Thursday, April 28, 2011
The Large Red Damselfly was a garden visitor today.
I took a late-afternoon walk on Dorney Wetlands. A house martin jinked away, made a lunge at a fly and missed. The insect came tumbling down, and landed on me. Some sort of Mayfly, I think.
A green sandpiper was on East Marsh.
This Common Carder Bee was near the weir.
Several sand martins and at least two swifts were present. Four lesser black-backed gulls (two pairs) and a herring gull were seen. A red-legged partridge was in the cropped field and a shelduck flew across the river. Best of all, an insistent "Sweee" call preceded the skipping flight downstream of my first yellow wagtail of the year, a lovely bright male.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Marsh Lane
Having spotted a hobby as I drove along Marsh Lane I paid a short visit to the Jubilee River. The wheatear was just east of the road.
Three hobbies were catching insects over the long island. Trying to get all of them in one shot was the way to madness; in fact trying to get one of them in one shot (and in focus) was the way to madness. 
A cuckoo, a chiffchaff and a blackcap could meanwhile be heard singing; and two common terns cruised by heading west. A sedge warbler sang in the open.
At home, something really tiny landed on a rose leaf while I was removing aphids. This insect was so small that the only detail I could see with the naked eye was the ovipositor, making it a parasitic wasp of some kind.
This is where a digital camera and computer come in handy, capturing details you would otherwise despair of being able to make out.
(I eventually found the wasp in Field Guide to Insects of Britain and Northern Europe by Bob Gibbons. It seems to be Torymus nitens, a parasitoid (I think) of the Cynipid Wasp which is itself a parasite, causing galls to form on the underside of oak leaves to feed its larvae. The wasp above can pierce the gall with its ovipositor to lay its own egg in the developing larva.)
Sunday, April 24, 2011
It was a a fresher morning after the rain, and a bit breezy out on the common. A kingfisher zipped away along the shrinking stream and vanished among the cattle.
A lesser whitethroat was still present in the hedgerow; I caught a few glimpses when he crossed open areas in the bushes. Three Cetti's warblers were singing. A redshank stood preening on one of the islands, and the tufted duck was still escorting the mallard mother.
I finally saw my first reed warbler of the year....
.....and my first cuckoo. This one was over the sewage farm.
A bit later two flew side by side, one of them cuckooing, across the north bank and down onto fence posts just above the river. 
At home I was trying to photograph this itsy-bitsy leafcutter bee when something enormous droned past my right ear.
We get hornets in the garden in late summer and they're big enough, but this one was huge - it must have been a queen. Before I could collect my scattered wits she had zig-zagged up the house wall and disappeared over the roof. Saturday, April 23, 2011
Dorney
The common and the wetlands were dry and stifling early this afternoon under an unseasonably warm sun. A lesser whitethroat was rattling and warbling; I could only manage a snatched pic of its head as it peeped out of the hedgerow.
A Cetti's warbler was seen singing in a tree but naturally it dropped out of sight as I fumbled for the camera. Two additional Cetti's were heard.
There's no doubt that this tufted drake is attached to a family of mallards. He was paddling about protectively while they rested on the bank, and when they took to the water he swam off with them.
There's no doubt that this tufted drake is attached to a family of mallards. He was paddling about protectively while they rested on the bank, and when they took to the water he swam off with them.
Later: There are mallard/tuftie hybrids apparently, so these might really be his young.Tuesday, April 19, 2011
A warm and sunny morning
Intent on the hedgerow with lesser whitethroat in mind, I was surprised to see this bird sitting on a sun-dappled branch. It took me a few seconds to realise it was a wheatear; it looked slightly shell-shocked. I clicked off a couple of pics and tiptoed away, leaving it in peace.
Alder flies are hatching, and when they hatched last April they attracted loads of common terns, at least one Arctic tern and a little gull. This tufted drake seemed to be "with" a mallard and her family of ducklings. Step-dad? Nearby a Cetti's warbler sang at full volume, and I caught a glimpse as it flew from tree to brambles.
School's out, number 1: (actually, why didn't I think of that?)
School's out, number 2:
School's out, number 3:
I googled this one; it was a vehicle fire - suspected arson but unlikely to be kids as it was in the early hours of the morning. Still happened in the holidays though....p'raps it was teachers :o)
School's out, number 3:
I googled this one; it was a vehicle fire - suspected arson but unlikely to be kids as it was in the early hours of the morning. Still happened in the holidays though....p'raps it was teachers :o)With the continuing good weather, expect apocalypse at any moment.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Taplow
I'm relieved we no longer have two cats next door! This fledgling robin came down from its nest in the ivy a couple of days ago and is still going strong, with both parents feeding it - when they can find it!
I have identified this tiny bee to genus level (I think); it's probably a Halictinae mining bee. I can't pinpoint the species but it's certainly new for my garden list. The hind legs are covered in hairs which trap pollen and this makes it noticeable, as though it has an extra pair of yellow wings. The Aubrieta flower is 15mm across, so the bee is just 7-8mm in length.
I couldn't resist a quick walk along the Boundary Road footpath this evening - where I spotted one wheatear among the horses. Saturday, April 16, 2011
Combe
Greger is almost back to full fitness, but as I'm still not completely well I'll continue to post bad pictures (there's logic there somewhere). We set off on a clockwise round of the route, hearing at least four willow warblers singing on Walbury Hill.
A mixed finch flock was flying around but the birds were high and difficult to see; there were chaffinches and goldfinches, and I was pleased to get my first redpoll on a Combe walk.
Along Sheepless Hill a garden warbler was singing in the hedgerow (another first for the route) and I managed a glimpse of the bird as it made its way slowly through the bushes picking off insects. A blackcap was singing nearby for comparison.
Here are two of three ring ouzels, feeding on the scrubby slopes south of Combe Gibbet.
Greger had already returned to the car and was too tired to walk back to the road; however, with the bins he was able to see all three birds from the car park. A great end to the walk.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Taplow
This hoverfly is probably a Syrphus ribesii, although there are apparently two other Syrphus species and they are all very similar. Typical.
I managed a marginally better shot of the kite this evening, with the added interest of a wing-tag that's almost in focus. The right wing bore a pink tag.
The kite was fairly vocal, frequently uttering a rather plaintive and not unpleasing call.Thursday, April 14, 2011
Taplow
I've made a pact with myself that when I'm better, I'll post good photos - or none at all. Meanwhile, on a glum evening walk, I was cheered up by seeing my first little owl of the year; and promptly took a very bad record shot of it.
Neighbours Andrew and Jane reported seeing a siskin recently with goldfinches. Just two goldfinches were foraging on our lawn this morning, so maybe the flock has now broken up.
A Swedish colleague of Greger's sent some fabulous photos from a South African trip; the subjects were elephants, lions and other large animals and also some delicious birds. Very bright and beautiful.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Look away now, Dorn!
(An instruction to my sister who isn't keen on spiders.) They're only tiny spiderlings, though; babies of the Garden Spider, in a nest on the patio door.
A late-afternoon walk in The Three Woods brought no lesser-spots, just a few rain spots; but a wheatear was compensation out on the fields of Abbey Park Farm.
Saturday
We did a 12-kilometre walk on the downs near Lambourn. This is one of three wheatears at White Horse Hill, Uffington. A fourth was just off the Ridgeway a bit further west towards Wayland's Smithy.
As we drove away from Ashdown Park, a fifth Oxfordshire wheatear was seen in the sarsen field at the base of Weathercock Hill, standing on one of the "grey wether" stones at the southern end of the field. Unfortunately you can't really pull off the road there, otherwise I'd have loved a pic - a favourite bird and geology, two of my interests together. Friday, April 08, 2011
Taplow
What an unbelievably fantastic day! My first hoverfly of the year landed in the garden; it's probably a Eupeodes species and seems to have no common name.
When I saw this tiny ladybird I assumed because of the colouring that it was going to be a Harlequin. As Harlequins are invasive, I don't like counting them. But it's a 14-spot Ladybird; a native species, and a new one for the garden and for me.
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
There was no getting out walking for us over the weekend, with Greger once more on penicillin for bronchitis and me with my third (and worst) dose of flu. What a horrible, sickly winter! No doubt for many others as well.
This morning the beautiful weather tempted me out into the garden. A kite was calling from the fields to the south. Parakeets careered around shrieking. A chiffchaff was singing. A Honey Bee flew up onto the wall, which is unusual; they generally nectar intensively on the heather and then fly off out of the garden.
This is a probable Gooden's Nomad Bee which parasitises the lovely little Tawny Mining Bee.
Butterflies in or through the garden included Peacock, Holly Blue, Brimstone and Orange-tipped.
Fifteen wood pigeons and one parakeet have been feeding on the copper beech buds, throwing twigs down onto the garden and making a complete mess. Best of the birds today - a pair of bullfinches spotted in the large exotic conifer opposite, and a goldcrest which flew past my office window.
