Come rain & hail

Yes it rained again, most of the day on & off  in fact, with a bit of hail for good measure.
A walk over the fell was never going to get me much apart from a good soaking. At long last most of the Blackcaps have arrived together with a few Willow Warblers.

Blackcap

Many of the spring flowers are now beginning to show, through very reluctant to fully flower in the rain. Wood-sorrel and Greater Stitchwort were both showing very well, the Bluebells are a few days behind, unlike the hybrid Spanish Bluebell cousins,  which are fully out in many spots in the woods, hedgerows and ditches, in the full range of white. pink and blue flower colours.

Greater Stitchwort

Wood-sorrel

Still practising with the mosses and I managed to identify Wood Bristle-moss with it's old light brown capsules, strongly furrowed and with eight recurved teeth.

Wood Bristle-moss

I've got brand new pooter

It's still raining every day and I'm sure it's not a coincidence   that there has been Mallards and the occasional Goosander flying over at some point virtually every day!  The weather hasn't stopped the birds getting down to breeding eight one of the local Carrion Crows now sitting on it's nest

Carrion Crow's nest

and the pair of Song Thrush managing to get one youngster to fledgling stage.

Mummy and baby Song Thrush

It has stopped the moths, with nothing again overnight, though this is often a very quiet time of year in the garden
A few snatches of sun before today's rain brought a few hoverflies to the garden which I managed  to identify as Eristalis arbustorum, Eristalis pertinax  and Syrphus vitripennis 

Eristalis arbustorum

armed with my Hoverfly guide, net and newly acquired pooter. This later item you place the end of the long tube over the overfly and suck gently on the end of the short tube. The fly ends up in the middle tube and then you can transfer it for a better look.

My Pooter

More rain forecast tomorrow of course

Microscoping flies

Been off-site this weekend tending a Hoverfly identification course with 11 other potential Hoverfly recorders. It might not sound much (to say the least), a weekend looking at dead flies through a microscope but everyone enjoyed it. Now all I need is the time to find some!
With me being away there was nothing much to report but I did hear a Willow Tit and saw it without binoculars this morning in the Millenium Park. It's the first time I have had one here. Apart from that the only things of note were a Common Buzzard over the Riverside Park on the way home today and yesterday a singing Blackcap in the South Burn Woods and the first Crab Apple blossom of the year. I  still haven't heard a Willow Warbler or seen a Swallow this year yet, and the last two moth trapping sessions both produced zero. Then again, it was snowing when I left for my course yesterday and today was sleet showers so maybe it's not really surprising.

Another yucky day

Another yucky day, typical holiday weather, damp, cold and windy. The best things today were my first Bee-fly of the year and my first Garden Bumble Bee (B. hortorum) this year. Despite the weather, the local flora continues to progress with a few more in flower today including some nice Cowslips.  Last night's moth trap only held a couple of Hebrew Character and a Small Quaker and considering the weather I think that was quite good.

Cowslip

Heavy metal drumming

Many months ago when I asked my sister what she wanted for her birthday she said nothing, followed by, you could tidy my garden up at Easter. Why did I say OK?  So yesterday was spent away from Waldridge tidying up a front garden the size of a postage stamp but full of hidden paving slabs and a very well established patch of mint that was intent on taking over the world. It took us all day.

This morning should have seen me out and about early, before my duties of shopping and talking a wild cat to the vets for the first time. But instead, first thing this morning I couldn't move, every muscle in my body ached, my early morning jaunt didn't happen

It was not until late afternoon that I managed to get out for a walk. It was, and had been dull and grey with the threat of rain all day so any butterflies were out of the question. A few birds were about. I did find a Tawny Owl found roosting in South Burn Wood, shown to me by several local Blackbird and Mistle Thrush that were very unhappy he was there.No singing Blackcaps or Willow Warblers despite them being about elsewhere but 8 singing Chiffchaffs were 'zilp-zalping' away.

Chiffchaff on the fell

Primroses on the fell

Still no Green Woodpeckers either but Great Spotted Woodpeckers were around, for as well as the usual one in the paddock, there were 2 drumming in of the Woods and and another two on the fell.  As I headed back through the woods I flushed a Woodcock that was right by the main path and must have just moved because I approached it from the other side. Dozens of people will have passed by it today, as I assume it had been there since dawn. One of the woodpeckers was drumming very loudly, and the closer I got the more metallic it sounded. As I approached a pair of telegraph poles,  I found him. Right at the very top, drumming, not on the wooden pole but on the metal cap on top of one of them. This hard-head was crashing his bill against a piece of steel, the things males do to impress the girls. 

Only a few hoverflies were buzzing about together with a few Bumblebees today

Large Red-tailed Bumblebee

but the only ones of the former I managed to id were Eristalis tenax in the Garden,

 together with a Tawny Mining Bee.

Not about much

Offsite most of the weekend so very little was seen in the last of the sun by the looks of it.

The moth trap held just the usual suspects, together with, as to be expected at this time of the year, my first Brindled Pug. A Common Buzzard flew over the garden on Sunday, giving it's presence away with some loud 'mewing' calls.
Of the three species of hoverfly I had the other day, two were the very common Marmalade Fly (Episyrphus balteatus) and Drone Fly (Eristalis pertinax)  whilst the third I caught and took home. I only had time last night to check it properly and it turns out to be Neoascia podagrica.  This is a very small species that lives in damp vegetation and has wings with a blackish tinge.

2 to 7 in 60 seconds

Another sunny March day but as I start to write this this evening there are white clouds moving in, could this be the end?
I managed a brief walk earlier hoping for a few butterflies as there were a few at work today, but I know it's only March so wasn't expecting many. But a 60 second spell, well it might have been 2-3 minutes  to be honest, increased this year's butterfly tally tremendously. My walk along by the big hedge near the house can be quite productive but todays jaunt, not only produced the Small Tortoiseshell & Peacock already seen this year but also a Comma, 2 Large and 5 Small White, a pair of Orange-tip and a Speckled Wood. The 30th March and I've seen seven species already this year, unheard of.  With an exceptionally early Holly Blue in Sunderland earlier today I have seen an amazing eight! A couple of Orange Underwing moths flittering around the tops of the birches nearby completed the lepidoptera list.

A lurking but first this year Speckled Wood

Good numbers of Bumblebees, including many Common Carders and 3 species of Hoverfly were also noted.

Queen Common Carder

The Nuthatch was calling frequently as usual and I managed to track him down for some decent views. Actually there were 2, so perhaps they are not nesting yet.

Nuthatch

Plant-life is also waking up and the Wood Forget-me-nots and Slender Speedwell in particular are currently putting on a fine show.

Slender Speedwell

Lesser Celandine