Garden birdwatch 2010

Posted in birds, garden, oxfordshire, photography, wildlife with tags , , on 31 January 2010 by bramblejungle

Time for the annual RSPB Garden Birdwatch; this year’s results may show the effects of the recent cold weather on garden bird populations. Here, I think it’s the Year of the Woodpigeon:
Garden Birdwatch (3)
- at one point today there were ten in the garden, though only 6 during the hour’s count.
These goldfinches arrived after I’d finished counting:
Garden Birdwatch (1)
but there was plenty else to count, including a wren, a song thrush, a low-flying red kite and this bluetit:
Garden Birdwatch (2)
Here’s my list, with last year’s for comparison.

 

2009

2010

Blackbird

2

2

Bluetit

1

2

Chaffinch

2

2

Collared dove

2

1

Dunnock

2

1

Great tit

2

2

Goldfinch

0

0

Greenfinch

2

0

House sparrow

7

7

Jackdaw

1

2

Red kite

0

1

Robin

2

2

Rook

1

4

Song thrush

1

1

Starling

2

1

Woodpigeon

3

6

Wren

0

1

Birds in the snow

Posted in birds, garden, oxfordshire, photography, wildlife with tags , , , , , , , , , , on 6 January 2010 by bramblejungle

After overnight snowfall the bird-table was busy all day:
Garden birds in the snow

Song thrushes still here

Posted in birds, garden, oxfordshire, photography, wildlife with tags , , , on 20 December 2009 by bramblejungle

Despite – or perhaps because of – the sub-zero conditions of the last few days, the garden was full of common birds today: all the usual species (robins, blackbirds, starlings, house sparrows, chaffinches…) and overhead there were red kites, buzzards and herring gulls. It was good to see that there were song thrushes, too – still on the RSPB red list because of their recent decline in numbers. I hope they survive the winter to feast on the spring crop of snails.
Song thrush on the roof

Winter is approaching…

Posted in garden, insects, oxfordshire, photography, wildlife with tags , , , on 22 November 2009 by bramblejungle

…and the bugs are preparing to hibernate. Here’s a green shield bug – now in its dark brown winter colours
Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina) in winter colours

Hiding in the leaf-litter

Posted in "red kite", birds, flight, garden, insects, oxfordshire, photography, wildlife with tags , , , , on 15 November 2009 by bramblejungle

The recent stormy weather meant plenty of leaves to rake up, and with them a profusion of small creatures that fell with the leaves. Here are some that were new to me:
Bug - Lygus cf. pratensis
Weevil
About to take off
Leafhopper
Meawhile, someone took a look to see if there was anything edible among the leaves
I don't like cameras!

Mushrooms and midges

Posted in garden, insects, oxfordshire, photography, wildlife with tags , , , , on 28 October 2009 by bramblejungle

A warm damp autumn has extended the bug season and produced interesting crops of fungi:
Fungi
Birch catkin bug (Kleidocerys resedae)
Flower bug
Midge

Hedgehopping kite

Posted in "red kite", birds, flight, garden, oxfordshire, photography, wildlife with tags , , on 4 October 2009 by bramblejungle

Red kites can be quite alarming when they hop over the hedge and look at you.
Hedgehopper

More “finds”

Posted in garden, insects, oxfordshire, photography, wildlife with tags , , , on 20 September 2009 by bramblejungle

Here are a few things I’ve encountered for the first time in the last few days:
The caterpillar of the Grey Dagger Moth – along with a photo from last year of the moth itself. The moth could be a Grey Dagger or Dark Dagger – they are almost indistinguishable, but the caterpillars are very different.
Grey Dagger moth (Acronicta psi) caterpillar
Dagger moth

A caterpillar of the Bright-line brown-eye moth (and a photo of the moth from earlier in the year)
Bright-line Brown-eye moth (Lacanobia oleracea) Caterpillar
Bright-line Brown-eye (Lacanobia oleracea)

A Hazel leaf-roller weevil – if you like numbers, after “09/09/09″, this is the 333rd species I’ve identified. It doesn’t seem to have done any harm, as the hedge is full of ripe hazel nuts: I’m just expecting a plague of grey squirrels soon!
Hazel leaf-roller weevil (Apoderus coryli)

09/09/09

Posted in garden, insects, oxfordshire, photography, wildlife with tags , , , , , , on 10 September 2009 by bramblejungle

Not a lot in the garden last night (except the usual spiders, slugs, snails…) – but I couldn’t miss such a supposedly-auspicious date, so here’s what I found in the moonlight:
09/09/09
Forest bug
Red Admiral
Mosquito

Shield bugs

Posted in garden, insects, oxfordshire, photography, wildlife with tags , , , , , on 27 August 2009 by bramblejungle

I like shield bugs, and I’m pretty sure most of them are harmless (though I haven’t tried picking any of them up, just in case!). Recently there seem to be lots of Forest Bugs around, but over the last few weeks the local patch has produced several others:

Forest Bug
Forest bug (Pentatoma rufipes)
Some more Forest Bugs (lots more, soon)
Forest bugs
A Parent Bug – which apparently gets its name from the fact that the nymphs stay with the adult for a few weeks after hatching
Parent Bug (Elasmucha grisea)
A nymph of the common Green Shield Bug
Common Green Shieldbug (Palomena prasina)
and a procession of what I think are Hawthorn Shield Bug nymphs
Bugs on a leaf