Survival

With the recent covering of snow and drop in temperatures, some have been finding it difficult. This Snipe, a ground feeding wader would have found it's cryptic colouring of no use on a white background, coupled with the extra stress of foraging in the frozen soil could have led it more open to predation.

Several Woodcock, a close relative of the Snipe have been seen in the garden and adjacent fields mainly skulking at the base of Blackthorn hedges. It is a familiar bird of late autumn and often associated with hard weather movements, numbers increasing when there is a freeze on the continent. Although they are encountered frequently i have not been able to photograph one on the ground yet !

 

Other species of bird, notably the small passerines such as Long-tailed Tit have a higher metabolic rate and need to feed more often in colder weather, providing us with a constant stream of visitors to the feeders. Unusually some have taken to feeding under the feeders, taking small particles of peanuts that are dislodged by the others. 

Not all are finding it so difficult, this Fox has been several times, casually trotting along, even stopping to take in some of the sun's rays on occasion, no doubt benefiting from the misfortune of others !



Ice Ice Baby...

Ok it's not a baby but a second winter !
A brief phone call from local birder Simon Cox had me leave the confines of the farm and travel west for just under two miles to Stone Point. Here Simon had located a fine Iceland Gull sitting on the water between the point and Brightlingsea. Along with Glaucous Gull, Iceland is one of the so called 'white wing gulls' that are scarce visitors to Britain in winter from the arctic, although this winter has seen up to fifty Iceland's on Shetland !
The name Iceland is a bit of a misnomer as they breed on Greenland and not Iceland...work that one out.
The occurrence of this bird has led to what i believe is Toosey's first 'pelagic twitch' with a few locals commandeering the Harbour Masters boat to get closer to the bird !

The local crows had something a little more exotic than Marsh Harriers to harass today, in the form of a Harris's Hawk. This escaped falconers bird is a native of the southern states of the USA and regularly seen in captivity in this country. In their natural environment they hunt in family groups for small mammals and rodents. In the second image the leather jesses used by the falconer to tether the bird can be clearly seen.



Incey wincey...

I came across these two very differing arachnids on our sheltered east facing wall. The first is not a true spider but a harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus. They differ from true spiders in having a one piece body, only two eyes and the second pair of legs are longer than the first. Originally from north Africa, this species was first recorded in Britain in 1957 and has now reached Scotland.
The second is one of the 'stretch' spiders Tetragnatha montana, no doubt gaining their name from the resting pose. Both are listed as being found up until November, i suspect that they are late rather than early ! Now that the wind has gone round to the North East i feel that neither will make another appearance.

The second rare micro moth of the year turned up in our kitchen this week. With five records here last year, Agonopterix curvipunctosa had previously only been recorded in Essex back in 1917. The larva of this proposed Red Data Book species feed on Bur Chervil and Cow Parsley, the latter of which occurs here in abundance. Presumably these enter the house to over-winter, as another two species Mompha epilobiella and Monopsis obviella have also been recorded indoors this winter.

With the passing of the first month of the year the garden bird list stands at 62, this compares favourably with 2011-63 and 2010-57. At last the number of birds coming to the feeders and cover strips is increasing, with up to 7 Tree Sparrow, 9 Yellowhammer and 23 Corn Bunting most days.



Teal meat again...or not

These Teal were inadvertently put up from one of our ponds, attracting the attention of a Peregrine. The Peregrine performed a half hearted dive but didn't carry out a full blooded attack, obviously it had already eaten ! We regularly see Peregrine in the winter but not so close to the house, more often they are perched sentinel like in a ploughed field.

The moth trap is now up and running again thanks to good old 'farm tech' and Evo-Stik. As expected the number of species at this time of year are low, Spring Usher, Early Moth, Satellite, plus these two diving beetles, Dytiscus semisulcatus, sometimes referred to as Black Bellied Diving Beetle. Interestingly one was a female and the other a male. These beetles can easily be sexed, the female has many ribs running along the wing cases, whereas the males are quite smooth and shiny. They are carnivorous beetles and are active throughout the year, though become dormant in the colder months and often make flights in search of new ponds when the temperature rises.





Do they know something we don't ?

This morning started differently, from the bedroom a Robin could be heard singing, through the window Collared Doves could be seen collecting twigs and calling. Not too far away the distinctive 'jangling' of Corn Buntings came from the overhead wires. What is the catalyst that could start off different species in their quest to reproduce at the same time ? To cap it all off Tree Sparrows were frustratingly observed inspecting nest boxes, something they have done for the last three years, but so far nothing has come of this, will they ever breed in north Essex again ? fingers crossed. 

Last weeks high winds have put paid to running the 125w MV Robinson moth trap for a while, as it rolled like tumble weed to the other end of the garden, thankfully the electrics remained intact, but fiddly repairs to the rainguard and supports have been called for. In compensation a scarce micro moth Mompha jurassicella was discovered on one of the windows. This moth is a proposed Red Data Book species whose larva feeds on Great Willowherb, a plant that can be found around our pond . In recent years it has only been recorded at one other site in Essex, but has occurred here in the past three. 



Those same winds also brought down some dead Elm trees. This allowed for a close inspection of larval feeding tunnels under the bark, these belonged to the Elm Bark Beetle, the carrier of Dutch Elm Disease which ultimately killed these trees and many others in this area.

Ring in the new !

 It's the second week in January and this colour rung Spoobill became the 56th bird to be seen from the garden in 2012, as it circled over the saltings before settling down on St Osyth marsh. From the combination of colours on the rings, we can tell that it was rung as a chick in Germany in July 2011, after which it visited Havergate Island in Suffolk and Holland Haven Country Park in October.

This week has seen some spectacular displays of colour at dawn and dusk, looking west from the garden Bradwell Power Station was lit up with an ominous glow !

Does anything eat wasps ?

A victim of the recent high winds has been this wasp's nest. Originally at the top of a Field Maple, before being violently removed and repositioned closer to the ground. Interestingly the nest had been broken into whilst still at the top of the tree, no doubt by a Great spotted Woodpecker and not a Honey Buzzard on it's way south !



During the time the nest had been brought indoors to show the children, a mystery leafhopper appeared on the inside of a window. Anyone who has looked at 'hoppers' closely will know how difficult they can be to identify, often requiring examination of the genitalia to be certain, a fiddly and time consuming operation.

Fortunately this was a fairly distinctive looking specimen being narrowed down to one of three species found on Acer. As Field Maple belongs to this genus it was a  good bet that the 'hopper' came in with the nest.

A close look at the face pattern revealed it to be a female Acericerus heydenii a species first identified in the UK on the south coast in 2010, though there is always the possibility that it has been overlooked before.