Patchbirding. It's all about eagles and weasels.

Well a quick trawl through an old BOU checklist (a year 2000 one with annoying names like Hedge Accentor and Little Plover) and I reckon that without breaking too much sweat there are 138 species that should easily appear in the village this coming year.

There is a saying that I like - "Eagles may fly high, but weasels don't get sucked in to jet engines". This predicted list very much falls on the side of the weasel. I have only allowed for one diver and one scarce grebe, for example. Duck-wise, Scaup should make a show, but I have held fire on Long-tailed Duck even though there is one hanging around on the estuary presently. All the sawbills have shown up over the last couple of years, so I have stuck my neck out for the same in 2013.

I have yet to see Osprey in Stutton, even though they are annual around here. Peregrine and Hobby are on the list, but Merlin is a long-shot. The only real hope of Hen Harrier will be down at Stutton Mill on the parish boundary with Brantham.

Grey Partridge - forget it.

All the waders should be in the bag by 2nd January, with the exception of the migrant species. Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank and Wood Sandpiper are never the easiest on the whole estuary, let alone just in Stutton. LRP should fall and I hope that a Whimbrel or two will announce their presence. The only BB rare wader on the estuary in my time was the '06 Long-billed Dowitcher.

I haven't seen a phalarope or skua here in ten years and white-winged gulls are also gloriously absent. But there lies the challenge. Writing this, really does sharpen the focus. It makes me want to get out there now and scan that small gathering of gulls in the middle of the reservoir (if it was light of course) that I have been studiously ignoring recently. I would settle for a Franklin's mind.

The White-winged Black Tern that appeared this autumn was a bonus tern and I confess that I did twitch it (shame on me, but it was in the parish and less than a mile from the house). I am only expecting Common and Little as gimme's.

I have been bold in adding Turtle Dove, as these are now genuinely scarce around here and sadly, I don't think that it will be long before Cuckoo is pencilled rather than penned on to the list. Unless the local gamekeeper lets me know about a Long-eared Owl roost, the owl sp. list will be an easy three with a possible fourth being Short-eared.

It is when we get to the small stuff, that things get tricky. I still need Ring Ouzel and Stonechat for the village and even Wheatear won't come easy. I am struggling to think how I will connect with Willow or Garden Warbler and keeping my fingers crossed that Cetti's make one final push to the reedbed down at Stutton Mill. I know they are about half a mile from there.

There won't be any shortage of Nightingales - there were 33 territories around the reservoir this spring, but Nuthatch and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker are in the 'two hopes' category.

A shrike would be a chance find. There was an October Great Grey Shrike in 2010, but the only Red-backed was further east at Erwarton a few years before then.

Tree Sparrows have been wintering for the last couple of years and I have boldly decided to put them on my weasel list. Whilst that would be great to see, the chance of a Corn Bunting is up there with the Eagles.

This is a great invention. If you are a birder/twitcher reading this, get a patch sorted out and get signed up. Most importantly, get all your records on Birdtrack. It is the simplest way that your observations can help with the conservation of those birds that have brought you so much joy yesterday, today and for the rest of your life. 

Patchwork Challenge - Go Stutton!

It is been ages since I kept a year list (1999 if memory serves me right) and probably about the same time since I have worked on keeping a British list. I was finding twitching a fairly tedious exercise and surprisingly, when I started in my current job working for a large wildlife conservation charity, my interest diminished further. Spare time could have played a part as well of course. Tucked away on the PC though is a British and Stour Estuary list (two shy of 200 with recent addition of Sanderling and Mandarin), so I suppose the vestiges of a 'list bug' is lingering.

We are now in our third year living in Stutton and I have never kept a parish list. Nowadays, my active birding is mostly spent within the confines of the village, with the occasional foray down to Mistley Walls across the border in Essex. The place comes alive in the winter and on New Year's Day 2011 a three-quarter strength attempt at a day-list brought in a respectable 76 species. I think I had another day of birding the village ten days later and that was it. The parish-list fell off the list. The arrival of a small child may have played a part as well.

So, my thanks to Patchwork Challenge. I accept your offer. My first attempt at drawing a map came in under 3sq.km at 2.996sq.km! All luck, no judgement. Reservoir and estuary feature strongly and are easily accessible, but migrants are going to require much more time and effort, both of which may be in short supply come the spring with number two due then. I know that Sedge Warbler is going to be tricky, but in contrast all three divers should be possible. Mediterranean Gull would be a village first for me, whilst skuas never make it this far up the estuary (or indeed in my ten years here - never on the estuary). I shall have to go through the list in more detail, draw up some predictions and get birding done.

Tree Sparrow

The Tree Sparrow flock is still in residence in the village. Liz Cutting has taken some excellent images of these obliging birds. I think this is the best one.

Waxwings - still not boring

 

Waxwing drinking - photograph by Tony Fox

 

Another fantastic picture from Waxwing-spotter-Chief Tony taken this morning at Alton Water in the Dog Rose Forest just east of Larch Wood. There were 20 birds today. He also tells me that their garden Tree Sparrow flock has increased to five. Great news all round.

Boring, boring Waxwings

Right, hope that got your attention. Boring, they are not. If ever you cease to be amazed when you see one of these beautiful creatures then can I suggest that you either a) take up a new interest, or b) have a blooming good think about what you want from life.

 

Waxwing - photograph by Tony Fox

 

An email popped up in my Inbox from Tony this morning, with this photograph attached. Better than most emails I receive. This was one of the 13 birds he had seen this morning at Alton Water just to the east of Larch Wood. I can only assume that these were the same birds as those that were up by the cafe last week. It was 2pm when I had the opportunity to cycle down to see if they were still around. Two o'clock on a grey and bitter-cold winter afternoon is never a great time to go looking for passerines, but Waxwings are normally a fairly obliging bird. I pulled up next to where I had seen the Smew last week (see earlier blog post). The little inlet was tight with duck (Teal, Wigeon, Shoveler) and a lone Redshank yodelled his disapproval at my appearance. I waited a minute, as I was surrounded by bush upon bush of Wild Rose which where brim full of berries. I am accustomed to seeing Rose bushes thinly scattered in hedgerows, this is more of a forest of roses. I made a mental note to come and enjoy the site in June when the bushes would be in flower. Things didn't seem too promising, given the general murk, gloom and cold, but after a moment my ears picked up on the briefest of trilling notes - or was it my head wanting to hear them? A couple of minutes passed and another brief trill. For the life of me, I couldn't see any in the bushes, which were all obligingly growing at head height. Then it occurred to me to try looking up! Sure enough, there they were sat in a willow tree. Perhaps they had been laughing at me, rather than calling to each other. They weren't all feeding at once, one or two would take it turns to descend for or a berry or two or take a drink from a puddle. I can't recall seeing a grounded Waxwing before - they are even more beautiful when you see them on the deck.

 

I can see the Smew from here.

I had a bit of time to do some birding today so took in some local spots.

The other half was venturing down towards Twickenham on a non-rugby related event with the boy and I had some free time. Back from the station, I got on the bike and headed down to Stutton Ness in search of the Long-tailed Duck that had been around for a couple of weeks. No joy. The force three north-westerly seemed to have pushed birds elsewhere - even Goldeneye were scarce. Non-birding highlights were some nice, bubbly clouds over Manningtree and talking to a bait-digger who had been there since 6am! Now that is dedication. He had a head-torch and enough rag and lugworm as a result to last him for two days of fishing. He was telling me that a 100 lugworm costs £20 at the moment and that may only last 3-4 hours.

Dedicated bait-digger at Stutton Ness looking west towards Manningtree

 

 

Holbrook Bay, with the remains of Graham's Wharf in the foreground

 

 

A foray down to Manningtree next and after doing a few errands in town, I was looking forward to taking in the rising tide at Mistley Walls. Regrettably, our friends at the Met Office had again failed to script the forecast correctly and my time coincided with some pretty heavy showers. I had to be content with some close-in Avocet at Mistley Quay. Usually, the flock - which has got to 200+ in recent times - is distant, but these birds were only 100 metres off the quay.

 

After lunch, Alton Water beckoned. I had seen the drake Goosander off Lemon's Hill Bridge on Wednesday, across the border in Tattingstone. There had been a couple of female Smew seen from the Larchwood Hides during the week and they were my target. On the way down Alton Hall Lane, on a recently ploughed field, there was a nice gathering of 200 Common Gulls. Unusual to see a flock of small gulls round here without a Black-headed Gull amongst them. (On the way back there were 300).

 

Common Gulls (honest) with the Royal Hospital School tower (Holbrook) in the distance



 

 

 

The hides were Smew-less, but there was a good-sized flock of 134 Pochard, outnumbering their Tufted cousins four-fold. As I cycled back, I bumped in to two birders who had just seen a lone female Smew and sure enough, minutes later, I was watching it in the company of two Coots on the Stutton-side of the border.

 

The 2x zoom on the Sony Super SteadyShot DSC-W80 is just not up to the mark when it comes to wildlife photography! The two black dots in the right foreground are the Coot, the Smew is to the right of the left-hand bird (honest).

 



 

 

Sparrows - Part 2: Boxes ready

A fortnight ago, I took delivery of a dozen House Sparrow terraces from my esteemed friends Mike and Ali from the Shotley branch of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. This is all part of the grand Operation Sparrow plan to involve as many different people and organisations as possible. It helps to spread the word about the House Sparrows' plight and shares the load. In addition, it is a nice little earner for the Trust, as every box made sees £10 go in to their coffers. Mike and Ali make them for free, which is utterly admirable. Conservation volunteers have been doing 'Big Society' for decades. It doesn't need politicians telling them so.

 

 

They are made with 12mm marine ply and have since had a double-coating of high-quality, water-based Sadolin, which should see them good for many years.

 

All I need to do now is get them out to fellow villagers who have been waiting patiently.

This is why - part 1

Well I suppose it makes sense to actually talk about Sparrows for once, considering the name of the blog. Where we live in Stutton, we are very fortunate to have House Sparrows in the hedge; coming to food that is put out and best of all, nesting in the roof. A space they share with Starlings, Swifts and a small bat roost.
Having this, made me hark back to where I was brought up in Surrey. I say Surrey, but friends often remind me that it is really just the outskirts of Croydon. They have a point. Both statements are true. Forgive me if I am being a snob. Growing up there thirty years ago, spugs were everywhere. Nesting in the roof-space and causing havoc on the old man's veg patch. But them some time between the mid-80s and mid-90s, they disappeared. They didn't just disappear from our garden, but from every other part of the village. I go back today and not a 'chirrup' is to be heard. That is a tragedy.
Perhaps the slow advancment of years and the responsibilities of parenthood are making me sentimental, but this got me thinking. I was thinking that I don't want our son growing up and asking in 20 years time, "Did House Sparrows ever nest here Dad?". So, behold, the dawning of Operation Sparrow. In short, a community project to save and increase their numbers by getting everyone involved - because it needs them if it is to work. Mark Avery, in his book Fighting for Birds talks about "keeping common species common". I rather liked that statement.
Rule 1 of conserving something is "Find out where it is". You couldn't ask for a easier species - noisy and sedentary. I read that the average foraging distance for adult spugs when they are provisioning their young is just 70 metres.  It is obvious from looking around the village where the hotspots are. They are concentrated off the main road (a fast 30mph zone, which in itself may play a part) and most of the housing is of an age where roof-tiles have lifted or gaps have appeared in the woodwork - ideal if you are a House Sparrow. It has taken no time at all to find out where they are and this is something that can be done every year. Try it where you live.

By Ec(cles) it was windy

Well this was the scene that faced us shortly after 7.30am this morning. On the drive up from Suffolk the Shipping Forecast announcer said "Force 8/9, backing north-west and decreasing to Force 6". At that stage I was beginning to wonder if I had chosen the right day to do my first bit of proper birding in over 18 months. The (welcome) arrival of a small child has accounted for my ornithological abstinence until today.

No sooner had we pitched up and a Bonxie went right over our heads heading north. A promising start I thought, but within fifteen minutes, horizontal hail hit. It was a case then of do what you could to keep optics dry, hold on to your chair (demonstrated below) and seek shelter until it passed.

 

 

For the next hour, until it lashed it down again, there was a steady trickle of Kittiwakes, but otherwise it was surprisingly quiet. It was nice to see a Woodcock come in/off and it seems an age since I have had an Eider down this end of the country. But there was no flood of skuas, divers or auks. A handful of knot went north and a group of four Shag followed suit. We headed in at nine for a drink and things weren't improving weather-wise an hour later so we cleared off.

 

For once though, the forecasters had it right and things did clear. So just before Noon we got in for another stint. Visibility was very good, so good in fact you could see the Gas Rigs 16 miles offshore, and the kittiwakes kept on coming. Whilst we had been away, a couple of Little Auks had gone through. The last live one I saw was back in the 90's, so given the conditions today I was hoping to connect and fortunately one went shooting through just off the breakers about half an hour after our return. Millenium tick!

 

Other goodies included a Short-eared Owl in from the south, two close Scaup, Scoter in to three-figures and more Eider. Passerine-wise, a nice bunch of 15 Snow Buntings right in front of our dune-cover was tops.

 

I just hope that I don't have to wait another eighteen months for the next sea-watch.

 

 

 

Does the Ivy League finish tonight?

Looking at the weather forecast, it looks like winter will be turning up tomorrow. So tonight could be your last chance to get out and check any ivy that is still in flower for good numbers of moths. The last two nights have been very mild so I was out for an hour checking the two remaining patches locally that have not yet gone to seed. In just four nights this month, I have amassed a healthy list of 24 different species, all feeding on ivy. I have even managed some respectable photographs:

Brick and Yellow-line Quaker
You could confuse the two, given that they both show a black dot in the centre of the fore-wing, but note the straightness of the outer cross-line on the quaker. Both species overwinter as eggs.

Satellite
This is a beautiful moth. This one I caught in the moth-trap last week, but the last two nights I have seen individuals on ivy. The 'sun-and-moon' feature on the nectaring specimens were white, not orange as on this one. Satellites over-winter as adults and once the caterpillars get to fair size in May/June they are partial to nibbling on other moth caterpillars as well as the odd leaf.

 

Merveille du Jour

Yes, you are right, this is an absolutely beautiful moth. If ever you hear someone say "eerrh, moths, they eat your clothes don't they?", show them a picture of this and if that doesn't enlighten them, cut all ties immediately.

 



I can't wait for next autumn now. I love setting a moth-trap, but there is something more tangible about going out and finding moths "doing what they do". I am reliably informed that come the spring, it will be well worth checking Sallow blossom as one of the first main nectar sources of the season, but I don't find Sallows as readily abundant as Ivy. I will certainly give it a go though.

Stumpy

I was on my hands and knees this afternoon forking over part of our freshly exposed vegetable patch. Thanks to our friends The Snobs for that.



The weedy edge to the side of the plot, left untended all summer, was alive with grasshoppers until recently. Maybe with the forecast mild conditions next week, there may be one last chirrup or two before the first frost finishes them off. The bushy, purple-flowered 'weed' was still pulling in some bumblebees though. I am a self-confessed, atrocious botanist (in fact I feel bad even writing the word). My crude attempts at identification have lead me to believe that this is Black Horehound. During the summer, after I had read that it was the larval foodplant of an attractive little micro-moth, I was seeing it whereever I went. Or maybe I wasn't.

 

Absent grasshoppers and the odd bombus were not exciting me this afternoon though. The action revolved around the ivy covered stump next to it.

 

 

This was left from when we moved in a couple of years ago. Remnants of a leylandii-type thing. As I was digging near it, I hoiked up a small larvae. About 2.5cm long, with a juicy, fat body and a head the colour of a Werther's Original, it was obviously a Stag Beetle. You'll note, I said "small larvae". This one was a mere infant. They live in their larval state for 5-6 years (typically in buried dead wood) and I have seen them as fat and long as my little finger. I immediately dug a hole near the base of the stump and put him (or her) in and covered it over. A delicate touch was now required, as I still had a bit more to finish off. A few forks later and up popped these:

 

 

As well as being a bad botanist, I am hoping this year to receive a nomination in the "C**p Coleopterist of the Year" competition. Saying that, given their size, I feel safe in saying that these are parts of a now deceased Stag Beetle, probably a female. Why so? I understand that female stag beetles don't have much of a life once they emerge from their lengthy subterranean sojourn. Wafting pheromones everywhere, they spend most of the time on foot searching for suitable egg-laying sites. Once they have been courted to within an inch of their life, they burrow down to the selected spot, lay their eggs and then snuff it.

 

Stag Beetles aren't everywhere, in fact they are quite localised, but if you have a stump in your garden there are going to be a whole host of dead wood invertebrates, not forgetting fungi, lichen and other plants that will love you back for leaving it.

 

 

 

 

 

 



Well at least something has had a good year

Speak to most bird-ringers, or indeed read their blogs/tweets etc and the general trend for the 2012 season will be one of gloom. Starved chicks or abandoned eggs in Blue Tit and Great Tit boxes the norm.
The same came be said in the lepidopteran world. Butterflies seem to have had a shocker. Transect survey results I have seen were atrocious. This is backed up with anecdote aplenty from fellow natural historians. There was a brief window of Vanessid-joy in August, but Peacocks were a rare sight. The only glimmer of hope I saw was with second generation Large Whites, every one of which seems to have descended on my brassicas over the last month. Perhaps I should do a better job with the netting next year.
Their nocturnal buddies have had a similar rough ride. When I have been able to set the moth-trap during gaps in the weather, catches of typically abundant species like Vine's Rustic, Turnips and Large Yellow Underwings have been the merest of blips on the radar.
But wait, autumn is here and warm colours are edging out the various shades of summer green. Over the last week, the canopy of an acer viewed from our kitchen has caught the eye. Today, it is verging on scarlet. Beautiful. In the front garden, the five metres of mixed, native hedge planted last winter is on the turn. The Spindle has already reddened, but my favourite autumn colour, the lemon-yellow of field maple is only now just starting to appear. What on earth would we do if we couldn't guarantee a bit of autumn colour?
We have had some decent bursts of rain over the last couple of weeks and this has been a boon for fungi. Hurrah! At last, something to celebrate. The problem for me is a rather substantial knowledge-gap in this field. But I am getting to a stage in life where I don't lose too much sleep about this sort of thing. For the moment, I shall just do what I can to get out and have a rootle around and enjoy it. I think you should do the same.

 

Parasol mushrooms (so I am told)

Black Rustic

This chap taken off ivy last night.

Moths bonkers for conkers.

Perhaps I should elucidate. I have found a new wildlife drug. Checking for moths on ivy (at night) is utterly compelling and tonight it was all about Horse Chestnuts. The BBC website forecast showed twelve celsius so I was out the door just after eight full of hope. I was on the back foot straight away as my breathe was frosting and then I remembered the addage "never trust anything you read on the internet" - particularly weather forecasts.

I wasn't going to let a bit of a nip in the air put me off, so I got on the bike and headed out to virgin territory. The first 200 metres was cold and moth-less, despite there being a fair amount of ivy worth checking. Once I was out of the built up area (if there is such a thing in a small village), it was down to checking the ivy-clad maiden trees loosely spread along the roadside. It was pleasing to note that the temperature had risen too.

Two pairs of twinkling orange eyes soon showed in the white light of my torch beam - both belonging to Angle Shades. They were probing ivy wrapped around a Horse Chestnut that was still holding plenty of leaf cover. Four more trees drew blanks, but then I came to another Horse Chestnut and bingo! Another Angle Shades and two Setaceous Hebrew Characters were on show. It then occurred to me that I was only looking at the north side of the tree. Duh. The other side was teeming: Sallow, Large Yellow Underwing, Chestnut, Silver-Y, seven Angle Shades and five Setaceous Hebrew Characters. I also have a couple of moths in the fridge that I need to check up on.

After my fill of this chestnut, I headed back to the first one and checked the south-facing flowers. Success again. Black Rustic, Green-brindled Crescent, L-album Wainscot, Brick and Square-spot Rustic all showed along with more Angle Shades and Setaceous Hebrew Characters.

Only the Setaceous Hebrew Characters were bothered by the light, either flying off or hiding amongst the foliage.

Thirteen species in an hour. Magnificent and it was nice to see some new species for my growing "Moffs wot I have seen at Ivy" list. I suspect that the heavy leaf cover of the horse chestnuts was keeping the temperature up below the canopy, making things more moth-friendly.

Love wildlife? Get a torch and a jam jar.

Last night was the inaugural meeting of the Stutton Moth Group (S.M.o.G). In fact it was so inaugural I have only just thought of naming and forming the group. I must let the other member know.

It was mild, with a fair degree of cloud cover, so I felt that a check of the ivy was necessary again. I had staked out two stretches during the day and Tony (the other S.M.o.G. member) had some near his house worth investigating. It turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes of wildlife-watching. Something that anyone can do. The ideal time at the moment seems to be when Eastenders is on (please don't think that I watch this excuse for entertainment). Once this post gets read, I have no doubt that next week's papers will be full of stories about a sudden drop in viewing figures. 

The first stretch was in a sheltered, north-facing lane. Most of the ivy had yet to come in to flower, but we still mustered eight moths of six species - single of Lunar Underwing, Flounced Rustic, Brick and Square-spot Rustic and two each of Chestnut and variably marked Common Marbled Carpet.

Angle Shades

The second stretch produced our first two Angle Shades of the evening, another Chestnut and singles of Snout, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Grey Shoulder-Knot and incredibly the nationally scarce L-Album Wainscot. It is a moth that is becoming more common in this part of the world, but it is a fair distance from the nearest patch of marram grass (its larval foodplant).

L-album Wainscot

Stretch three was Angles Shades heaven. with at least eleven identified. Another Brick was seen, along with an Autumnal Rustic and best of all, a Dark Sword-Grass. The latter was well out of reach, so Tony went home and fetched a walking pole and a long-handled net and it was soon in the bag. It must have made for a bizarre sight.

I would like to rescind my recommendations in a previous post for using red light, as the moths didn't seem to give a monkeys. In fact, some of them were so intoxicated on ivy-juice I could have picked them off with my fingers.

So I urge you to get out there and see what you can find. You just need a jam jar and a torch.

Brick (rubbish photo I know)

Dark Sword-Grass

Chestnut

Red Squirrels back on Tresco - are you sure?

I grudgingly moved in to the 21st century back in February with the acquisition of my first smartphone and subsequent signing up to Twitter. It has struck me in the last couple of weeks how social media is so far ahead of the game when it comes to spreading the word, be it badgers, buzzards or a deviant teacher eloping with a pupil to France. I knew about the latter about a week before it got any coverage on TV when the Twitter campaign about Megan's disappearance appeared on my account.

Anyway, to the point. One person I 'follow' has tweeted about an introduction (or is it a reintroduction) of Red Squirrels to Tresco on the Isles of Scilly. I believe that this is being aided by the Red Squirrel Survival Trust http://www.rsst.org.uk/ I am all in favour of protecting the Reds that remain by any legal means which the RSST seem well and truly behind - hurrah to that. However, I am slightly perturbed by the Tresco plan. The 'Diet' of Reds on the RSST website seems to infer that they are veggies. A quick Google search (admittedly of no scientific literature) points to countless references to them fancying a bit of meat on occasion. A disingenuous omission. Can you see where I am going with this? I fear that introducing a (potential) top predator on to a small island might not go down too well with the resident population of cup-nesting songbirds. I well recall the abundance of Song Thrushes and Dunnocks on my trips to the Scillies, wishing of course that one of them would turn out to be a Swainson's Thrush or an Alpine Accentor. If I was a Red and it was a bad seed year, I would fancy nothing more than a quick nibble on a delightful, pastel-blue dunnock egg. A reminder here that Song Thrush are on the red-list of Birds of Conservation Concern and Dunnocks are Amber-listed. Or can you imagine the anger from the massed ranks of twitchers on the 16th October 2019 when a near-to-death Black-billed Cuckoo has the coup-de-grace administered by a Red Squirrel!

I was also slightly alarmed to read that the RSST wishes to pursue their work "with projects that minimise bureaucracy." Conservation organisations have to jump through an inordinate amount of consents, permissions and regulations in order to carry out their work. No doubt this can be frustrating at times, but needs must. Admittedly, I don't know the protocol for (re)introductions, but there must be a fairly lengthy list.

I think that this particular effort is mere tokenism and efforts are better spent where Reds remain. It also remains to see if this story dies on its backside or gains some thought-provoking momentum on the twitter-sphere. That is down to you.

Mothtraps aren't everything.

Well I thought, I can't write a blog about checking flowering ivy without  going out and doing it myself. So last night, just after seven I went out on the bike having recce'd some likely looking patches less than half-a-mile from the house. It always surprising how much of something you find once you look for it properly. It is everywhere.

I started out checking with a red light, but found this difficult to get on with, so resorted to white after a few minutes. The first patch I checked had a Large Yellow Underwing and just fifty metres later I came across a Common Marbled Carpet, its wings held back like a butterfly and it's probiscis well and truly wedged in to a flower. I estimated that only about 10% of the ivy that I checked was in flower, so there is still plenty of time left in the season.

I had to head off to a meeting at eight and as I pedalled away, I felt duty-bound to explain to a lady dog-walker what I was doing. She seemed a bit on edge by the goings-on of a luminous-jacketed headtorch-wearing cyclist. I had the evidence in some pots, so my story stood up to scrutiny.

All of the moths were easy to 'pot'. They do have a tendency to drop off, so it is best to have the pot underneath rather than coming in from the side.

Post-meeting around ten, a leisurely meander home along a different stretch was much more productive. Another Large Yellow Underwing, four Angle Shades and best of all a Grey Shoulder-Knot. This is our third Autumn in the village and this is the first time that I have recorded this species. Waring/Townsend shows it as common, but it goes to show that not everything comes to light (well my actinic anyway). This takes the Stutton moth list to 313 species since July 2010.

FOOTNOTE: I saw on the Beeb today that the whale at Shingle Street has now been re-identified as a Fin Whale.

Leave that whale alone?

A couple of weekends ago, the family joined some other volunteers down at Stutton Ness as part of BeachWatch. A mass-participation event where good souls clean up after bad souls. As we were picking up drink cans, plastic bottles and pieces of broken glass, you really did wonder what on earth possesses people to leave litter. Cretins, the lot of them.

It was sad to read about the fatal stranding of another beached whale this week. This time a ten-metre long Minke on the Suffolk coast at Shingle Street. It strikes me that Shingle Street is not a place that is thronged with visitors and it made me think - why not leave it alone to rot away naturally? I reckon a dead whale would disappear quicker than the soiled disposable nappy that one of the unfortunate BeachWatch vols had to deal with or cause less harm to children than the 180 shards of broken glass we picked up around one fire site. Yes, if a 20 metre Sperm Whale popped up dead on Blackpool beach then by all means deal with it.

Eager to find out what happens, I gave the Marine Conservation Society a bell. Their receptionist told me that all strandings are reported to a national hotline based at the Natural History Musuem. So I called them. A very helpful chap there said that if the carcass was fresh it would be removed for autopsy. I can see the sense in the science there. However, if the poor old cetacean was well past its best then it would be down to the local authority to deal with and of course cover the cost. "Health and Safety" was mentioned. Which brings me full circle back to disposable nappies and broken glass.

Check your Ivy now

Well here we go then, my first blog post.

The title of the Blog comes from the project I am running in the fine village of Stutton, Suffolk, nestled between the Stour Estuary (to the south) and Alton Water reservoir (you guessed it, to the north). Nationally, House Sparrows have undergone a 67% decline in the last 25 years and yes, we need to do something about it. Some very keen volunteers from the Shotley branch of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust are making some House Sparrow terraces for us and I am doing as much as I can to raise awareness in the village and try to encourage as many householders as possible to stick one up on the side of their house. Nestboxes won't be enough though. We need to get gardens buzzing and chirruping with insects as well. More on that later.

But for now, I am sat in the kitchen listening to the Ryder Cup (come on BBC get it back on terrestrial), both windows have had a geometrid visit, but have gone as soon as I have reached for a moth pot. Not to be put off, I read on the excellent Suffolk Moths blog http://suffolkmoths.org.uk/blog/, that some good moths have been coming to Ivy flowers elsewhere in the county. Despite the 15 knot breeze blowing outside, a quick look at the ivy-shrouded tree stump in the hedge outside found a sole Large Yellow Underwing. I was hoping for an Orange Sallow, but perhaps the wind has kept the smaller chaps tucked away. Knowing that now is the time to be out looking, tomorrow I shall find some suitably sheltered ivy elsewhere during the day, so that I can have a butchers after dark tomorrow.

Bird obs were limited to things over the garden today, in the form of eight Meadow Pipits and a couple of Siskins. From what I read on the twitter-sphere, today has been an excellent day for House Martin passage.