May - home and away

The usual reminder - to see the videos in this Blog post, go to www.liddells.co.uk and view them on the Blog page.

May’s “What’s That Bird?’ has three birds in one recording. Can you identify them all?

5th May

John collected logs from the Pit Wood.

Reeling slightly from singing in the sunrise with her local choir, Clare set about freeing trees in the Top Strip from ragged tubes. She found a spider on one of the trunks inside the tube. The app Picture Insect identified it as an Old World Dome Sheetweaver Neriene montana. It belongs to the family Linyphiidae, commonly called Money spiders. They are known for their sheet- or hammock-like webs, building them among bushes or low vegetation, on tree trunks, or under logs, which they rest beneath. Clare protected the freed trunks with gorse cuttings, tying them on with brambles.

The Crag camera shows that the badgers are still pausing at the excavations but no longer investigating. Clare thinks they may have hit too much bedrock. The camera recorded the stoat heading off from what may be its den.

7th May

The now very pregnant old doe pauses in front of the Crag camera. You can also see that she is losng her winter coat. The kids will likely be born in the next 2-3 weeks.

8th May

John found a dead stoat just inside the top road gate. From its size, it is likely to be the female from the Crag. There was no obvious cause of death. Little did John and Clare know that the video from the 5th might prove to be the last.

John heard a Whitethroat singing behind the sheds. This is a bird that has been heard and/or seen a few times on Liddells over the past small number of years although there has never been more than one bird at a time. The song is not one of the most mellifluous in the bird world although it is recognisable - short and scratchy. You can listen here.

The Crag camera captured three bucks going past within the space of a few minutes. First the youngest buck which is still in velvet, then the older buck, not in velvet, and lastly the oldest buck (video below), which looks as though he has been in some May Day celebrations.

9th - 10th May

Ruth conducted her second ringing session on 9th. John and Clare were very excited to know she had not only netted a Whitethroat, but that she had heard two singing males. Ruth netted 22 birds in total, of 12 different species.

Clare noticed that each year there is more Cuckoo Flower Cardamine pratensis (aka Lady’s-smock) appearing on the Hayfield. It is a good forage plant, particularly for Orange-tip butterflies. Clare spotted a moth feeding from one of the plants. It is a Small Yellow Underwing Panemeria tenebrata.

Click here to see why the moth is so called.

John celebrated his birthday by going to Liddells and not doing any work. Except for having a small bonfire - a good way to celebrate. While he was practising the art of relaxing, Clare noticed a small insect on her top. John managed to lure it onto his finger so that Clare could take a photograph. It proved to be a Silver-Green Leaf Weevil Phyllobius argentatus. Not to be outdone in the insect-on-tops department, John played host to a pair of mating Fever flies Dilophus febrilis. This insect can congregate on umbellifers - the Cow parsley is beginning to flower on Liddells though not noticeably on John’s top. There are also huge numbers of insects around at the moment. The swallows are having a field, or rather air, day.

Clare noticed the first of the patch of Yellow Pimpernel flowering in the Pit Wood. She seeks them here, she seeks them there…

With the prospect of roe kids very soon, Clare moved a camera back into the Pit Wood. The big buck crosses in front of the camera and is clearly limping. It is the first sign of vulnerability John and Clare have seen in this magnificent animal. John wonders whether it has been in a battle with the middle-sized buck which has recently come on to its territory.

11th May

Keith came to help Clare with this year’s breeding bird survey. This was a little later in the year than previously and the titmice were noticeable by their absence - possibly because they have mostly paired and mated and are busy rearing young. Keith and Clare did hear two Whitethroats and saw one on the Hayfield. After Keith had left Clare heard and saw a Yellowhammer to add to the list. You can see the results here.

Then John and Clare did a second nest box survey. There was not significantly more activity than three weeks ago however 6 boxes had nestlings or birds sitting and one of the open-fronted boxes in the Top Strip was in use for the first time. Clare has set up a camera to identify which species is using the box.

While walking round Clare added the following plants to last month’s list of plants in flower: Wild Garlic, Yellow Pimpernel, Yellow Rattle, Meadow Buttercup, Bush Vetch, Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Water Crowfoot, Germander Speedwell, Red Campion, Wild Strawberry, Woodruff, Herb Robert and Water Avens. The Hawthorn is beginning to flower too which reminded Clare of a poem featured in April in her Poetry Diary:

Hawthorn

I like it when memories aren’t pinned/haughtily to words, but come to find/them, slowly on the bridge/of a warm breeze filled emptily/with blackbird songs, a robin/twisting its invisible screw/and a more piercing song/I can’t yet name, and beside it a scent/than belongs at the slow start/of another summer, alive/and pungent and unattached/then to the off-white flowers/a little distance off from this bench/and the name, the name.

Zaffar Kunial

John began repairs on the Barn owl box roof.

12th May

In the Pit Wood a very young badger heads along the path, followed 15 minutes later by an adult. Although there have been many clips of badgers on the Blog, both clips are included here so you can see the difference in sizes.

A fox is captured heading towards the camera and returning 5 minutes later with prey. It is not clear what it has caught.

14th May

The camera on the nest box reveals the identity of the builder. It is a Robin. In her exquisite book Nests, Susan Ogilvy notes that Robins usually ‘choose to build their nests in hollows in banks or tree stumps, but have been known to use shelves in sheds, old flower pots or even the pockets of old coats hanging in barns…The female builds the nest and incubates her eggs for twelve to fifteen days, but both parents feed the young for around a fortnight. They can produce two or three clutches [of four to seven eggs] in a season and the male will take over sole responsibility for feeding the young if their broods overlap’. The bird uses leaves, moss, grass and fine twigs for the body of the nest and lines it with fine grass, roots, hair and very occasionally feathers.

Clare was initially puzzled by how little time had elapsed from the first nest box inspection to an adult bird bringing in food to chicks. Perhaps a better explanation is that the male is feeding the sitting female. The bird in the box looks pretty mature.

Then, barely two hours later the camera captures a worrying sight. A stoat - the good news, but not for the Robins, is that there is still one around - climbing down from the top of the nest box. You can hear a bird’s alarm call. Unsurprisingly. The next round of disc inspection might reveal what happens next.

Later a fox comes through the Pit Wood after another successful hunting session. It looks as though it has caught a pheasant this time.

15th May

John noticed a Clouded-bordered Brindle moth Apamea crenata. They are common, occupying a variety of habitats, including trailer tow-bars.

Clare added Bugle and Eyebright to her list of plants flowering on Liddells. John fixed the Barn Owl box roof. Hopefully a Barn Owl will notice. Clare finished clearing Hawthorn brash from under the trees in the Meadow and noticed a bee in the plants at her feet. It is a Flavous Nomad bee Nomada flava, a species of Cuckoo bee. In the absence of any Cuckoos locally, this will have to do. Clare then spotted that a Common Green Grasshopper Omocestus viridulus had hopped into her tea. She performed a rescue.

Clare has been waiting for the emergence of damsels and dragons. Today in Pond Maggiore, it seemed as though nearly every protruding stalk of the Potamogeton had nymphs clinging on. A phone camera cannot do justice to the scene, however here is one photo to give you an idea of the profusion. A day later Clare saw a Large Red Damselfly. Time for John to put his camera to work.

The young buck walks through the Pit Wood. It looks as though one side of his antlers is clean while the other is still in velvet. He is certainly losing his winter coat.

Clare added Broom and Red Clover to her plants in flower list and she and John saw and heard a Whitethroat on the Wetland.

18th-19th May

Ruth went round the nest boxes as part of her ringing session. She noted that two clutches of chicks had been predated and the nests were empty. The next day she said the first of the juveniles were appearing in her mist nets. The birds she ringed included a second male Whitethroat and a Sparrowhawk. She sent the images below.

17th - 31st May

John and Clare went away on what they are reliably informed is called a ‘holiday’. They joined a guided group in the Burren in County Clare for a few days before staying in Galway and then Athlone before catching the ferry back from Dublin. Instead of news from Liddells, here are a selection of holiday snaps. Normal Liddells service will be resumed in June and if there is anything noteworthy from the trail cameras for the end of May, it will appear in June’s Blog post.

The Burren is a karst landscape of bedrock incorporating a vast cracked pavement of glacial-era limestone, with cliffs and caves, fossils, rock formations and archaeological sites. The flora is especially remarkable and varied although after weeks of dry weather, not as prolific as usual with many plants having been dried out by the heat. Clare was more interested in looking than photographing so there is not much of she saw represented below, however she aims to give a flavour.

With the US much in the news, Clare was struck by this early version of import taxes in Galway. She and John went and paid their literary respects. Clare visited Charlie Byrne’s bookshop - a rich source of new and secondhand books both inside and outside the shop. And a blessed place.

A road trip along the Connemara coast and back inland was spectacular, however some very Irish weather made photography hard.

In the Burren John and Clare had visited a garden that was the result of one man’s extraordinary and meticulous hard work and obsessions, however they found it unsympathetic to the natural ecosystem and they were struck by how many plants had been imported from other countries. Outside Galway they visited an entirely different garden. It was designed by a woman, was for and run by the local community and was full of life. Brigit‘s Garden is regarded as one of the most picturesque gardens of Ireland; it is in service to Celtic heritage and mythology as well as to native plants. The contrast between the two gardens was striking.

31st May

Driving over to the Burren and back both John and Clare were struck by the minimal mowing on motorway verges and how hedging was used down the central reservations. A great commitment to biodiversity.

John and Clare are now back at home and hoping a trip to Liddells tomorrow to collect the camera discs will result in evidence of new kids on the block…

What’s That Bird? answers - Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Willow Warbler