Friday April 17 - Lockdown update

Following a few days of light easterlies most of the action has been diurnal.

Starting with birds, I commenced my big sit in the garden at around 06.15 on Friday morning, and eventually accumulated 35 species. These included two that were new for the lockdown list; an Alba Wagtail which flew north at around 10.00, and four Black-headed Gulls, which headed north-east. Normally I would call a Pied Wagtail a Pied Wagtail, but as any birder knows, the middle of April is in the middle of the White Wagtail's spring passage peak as they head back to Iceland. It is not possible to separate White from Pied with any confidence on a fly-over view of its belly (even if it did look white) so I'm recording the wagtail as Alba.

The bird's garden lockdown list is now:

54. Pied/White Wagtail
55. Black-headed Gull

The morning was also enlivened by some other fly-overs. A Red Kite, the third since lockdown (or maybe the same bird thrice) flew east, another Redwing, a Peregrine, and a couple of Meadow Pipits also bombed past.

Red Kite

The only summer migrants to make themselves heard were a Chiffchaff, and at least three Blackcaps  perhaps all now on territory. One of the two Nuthatches which I can hear each morning actually flew over the garden, apparently heading for it's rivals territory. Robins, Woodpigeons, House Sparrows, and Great Tits have all demonstrated that they are breeding nearby by appearing with food or nesting material in their beaks.

Great Tit

Regarding butterflies, I've added three species:

April 16

6. Small White
7. Holly Blue

April 17

8. Green-veined White

Only the Green-veined White paused to allow a photograph.

Green-veined White

Moths: The trap caught not a single moth last night despite a little rain. Perhaps it was too cold, although six degrees isn't too bad. I didn't discover it, an Early Grey, until mid-afternoon on 18 April.

Finally, I'm having a few issues with Blogspot (or maybe my computer has a virus) and you may not be able to see some of the photographs. If that happens, try clicking on the image and it should appear. I am trying to find out what is going wrong.