A lovely walk around Nythe Pool today, with 3 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff and a Treecreeper all singing. No Willow Warblers or Garden Warbler heard today.
Butterflies seen were 8 Speckled Woods, 7 Orange-tips, 5 Holly Blues, 1 Red Admiral and my first Green-veined White and Large White this Spring.
Lots of other insects about with: Dead Head Fly (Myathropa florea), Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), Hoverfly (Syrphus ribesii), Tapered Dronefly (Eristalis pertinax), 22-spot Ladybird (Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata), Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa coccinea), Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina), Common Nettle Capsid (Liocoris tripustulatus) and a Hemerobius sp.
As I was up at 3:50am I was thinking off switching the moth trap off, but as I looked out of the kitchen window I could see several moths still flying about, so decided to wait until day break.
Finally at 5:15am the trap was switched off and the ID'ing began.
There were 11 moths of 8 species:
1 Common Plume or T-moth, Emmelina monodactyla
2 Early Grey, Xylocampa areola
2 Hebrew Character, Orthosia gothica
2 Brown House Moth, Hofmannophila pseudospretella
1 Twenty-plume Moth, Alucita hexadactyla
1 Common Quaker, Orthosia cerasi
1 Knot Grass, Acronicta rumicis
1 Common Pug, Eupithecia vulgata
The minimum temperature overnight only dropped to 10.6°C, so I wasn't that surprised there were so many about.
Also in the trap a Common Green Lacewing (Chrysoperla carnea) and 2 caddisflies and a lacewing to ID.
Knot Grass
Hebrew Character
Twenty-plume Moth
Early Grey
And another Early Grey
Brown House Moth
Common Plume
Common Quaker
I believe this is a Common Pug, Eupithecia vulgata
Nythe Pool now has a shape and apart from the muddy coloured water is looking really good after 4 days work. The contractors tell me that Wednesday 26 Apr will be the last day of dredging and then they will be packing up and leaving the pond to recover after its face-lift.
Around the pool 3 Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Willow Warbler singing.
Not to many butterflies today with just 3 Speckled Woods.
Still a few hoverflies and today I found two species of Ichneumon wasps a possible Diplazon laetatorius and Dusona sp.
Here are a few images from today plus a few insects I found around the pool and woods.
Day 4 and the water might look muddy, but once it settles the pool will look pretty amazing I'm sure.
Work dredging the pool is due to stop on Wednesday 26 Apr. By then tons of sludge would have been removed and a deep channel running through the centre. It will be excellent for fishing and just as a recap, when it was electro-fished a few weeks ago, there were over a 100 fish caught of 12 species.
Just one of many things dumped into the pool.......
.........motorbikes, bikes, scooters, microwaves, TV's, computers, Children's car seats, you name it, it was probably in there.
Apparently I'm a Do-gooder which in layman's terms means "Someone who does things that they think will help other people, although the other people might not find their actions helpful"
And all I did was stop the unlawful destruction of habitat where warblers i.e. Blackcaps, Garden Warblers, Chiffchaff and Willow Warblers are potentially building nests. Not forgetting the Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and Robins already sitting on eggs and rearing youngsters.
And where was this all happening, in Nythe Wood this afternoon. Apparently the Swindon Borough Council tree felling team were detailed to fell all the dead trees in Nythe Wood and the adjacent clumps, all the way down to Dorcan Way, following the course of Dorcan Stream.
Fortunately I wasn't alone, as another "Do-gooder" also asked them to stop and eventually after speaking to the Swindon Borough Waste Management Team all the tree felling along Shaftesbury Avenue and Nythe Wood stopped.
The only reason I know I've been labelled a Do-gooder is that I overheard one the contractors tell his boss that and I quote "the Do-gooders are out today". The one thing a lot of birdwatchers have, and especially after 51 years, is a good sense of hearing and even though the gentleman in question was on the other side of Nythe Pool to me, I could hear every word he was saying.
Any way for their information they would be breaking the law if they:
- intentionally killed, injured or took wild birds
- intentionally took, damaged or destroyed a wild bird’s nest while it’s being used or built
- intentionally took or destroyed a wild bird’s egg
Its all Here in B & W, but for some unknown reason they didn't get the Memo.
I will add and this is in extreme cases, licences are available for disturbing or harming birds for a limited number of reasons that include preserving public health and safety.
These old dead trees have stood in the woods here for quite a few years now and yes they are dangerous, however they could have been felled last winter and not in the breeding season!
Tree Felling in Nythe Wood today!!
It sort of left a bitter taste in my mouth and the enjoyment of my walk around the wood and pool was somewhat soured. Highlights though were 5 singing Blackcaps, 4 Chiffchaffs and 2 Willow Warblers. There was also a Treecreeper in good voice and a Green woodpecker as well.
Butterflies. Wow dozens of them with 12+ Speckled Woods, 6 Holly Blues and I lost count of the Orange-tips.
Not so many hoverflies today, but a Common Wasp found and another insect which I came across yesterday and was seen again today, but still not ID'd.
A very vocal Treecreeper. When I first heard it by the small bridge over the stream, it sounded very reminiscent of a Wood Warbler. Well why not, especially as yesterday there was a Nightingale here singing away and only 2 years ago on 21 Apr 15, there was a Wood Warbler at Old Town Park Here
Another lovely walk around Nythe pool today and what a lovely surprise to hear and then see a Nightingale in the bushes overhanging Dorcan Stream, as it flows into the pool. There was the initial song and as I walked back around to get a better view there was a second burst of song and then it flew off into Nythe Wood, as dog walkers came along the path.
This won't be a bird that will stay here, but will be one on passage, perhaps to the Cotswold Water Park to the north, or who knows Mouldon Hill.
Other birds of note were 4 singing Blackcaps, 3 Chiffchaffs and 1 Willow Warbler. A Green Woodpecker was also heard.
Butterflies seen today were 7 Speckled woods, 3 Orange-tips and a Peacock. The latter the first I've seen for a few weeks.
Still lots of hoverflies about and another bee to ID.
Here a few images from today:
Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a Carrion Crow make short work of someones offerings of bread rolls on the playing fields.
And another in flight. In fact there 22 Lessers and 2 Herring Gulls all attempting to grab the rolls.
A pair of Speckled woods mating.
A member of the Tenthredininae family..........
............ possibly a Pachyprotasis sp.
Common Green Shieldbug, Palomena prasina
Day 2 and work continues with the clearance of all the silt in Nythe pool........
......and already its looking pretty good.
.......with a large expanse of water already cleared.
