Flora, Flora, Flora | Patch League

Visiting my patch today it was a different world. The vegetation had grown up immensly, and I finally two of my favourite plants on patch had begun to flower! A quick but very fruitful visit. Here are some of the things I saw and photographed, as per, with the iPad. (If anything is incorrectly ID'd, please let me know with a comment, I'd be really grateful!).

Veronica persica

Lamium album

Any ideas?

Cowslip or Oxlip?

Any suggestions?

Taraxacum officinale

Iris pseudacorus

Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Crataegus monogyna

Anthriscus sylvestris

Equisetum sp. 

Day 2 | Train Trip

Today we went to Hope Valley in Derbyshire, with the intention of seeing Redstart and Pied-Flycatcher. After two trains we set off across the farmland, and within a matter of minutes James had spotted a pair of Redstart. I got great views of the male and can now say that it is one of my favourite British breeding birds; absolutely stunning! The walk between Hope and the Ladybower reservoir was abundant with invertabrates. The first invert of interest was a lovely White-pinion Spotted (Lomographa bimaculata), a new moth for me (though what isn't...). Other species of interest were a Comma (first for the year for me), and a gorgeous Green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela campestris).We walked around the the reservoir, which had little in the way of birdlife, to the woods, which bordered on an area of Moorland. Red Grouse
provided a nice addition for the day and as Robert and Emma sorted out travel arrangements, James and I went ahead to the woods. After listening to the Pied Flycatcher call to jog our memories, we sat down on a log and minutes later began to hear the call. Emma and Robert joined us, and soon after I spotted a beautiful male on a branch down further into the woods, and James went on to find a female. Unfortunately, no extremely sustained views were had, but we managed to get some long enough to appreciate how beautiful they are. Definitely much more satisfying to see one on breeding territory and self-found than the young bird we twitched last year at Holy Island after a weekend of no sleep. By the time we arrived back at the station we were all out of energy, but unfortunately a non-existent train meant an extra hour in Hope so we ended the day with a nice cold drink at the village pub, ready for yet more trains. . .

Thanks for reading!

Day 1 | Train Trip

The other week I was fortunate enough to recieve a free weekend's travel from Northern Rail to make up for delays and being rubbish etc. I emailed my good friends James and Robert, and after a few weeks planning (by them) this weekend was time for the excursion!
       We were up bright and early on Saturday morning, planning to go to Askham bog, and set off for the station at 6.30 am. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at the station James had vomitted up most of his insides and so he decided to head back to Robert's. At the station we met up with Emma, Robert's friend and the three of us pondered what to do now. After looking at the leaflet for a space of 5 seconds Emma and I decided that Appleby looked nice so a couple of hours later and after a hopeless search for a map, we set off for Cumbria. The journey between Leeds and Appleby was stunning, and was a successful nature trip in it's own right with Green Woodpecker and Fox. Three and a half hours later, we arrived at our destination. Within 30 minutes of leaving the station the day had already peaked with a surprising Red Squirrel being spotted by Robert. It was very obliging, much more-so than any I had seen before and I even managed to get an (albeit crap) record shot with my iPad! After this we carried on through the woods for a while, eventually arriving at a farm with a river running next to it, which yielded a stunning Grey Wagtail but not much else.
        A quick stop for lunch, and then it was on to the castle. Unfortunately, yet again our plans fell through as this was closed so we decided to return to the woodland to try for another look at Red Squirrel, but to no avail. Nuthatch and Treecreeper were a nice end to the day though, along with a second Fox for the day!

iPad Red Squirrel record shot

Train-trip Day 2 to follow!

A trip to enemy territory｜Patch League

Yesterday, I paid a visit to the patch of one of my fellow patch leaguers, Africa of Wild at Hull (ABugBlog).
The sun was shining, and, apart from a bit of wind making it a little chilly it was a lovely day for birding. We started off at Springbank Cemetary, and within a few minutes heard the unmistakable call of the Chiffchaff, a first for the year for me and at long last. Other than the Chiffchaff, bird wise there we weren't too lucky with the only others being the typical residents Wren, Robin, and Dunnock. Invertebrates, on the other hand, we a plenty. The first rock we turned over immediately yielded one new member of the patch list, the Black Millipedes below (Tachypodoiulus niger), and a new harvestman for the list (Nemastoma bimaculatum), as well as some other nice specimens:

Black Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger

Oxychilus spp. ?

Something which I had gone without noticing, but which was pointed out to me by Africa, was the enormous number of Tawny Mining Bee nesting holes, both at the cemetery and our next destination; Pearson Park. This is a bee I'd never really seen much of before, though I can't say I'd ever looked for it, but I am now definitely keen to find some on my own patch as they are a stunning species. However, not quite as stunning as another bee we found later in the day...

Tawny Mining Bee Andrena fulva

        We began at the Wildlife Garden, and whilst having lunch had a Sparrowhawk fly overheard and a sole Swallow (spotted by Africa but missed by me). We then went on to the park itself, where we didn't see a great deal in the way of birds but after hearing it's loud call, were drawn to a tree close by where we were treated to amazing views of a Great-spotted Woodpecker drumming, something neither of us had seen before but awesome to watch. If only I'd had my proper camera!
         After Pearson and a much needed coffee break, whilst walking close to Princes Avenue Africa spotted  a bee on the pavement. Only seconds later, the bee was almost run over by a small child riding a scooter, but fortunately had it's like spared. It was a Cuckoo Bee Melecta albifrons, and the most beautiful bee I have ever seen. The picture really does not do it justice! Africa said how it must have started flying at the wrong time of day and not been able to gather up enough energy to continue on it's way, so we put it on one of it's favoured plants to regain some energy...

Cuckoo Bee Melecta albifrons

A wonderful species to end a great day with! 

Top 10 Wish List | España, verano 2013

Indian Winter | Patch League

When I went to my patch today, I thought I would go with the intention of doing something I don't usually do: getting some decent pictures. I first went to the feeders where I got some mediocre shots of Blue Tit, Great Tit, and Coal Tit. I then went across to the ponds where I got some close ups of Greylag, Mute Swan, and Mallard which I'm pleased-ish with.

After a quick walk around the rest of the site without any further success, including a second stop at the feeders where I heard the Ring-necked Parakeet I'd seen a few weeks prior pipe up but only for a split second, I set off home, slightly disappointed with my results. 

        Half way down the road, I saw a few of the dog walkers I'd seen earlier. One of the guys asked me if I'd seen the Parakeet, and I replied that I had a few weeks ago but not today. I asked him if he had seen it, and he told me that he had almost daily since before Christmas, and tipped me off about a Peanut feeder, a little off the beaten track where you could get within a few metres. He told me he hadn't seen it today, but I turned around immediately and went to find it for myself. Despite the fact that my gloveless hands were practically ready to drop off it turned out to be a great decision, as I got amazingly close views of a couple of metres and for once some pictures I couldn't be more pleased with! Here are the results: 

I am aware that these birds are very much a pest in many urban areas, but there's no denying that they are absolutely beautiful to look at, and being able to get so close to one has been a real treat! So far my patch has been full of surprises so looking forward to see what it's got in store for me next!

Note: As I'm sure many of you may have noticed (stupidly, not myself), the Parakeet is in fact Alexandrine not Ring-necked (Thanks to my good friends of IveNeverKilledAPipit.wordpress.com for pointing that out to me).

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!