Garden Wildlife .. recent highlights .. incl. Odanata

Since my last garden wildlife update (see below July 21st) Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) has been present on several occasions. A single darter was present in the back garden on Aug 10th. On the 17th a pair were in tandem flight in the front garden, shortly afterwards an individual perched on the hardy fuchsia, provided plenty of opportunity for photography. Suggesting three may have been present?

Common Darter 10th August

Common Darter 17th August

On the 23rd of August, a Common Darter was in the back garden.

Common Darter 23rd August

Today, the sightings went to another level, initially a single male Common Darter was staking out New Pond, as the morning progressed a second male appeared and much territorial posturing followed, with neither male giving ground.

I was then completely thrilled when two other Common Darters appeared, one all but briefly, the second was a female and mating and egg-laying quickly took place with one of the attendant males. I managed to capture some terrible video footage of the pair in tandem (and the second male), which I am more than happy to share!

Other recent highlights include a Median Wasp (Dolichovespula media) photographed on the 10th of August and a Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) which was present on the 15th of August. Singles of Convolvulus Hawk-moth (Agrius convolvuli) and Portland Ribbon Wave (Idaea degeneraria) to 25W Blacklight on the night of 26th August. All four species being “new for garden” (NFG).

Median Wasp

Convolvulus Hawk-moth

Portland Ribbon Wave

Elephant Hawk-moth caterpillar

On the 12th of August, our neighbour knocked the door and presented us with an Elephant Hawk-moth (Deilephila elpenor) caterpillar – the first time that we have ever seen the larval stage of this species.

Humming-bird Hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum) has been present almost daily with a maximum count of three on the 31st of August – with both Red Valerian (Valeriana rubra) and our neighbour’s Buddleja davidii providing plenty of nectar to attract this species along with a host of bees and butterflies.

Lizard, Cornwall .. long weekend, non-birding highlights

moth-trap set up at Barnside Cottage

Convolvulus Hawk-moth (Agrius convolvuli)

Dark Sword-grass (Agrotis ipsilon)

Nomophila noctuella

Palpita vitrealis

Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa)

Burnished Brass (Diachrysis chrysitis)

Rosy Rustic (Hydraecia micacea)

Mullein Wave (Scopula marginepunctata)

Windmill Reserve arable weed margins

Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa)

Small-flowered Catchfly (Silene gallica) LIFER

Annual Woundwort (Stachys annua) LIFER

Corn Spurrey (Spergula arvensis) LIFER

Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) LIFER photo courtesy Tony B

Ping Pong Bat (Favolaschia calocera) photo courtesy Tony B

Wasp Spider (Argiope bruennichi L.) a new garden record

July the 18th 2022 was an auspicious day for garden listing. A single record of Phasia obesa brought the garden list to a nice round 500 species, and the day flying Six-spot Burnet (Zygaena filipendulae stephensi), pushed it on to 501.

Phasia obesa

A re-appraisal of a photo from March 21st 2021 - also identified Nomada fucata. A record that at the time I had submitted to the UK BWARS Facebook page for verification. Then had promptly forgotten about it. The list now stood at 502.

Overnight, the 20W Actinic Skinner Trap proceeded to furnish me with 13 new moths, from amongst the 143 of 66 species. When the moth trap intruders (4 of 3 species) were collated, Wasp Spider was added, bringing the day's total to 17 new invertebrates for the garden. A day's haul worthy of the first few weeks of moth-trapping, whereby nearly every other moth was by virtue of novelty, new for the garden.

male Wasp Spider

Of all the new records that day, it was the male Wasp Spider that really caught my imagination. I have only seen this species twice previously - once in Madeira and again a single specimen on Portsdown Hill - both females.

Spiders in general being one of the many weak points in my identification skill set - I ran the spider past the UK Spiders Facebook Group for verification. With the identification confirmed - the following weeks and months found me scouting for girls and their unmistakable webs throughout the wildflower lawn. To no avail.

Last Sunday, I cut back the wildflower lawn. The strimmer not being up to the task I selectively used the hedge-cutter. Although back-breaking this was less intrusive in its cutting affect and enabled me to keep my eye-in to avoid shredding anything of note. As always, I left patches of the lawn uncut, as refuges. I made a mental note to invest in a scythe for next autumn.

This afternoon, taking a stroll around the denuded lawn I noticed an orb about the size of a human eyeball hanging on to the top of a grass stem. Then a second, and a third. Not entirely sure what I was looking at - I picked one up. A seed head perhaps? However, knowing the local wildflowers, this did not make sense?

Wasp Spider egg-sacs

I carefully pulled open the papery exterior, revealing a brown fibrous inner - with a core comprising a dense white structure. It finally dawned on me that this was a spider's egg-sac and given its size - I reckoned Wasp Spider was a good candidate. A Google search, confirmed the ID.

Wasp Spider egg-sac - opened

The opened egg sac has gone into the spare fish tank, in the hope that I can successfully hatch the young - as it would be a shame to lose them to curiosity.

.. "this flight tonight" ..

Lizard, Cornwall pt. 4 - Thurs 14th and Fri 15th Oct

A morning's birdwatching walk via Pistil and Lizard Point marked a small change in vis-mig - in the fields above Pistil whilst still full of meadow pipit - the white wagtails had been replaced overnight by pied wagtails - and scanning through the flock, not a white wagtail was to be seen.

Pistil itself produced a small flock of 6 Greenfinch. Although the birds were assumed to be resident rather than vis-mig - for me it was a notable sight and my diary entry reads: "I can't remember the last time I saw a flock of Greenfinch? - Just lovely!".

Taking breakfast at Polpeor Cafe, we were joined by another resident species, the local House sparrows whose brazen behaviour suggested that they were well used to tit-bits from the Cafe tables.

Later that evening, a short walk to Housel Point produced grey wagtail, and several Chiffchaff.

The last moth trap of the holiday was by far the most productive - helped no end by the mild temperatures and cloud overnight. The trap was also returned to the front garden as weak southerlies brought migrant promise. We were not to be disappointed.

Angle shades

Delicate

Radford's Flame shoulder

Sorting

Gem

Lunar underwing (36)
Feathered ranunculus (11)
Black rustic (3)
Rusty dot pearl (12)
Common marbled carpet (3)
Large yellow underwing (3)
Silver Y (1)
Feathered brindle (2)
Light brown apple moth (2)
Angle shades (2)
Delicate (1)
Red-line quaker (1)
Setaceous Hebrew character (2)
Radford's Flame shoulder (1)
Double-striped pug (1)
Bloxworth snout (1)
Gem (1)

By coincidence the first migrant bird of the week had been a fem/juv type Black redstart which flew from Barnside Cottage garden to the neighbour's roof. As we said goodbye to T on the drive of Pen Cairn, a male Black redstart flew from his roof to Barnside Cottage.

Black redstart (fem/juv) Oct 9th

Lizard, Cornwall pt 3. - Moth Trapping and Vis-Mig - Tues 12th and Wed 13th Oct

Birding Tues 12th AM

Chiffchaff (2), Blackcap (1m) - Housel willows
3 Jay and a single Chough flyover
Goldcrest (1), Chiffchaff (1) - Bass Point
Bullfinch and willow warbler

Later en-route to Ruan Holy Well - a merlin, and sparrowhawk were noted both harassed by corvids; Chiffchaff and a single Willow Warbler were in the hedgerows.

Ruan (St Grades) Holy Well

Moth Trap Tues 12th

The trap was moved from the front garden to the back garden.

Lunar underwing (19)
Feathered ranunculus (8)
Large yellow underwing (1)
Silver Y (1)
Common marbled carpet (3)
Green brindled crescent (1)
Setaceous Hebrew character (1)
Light brown apple moth (1)
Rusty dot pearl (3)
Angle shades (1)
Tachystola acroxantha (1)

However, the star of the day was undoubtedly the Brindled ochre - caught overnight by MV trap, at Pen Cairn.

Brindled ochre

Birding Wed 13th Oct AM 

Short walk to Caerthillian

Chiffchaff (Num)
Song Thrush
Blackcap
Siskin
White wagtail

The back garden now boasting up to 6 Chiffchaff, with Chaffinch, Goldfinch, and Blue tit moving through in a large mixed flock.

Moth Trap Wed 13th

The trap remained overnight in the back garden.

Lunar underwing (41)
Feathered ranunculus (6)
Rusty dot pearl (2)
Snout (1)
Black rustic (2)

Black rustic

Common marbled carpet (2)
Setaceous Hebrew character (1)
Feathered brindle (1)
Mallow* (1)

Both the latter two moths were new for me. Having read that Mallow "Comes to light in small numbers, otherwise seldom seen." (Waring, P., Townsend, M., Lewington, R., 2017), I felt chuffed to get this moth in the trap, although it was somewhat drab in comparison to the rather strikingly marked Feathered brindle.

Mallow

Feathered brindle

The Pen Cairn trap had produced another stunner overnight - a Radford's Flame Shoulder! A covetted moth for sure .. in fact having seen it for the first time, my simple response was "I want one!".

Radford's Flame Shoulder

Addendum

December 2021. Having finally submitted my Lizard moth records to Leon Truscott, Cornwall's, County Moth Recorder - I received a very interesting reply regarding the Mallow record, confirming that: "The rarest moth (for Cornwall) on the list is the Mallow with only 12 previous records here. The last record for Cornwall (mainland) was in 2012. This year, Mick Scott recorded one from Scilly on 11 Oct! (only the 2nd for Scilly, the previous being in 2006)." (Pers comm Truscott, L., 20th Dec 2021).

Reference

Waring, P.; Townsend, M.; Lewington, R.; (2017) (3rd Edition) Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland Bloomsbury, London

Lizard, Cornwall pt 2 - Monday 11th Oct

We took a leisurely cliff-top stroll to Soapy Cove. Our first stop was at Pistil - where the only migrant was a vocal but elusive Chiffchaff. En route to Kynance a flock of 5 Pale-bellied brent geese performed a fly past, hugging the coastline as they flew north. At Kynance itself a Chough called repeatedly from a prominent rock - mobbed endlessly by Jackdaws it eventually relented and moved on.

A couple of Wheatear hunted the grassland above the Cove but apart from the ubiquitous Meadow pipits, we saw nothing else of note until reaching Soapy Cove.

Grey seal pup - Soapy Cove

Walking inland from Soapy, Willow Warbler, and Chiffchaff were in the scrub of the valley - we scanned a long time for anything else and found nothing. Before crossing the Ford to loop back inland to Kynance settlement - we stopped for our pasties.

"Ann's Pasties"

Kynance Settlement

We finished our walk, and quenched our thirsts, with a couple of pints of Proper Job at The Top House Inn.

Monday night's moth trap was a little underwhelming with 30 moths of 6 species - Feathered Ranunculus and Lunar Underwing joint first with 13 individuals apiece.