Montpelier Park!

This morning there was a bit of common bird activity including a Robin, a couple of Carrion Crows, a singing Wren, a juvenile Woodpigeon, a moulting Blackbird and a small party of Great and Blue Tits. A Grey Squirrel was also leaping around.

Great Tit

Juvenile Woodpigeon

Blue Tit

Blackbird

Fox again!

The Fox was at the station this morning near the tunnel. It had a pee and wandered around before disappearing into the trackside vegetation. Nearby a Jay called and a Marmalade Hoverfly was sat on the wall.

Birds!

I took a stroll along Fairlawn Road and the little path which joins it with St Andrews Road. There was an Eristalis hoverfly and a Myathropa florea hoverfly too but I was unable too take a photo as they were too flighty. There was a party of Blue Tits and 3 or 4 Long-tailed Tits plus a calling Jay in the trees. Nearby a Speckled Wood was basking in the sunshine and Vervain was in flower.

Speckled Wood

Vervain

Montpelier Station!

Birds are beginning to become more noticeable now that summer is almost over - a party of Great and Blue Tits were calling from the trees at the station and a Coal Tit was singing. The House Sparrows were in good numbers as they fed in the bushes.

An Eristalis pertinax hoverfly was sat on the wall nearby.

….and there was a Light Brown Apple Moth in the flat this morning.

Moths! Oh, and a Jay!

The moth trap produced the following species this morning:
Lychnis 1
Large Yellow Underwing 1
Silver Y 1
Brimstone 1
Meal Moth 1 (a 'first'!)
Small Dusty Wave 1
Willow Beauty 1
Bright-line Brown-eye 1
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 2
Rustic - very worn but probably this species
Tachystola acroxantha (our Australian friend I first saw last week).

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Lychnis

Large Yellow Underwing

Meal Moth

Brimstone

Rustic (?)

Small Dusty Wave

Tachystola acroxantha

Willow Beauty

Also in the trap was a Birch Shieldbug and a Harlequin Ladybird.

Birch Shieldbug

A Jay showed well at the station this morning.

Jay

Moths!

A slightly better collection of moths this morning:
Marbled Beauty 2
Flame Shoulder 1
Small Blood-vein 1 (a 'first'!)
Heart and Dart 1
Shuttle-shaped Dart 1
Silver Y 1
Double-striped Pug 1

plus the Australian micro-moth Tachystola acroxantha.

Double-striped Pug

Flame Shoulder

Heart and Dart

Tachystola acroxantha

Shuttle-shaped Dart

Small Blood-vein

Also a Common Froghopper!

Common Froghopper

Silver Y

Montpelier Park!

Not much to report in the park this morning other than a Myathropa florea hoverfly and swarms of Horse Chestnut Miner moths, with the leaves looking very brown and badly affected.

Horse-chestnut Leaf Mines

Myathropa florea

Blue Tits were calling as were young Carrion Crows.

Moths!

The continuing saga of my useless moth trap has now resulted in me ordering a new one so hopefully I might catch some decent moths when it arrives. Anyway, today there was a Shuttle-shaped Dart, a Flame Shoulder and a Common Carpet plus a very faded moth which I assume was a Bright-line Brown-eye but mercifully it escaped before I could ID it. A Harlequin Ladybird joined the party too.

Shuttle-shaped Dart

Flame Shoulder

Common Carpet

Harlequin Ladybird

The A to Z of Spiders!

I was a little worried that the wall along the platform at Montpelier Station would cease to attract spiders after it had been painted earlier in the year by Silent Hobo, but I needn't have worried. Today there was an Araneus diadematus (better known as the Garden Spider) and several Zygiella x-notata (better known as the Missing Sector Orb-web Spider). So we have the A to Z of spiders!

Garden Spider

Missing Sector Orb-web Spider