Tuesday January 17 - Arrow Valley North

 Winter has returned. This morning I drove off with the temperature registering at -5 degrees C. I didn't go far. On the northern outskirts of Redditch the River Arrow flows past the remains of Bordesley Abbey and  I began my walk there, heading north to the Abbey Golf Course and then west to Bordesley Bridge.

In the bright sunshine there was plenty of incentive to get the camera out, and one or two birds were irresistible.

A female Kingfisher

Lesser Redpoll

Siskins

Two Little Egrets

There were double figures of Siskins and a handful of Lesser Redpolls. What I wasn't seeing was anything to move my year-list forwards, although a Little Grebe on one of the golf course ponds was unexpected.

Little Grebe trying to hide behind some Mallard

I do have some Morton Bagot news. Tony K was ringing at the weekend and caught a Jack Snipe in the marsh. 

Jack Snipe at Morton Bagot - per Tony Kelly

I also have some moth news. Nigel Stone took possession of the few specimens I had to take to prove identification and has confirmed that I could add five moths to the garden list including a Beet Moth Scrobipalpa ocellatella which turned out to be in the vanguard of an invasion of the species last year. At the moment it's the first for Warwickshire as it was caught on 9 August 2022 before the majority of them started turning up in traps around the county. However, there is every chance that I will be gazumped by an earlier one.

Beet Moth - 10/8/22

A truly tiny moth caught on 16 June 2022 which was some kind of leaf-miner turned out to be Ectoedemia heringella, only the fourth record of the actual moth in Warwickshire although the leaf-mines are more familiar apparently. They mine the leaves of Holm-Oak.

Ectoedemia heringella - 12/6/22

New for the 10 km square SP06 was Coleophora alcyonipennella, and also Spilonota laricana. New for the garden was Aproeremia (formerly Syncopacma) larseniella. The other three moths, Bryotropha terrella, Bryotropha domestica, and Epinotia nisella, taken were confirmations of earlier identifications which I had chosen to guess at.

Coleophora alcyonipennella - 19/7/22

Spilonota laricana - 19/7/22

Aproaerema larseniella - 8/7/22

Obviously it goes against the grain to take specimens, but for these tiny moths there is no other way of getting the record accepted.

PS: at about the time I was photographing the Redpolls and Siskins I heard what sounded like the squeal of a Water Rail, but it was coming from the fast flowing river. The atypical habitat put me off, so I shrugged and moved on.