A quick Badger about

A beautiful sunny March morning and rising to 14C by mid morning and 16.3C by mid-day.
I checked last night's trap which had three new moths for the year first thing - several Common Quaker and Early Grey and a single Twin-spotted Quaker, as well as 3 Oak Beauties and a few Hebrew Character. 

Early Greys

Twin-spot Quaker

A walk through South Burn Woods took much longer than usual trying to identify the mosses on the tree trunks and ground.There was a good amount of bird song and Nuthatch were displaying and a Carrion Crow was nest building,  thanks to that little bit extra warmth.

From here I wandered onto the fell proper, a bit relucantly really as it seemed that every dog in the area had dragged it's master out this morning for an early walk and MOST of them I am sorry to say were leaving their dog business behind for me to stand in.
It's been several years since I have seen a live Badger here, though I know they are still present as I often see the evidence around a few setts I am aware of. This morning I found a new (at least to me, I had never noticed it before) Badger sett. I was already sitting down nearby having a coffee when I noticed it and was totally unprepared to see a Badger poke it's head out and then disappear again. I quietly got my camera out but it never reappeared.
Two Great-spotted Woodpeckers were drumming in South Burn Wood, as well as the ever present one by the house, and yet another on the Fell. It seemed ideal for a Green Woodpecker to 'yaffle' but one never did and I am now thinking they may be gone from here completely. 2 Curlew were displaying nearby and a Willow Tit was heard calling,  then all went silent as a Sparrowhawk rushed through. Several Bumblebee sp.  were seen or heard during the morning but none to get a positive id.

Common Ramping-fumitory

In Felledge Wood, at least 40 of the day-flying micro moth Tortricodes alternella were about in a small area and probably 100s were on the wing throughout the wood. A few 7-spotted Ladybirds were around, following on  from one in the garden yesterday. Other invertebrates here included a Pill Millipede (Glomeris marginata) that walked over the path and my first Honey Bee of the year.
A few flowers are starting to appear, including Common Ramping-fumitory (Fumaria muralis ssp boraei)

Crack Willow coming into leaf against a lovely blue sky ... spring?

and the Crack Willows in the woods are now coming into leaf. Spring is marching on ... hopefully.

After a good while, identified another 3 species of moss, it's hard work, but I'll persevere. They were Common Pincushion Moss, Marsh Bryum and Elegant Bristle-moss.

Marsh Bryum

A couple of moths and a Bumblebee

A misty, damp night but a Pale Brindled Beauty and 3 Hebrew Character moths were in the trap this morning. Several local Tawny Owl were calling when I was going through the contents, as they had been all night. and a Great spotted Woodpecker in the paddock drummed most of this time.

Hebrew Character

Pale Brindled Beauty

Busy most of the day so the only other things of note were a queen Red-tailed Bumblebee in the garden, a flyover Lapwing and a singing Skylark along Beany Lane.

Moths at last

A nice sunny morning and though it was nearly cloudless last night and the temperature dropped to 2.1C,  I still put the trap out. At long last I saw some moths in 2012. Five to be exact, of 4 species - the micro Tortricodes alternella, plus 2 Oak Beauty and single March Moth and Yellow-horned Moth.

Yellow-horned Moth

March Moth

Oak Beauty

The local Tawny Owls have started to call as if they mean it at long last too. They have been relatively quiet so far this year, unlike both Great-spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch that have been particularly conspicuous of late. I am concerned on the lack of Green Woodpeckers, I mentioned it last year and it's getting worse. Their numbers here have crashed of late. Only a few years ago there were 5-7 pairs within a short walk of the house. I have yet to even hear one this year so far. Last night I added another mammal to the year list with a Brown Rat in the town centre.

Goldfinch in garden

Bryophytes in the garden

After Saturdays field trip with the British Bryological Society, yesterday was mainly spent trying to put what I learnt into practice. The field trip was very enjoyable, and with there being only five attendees there was plenty of time to learn quite a bit about the commoner urban mosses and liverworts. The plan was to survey the 1km square (now called a monad) around Ilford road Metro station. It included a corner of Newcastle town moor, South Gosforth Park and many, many walls. An hour after we started we still hadn't progressed beyond the confines of the station, and were on our hands and knees looking through magnifying glasses at mosses, much to the amazement of commuters I may add. One was even taking photographs us.  Like I said, very enjoyable and we managed to find & identify 32 species, all common urban ones but excellent learning for a beginner like me.
So yesterday saw me in the garden most of the day slowly identifying the bryophytes on the lawn, on stones,  fence-posts and in the greenhouse guttering. Eventually I was happy after checking them through the microscope and field guide to fairly confidently claim the following.
Rough-stalked Feather-moss (Brachythecium rutabulum)
Common Feather-moss (Kindbergia praelonga)
Redshank Moss (Ceratodon purpureus)
Grey-cushioned Grimmia (Grimmia pulvinata)
Common Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha)
and
Crescent-cup Liverwort (Lunularia cruciata).

Six species, took me quite some time to wade through but it's a start.

Three Mosses (top to bottom)

Grey-cushioned Grimmia
Crescent-cup Liverwort
Rough-stalked Feather-moss

I did have a short walk in the afternoon through South Burn Wood but I generally left the mosses there for another day. Several Willow Tit and a Nuthatch were the best birds of the day with the now seemingly ubiquitous flock of Long-tailed Tit. My first Lesser Celandine flower of the year here at Waldridge (its been in flower since early January in Sunderland) was present, as was the small group of naturalised, for 10+ years at least, Winter Aconite.

The most unusual sight was a group of 7 male Greenfinch perched in a 2 metre tall Sycamore. They were all singing and doing short song-flighting despite the lack of a female and there was no sign of any territorial behaviour. They reminded me of a group of lads on a street corner, just hanging about and showing off to each other.

The Wood Mouse in the garden continues to perform well on the  lawn under the bird table. I say the, this morning there were two of them feeding and chasing each other, and completely ignoring the Blackbirds, Robin, Dunnock and Chaffinch feeding on the ground nearby.

One Mouse, one Bee

I have been a bit poorly, but now a good bit better, just as the weather is starting to warm up. It was 12C overnight so I had to put the moth trap out. I switched it off at midnight but it was still empty by then.
This morning I had just returned indoors having put some food out for the birds when our regular  Wood Mouse appeared and started to scoff the seeds on the ground and put on a fine show.

Our Wood Mouse 

A Song Thrush was also an early visitor as it was still dark at this point.  I know some butterflies have been seen in the county this week and hoped one might put in an appearance at some point today but apparently I am going to have to wait. I will not have to wait for my first Bumblebee however as a queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee was seen feeding on the garden Daffodils.

Song Thrush  in the garden

Running about all over the place

Not much on my walk around the fell today but not surprising as there was a  meeting of the Northern Navigators Orienteering Club with all the car parks full and people running all over the place. The paths are very muddy and thats before they start doing what they do and despite it being 6C all the pools are still frozen so no chance of any Snipe.
Several Great spotted Woodpeckers were drumming but rather worrying I have still to get Green Woodpecker here this year. They have been rapidly declining the past few years in the area. A Tree-creeper in Felledge wood was new for the year however. Willow Tits were also very vocal with birds at 3 different spots in the Daisy Hill area alone. 32 Common Gull along Beaney Lane may well be already on the move back north.

One of today's Great spotted Woodpeckers

Back in the garden, one male Blackbird has included the garden in his territory and is currently seeing off any rivals and not only other male Blackbirds. He is also getting bolder coming right up to the patio door.

The Boss 

Unconfirmed reports and swan mauling

I just don't like Februarys, I don't really know why, I just don't. It would certainly go into my Room 101. I just can't seem to get any enthusiasm going and with the weather being so windy/cold/wet it seems to be an easy excuse to not bother. January and the start of new lists is fine and by March spring is in the air, but February .... not really. But today I made the effort and went out.
A flock of 80 or so Siskin flew over the house as I was getting my things together and it was just below freezing, so things looked promising. What also got me going were a couple of 'unconfirmed reports' of a female Mandarin and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker down the riverside. Both had been looked for subsequently but to no avail.

Salix fragilis aka Crack Willow for an obvious reason

Anyway I went to the river to look for myself, and also failed to see either. I must be honest, where the woodpecker was reported does look spot on for them, and it would be a patch tick for me.
The trees did have quite a few birds in them including a flock of 30 Lesser Redpoll and a small tit flock including Long-tailed Tit and Nuthatch. A Dipper was singing here on the Lumley Park Burn and a Grey Wagtail flew over.

Song Thrush in the woods

I walked back to the Riverside Park just in time to see a Redshank flying up river. A good bird for here, I did not see one on my patch at all last year and so new for the Blog too. At the Riverside Park there was a mass of waterfowl

Waterfowl at the riverside

and gulls including 91 Tufted Duck, 5 Goosander and the winter resident Pink-footed Goose and Yorkshire Whooper Swan.

Pink-footed Goose

Gulls included a high count of 76 Herring Gull and nearly 400 Black-headed Gull.

Black-headed Gulls

A Kingfisher flew up river, then it all went a bit horrid.

A dog ran off from it's owner and attacked one, then another of the Mute Swans. Pandemonium broke out as everything scattered and the dog charged into the river to attack a third swan. Shouts of 'Bruno, Bruno' had no effect as it grabbed the wing of a Mute Swan which managed to escape leaving a mouthful of flight feathers in the mad dog's mouth.  Kiddie's who had been watching and feeding the swans were now screaming and being whisked away by their parents before they were traumatised anymore. Bruno then swam towards the Whooper Swan which turned around to face it and raised it's wings in anger but it was no match for a savage dog. Fortunately our swan from Yorkshire got away with the loss of only a few feathers. The dog continued to paddle after the swans until it was presumably too exhaused and swam back to it's owner and they made a hasty retreat.

Bruno about to attack it's third swan

Yorkshire Whooper attempts to fend offthe mad dog

Snowdrop

Nothing new on the flowers but some nice groups of Snowdrops in the riverside woods and a few small patches of naturalised Winter Aconite were just coming into flower in the park.

During the week I did manage to get one interesting record. I was tidying up in the greenhouse and lifted up a some pots that were lying under the staging when out flew a Peacock butterfly. Obviously I had just disturbed it's hibernation. It flapped around a bit but I managed to get it back in a pot and put it back where it came from. It was only later that I remembered exactly the same thing happened in November, presumably with this same individual. The poor thing is not getting much in
the way of a winter rest.

Winter Aconite

Flowering plants    27
Birds            65
Butterflies        1