Sunday March 17 - Could this be spring?

 As is usual at this time of year I am constantly searching for signs of spring.

A visit to Earlswood Lakes on Friday failed to bring me any Sand Martins, and I had to settle for a handful of Chiffchaffs around the lakes, while 20 Fieldfares flying east was a reminder that winter birds are still around.

On Saturday I heard that a couple of birders, Gary J and John C, had given Morton Bagot a look and between them had seen four Avocets, an egret sp, numerous Chiffchaffs, and a couple of Stonechats.

It rained heavily overnight, but was forecast to clear so I joined Dave for a bash around the patch this morning. Everywhere was seriously flooded and we joked that there was no chance of an LRP. We did however see a Little Egret with a Grey Heron on the scrapes before confirming that the four Avocets were still resident in the flash field. We logged 12 singing Chiffchaffs as we walked around, but were still missing that little bit of jam on top of the cream scone.

We didn't have to wait long. Scanning the tops of the plastic tree guards Dave noticed a male Stonechat, and panning to the right we picked up something else. Is that a Wheatear? It certainly was, possibly my earliest at Morton Bagot (confirmed as earliest by five days). As clear a sign as you could have that spring has arrived.

Wheatear

By now the sun was starting to shine, and the first three Brimstone butterflies of the season hurried past. They didn't stop long enough to allow a shot, but a Peacock shortly afterwards did.

Peacock

I have recently added to my collection of reference books with a book about hoverflies (Hoverflies of Britain and North-West Europe Bot & Van de Meutter), so I was very pleased when one appeared. 

Tapered Drone Fly Eristalis pertinax

The book suggests that the orange forelegs would indicate it's this common species (which I think I've seen here before). I should say that there are hundreds of species of hoverfly and many cannot be identified from a photograph, so I'm expecting a steep learning curve.

I'll be putting the moth-trap out tonight........and the results are now in:

I caught 34 moths of 11 species including one that was new for me, and three others which were new for the year.

The new one was Pale Pinion. I've seen images of them on line so when I caught it I didn't immediately realise it was new for the garden. I vaguely thought I'd caught one in 2018, but eventually realised I was getting confused with a moth with a similar name (Pale Prominent). They may be fairly common but it's still taken me seven years of garden trapping to finally see one.

Pale Pinion Lithophane socia

The other three which were new for the year were my only micro, Common Plume, plus a March Moth and a very small macro, Oak Nycteoline.

March Moth

Oak Nycteoline on Foxglove leaf

I thought I'd show a picture of the Oak Nycteoline on a Foxglove leaf just to demonstrate how small they are, for a macro.

By doing more trapping early in the season than normal, my garden totals this year are well up for most species. For example I have caught 94 Common Quakers (second best total, with about three weeks before they stop flying), 11 Hebrew Characters (best total), and 13 Clouded Drabs (best total).