for a few brief seconds before the moth impacted with my face. Still failing to see the resemblance between a moth and an elderly woman.

5) One of the rarer moths I've caught was this Small Ranunculus, a species that has been subject to massive population fluctuations in Britain. For 60 years, it was believed to be extinct, until a pair turned up in Kent in 1997, and a subsequent population established itself around the Thames. Since then, its managed to spread northwards, and so it was only going to be a matter of time before one turned up in the garden.

4) The prize for the most numerous moth of 2011 goes to this little bugger; or as its more scientifically known, Cameraria ohridella, the infamous Horse Chestnut Leaf-miner. In total, almost 1000 were caught from May-September, twice the number of all other species combined. As in hinted in the name, the caterpillar of the species mines the leaves of Horse Chestnut, causing them to lose their leaves early, and leaving the tree (no puns intended) more succeptible to disease. Originally sighted in Britain in 2003, you'll be lucky to find a tree that isn't infested with the moths, and the increase in numbers caught in the garden this year only reflect a national problem. Nuke 'em all, I say.  

3) Oak Processionary is another controversal character in the moth world, and like the above leaf miner, is believed to have been accidently imported when a batch of mainland European oak containing the toxic hair releasing caterpillar of the species, was delivered to a housing estate in Kew. The male depicted below is the second garden record, after I caught the first back on 7th August, and tried (very unfunnily) to make a joke out of the whole situation. Luckily, its not spreading as fast as the Horse Chestnut Leaf-miner, and is still relatively unknown in Britain. The males of the species have been known to migrate, so the jury is still out on whether this one is from Kew or Germany (although I secretly want it to be the latter)...

2) One of the undoubled highlights of the year was spending a June afternoon in the garden pretending to be a virgin female Clearwing. Just about bordering on the lines of what is generally considered socially acceptable, it did provided me with a rare opportunity to view these secretive moths. As well as the Yellow-legged Clearwings which came to the pheromones in force, a lone Orange-tailed Clearwing also crashed the party- one of the scarcer of the family usuall only found on chalk downland... 

1) There was never any competition for the moth that would top the table. This moth is the very definition of a rare immigrant, with only a few records beginning to emerge in the early part of the 21st century, and all originating from the across the Channel. When I caught it on 29th August, I knew it was something special, but I wasn't quite ready for the county recorder to tell me that I'd caught the first record of Jersey Mocha for Surrey. Almost made the 7am check through the trap worthwhile.

I've added a photo montage of even more of this year's highlights in a link on the right hand side of the page.

Anyone Lost a Trolley?

Treated myself to an early Christmas present with this Great Northern Diver at Staines Reservoir back in mid-week. One of the bleakest places to watch birds in Britain, but it does throw up some goodun's now and then. Great Northern Divers are an expected winter resident at the reservoir most years, but I've never bothered to go and have a look for them before.

And don't you just hate it when you lose your trolley whilst taking it out for a brief stroll?

Jack All

Jack All...

... Just about sums up my wildlife encounters in the past few weeks. A first visit to the London Wetland Centre this year is the only half bloggable thing I've done for ages, with a Bittern and a Jack Snipe provided a little compensation for the admission fee to the reserve.

The latter of which showed particularly well; for your own benefit, don't bother looking for it, you'll never find it...

Elsewhere on the reserve, and you know your in London when these things start showing up. When they're not competing with me for food, or releasing their load on me, I actually quite like Pigeons- dare I say they can look quite smart at times...

They're so unpredictable, and you never know what they will do next- a Pigeon staring at water...

Over in the captive section, this Hawaiian Goose decided to add a step-ladder to its Christmas list...

And the Chiloe Wigeons added a bit of colour on an early winter's morning...