Plants | Patch League

These are just some of the plants I found on the patch today. From Left to Right: Epilobium spp., Hedera helix, ???, ???, ???, Hedera helix, Typha latifolia, Galanthus nivalis, Lamium spp. 

Any help with identification would be much appreciated! My plant ID skills and resources clearly need improving (though probably mostly my ID skills really..)

Hoping to visit my patch as much as possible this week, and hopefully add some nice Inverts to the list!

Time for change

Hi everybody!

I'm writing this post because Pink Cuckoos is boring me a little. I've been pretty lazy with it in the past couple of months, partly because I haven't been out a massive amount, but also because I'm feeling my posts are getting a little boring and repetitive, and I'm fed up of just listing what I see and not saying much else.

I would really really appreciate it if anyone has any suggestions/ inspiration on styles of posts you would like to see, and what you like/ dislike about my blog, because I really want to make it better and much more exciting to read!

Thanks for reading!

Patch League

So yesterday I paid my first visit to my 'patch' (not just my garden) of the year. For those who don't know, my patch is King's Mill in Driffield. It's a pretty good patch because it has a variety of habitats, but I'm not going to lie, I didn't go in with a positive head. I expected to see the usual garden birds and maybe if I was lucky a Kingfisher. I was right on the 'usual garden birds' Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Collared Dove etc etc. But actually, I have been rather pleasantly surprised, which is only motivating me more to get out (and win (probably not going to happen)). Either way, I am really enjoying it and am enjoying putting my ID skills to the test already which brings me to the first treat the patch had in store.
        After ticking a few Wildfowl species, I heard some noise coming from a tree close to the ponds. I had a quick look and ticked Great Tit and Coal Tit. And then they flew across to some brambles nearby so I tried to get a better look. Only then did I realise it wasn't in fact a Coal Tit I had been looking at, but one of two species; Marsh Tit or Willow Tit. Then I managed to latch onto about three of them, but unfortunately failed to many really sustained looks due to them being so flighty. Being the idiot I am, I had also decided against bringing my camera. Well, obviously the best way to ID between the two is call. Perfect, I'd heard them earlier. Of course, being me and having a non-existent short term memory I had forgotten the call. From the views I did get, I am inclined to say Marsh although I'm not 100% so I'll go back again armed with my camera.
        My next visit gave me two real treats. Walking down the path towards the feeder, I saw a couple of trees full of finches. Fortunately I had my camera with me this time, and rather than risk not ID'ing them prior to them fleeing I decided to take some photos as a back up before I got any closer. Before moving closer, I zoomed in on some of the photos to see what was around. I was thrilled to find that I had, unbeknownst to me, got a great record shot of a Brambling, my second ever! Patch gold, for me.

I didn't have much time on my patch because of dog sitting duties, and at this point planned to turn around and go home but before I did I heard a strange call. It wasn't like any I'd heard before and sounded sort of exotic. It continued for a long time, only with short pauses and so I tried to track down the source. At this point I was hoping for a mega (as usual) but Ring-Necked Parakeet did cross my mind and seemed like a more viable option! I decided to record the call on my phone, but only managed a bad quality recording because the sound of the mud swallowing up my feet was too extremely loud. I got what I thought was quite close to the source of the sound and two minutes later a slender, very long tailed bird flew out from the trees. I was almost certain it was Ring-Necked, and after checking it's silhouette in flight with that in the Collins it was spot on. A lifer (if you count it), and an ace bird for me; patch gold again! But then again at least there was only one...

Ben...

So as many of you may know, as well as having my dog and guinea-pig , I am the proud owner of a pet beetle. But it is most certainly not your average beetle. The Churchyard Beetle (Blaps mucronata), named Ben has been with me for almost a decade. 10 years!!! I cannot believe it really, and I am pretty sure he has a good chance of being a world record holder. I thought I would take this time to tell you a little more about him.
        When I was younger, Insects were very much at the forefront of my interests. I was a member of a wildlife group, and I spent lots of the time capturing insects, and spent countless hours catching butterflies from the Buddelia with my net. But beetles were always my favourite. My dad told me that his old Biology teacher from school, David Nash, had done much study and research into beetles, and since they had become good friends my dad asked if it would be possible to send a live specimen.
       Ben arrived in a small plastic food container, with a small piece of kitchen roll and a slice of cucumber. It was also accompanied by a letter from David himself, with information regarding how to care for my new pet and some interesting info and articles on similar species. Also included was this article (there is also a photograph for those who are unaware of how they look). Ben's current habitat is not quite the luxury he was first introduced to, rather more artificial, but maybe to celebrate 10 years I will treat him to a bit of a nicer abode after Christmas.
       Ten years later and after three school visits, Ben is just as active as ever! Last year David wrote this report in 'White Admiral', the newsletter of Suffolk Naturalists' Society (page 24) on Ben's progress, (with two horrific photos). I will make sure I keep you all posted on how he's doing, and try and upload some photos. Here's to another ten years!

Laziness prevails

Once again I did not go to Tophill as I woke up too late. I made up for this a little bit by going into the garden to see what was around, which provided a good start to my 'Patch Foot List' and a bit of photography practice. Luckily I have a month off now to make up for my laziness!

Goldfinch

Blackbirds

Great-Tit

House Sparrow

Wood Pigeon

Bits and Pieces

This post is sort of a filler before I go on my next big twitch (which probably won't be for ages) or my next good, solid day's birding. 

        So a couple of weeks back, following my trip to Hessle road, I once again got to experience the delights of Waxwings. After a cold, soggy morning of waiting for public transport and lectures, I was rewarded on the train home with a flock of 30 plus at in a garden close to the station. A great Driffield tick, 'Journey to Uni' tick, and self found, which definitely brightened up the day - I even got an excellent record shot!

Just look at the clarity

In other news, as I mentioned previously I have started going to Tophill more regularly again, although the awful weather has been putting me off a little so visits haven't been as regular as I'd have liked. However last Thursday, the lovely Katie Hostad came to visit and so we braved the cold! To say we did a small amount of work would be an overstatement, but because of this we managed to cover the whole reserve. No scarcities or anything of note, but some nice sightings nontheless. Unfortunately, a series of lakes had formed across the site, a result of the torrential downpours East Yorkshire had seen that week, meaning the reserve was fairly quiet on the avian front with the deep water preventing waders from dropping in on the marshes, and the short eared owl's hunting grounds completely submerged. 

        We began at the south end of the reserve, a few Goldeneye on O res providing a nice start. Between this point and reaching Borrow pits we saw literally nothing. On the approaching path through South Scrub great numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare were on the move; always nice to see. When we arrived, a few Redshank, and a Sparrowhawk being mobbed by crows were the highlights, but pits were much quieter than usual, and so we didn't stick around for long. After a quick break for lunch, we headed up to the north end of the reserve. After filling up the feeders, we sat on the bench for a while. The usual visitors, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Blue Tit and Great tit were present, but a nice treat was a lovely male Bullfinch. The rest of the north end was probably the worst hit part of the reserve, and so not much else was seen (apart from too much water.)

The beak's not quite right. Drawn from Michael Flowers' twitter profile picture 

(hope you don't mind!)

So that is the extent of my birding over the last fortnight. One more week of uni until Christmas, so hoping to maybe go twitch a thing or two sometime soon!

Waxwings

So after my recent bout of laziness, I partook in a bit of Urban Birding this weekend and of course it was to see the Waxwings at ASDA Hessle Road! After lunch at a popular fast food chain, we arrived to find no Waxwings. A few birders had congregated near to the Trolley shelter, and it was not long before we were greeted with a small flock of 5 birds. They seemed very on edge, and didn't stick around for long, doing this a couple more times before a larger flock of around 10+ birds returned, much more obliging and allowing for great views and some photos!

Looking forward to doing a bit more Urban Birding tomorrow afternoon between lessons and possibly more Waxwings!