The Start of the Butterfly Counting Season.

Having been released today from 'Shielding' and the weather being good I took the opportunity to visit the Tadnoll Nature Reserve to firstly, check on the condition of the transect route and, if any, count the butterflies. Pleasingly the transect was much drier than it often is at this time of year. The heathland section drains rapidly and is usually dry but the old water meadows can be difficult after a wet winter. This area is now destined to becom 'mere' and many of the old drainage channels seem to have been blocked and are no longer  difficult to cross. I got round the transect quite easily, in spite of the fact that I forgot my boots and went round in shoes. A team of seven of us covers the 26 weeks of the counting season, doing three or four weeks each, and I upload the counts into the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme data base.

And did I see any butterflies?  Yes, 3 Peacocks and 1 Comma.

My Cuckoo.

 

Valentine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My tagged Cuckoo, Valentine, sadly didn't make it back to this country.

BTO. 19 Mar 2021

Sadly, it looks as if we have heard the last from Valentine. When his tag last transmitted, the battery in his tag was low on charge and had been for some time, but there's also an indication of a problem based on temperature. The temperature sensor in the tag reported about 8 degrees C lower than any of the previous readings in Angola, including those from similar times of day, and we don't think the move north by a few hundred km explains this. We suspect that Valentine perished between the last location in Angola (2nd Feb) and the ones in southwest DRC (16th Feb). Valentine was tagged in June 2019 so we have benefited from a lot of valuable data from Valentine, helping us extend our knowledge and understanding of this amazing species.  

BTO hope, coronavirus restrictions permitting, to tag some of this year's hatch. If succesful I will be able to sponsor another bird and follow its amazing journeys to and from Africa.

Buzzards galore.

The most amazing sight of the year so far,  no less than fourteen Common Buzzards circling and tumbling in the air above Grove Hill Bottom yesterday afternoon.

My daughter reminds me that when we moved to Martinstown from West Wales in 1974 we were very disappointed that there were no Buzzards to be seen here.  We had been used to seeing them every day and everywhere around Cardigan, but in the eighties they began to appear in small numbers and finally to nest annually within half a mile of the village.

Pussy Willow.

  Pussy Willow.   Photo. John Elliott

 The two warm spring days which brought out the Brimstone and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies which had overwintered are now but a memory, and we are back to chilly wintery days. Plant life however is pressing on, with the delicate leaves of Cow Parsley and the triangular hastate (arrow head shaped) leaves of Lords and Ladies  prominent along the hedgerows. Hazel, with its long yellow catkins and Sallow, better known as Pussy Willow, with its silvery, furry catkins, both flower early in the year and before the leaves appear.  Both these are wind pollinated, with the pollen from male trees being carried on the breeze to flowers on the female trees.

 

 

 

First Butterflies of the Year.

Clear skies overnight resulted in a frosty start to the day, but also meant the sun soon warmed things up later, resulting in reports from neighbours of early Brimstone butterflies on the wing. (Last year the first I saw didn't appear until the 11th of March.) None in my garden though, but a stroll down the permissive path to Ashton in the afternoon did yield three Small Tortoishells, all rather tatty having over-wintered by hibernating.

Cuckoos on the move.

BTO have just posted news of their three tagged Cuckoos which have just started to move north from their winter quarters in the rain forests of Central Africa. My Cuckoo, Valentine, is number three in the queue. "A low quality location received from Valentine's tag suggests that he may also be on the move from Angola towards Democratic Republic of Congo. Hopefully he will emerge from the forest canopy soon and his tag will receive enough sunlight to send us a more reliable location." The birds will be feeding and fattening up in preparatiom for their Sahara crossings.

Garden Visitors.

 Welcome visitors in the back garden yesterday were a pair of Bullfinches which arrived after a gap of several years.

Pair of Bullfinches in Elder bush.  Photo. john Elliott

The handsome male is easy to spot, but the not quite so handsome female takes more finding, She is up and well to the left of the male, her black head picking her out. Click to enlarge.

They are still here today, clearly visible as they have an early morning feed.

Pair of Bullfinches.  Photo. John Elliott

Exciting news from Dorset Wildlife Trust, a pair of Beavers have been installed on a West Dorset site. See  www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/BeaverProject for a video of their release.