Breeding Bird Survey!

Today I did my BTO Breeding Bird Survey in the Montpelier, St Andrews and St Pauls area. There were no surprises but I was very happy with the numbers of Starlings this morning, and House Sparrows continue to be doing OK on the patch.
Lesser Black-backed Gull 3
Herring Gull 3
Woodpigeon 15
Collared Dove 5
Swift 1
Wren 4
Dunnock 2
Robin 9
Blackbird 11
Blackcap 1
Blue Tit 3
Great Tit 5
Jay 1
Magpie 4
Carrion Crow 7
Starling 10
House Sparrow 20
Goldfinch 4
Feral Pigeon 19

Later, a Common Whitethroat was singing near St Werburghs City Farm.

Sleepy Fox and Breeding Bird Survey results in full!

A Fox was sat in the grass near the tunnel this morning - looked like a young one (the Fox, not the tunnel) and was completely unfazed by a train passing within a metre of it!

I'm always delighted by the tiny delicate flowers of Cleavers - lots growing above the wall this morning.

The moment you've all been waiting for has arrived - details of yesterday's BTO Breeding Bird Survey round Montpelier, St Andrews and St Pauls:
Lesser Black-backed Gull 8
Herring Gull 2
Woodpigeon 19
Collared Dove 6
Swift 7
Wren 6
Dunnock 1
Robin 4
Blackbird 15
Blackcap 2
Great Tit 1
Magpie 9
Carrion Crow 6
Starling 2
House Sparrow 23
Goldfinch 9
Feral Pigeon 28

Surprising absence of Blue Tits and Jays and only one Great Tit, although of course the survey is only a snapshot of what's about at any given time. House Sparrow numbers seem to be holding up well and as I said yesterday, it's good the Swifts are hanging on.

Breeding Bird Survey!

Bright and early this morning I did the first of my two BBS visits to ST5974 (covering Montpelier, St Andrews and St Pauls). The totals counted were as follows:
Lesser Black-backed Gull 10
Herring Gull 4
Woodpigeon 16
Collared Dove 3
Wren 6
Dunnock 2
Robin 10
Blackbird 4
Blackcap 3
Long-tailed Tit 2
Blue Tit 9
Great Tit 6
Magpie 7
Carrion Crow 13
Starling 2
House Sparrow 16
Goldfinch 8
Feral Pigeon 30

Incredibly low numbers of Blackbird, Dunnock and Magpie but of course you only record what you see or hear during the survey itself so it may not be a true reflection of the situation. Two odd things happened - and no, I wasn't arrested for using binoculars in a built-up area - there was a dead fledgling Jay on the pavement in Chesterfield Road which was rather sad and also there was a swarm of Syrphus hoverflies around a shrub in Ashley Hill. I reckon there were between 15-20 of them!

Later at the station there was a cute little Zebra Spider out hunting on the wall and up to 6 Holly Blue butterflies around Ivy on the disused platform along with several Orange-tips - similar numbers to a couple of days ago. A Brimstone also made an appearance.

Zebra Spider

Breeding Bird Survey results!

I finally got round to entering my data for the survey I did on Monday in Montpelier, St Andrews and St Pauls. The results are:
Lesser Black-backed Gull 8
Herring Gull 4
Feral Pigeon 24
Woodpigeon 20
Collared Dove 9
Swift 3
Magpie 5
Carrion Crow 4
Blue Tit 2
Great Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit 1
Blackcap 1
Wren 8
Starling 2
Blackbird 11
Robin 6
Dunnock 4
House Sparrow 21
Goldfinch 2
No real surprises but at least the House Sparrows are holding up well.

I am pleased to announce that the Blue Tits are using my nestbox again this year - a parent bird left the box as arrived home this evening.

At the station this morning there was a Harlequin Ladybird larva and a Small White butterfly.

Harlequin larva

Spiders and Mistle Thrushes!

This morning a spider was trying to get in through the bathroom window so I had a look at it and it turns out it is one of the jumping spiders, possibly Pseudeuophrys sp. (maybe P. lanigera). Later at the station I saw a Clubonia sp. spider plus another spider I can't ID yet.

Clubonia

Jumping Spider



Mystery spider

A Small Dusty Wave moth was in the flat this morning.

Small Dusty Wave

I did my BTO Breeding Bird Survey this morning and will post full results when I have entered the data. The highlight was seeing 3 juvenile Mistle Thrushes on St Barnabas school playing field but because they are juveniles I can't count them!