Reasons not to cut the lawn No.37

I do like alpine plants though there's not many around Waldridge. However I make up for this by growing them from seed. I'm a member of the Alpine Garden Society and one of the perks of this is they have a seed exchange. So we all swap seed and grow many different species of alpines and other small plants in the garden. One of my favourite groups are the violets (Viola), not the big flashy winter pansy but the little delicate blue, white and yellow species.

 A number of years ago I got the seed of the Heath Dog Violet (Viola canina) and raised a couple of  plants which have lived happily ever since in a trough at the front of the house. This British species I have seen in the wild in only a couple of spots, the best being Holy Island. The Flora & Vegetation of Durham says "it is doubtfully native, though found on the dunes of Northumberland, it status in Durham is difficult to estimate as no site for it now remains". Now I know where there is a thriving colony in Durham - in my front lawn! Those quiet little plants in the trough have hardly spread in their trough but have cast their seeds which explode from the pod onto the lawn. Now the lawn is quite sandy, as is the rest of the garden, and the little viola is obviously very much at home here. At the moment they are all in or coming into flower, so I can't possibly cut the lawn.

Heath Dog Violet 

As I was taking the above photograph something dropped down beside me on the lawn. A Wood Pigeon's egg, of which the young must have just hatched and the parent had just got rid of it. A lot happens on your lawn.

The near miss Wood Pigeon's egg

A good night for the nocturnals

A minimum temperature of 8.5C  but the willows all around here are now in flower, the moths numbers in the trap this morning was bound to be low, and indeed it was. 24 moths of 5 species, thank God for Orthosia. . The full list was

Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda) 5
Powdered Quaker (Orthosia gracilis) 1
Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 12
Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 1
Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 7

Powdered Quaker  caught overnight

I think its time to start sallowing.


The Tawny Owls last night were going mad with their calling, various combinations of the hoot and 'kvick' and though I only saw a shadow of one, they were obviously flying around quite a bit and there was at least 4 birds   involved. They will probably all have chicks now. A Red Fox was also calling, doing that 'waaaah' call followed by a single bark. at the same time. Not sure what was happening in the woods in the middle of the night. In addition to all that I heard a Woodcock roding. A good night for the nocturnals even though I didn't see a thing!


It was a good morning too, a familiar looking shape at the top of the one of the trees by Waldridge Hall farm was indeed a lone Waxwing. It spent just a few minutes there preening before it flew off. It could not have been there long because I was watching the Great spotted Woodpecker in the same tree shortly before and it wasn't there then, I just happened to glance up again at the right time.

Waxwing at Waldridge Hall Farm

Small White bagged

It was still windy but sunny so I thought I would try for some butterflies after work. I chose the hedge and grassy bank that catches the late afternoon sun by the side of the South Burn wood.  Once I was there, and more so after 10 minutes of nothing, I began to have doubts, but then a Peacock, followed by a couple more, then a Small Tortoiseshell made an appearance. A couple of more Peacocks, a Comma and at last, a Small White appeared. In total I counted -
10 Peacock
4 Small Tortoiseshell
1 Comma
2 Small White
Not a bad little haul

Birdwise it was very quiet, only two singing Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler and a Willow Tit on the way back.

On the way back I decided to have another look at the Tawny Mining Bee colony. There were now seven digging or hanging about the entrance to their 'mines'. I checked around to see if there were any Oil Beetles but no luck. Earlier, I was told that Buglife (The Invertebrate Conservation Trust) are organising a survey of Oil Beetles this spring and as they can hang around Mining Bee colonies I had signed up to take part. There are only two species up here and they are noticeably different so identification shouldn't be a problem.  They are described as big, bold beetles with a lustre that would put any oil droplet to shame. Sounds good. So now all I've got to do is find some.

Two Tawnies but no Whites

Very windy today with gusts well over 30mph in the garden and so with the combination of that, plus the rain and cool temperature last night I didn't bother with the moth trap.
Two Chiffchaffs, in a different spot to any of the 22 at the weekend were singing this morning, but again in unsuitable habitat and most likely just passing through.
The Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) planted and regenerating on the estate has now burst into flower, the first of the Acers around here to flower, usually followed in a few weeks by the Field Maple and then Sycamore at the end of the month.
I had time for nothing but a very quick look and listen along the side of the Hermitage Woods. As I waited around I took a photograph of the Yellow Lichen (Xanthoria parietina)  which was present on nearly every tree.

Lichen (Xanthoria parietina) 

A few more Chiffchaff and a Blackcap were singing but I couldn't hear any Willow Warblers. It was a good spot for finches with Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Goldfinch singing, I heard a Bullfinch and both Linnet and Lesser Redpoll flew over. A sandy, scrubby little bank was more sheltered, though no butterflies were about, two Large Red-tailed Bumblebee were and I saw three of what I came here for for, Tawny Mining Bee.  These Mining Bees which make their nests in loose soil and produce little cone-shaped spoil tips with the spoil they tip out.

Tawny Mining Bee

I didn't stay long but did get another Tawny, this time a Tawny Owl that I flushed from one of the Scot's Pines. Two different Tawnies were nice but no white butterflies yet, still it can't be long.

Powdered Quakers under the table

With a minimum temperature of 4.2C overnight,  a decent haul of 23 moths of 6 species were in the moth tap this morning. The usual Orthosia and an Early Grey but two other singletons were new for the year.

Micro Moth Diurnea fagella 

Diurnea fagella 1
Early Thorn (Selenia dentaria) 1
Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 17
Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 1
Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 2
Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) 1

Early Thorn - much more impressive than the Diurnia

A Nuthatch and a Chiffchaff were both singing nearby as I sorted them out this morning but otherwise rather quiet.
It had been a bit breezy during the day while I was at work and it had moved the patio table to the other side of the garden path. As I picked it up underneath it were two identical moths, two Powdered Quakers, another new one for the year. They didn't make it into then trap but presumably hung on as the table was blown about. I also found another Early Grey though didn't not notice it until I saw my photograph of a Greenfinch on the lawn eating the last of the scraps of the sunflower seeds.

Greenfinch on the lawn - note the Early Grey lurking on a post in the top left hand corner.

Set off this morning for a stroll

Set off this morning for a stroll around the fell. With the thermometer showing 11C and very little wind it was surprisingly cold. The NW wind that there was did cool things down a lot.
Still, four hours later I had a nice little tally, nothing exciting, just a few new things for the first time this year, improving by OFFH (On Foot From House, remember) list.

My circular walk around the fell today produced.

Wanister Bog - looking good

Birds

4 Mallard (on Wanister Bog - looking rather good, in fact the best for many years now the the cattle had a good trample.
1 Sparrowhawk (a soaring female until chased off by some gulls)
2 Curlew (displaying)
1 Coot (on the Pit Pool)
3 Lesser Black-backed Gull (adults)
7 Pheasant
1 Grey Partridge
2 Great Spotted Woodpecker (no Greens today)
16 Meadow Pipit
3 Skylark (gone are the days of dozens)
1 Stonechat (male at Daisy Hill)
2 Blackcap (singing males)
22 Chiffchaff (seemed to be everywhere)
4 Willow Warbler (now two can be heard from the house)
3 Reed Bunting
2 Yellowhammer (1 singing)

1 Jay (in the middle of Wanister Bog)

Meadow Pipit (above) and Skylark (below) at Daisy Hill

Insects


Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) 4+
Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) 1
White-tailed Bumblebee  (Bombus lucorum) 3
Comma 1
Small Tortoiseshell 1
Peacock 1
Still waiting my first White Butterfly

Primrose (above) and Cowslip (below) seen today

Flowers - newly in flower

Primrose (South Burn Woods)
Cowslip (On fell)
Sweet Cicely (Opposite Pit Pool)
Hedge Garlic (South Burn Woods)
Wavy Bittercress (On Fell)
Bilberry (On Fell, most of it has flowers now)
Crack Willow (South Burn Woods)
Grey Willow (On Fell behind Nursery)
Lesser Periwinkle (South Burn Woods, at entrance)

Bilberry now in flower all over the Fell

Lesser Periwinkle at South Burn Woods

Tribley farm ponds - the little white dot at the back of the pond is the Shelduck - Honest

I had a quick look at Tribley farm pools, too much water in for any wading birds but still had

2 Mute Swan (pair)
12 Mallard
4 Teal
1 Shoveler (a nice drake)

1 Common Shelduck
1 Curlew
3 Sand Martin (First of the year)


Chiffchaffs have arrived on force now, some in very unsuitable habitat and most will be moving on quite quickly.On individual by the pit pool instead of the normal 'Chiff-chaff, Chiff-chaff'  was doing a constant 11-note 'Chiff, Chiff,  Chiff, Chiff, chaff, Chiff, Chiff, Chiff, chaff, chaff, chaff'.  Very unusual, I've never heard this before, Always the same 11 notes and rather melodic. Thoughts had crossed my mind about Iberian Chiffchaff but it never had the tit-like notes at the end of the song like that species. No, I'm sure it's just a Chiffchaff with a funny song, perhaps a first year bird leaning how to sing.

The melodic Chiffchaff 

So my OFFH yearlists currently stand at

Birds - 87
Butterflies - 3
Moths - 19
Bumblebees -3
Flowers - 43
Mammals - 6

Mating hawks and eight beauties

Overnight, and most of the day it was rather windy with some heavy rain as I emptied the moth trap this morning, but with a minimum temperature of 9.6C it was the warmest night of the year so far.
In the overnight trap there were 61 moths of 6 species. Nothing new but 8 Pine Beauties is good for me. The total count was -

Pine Beauty (Panolis flammea) 8
Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 24
Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta) 2
Twin-spotted Quaker (Orthosia munda) 2
Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 24
The Satellite (Eupsilia transversa) 1


The sun tried to get out and when it did a few things could be seen in the garden with 2 Small Tortoiseshell hanging onto the garden plants for dear life and a queen Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) was busy nest hunting, including in the greenhouse. The early Willow Warbler from Thursday was singing late afternoon yesterday and again this lunchtime, along with 1, probably 2 Chiffchaff.
Also yesterday I saw a pair of Sparrowhawks perched up by the entrance to South Burn Woods. I had watched the male fly into one of the Grey Poplars (Populus × canescens) and land where a female was already perched. No fancy display or calling, he was only still for a few seconds before he flew up and landed on the female and mated.Afterwards he landed next to her but she flew off into the woods. The male remained perched up and started to preen and was still there when I left..