Tuesday 29 June 2010

Swift half news - 29th June 2010

  • A few dragonflies have zoomed through the garden in the heat, but still none have stayed (apart from that black tail a week or so ago, and even that didn't stay long enough for me to grab the camera!)
  • A wonderful night for moths last night (overcast, still, sultry) produced my second elephant hawk moth, a broad-barred white, plenty of heart and darts (and clubs), plenty of yellow underwings and buff ermines, plenty of unidentified moths (remember - I'm a self-confessed moth snob!) and a lovely "figure of eighty" moth -photo below.


GO FIGURE

  • First (of the year) Comma butterfly in garden yesterday
  • Tonight, the (allegedly) wounded Yala brought down an adult female sparrow and played ectastically with it, until Malu took it off her and growled at anyone who got close!

Sunday 27 June 2010

Swift half news - 27th June 2010

  • The heatwave continues - set to go to 31c today.
  • The swifts are getting bigger and bigger (as you'll see if you've been watching the live feed on this blog) - both parents are feeding them as many flies as they can -returning to the nest with swollen crops full of flies rolled into a "bolus".
  • The entrance hole to the swift nest is coming in for a lot of attention not only from the sparrows (who have a nest in the same bit of roof remember) but also juvenile starlings and raiding parties of yearling male swifts - I watched a dozen or so swifts for a few hours today, all from the garden. (see my swift photos on flickr).
    OUR SWIFTS (2)
  • You'll also have noticed that the swiftlets in the nest are panting heavily - their huge gapes wide open - it must be incredibly hot under those tiles. We really could do with a little rain and a few cooler nights -if only for the little swifts!
  • I cleared out the pond yesterday (well got rid of a barrel-load of blanket weed anyway) - we have a water lily bud under the water -maybe now it'll have the space to get to the pond surface and flower.
  • No dragonflies over the pond this year yet - not even common darters.
  • All the rose and cockchafers are "eclosing" from the lawn - Yala and Malu (our kits) like them a lot!
  • A few moths in the trap -buff ermines, green pug, heart and club - nothing really spectacular though.
  • The young woodpeckers (and parents) are still returning to the woodpecker - attractor for their grub.
  • Two young robins in the garden also, and a new woodpigeon nest in one of the damson trees.
  • One of our home-made elderflower champagne bottles exploded in the privy this week - come round to ablute and you can also get drunk at the same time, just by using our outside lav!
  • Yala has had a major scuffle last night - at least two nasty cuts under her fur and she is acting very strangely today -almost looks drunk - very slow, very unfriendly -she's obviously in a bit of pain - does another trip to the vets beckon?
  • Loads of strawberries in garden
  • First red runner bean flowers appearing
  • Sunflower growing nicely

General (county) news - 27th June 2010

  • I haven't posted a general news update for some time now, so thought I'd briefly do just that...
  • All the dragonflies are on the wing now - including Emperors - though I've yet to photograph (or even try to) those huge odonates this year.
  • The hot weather continues - we may get a few clouds and a little light rain midweek this week, but thats all. Its set to top 30c today, after another sunny, hot week.
  • Demoiselles are out in force on the Thames and little froglets are in thick waterside grass everywhere.
  • The otter that is well known (but never seen) on our local river is next on my hit list - but that may take a LOT of time to stalk out!
  • The marbled white butterflies are out, even though their main food source (thistle flowers) are still hardly in evidence. Large skippers out also as are ringlets, red-eyed damselflies and cinnabar moths.

RINGS

Wednesday 23 June 2010

Swift half news - 23rd June 2010

  • As the heatwave continues (33c by saturday) I'm getting very concerned about the fact that I can only see one (the larger of the two) swiftlets in the nest. Has the smaller one died in the heat. Has it found its way to the sparrows nest via the entrance tunnel? Is it just sitting nearer the entrance, out of shot of my webcam?
  • Its been a day now since I've seen both chicks, and last night was the first night that I've seen the one chick sitting on top of one adult at night - the other adult (and other chick) was either out of shot or out of the nest.
  • Please let me know if you see both chicks!

EDIT - 21:40 - I can confirm that BOTH chicks are still in the nest - just witnessed them both being fed! Phew!

Monday 21 June 2010

Swift half news - 21st June 2010

JUST IN CASE...
  • Midsummer's day and yet another dry day - and warm to boot today also.
  • Plenty of tree bumblebees in the garden today - though I can't find any nest... I know this (relatively) new species to the UK liked Buckinghamshire last year - this year it seems to be Reading and Berkshire (so I'm reliably told by a chap at BWARS (see link)).
  • The moth trap last night went BANANAS! The first yellow underwing moths, the first small magpies, loads of heart and darts and silver Ys (as normal), some sort of coronet (couldn't identify it properly before it flew away) and two "Dark Arches" - a first this year for the moff trap. The swing in the wind direction brought our garden moffs to life - I wonder what the rest of the week will bring!
  • Plenty of activity chez Swift also with the chicks getting bigger and bigger and the nest site being raided at dawn this morning (for the first time proper) by an aerial bombardment of yearling (non breeding) males. Spectacular!
  • Both woodpecker families feeding well on the post all day again - what a success that's been this year!
  • Lots of ladybird larvae in the garden - mainly harlequin and 7-spot, but also 14 spot too.
  • Wimbledon starts along with summer proper?

IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE

Sunday 20 June 2010

Swift half news - 20th June 2010

  • Another beautiful day in the Costa Del West Berkshire, and the first blue-tailed damselfly visitor to the pond. I should point out here that its pretty clear that this year I'm spending less time (than the past two or tree and than I'd like) sitting by the pond, or the bee post, looking for things. Other people are reporting jewel wasps and stag beetles, but not me this time - and normally I'm the first!
  • The swiflets are growing well, depsite looking like stubbly, ugly little toads with long stretchy bald necks! As suggested t'other day, we are not expecting any rain for a week, so the onus is on the chicks to keep cool under the hot tiles -food this week won't be a problem and their parents are to-ing and fro-ing regularly with scran as you'll know if you've been following their progress on this site's webcam.

  • FLUFFBALL
  • Our woodpecker family (ies) are doing nicely also - the last to fledge is a real cutey-pie - a fluffball if I've ever seen one, and still has not yet learned to be afraid of humans. He/she landed on the garden hide as I was baiting their post not 6 feet away at dawn this morning!
  • Another dead animal in the garden this morning - a woodmouse, half eaten - by Yala I assume.
  • Longest day of the year tomorrow - its all downhill from there as those winter nights draw in!!!

THE FLUFFIEST OF THE BUNCH

Friday 18 June 2010

Swift half news - 18th June 2010

  • Bit of rain this evening - not enough to hardly even wet the ground though really - at this rate we'll join the NW of the country and go under drought order. Actually, even though we always mention it at this time of year, this year seems quite serious - the lowest rainfall for the first 5 months of the year since 95-96.
  • Malu found a robin's nest when we were at work today - he killed two of the new fledglings but I think we have one survivor (see below).
  • High pressure set to dominate the south of England for next week (will Wimbledon be dry!?)

THE SURVIVOR

Tuesday 15 June 2010

Swift half news - 15th June 2010

  • The larger of the two swiftlets is developing some darker feathers at last and has opened its eyes after over a week of having them closed. Lazy get.
  • The smaller has its eyes closed still I think and is a day or two behind in development than its sibling.
  • I found two dead garden chafers (not my photo and doesn't really do the colour of these things any justice) in the garden this afternoon (I've not seen these beautifully-coloured beetles before, so I'll keep my eyes out for live ones emerging at dusk).
  • My Uncle Ruary appeared on BBC Springwatch tonight, talking with his friend Chris Packham, about Ruary's passion for odonates - a real treat to watch - hope you caught it!

Sunday 13 June 2010

Swift half news - 13th June 2010

  • The honeysuckle at Swift Half is in full bloom - and the big bumblebees and moths are loving it.
  • Talking of flowers - the elderflower is still going strong (the bottled champagne is taking on its fizz and losing some of its cocktail sweetness), the rear (rear) garden has been carpeted with "scarlet pimpernel" in the recent dry spell -and the twenty-one potato plants have flowered nicely.
  • The sunflower has avoided being nibbled by our hens, and is now about 20cm tall.
  • The swift chicks are growing well - they look pretty prehistoric still (at 7 days old) and their eyes are still closed.
  • Talking of swifts - a hobby raced through the garden pretty low today - chasing swifts and dragonflies I expect - not good.
  • I think we have another woodpecker nest on the go to the west of the house - the woodpecker attractor is still being visited not only by adult birds and fledglings, but also adult birds carrying food somewhere other than the nest which produced the first set of fledglings. I'll keep my eye on that lot...
  • Bit of rain tonight and tomorrow and then a nice, sunny, warm settled period (again) to come this week.
  • Anna and I ate our first two home-grown strawberries this year.

Friday 11 June 2010

Swift half news - 11th June 2010

  • Another first for the garden today and another first for me (after the beautiful demoiselle t'other day) - a female Black Tailed Skimmer (not my photo) is the first postively identified large dragonfly in the garden all year. I've never seen one of these dragonflies before! A wonderful (all-too-brief) treat.
  • The swift chicks (two) are properly visible for the first time this afternoon, as the mother finally leaves the nest a few times, to hunt for herself and her young (aided of course by the male). One is distinctly larger than the other, but they are both still tiny, pretty naked and with closed eyes.

Thursday 10 June 2010

Swift half news - 10th June 2010

  • Our male kitten, found a family of newly-fledged blue tits today and brought one back to me. I rescued it and put it in a tree out of the kitten's way, but I don't give it much chance...

GOLDEN RULE...

General (county) news - 10th June 2010

  • Adult cinnabar moths have appeared on Thames-side vegetation. Three weeks later than when I normally spot them each year (mid May) I can't have been looking hard enough because I'm sure they've been around!

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Swift half news - 8th June 2010

  • Last night I came home from work to find a fledgling blackbird in the sitting room. It may have been brought in through the catflap by Malu (or male kitten/cat) or more likely fell down the chimney - the daft get. Anyway - I got it outside ok, only for it to be hit by a bus. (Only joking).
  • Talking of fledglings - this morning, the first (and possibly the last again like last year?) fledgling woodpecker left the nest. Last year we had one young woodpecker (strange as woodpeckers have four or so eggs normally) arrive on June 9th - - this year it was one day early. I think there may be one more to come, as the adult male took a large lump of woodpecker bait back to the nest late this afternoon. We'll see.
  • What is for sure is like last year, the female and the fledgling woodpecker are very cautious of the adult male - seems such a shame after all the hard work he put in during the time that the chick(s) were in the nest.
  • Heavy rain last night and a few heavy showers today should help the damsons, pears, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries in the garden!
  • As for the swifts - well the female is sitting tight on the chick(s). The male is bringing in food, but with all this rain around, its not ideal for the little swiflets. Should improve as the week goes on I hope.


FIRST (& LAST AGAIN?) FLEDGLING

  • Anna and I made 12 litres of elderflower champagne (from the elder tree in the garden) at the back end of last week, and after a little yeast added yesterday - its time to bottle it tomorrow!

Sunday 6 June 2010

Swift half news - 6th June 2010 (special)

  • I can now confirm that BOTH of the incubated eggs hatched today!
  • My guess is that the female will stay put for a while whilst the male brings in fly-balls for her to feed the day old chicks,but it won't be long before both adults are leaving the nest regularly to hunt and bring back food to their young.
  • WELL DONE ANNA - 6th June was spot on!!!

Swift half news - 6th June 2010

  • Today is the day that Anna guessed our swiftlets might hatch - but I'm not sure this has occurred today. My guess is still the 10th, but every time I look at the nest space on the webcam, both incubated eggs are still being covered by a swift - so I can't really tell if either egg did hatch today after all!
  • EDIT - I SEE A BROKEN EGG AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN! HAS AT LEAST ONE OF THE SWIFLETS HATCHED ON THE DAY ANNA SAID THEY WOULD? YOU TELL ME?!
  • The woodpeckers (especially the male) is visiting the woodpecker feeder every few minutes at present, and flying away with mouthfuls of my bait - to a tree about 800yards away. I'm certain they have at least one chick that they are feeding as much as they can - and would suggest that the chick (or fledgling) will fly the nest this week - and we may seem it (or them) in the garden like last year. Whether the adult male is then chased away by the adult female like last year, remains to be seen. That would seem a tad harsh after all the work he's put in over the last few weeks...
    BUSY FATHER (2)
  • The third beautiful demoiselle in the garden over the last few days tempted me to take a photo of this unusual visitor to our garden. Unusual because generally these very vivid large damseflies prefer rivers - not 6 foot square ponds - and there were none in the garden all last year... I have never seen this insect before, let alone in the garden!
    BANDED DEMOISELLE IN GARDEN
  • After 5 days of hot, sunny weather, at tea time today, the weather finally broke with a short sharp downpour. Only lasted a few minutes, but already the air feels much fresher...

Friday 4 June 2010

Swift half news - 4th June 2010

  • After watching the swifts fly in and out of their nest entrance hole today (from outside) its become crystal clear that sparrows are nesting in the space too.
  • I saw both male and female house sparrows fly in and out of the same hole, and remove faecal sacs from young - and fly away with them. Not only that, but I heard the young "peeping" when I listened carefully!
  • I have no idea just whereabouts the sparrows are nesting in the hole -maybe there's more room in there than I thought - maybe there's a tunnel of sorts to the left (the swifts are using the right tunnel thats for sure).
  • Anyway - no doubt about it - that particular space in the attic is being used for nesting by house sparrows AND swifts. I wonder if and when any swiftlets hatch, there might be trouble at mill...
  • Tonight I managed to catch my favourite moth of all (and my eldest sister's I think) -a beautiful Elephant Hawk Moth. See more on this moth at my flickr site...

ELEPHANT HAWKMOTH (3)

General (county) news - 4th June 2010

  • Not so much "county news" today as "adjoining county news" as Anna and I went to one of my old badger woods in the Buckinghamshire chilterns to see if our badgers were still ok in this very dry spring and early summer (dry weather means no worms, means starving badgers).
  • Well - yes they are ok - we were treated to the sight of two large adults which looked in good condition, and we heard at least two cubs also.
  • A wonderful sunset to end the evening also -we hope to return before too long, to get Anna her view of the fluffy-tailed cubs...

RED SKY AT NIGHT (2)

Thursday 3 June 2010

General (county) news - 3rd June 2010

  • Anna and I took an extended walk to Wild Moor Heath (Bracknell Forest) in the glorious sunshine today. We had originally planned to go at dusk, to listen for nightjars, but got impatient and went in the early afternoon to watch the dragonflies instead.
  • Even though we've had remarkably little rain this year (so far), the boggy parts of the heath were still boggy enough to support very good numbers of the early chaser dragonflies - broad-bodied chasers and four-spotted chasers, which we took great delight in watching for some time. Amazing little things.
    BROAD-BODIED CHASER
    FOUR-SPOTTED CHASER

  • We also saw a couple of lizards (common lizards) and a young roe buck - but no dartford warblers.
  • I would recommend a walk around the (very large) Wild Moor Heath to anyone, who like me is a bit of a fair weather southern softy at heart - I like heathland, but much prefer southern, lowland heaths, bathed in warm sunshine, to grab my reptile, dragonfly and pine tree fix!

Swift half news - 3rd June 2010

  • A belter of a day with the large red damselflies emerging (the nymphs climbing up the (pond) water soldier plants and in 5 minutes or so, splitting along their backs to reveal an adult damselfly. A lot of fun to watch, if slightly "other worldly".
    LARGE RED DAMSELFLY EMERGING
  • The Swifts are still incubating two (from three) eggs, and in this very warm, sunny weather, can be seen panting in the roof space. I think the heat did for them last year, so I've still got my fingers crossed it doesn't get too hot this year - mid 20s should be fine though - we don't want another re-run of 2007 or 2008 where we got rain all summer!
  • Plenty of elderflowers out on our tree - so Anna and I will make some elderflower champagne tomorrow - to be quaffed in July.
  • Quite a bit of moth activity at night (knowledge gleaned from the trap). In the last few days I've caught a "Marbled Minor", plenty of "Heart and Darts", a few "Setaceous Hebrew Characters", a "Small Magpie" a "Waved Umber", a few "Spectacles" and a few "Treble Lines"- not to mention a few ichneumon wasps.
  • Talking of parasitic wasps or bees - managed to get a half-decent shot of a very sorry-looking "Nomada bee" the other day - an insect that I've always had difficulty in photographing...
  • All our chive flowers are out, and all twenty-one potato plants are trying to flower...
  • Hawks are busy in the hood - watched the female kill and carry off a small passerine the other day (photo on flickr).
  • This weather is due to be good until sunday. Be warned grapple fans...

Tuesday 1 June 2010

Swift half news - 1st June 2010

  • A dank, grey, drizzly, cool start to June - but the promise of very nice weather by thursday this week and well into the weekend - so the first honeysuckle flowers out in the garden have timed things very well!
  • Loads of elderflowers too now - so Anna and I will be making bottles of champagne and cordial if sometime this week.
  • A very good night for moths last night (despite running the gauntlet of two cats sitting by the trap, eating the odd moth that flew by) with three "Silver Y" moths and a number of Heart and Darts (plus a few Willow Beauties).


SILVER Y