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!

Baby Starling invasion!

This evening at the station there were up to 10 young Starlings flying and perching in trees waiting to be fed by their parents - this is a vast improvement on previous years. Also 4 or 5 Swifts seen distantly beyond the TV mast.

'Feed me!'

A Blackcap was singing in the garden this morning.

A couple of moths in the flat last night - a Cabbage Moth and a pug species which I think might be a Mottled Pug. Also a couple of as yet unidentified micro-moths and a Crane-fly.

Cabbage Moth

Mottled Pug

Narroways!

A couple of hours on the reserve this morning produced 20 Goldfinches, 2 Greenfinches, a fly-over Jackdaw, a Grey Wagtail, singing Blackcap and Chiffchaff plus plenty of Robins, Blackbirds, Dunnocks and a Great Tit. The Ravens were much in evidence.

Goldfinch

Butterflies were represented by 5 Green-veined Whites, a Speckled Wood, an Orange-tip and a Holly Blue. Other insects included a Red and Black Froghopper, a couple of Dock-leaf Bugs, an Andrena mining bee, the hoverflies Eupeodes, and Cheilosia variabilis, Honey Bees and Common Carder Bees and my first Thick-thighed Flower Beetles of the spring.

Andrena

Green-veined White

Dock-leaf Bug

Cheilosia variabilis

Another Holly Blue was flying around the front garden this afternoon.

Montpelier Park!

There was at least one juvenile Blackbird in the park this morning - the first local ones I've seen - plus a Robin, a couple of Starlings and a singing Blackcap. Nearby at the station there was a Small White and a Holly Blue butterfly.

Juvenile Blackbird

Robin

Starlings

Small White

Fairlawn Road!

A few minutes looking at the verge produced a Nursery Web Spider, a couple of Common Carder Bees, a few Honey Bees, a Syrphus hoverfly and a Speckled Wood. A Byturus sp. beetle was in a buttercup.

Nursery Web Spider

Speckled Wood

Byturus

St Andrews Park produced another Speckled Wood and a Harlequin Ladybird. I had a brief sighting of a Bee-fly, presumably a Dark-edged Bee-fly but it didn't hang around.

Harlequin Ladybird

At least one Holly Blue butterfly was flying around the disused platform at the station.

Narroways!

A visit this morning produced a Chiffchaff and a Jay in the ash wood and the two Raven chicks plus one parent on the tower.

I'd hoped for some decent insects but it was a little too cloudy for much activity. Hoverflies included a Cheilosia sp., several Syrphus,  a single Eupeodes sp. and a Melanostoma. A couple of Common Carder Bees were on the wing. Two beetles were noted - a Phyllobius sp. and a Byturus sp. (probably a Raspberry Beetle).

Byturus

Eupeodes

Syrphus

Phyllobius

Montpelier Station!

I was delighted to see my first ever Dasysyrphus tricinctus hoverfly on the wall on the station approach. Sadly it is a rubbish photo as the fly didn't hang around. It is a coniferous woodland and heathland species so I'm very surprised to see it on the patch. Also there was a Eupeodes corollae a few inches away. A Wolf Spider was basking nearby. An Orange-tip and a Small White were seen on the disused platform.

Dasysyrphus tricinctus

Eupeodes corollae

Small White

Wolf Spider

Montpelier Park!

On arrival at the park this morning I was greeted by the sight of 4 Starlings gathering food in the children's play area - so good to know they almost certainly have nests nearby. The lovely bit of sunshine brought out some insects including my first Myathropa florea hoverfly of the spring, a Syrphus hoverfly, a couple of Wolf Spiders, a Common Carder Bee and a German Wasp queen.

Myathropa florea

German Wasp queen

Starlings

The approach to the station produced about 4 Green Shieldbugs while near the footbridge there was another Syrphus and an Orange-tip butterfly.

Green Shieldbug

Syrphus

On the way home through Portland Square this afternoon I was struck (not literally) by the huge Horse Chestnut in its spring finery.