Sika Deer.

Sika Deer,  on Black Down

A trip up the hill today in the late afternoon to watch the sun set from the new stone circle. Wildlife was not much in evidence, a couple of Carrion Crows, a few Rooks on their way to their night roost, the occasional Herring Gull belatedly making its way to the coast, plus the odd Wood Pigeon. Nothing very exciting perhaps, but suddenly everything changed and on the skyline a magnificently antlered Sika Deer appeared, silhouetted against the rapidly darkening sky. Before I could get the camera from my pocket for what would have been a very dramatic shot it moved away across the heath  but continued grazing, occasionally looking up for danger. The distinctive white rump is clearly visible. Said to be nocturnal and spending the daylight hours in the woods this one has clearly made an early start on its browsing.
Shortly afterwards I caught a few short glimpses of the sun, partially obscured by thin cloud, as it set bang in the middle of the aperture through the south westerly facing pillar which  is aligned with the winter solstice sunset.

Rookery Restored.

During the summer the Rooks which inhabited the Horse Chestnut tree outside my bedroom window suddenly disappeared during the course of one day, along with many others from the village. At the time the law on pest species was in a state of flux and amid uncertainty as to whether the Rooks would remain on the list or become a protected species, did someone do a precautionary cull, 
perhaps at the night roost over the other side of the A35 ?  All went silent for a while, but this week a few of the birds which must have survived, returned to the Horse Chestnut  and are busily rebuilding three nests.

Rooks back in the Horse Chestnut.

 A pair of birds are working on the nest at the upper right and a single bird, probably the female, waits by the rather sparse nest in the centre for her mate to return with another stick which she will, with much pushing and pulling, add to the nest

More Magnificent Mushrooms

                    Clouded  Clitocybe                                                               

After the plate-size Parasol mushrooms (see below) another large mushroom has appeared in large numbers in the valley- the Clouded Clitocybe, Clitocybe nebularis.  Said to be common amongst leaf litter in deciduous and coniferous woods its relative scarcity in the valley is perhaps a reflection of our lack of woodland rather than anything else. The distinguishing feature is the ash grey cap which sometimes has a yellowish brown tinge and may be up to 20 cm in diameter. The group shown above form a small part of a 'fairy ring' some 30 m in diameter.   Under Edibility the book says 'best avoided as it causes gastric upsets in some people.'                                                           

Beavers.

Exciting news in the latest Dorset Wildlife Trust magazine, Dorset Wildlife, is of the intention to set up home for a pair of Beavers in the county, with plenty of space to safely study how they impact on wildlife and water.
 DWT  believe they will find the beavers improve water quality, help reduce flooding and their presence and waterway engineering will improve the area for a host of other creatures too, (*including kingfishers, water voles and dragonflies.) 
The project will enable people to get a close up view of these wonderfully charismatic animals. The trial site will be used as a place of learning, for people from all backgrounds, farmers, landowners, anglers, conversationalists, local communities and academic institutions. A significant part of the funding has been aquired, but more is needed in the shape of match funding, whereby every £1 donated may release a further £10.
Details are at dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/beaverappeal
The chosen site has not been disclosed and  the South Winterborne, with its close proximity to roads, doesn't seem a likely choice, but the introduction of beavers as a means of flood control (their dams slow down the flow of water) does highlight that modern flood control methods involve slowing down the flow, not attempting to speed it up as has been  the objective in recent years in the valley.

Magnificent Mushrooms.

New, to me at least, in the valley is the Shaggy Parasol Mushroom, Macrolepiota rhacodes, several specimens of which nestle in the hedge bottom half way up to Ewelease Dairy.

Shaggy Parasol Mushroom.  Click to enlarge.  Photo. John Elliott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This large mushroom, which may be up to 15 cm in diameter, has a cap which is at first smooth, dark pinkish to cinnamon brown, then breaking up, except at the centre, into large scales revealing the underlying white flesh.  It is edible, but some people are allergic to it.

  Shaggy Parasol Mushroom.  Click to enlarge. Photo. John Elliott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The smooth stem is characteristic of this mushroom, the other two species of Parasol mushrooms have snakeskin stems, and also the ring round the stem just below the cap. This is a feature also found on the Amanita mushrooms which include the deadly poisonous Death Cap and the Destroying Angel. so be very cautious. Even though it has a ring it may not be the very edible Parasol mushroom.

Harlequin Ladybirds

‘Invasion of cannibal ladybirds carrying STIs wreaks havoc,” says the Sun.,  and they have arrived in Martinstown! Several dozen of these very variable ladybirds were seen today basking in the autumnal sun on the Old Cricket Ground fence.

Harlequin Ladybirds.    Click to enlarge.  Photo. John Elliott

Harlequin Ladybird larvae.  Click to enlarge.   Photo. John Elliott

This very variable species, the spots can vary between two and twenty, was used to control aphids in the US in the 1980s. Quickly spreading to Europe, it arrived in Britain in 2004, and has now spread country wide in record time. On first arrival it started eating, not only aphids, but also our native Ladybirds.However it is now thought that small wasp species are predating the insects and that a balance will be achieved in time.

Southern Hawler Dragonfly.

The beautiful and intricate markings of a male Southern Hawker dragonfly showed up well today as it hung on the Choisia bush in my front garden. This hanging pose is characteristic of this species, which makes identification easier than it might otherwise be.  The very similar Common Hawker and Migrant Hawker  both have more blue colouration and much thinner antehumeral stripes, (the two greeny/yellow stripes behind the head)  than the Southern Hawker, but do not adopt the hanging perching position.

                Southern Hawker.       Click to enlarge.                       Photo. John Elliott

Butterfly Aberation.

Occasionally aberant forms of common butterflies turn up, and I was lucky enough to see one on the Broncham Hill section of the Ridgeway at the weekend. I was very puzzled at first as it was unlike any of the  Dorset species normally seen, but its size and behaviour hinted that it might be some form of Small Copper, and so it turned out to be. Devoid of the normal coppery red colour, this is the rare aberant albino form, Lycaena phlaeas alba.  

Small Copper, albino form alba.                    Photo.  Jill Weller.

Migratory Birds

September is the month when many of the birds that have spent the summer with us start their migration south, mainly to Africa. Portland is an important take-off point, with daily records being being put online by Martin Cade, the warden of the Portland Bird Observatory, (portlandbirdobs.blogspot.co.uk). Inland funnels to Portland include the Hog Hill/Maiden Castle valley with reports in the last week of Redstart, Wheatear,  Winchat, Whitethroat, Spotted Flycatcher and Corn Bunting. 

Daily reports of Dorset birds, including many from the Martinstown area, may be seen at dorsetbirds.blogspot.co.uk

Sad news of my Cuckoo.

An email from BTO today bringing the sad news that Nussey the Cuckoo I sponsored this year is likely to be dead.

Nussey.   Photo. BTO

Unfortunately the challenging conditions have also impacted on Nussey who has already attempted two trips to Africa and retreated to Europe.  Abnormally low temperatures were received at the time of the last messages (16 August), having previously been fine. He was not migrating at that time, so the low temperatures were not due to high altitude, and the battery was also much lower than previously, further suggesting he was dead.
The droughts and exceptionally high temperatures in Europe appear to have proved difficult for our Cuckoos this year, however the five south of the Sahara are still regularly transmitting. Valentine, PJ, Carlton II and Tennysons' tags have all sent signals during September and the last signals received from Senan's tag were at the end of August and show him still in Burkina Faso.

Three others of the tagged Cuckoos have died in Spain this year, but the rest are now in Africa. I will have a look at their details and sponsor one of them.

I check occasionally to see where readers of this blog are coming from.  In the last month there have been 62 page views from the UK, which I feel is satisfactory, and 7 from France which could be accounted for by visitors from the valley. The surprise though is that there were apparently 154 pageviews from Russia and 148 from the Ukraine. Who would have thought there was so much interest in our valley wildlife in those countries? I fear the worst. 

New Damselfly.

Banded Demoiselle                           Photo John Elliott

This year is proving to be very good for Dragonflies and Damselflies in my wildlife garden. Two recent arrivals are a Common Darter and a Banded Demoiselle, the latter being a first record in the valley. It is supposed to prefer slowly flowing waters in contrast to the very similar Beautiful Demoiselle which likes fast flowing streams and occurs down the Weymouth Road. The obvious difference between the two is that the wing colouration of the Beautiful Demoiselle extends over the whole wing length wereas the Banded lives up to its name and has only a central pigmented band.

Also on the garden pond, a Common Darter which visited briefly.

Common Darter.    Click to enlarge.  Photo John Elliott

Also towards bottom left, a Helophilus Hover Fly, but which one in this very numerous Genus I don't know.

No news yet of my sponsored Cuckoo. It is one of four which have gone silent this year in Spain.

Weymouth Relief Road.

Adonis Blue.      Click to enlarge   Photo. john Elliott

In rather dull and windy conditions a walk down the Weymouth Relief Road bridleway to look for butterflies proved disappointing as far as numbers were concerned, but the dozen that were seen were quality.  The brilliant Adonis Blues, seven of them,  provided the main interest. together with two tattered Painted Ladies and a single Brown Argus. The Painted Ladies which take part in a staged movement north in the early part of the year are probably now moving back south towards Africa where they will over winter. Amazingly some of these tiny, fragile insects will end up south of the Sahara desert.

Wheatear.        Click to enlarge.   Photo. John Elliott

Seen perching on the walls or fences and moving south to their winter quarters were several Wheatears. This very fresh looking one is probably one of this years brood.

Migrant Cuckoo.

Nussey.            Photo BTO

My sponsored Cuckoo, Nussey, which got as far as Morocco on its first attempt to migrate and then backtracked to Spain, has not responded to the tracking satellite since the 10th of August, seventeen days ago. There must now be concern that the bird is in trouble and if not already dead, will be unable to tackle the difficult Sahara crossing to its Central African rainforest winter quarters.

Hundreds of butterflies on the Forage Kale in the field halfway up the hill to Ewelease Dairy today. All three species, Large White, Small White and Green Veined White were present .Some thousands of Caterpillars could arise and munch away at the Kale, not leaving much for the cows.

Beech Trees in Danger.

Phytophthora kernoviae is a fungal type pathogen which was first seen in Cornwall in 2003 and has since spread into Devon, South Wales, Cheshire and Scotland, but has not, so far, been reported in Dorset.
 Beach trees are one of the species affected and symptoms are bark lesions and necrosis (blackening and death) of leaves and stems. It is disturbing therefore that one of the beaches on the Church Green is showing darkening of the stems and leaves at the ends of branches, which could be consistent with necrosis rather than normal autumnal browning. The fungus is easily spread and the danger must be that it may infest the Copper Beach in Hardy Close and also the tree in the Manor House grounds, which could well be the oldest, as well as the largest tree in the village.

Necrosis of Church Green Beach.         Photo' John Elliott

This is a young tree which may well have to join the two Cherry trees which have recently been removed, as well as the Chestnut, which is infected with the micro moth Horse-chestnut Leaf Miner, Cameraria ohridella. The brown patches are where the minute larvae have been eating away at the inner parts of the leaves.

Wayward Cuckoo.

Nussey           Photo BTO       

 

My sponsored Cuckoo , having turned back again from North Africa, is now once again in Spain south-west of Valencia.The latest bulletin from BTO:-

These aborted attempts must have been in response to unfavourable conditions and we are now a little worried about what this mean for the rest of his journey, as he will have expended a huge amount more energy in order to back-track. He will be one lucky and tenacious Cuckoo to survive the added burden of these attempts. We'll have to wait for further signals to see what he does next.

Life and Death..

 My weekly reports on the birds using my garden  have a space to report dead or sick birds but I rarely have anything to fill in.  Today has been a bit of an exception as there have been two casualties. I heard the typical sound of a bird hitting a window at first light but was unprepared for the sight of a partly eaten Wood Pigeon outside the back door when I went to replenish the bird tables later in the morning. It was partly plucked and the innards eaten, typical signs of a Sparrow Hawk attack, but the head was missing, not something I would expect a hawk to be involved in.  
The second a juvenile House Sparrow, which was fluttering about yesterday not looking too well, appeared to have been killed and partly eaten in the night. 

My sponsored Cuckoo is up to its tricks again as the latest report from the British Trust for Ornithology shows.

By 6pm on Friday 2 August, Nussey had flown 744 km (462 miles) south and was near Oria, a municipality of Almería province, in Andalusia, Spain. He didn't stay there long however and by 10:10 am on the morning of Saturday 3 August he had flown a further 406 km (252 miles) south, crossing the Mediterranean and landing in northern Morocco, just south of Guercif. A series of poor quality locations received since suggest that he set out across the desert before turning back so we'll need to await some better data before we can be sure of his new location.  

This is the second time this bird has turned back north. Very odd behavior.

Wandering Cuckoo.

My sponsored Cuckoo, Nussey, has at last decided to fly south again, following the other tagged Cuckoos which are all well on their way to Central Africa. It is now in Southern Spain approaching the Mediterranean for a second time. I hope that it has managed to fatten up enough to tackle the long flight across the barren Sahara.

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Another New Dragonfly

A large, strongly flying dragonfly dropped into the garden this afternoon, a Southern Hawker.

                                        Southern Hawker Dragonfly    Click to enlarge.

    Commonly breeding in  woodland ponds, lakes and canals, it is often seen in gardens, perhaps due to their resemblance to woodland clearings. The larvae take two years to mature  and in their second year can take quite large prey, such as tadpoles and small fish. Is this perhaps what happened to my tadpoles this year, they never managed to get anywhere near full size before disappearing.       

                                                      

New Dragonfly

A new species for my wildlife garden appeared yesterday, a Common Darter. This increases the number of species seen this year on my very small pond, to three. The most numerous has been the Azure Damselfly, with Large Red Damselfly close behind. Hopefully the Common Darter is from last year's egg laying here, but there is a possibility that it may be part of an immigration from Europe which this species is known to undertake.

                                          Common Darter Dragonfly.   Click to enlarge.



The plant on which it is perched is Figwort. This does appear occasionally along the stream but I suspect most gardeners pull it up as a weed.  The flowers are small but attractive, and the leaves are the preferred food plant for six species of moths. Most moths are very fussy eaters and will only eat one species of plant, so the more that we can provide in our gardens the better.

My Cuckoo, which was leading the pack flying to African wintering grounds, and had reached Morroco but then turned back north, is still wandering around in the Bordeaux area. All the other tagged Cuckoos are well ahead now, some having reached Northern Africa. 

Weymouth Road walk.

The current road closure on Gould's Hill means that the Weymouth Road is traffic free and much safer to walk down than normally. A stroll down this afternoon revealed a much greater variety of wildlife than the stream displays in the village, where the "gardening" in the name of so-called flood prevention measures results in vigorous growth of the very poisonous Hemlock Water Dropwort and Fools Watercress. These crowd out more interesting plants, such as Purple Loosestrife, Comfrey, Hemlock (that's the one that did for Socrates, but it is not as poisonous as the Hemlock Water Dropwort mentioned above), Woody Nightshade, Oxeye Daisy and, sadly, Himalayan Balsam.

                                         Himalayan Balsam                                             Click to enlarge 

 This handsome but invasive plant should be eradicated as it shades out other species and leads to erosion of river banks, and hence silt build up and increased likelihood of flooding.

Nettles grow freely along the stream and are an important food plant for  some thirty moth species and four butterflies including the Small Tortoiseshell whose black and yellow larvae emerge from a silken web to feed on the nettles.

                                         Small Tortoiseshell larvae on nettle.      Click to enlarge.


My sponsored Cuckoo, Nussey, has mover even further north into France. Very odd behaviour! All the other tagged Cuckoos are flying strongly south into Africa.

Odonata and Cuckoos

I read somewhere recently that dragonfly and damselfly larvae like to use Water Soldier plants to live in and emerge from, so invested in three plants for my small garden pond a couple of weeks ago.It looks to be working!

                                 Damselfly larvae on Water Soldier Plants. Click to enlarge.  

Dragonfly larvae are rather ugly creatures that spend up to two years feeding at the bottom of ponds, and then in the summer months crawl up the leaves or stems of water plants where the outer skin spits open for a rather damp insect to emerge.  This will eventually expand and dry out for the beautiful adult insect to take flight. So far I have had several Large Red and numerous Azure damselflies. Not sure yet what the above larvae are but am waiting patiently with camera at the ready.

The Beautiful Demoiselle has appeared again in the stream down the Weymouth road

My newly adopted Cuckoo, Nussey, was the first of this years tagged Cuckoos to leave the country. How on earth does it know the way to Africa?  After spending time in France feeding up for the journey it flew south through Spain, crossing the Mediterranean into Morocco. It presumably intended doing a bit more feeding before crossing the Sahara, but seems to have decided that it would be better off in Spain and so has made the highly unusual move of  flying 780 miles back north and is now in northern Spain near the French border.

Rooks and Cuckoos.

he Martinstown Rook population seems to have been severely reduced in recent weeks. The eight nests in he Horse Chestnut tree outside my bedroom window which were such a hive of activity earlier in the year are now unused, as also are some others in the village.
The rooks were always the first to visit my bird table in the morning, taking their fill before the Jackdaws, next in the pecking order, arrived, but have not been seen for three weeks.. There has also been some anomalous behaviour in the Rooks' night roost as a large number  have, on occasions, gathered in Martinstown rather than in the woods near Bradford Peveral where they usually spend the night. It seems likely that there has been some culling, perhaps as a result of recent government changes in the permit system for shooting pest species.I can understand why Rooks, Carrion Crows and Wood Pigeons are on the list as pest species but Why, Oh Why, do Moorhens figure there?

I have sponsored one of this year's brood of Cuckoos. named Nussey. Born and reared by unwitting foster parents in the New Forest, it has been fitted with a transponder which will enable satellite tracking as it makes its way to the African rainforest where it will overwinter.
It is now in central France putting on  a bit of fat  to provide the energy for its long flight.

Weymouth Relief Road Walk.

A walk today down the bridleway alongside the Weymouth Relief Road  currently covered in Oxeye Daisy and Kidney Vetch ,and towards the bottom of the slope, a magnificent display of Bee Orchids.

 Weymouth Relief Road bridleway     Click to enlarge.

The first Bee Orchids to arrive here were two that were seen a couple of years ago and they have now increased in number to 198.

                                                                       Bee Orchid     Click to enlarge

 Among the Bee Orchids there was a single Pyramidal Orchid.  The rather cold, unseasonal weather meant that there were few butterflies in evidence,  two Small Blue and two Adonis Blue were seen, and one day flying moth, a Burnet Companion

Privet Hawk Moth.

                                            Privet Hawk Moth                    Photo. John Elliott

The first of the Hawk Moths to come to my UV light trap this year, the Privet Hawk Moth has
 a 10 cm. wing span, slightly more than that of a House Sparrow. It normally perches with the upper wings closed showing only the rather drab browny patches, but when preparing for flight it reveals a bright pattern of pink and black stripes on the underwing. Other species regularly caught at the moment include Hebrew Character, Treble Lines, White Ermine, Muslin Moth, Buff Tip, Dark Arches, Heart and Dart, and, a first for Martinstown, a Streamer.

Emerging Damselflies.

The recent much warmer weather has brought out the damselflies from my garden pond. First to appear was a Large Red damselfly, followed closely by the two Azure Blues shown above.  These are both males, seemingly resting on the sage bush in complete harmony, though dragonflies and damselflies can be fiercely territorial and will try to eject intruders.  The Azure Blue prefers small ponds, like garden ponds,  but the very similar Common Blue prefers much larger bodies of water and is rarely seen in gardens. I am hoping that the large lake at Rew will be included in the forthcoming Open Gardens, it revealed large numbers of damselflies last time.

Potential Conkers.

                                                                     HorseChestnut

The view from my bedroom window is now almost blocked by the Horse Chestnut, now in full leaf, and so hiding the activities of the nesting Rooks. Another pair have taken up residence this year, bringing the total to eight The  'candles' are also in full bloom, all 1,200 of them, each one bearing fifty or so pinky-white flowers. That makes 60,000 potential conkers, but very few of the flowers will be fertilised and manage to mature, so we will be lucky to find more than twenty or thirty later in the year. Still, these will be eagerly snapped up by the children,  that is if the ladies who consider that conkers deter spiders don't get there first.
No sign yet of the leaf miners which are the larvae of the Horse Chestnut Moth, and which will disfigure the leaves as they eat their way between the two outer skins of the leaves.

Ridgeway Doline

Nothing much to do with wildlife but the dinner plate sized hole on the Ridgeway has now collapsed revealing what must have been a very large cavity beneath it. This will eventually collapse further into the conical shape of the other 200 or so dolines in the area.

Hirundines Here.

The Ewelease Dairy Swallows arrived during the week and  the Chantry House Martins were flying strongly this morning. A Swallow mingled among them for a short while but then flew off northwards.

Black Down Butterflies

A bitterly cold north wind sweeping across the higher areas of Black Down meant that there was little insect life in evidence on a walk round today until I reached the lower, more tree sheltered area, of Benecke Wood. There the butterflies started to appear patrolling up and down the path, some nectaring on the Bluebells which are

 in full bloom at the moment and covering an increasingly large area. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                  
First to appear and most numerous were Speckled Woods, chocolate brown with yellow spots. The unmistakable Red Admiral came next in numbers, though as it makes a habit of patrolling up and down the same length of path it is difficult to avoid counting it more than once. A couple of Brimstones supplied a splash of bright, sullphureous yellow.  Both male and female Orange Tips appeared, the former easilly identified as it lives up to its name, but the female has greyish wing tips and can easily be mistaken for a Small White unless the delicate green and white mottleing of the underwing can be seen. A single Small Copper, a butterfly that seems to be having an unusually good year, made up the total.

  Birds were keeping low in the very windy conditions, but two House Martins passing over high up were a welcome sight.  There was only the briefest glimpse of a Common Lizard as it dashed across the path.

                                                           Red Admiral

This is one of the species that over winter as adults, this one has lost several bits from the rear edges of its wings, probably due to bird attacks.

                                           Red  Admiral nectaring on Bluebells and Greater Stitchwort.

Cuckoo.

I have just received sad news from the BTO concerning my sponsored Cuckoo, Selborne

"Dear John

We are sorry to report that we have sad news about Hampshire Cuckoo Selborne. We last heard from Selborne at midday on 4 April when he had just arrived in Spain. Unfortunately it looks as if he died overnight 4 - 5 April. His last location shows him over a southern ridge of the Sierra Morena mountains and it looks as if he was stopped suddenly in his tracks as he topped that slope. We will probably never know what happened to Selborne but it would appear most likely that he was either taken by an avian predator or succumbed to human hunters. Selborne was named by the Hampshire Ornithological Society when he was tagged in June 2016. Since then we have followed Selborne over two complete migration loops from Hampshire to his wintering grounds in Gabon. He was only 1,430 Km (888 miles) from completing his third migration loop. We are grateful to the Hampshire Ornithological Society and all of Selborne's sponsors for enabling the wonderful contribution that Selborne has made to advancing our understanding of Cuckoo migration."

BTO  plan to capture five of this year' new birds and attach transponders so that they can be tracked on their first journey to Africa. I will sponsor one and keep my fingers crossed that it survives.

The first Speckled Wood of the season in the garden today. Though a shade loving butterfly, frequently found in woods as its name implies, the males do come out from the more overgrown parts of my wildlife garden and bask in the sun like this one. With a season extending from April to October the Speckled Wood is seen for longer than most butterflies, but individuals are only likely to live about a week.

                                                           Speckled Wood

1

Early Emergent Butterflies.

My fears that the recent very cold snap will have killed off the butterflies that had emerged prematurley from their winter hibernation appear to have been unfounded as there is now a good list of butterflies recorded in and around the village in the last few days. Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Comma, all of which have overwintered as adults, have appeared in the garden. Orange Tip and Holly Blue both overwinter in chrysalis form and have both been seen earlier this month. My older books give the time of emergence of both of  these as early May so they seem to be responding to the warming of climate change.
A walk down the Weymouth Relief Road cutting yesterday produced one Orange Tip, one Large White, a Brimstone and two Small Coppers, another species that is emerging three to four weeks earlier than it used to.

My sponsored Cuckoo, Selborne, hasn't been tracked since the 7th of April so is probably still lingering in central Spain.It has now been overtaken by two other Cuckoos who stand a good chance of being the first back to their breeding sites in this country.

My Cuckoo across Sahara

My sponsored Cuckoo, after lingering on the southern edge of the Sahara for a few weeks, has suddenly taken wing northwards.  The latest bulletin reads:-

Selborne has made it to Spain - 04 Apr 2019

A series of locations from Selborne's tag during the early hours of 3 April showed that he was in southern Spain, just to the west of Antequera. However, a set of poor locations received around breakfast on 4 April suggest that he had moved on and was 118km (73 miles) further north and east and close to the town of Lopera. Since leaving the Guinea Highlands on the evening of 31 March he has travelled 3,294km (2,047 miles). We will have to wait for high quality locations to confirm his most recent stopover and for it to update on his map.

He should be back in the New Forest very soon .

First Orange Tip.

The first Orange Tip of the year crossed the garden this morning, though too rapidly to get a photo. It was a female with dark grey wing tips, not a male which does have orange wing tips.

Bee-Fly.

Bee-fly, Bombilius major

A stroll today down the path to Ashton, this time remembering to take a camera, was rewarded, not only with shots of Peocock, and Comma, but also with a sighting of a Bee-Fly, Bombilius major. While hovering like a humming bird, the long proboscis is used to gather nectar. It is quite harmless
though the high pitched whine may cause some alarm.

                                     

                                           

Butterflies and Moths

Two warm, sunny days have brought out the butterflies again. Brimstone and Peacock have both been seen in the garden, and a stroll down the permissive path to Ashton . with its south facing bank warming up rapidly, has produced Small Tortoiseshell, and Comma as well as Peacock and Brimstone.  My moth trap is slowly picking up again, with Common Quaker, Twin Spot Quaker, Hebrew Character, Early Thorn and Oak Beauty appearing regularly.

My sponsored Cuckoo, Selborne,  has spent the last few weeks flying to and fro between Guinea and the Ivory coast and is now heading North West. In previous years he has started crossing the Sahara around the 25th March so maybe this move is the start of his long journey back to the New Forest.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR.

I noticed this morning that the buds on the Horse Chestnut tree outside my bedroom window have begun to open, a definite sign that Spring is here. Soon the leaves will open and hide the activities of the Rooks which live in the upper branches. Some are dismantling last year's nests and starting anew while others are just patching up their old nests. A disturbing development this year is the number of fights that have occurred as intruders try to take over one of the existing nests. The birds grapple together as they fall, fluttering, down through the branches until they hit the ground, where they end up with one bird pinned down on its back while the other tries to peck it to death. This is a common behavior in Blackbirds which will reject all human attempts to separate them, and usually results in the death of one bird. Rooks however must have some sort of ‘submit’ signal which leads to the upper rook returning to the nest and the other flying off.

My Cuckoo, Selborne, is behaving rather oddly. The latest satelite information from its tag reads:-

“Selborne doubles back - 11 Mar 2019

Selborne has left Guinea and headed back east and into Ivory Coast. He seems to be homing in on the rains that are currently prevalent in the southern half of Ivory Coast. This wasn’t a short journey, he is 376km (234 miles) from his location in Guinea. This shows the importance of homing in on the rains and that our Cuckoos have the ability to do this.”

In previous years he has set off on his 3,000 mile journey back home around the 24^th of March, so plenty of time yet to stock up for the flight.

My Cuckoo.

My sponsored Cuckoo, Selborne, is hanging around just south of the Sahara preparing for the crossing.

The latest bulletin from its tag reads:-

"We don’t expect Selborne to move very much for another two weeks or so but we are receiving lots of information from his tag. During the last week he has moved a few miles to the west and further into the Guinea Highlands."

I have had several enquiries recently as to where this bird originated - it was born in the New Forest and tagged in June 2016, age  unknown, but this will be its third return trip.

First Butterflies of the Year.

The beautifully warm, though unseasonal weather earlier this week,  has brought butterflies out of hibernation. The sulphurous yellow of the aptly named Brimstone has provided a high spot in my own garden and has been seen by others in the village. This is one of the few butterflies that overwinter as adults, emerging in the warmth of early spring. However if March is particularly cold they may not be able to return to a dormant state and thus perish. A small brownish butterfly wich dashed through my garden at great speed was probably a Small Tortoiseshell, also reported by others in the village.

FIRST SPRING FLOWERS.

I know it is only February but everything seems early this year, perhaps due to the very warm 2018 summer or even global warming.  The magnificent displays of Snowdrops, which are classified as garden escapes in the Dorset flora, are especially widespread. A few years ago they only occured in gardens and in the the churchyard in low numbers, but this year they are frequent on verges both in the village and away from it.  The first truly wild flower to bloom is the Butterbur.

The purple flower spikes appear in moist places before the very large leaves . Down the Weymouth Road by the sewage works has a good display, with the added bonus of a Kingfisher darting downstream when I took the photo above. They are also available on the road to Rew where the old mill leat occasionally overflows and keeps the ground moist. The  leaves will appear once the flowers have died down, and were used in past days to wrap butter, hence the name.

My sponsored Cuckoo, Selborne, is now on his way back to the New Forest. The latest bulletin reads:-



Selborne moves further west - 14 Feb 2019

Selborne didn’t hang around in Ghana. Having spent a week there he headed west again, 687km (426 miles) west into Guinea, overflying Ivory Coast on the way. Presumably he will stay here a little longer and prepare for his desert crossing. In 2016 he crossed the Sahara on 25 March and on 24 March in 2017.

My Cuckoo on its way back.

My sponsored Cuckoo,  Selborne, is now on its way back to the New Forset where it was born. Here is the latest report from the tracking satelite.

Selborne leading the way - 01 Feb 2019

Selborne is in West Africa! On the evening of 31 January Selborne's tag showed that he was in west southern Ghana. From the information we received it looks like he took the shortcut across the Gulf of Guinea, a sea crossing of 1,100km (689 miles). He is now 1,650km (1,000 miles) from his last location in Gabon and just under 5,000km (3,000 miles) from his New Forest breeding site, as the Cuckoo flies.

If you would like to follow Selborne's progress as he moves north to the perilous crossing of the Sahara, along with the other twelve tagged cuckoos, go to

 www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking

WINTER MIGRANTS.

Little Egret has been  a frequent winter visitor to the valley for several years now and it was pleasing to receive a report of one locally last week. Even more pleasing to see through my bedroom window as I lay drinking my morning cup of tea was the sight of two Little Egrets leaving the confers in the Manor house grounds. They have roosted there regularly in the past so we can expect them to be  seen  for the next two or three months. Their usual feeding grounds are the old water meadows upstream and downstream of the village.

I still haven't seen any of the winter thrush family visitors, Fieldfare and Redwing. It has been a very mild winter so far though so we may have to wait for colder weather to drive tham south. Golden Plover and Lapwings  are appearing intermittently in the area to the north of Maiden Castle but are illusive. My only sighting of the Golden Plovers was of about 500 flying over the Dorchester bypass.

Garden birds have included a male Blackcap. This used to be just a summer visiitor, but now is becoming increasingly common as one of our own birds overwintering here. Also a solitory Chaffinch, once very common but now seen only occasionally.
  r