Bee-utiful Montpelier!

 There were lots of bees and hoverflies to enjoy this morning - it was a pollinator paradise! In Fairlawn Road I was delighted to spot my first Hairy-footed Flower Bee and Common Carder Bee of the year. Nearby at the top of St Andrews Road there were two mining bee - Gwynne's Mining Bee and Grey-patched Mining Bee. There were two different hoverflies - Syrphus and Eristalis pertinax. A Harlequin Ladybird was hiding under a leaf. It was good to see Herb Robert and Ivy-leaved Toadflax in flower.

Herb Robert

Hairy-footed Flower Bee

Grey-patched Mining Bee

Gwynne's Mining Bee

Common Carder Bee

Ivy-leaved Toadflax

At the station there was a singing Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff - these will have only just arrived from Africa. Also a singing Blackcap and a Long-tailed Tit.

Chiffchaff

More Moths!

I put out the trap last night and had a few more moths although hardly impressive numbers!

Hebrew Character 3

Early Grey 1

Common Quaker 1

Small Quaker 1

Also a Green Lacewing.

 

Green Lacewing

Early Grey

Hebrew Character

Common Quaker

Small Quaker

Moths!

I put the trap up last night not really expecting to catch anything so early in the year, but I had 3! 

1 Common Quaker 

1 Hebrew Character 

1 Early Grey

Common Quaker

Early Grey

Montpelier flowers!

A few flowers around Montpelier this morning. Hairy Bittercress Cardamine hirsuta, Common Field-speedwell Veronica persica, Green Alkanet Pentaglottis sempervirens, Alexanders Smyrnium olusatrum and Hybrid Bluebell Hyacinthoides x massartiana.

A couple of flies were taking advantage of the early sunshine - a Scathophaga and a Greenbottle (probably Lucilia sp.)

A couple of Blackcaps were singing - one at Fairlawn Road and another at the station.

Hairy Bittercress

Hybrid Bluebell

Common Field-speedwell

Green Alkanet

Alexanders

Scathophaga

Lucilia

St Andrews Park!

An hour in the park this morning produced c20 Redwings, 10 Goldfinches, a Jay, a Coal Tit, Blue Tits, a singing Great Tit, a couple of Collared Doves, some Woodpigeons, several Blackbirds and a Dunnock.

St Andrews Park!

St Andrews Park was hopelessly crowded so there were very few birds of note today apart from 10 Starlings, 20+ Goldfinches, 2 Jays, a couple of Blackbirds, a fly-over Chaffinch, a singing Dunnock and a few Woodpigeons and Collared Doves. It was good to see the first Snowdrops in flower. I escaped to the more peaceful environs of Montpelier Station where there were good numbers of House Sparrows, a couple of Chaffinches, Blue and Great Tits, several Starlings, a Grey Squirrel and 4 or 5 Collared Doves. A Pied Wagtail was feeding in Station Road.

Starlings and Slime-moulds!

 A dismal and rather uninspiring afternoon in St Andrews Park produced 20+ Starlings, 10 Goldfinches, several Magpies and Carrion Crows and the ever-present Herring Gulls overhead.  

Starlings

Magpie

Goldfinch

Apart from the paucity of bird life there was a Slime-mould on the dead wood habitat which is my first I've ever seen! Slime-moulds are very strange organisms once thought to belong to the fungi but are closer to amoebas. - more information can be found here.

Slime-mould