my local patch and wildlife - Ian McDonald

[ian mcdonald]

Birds noted were, stonechat, reed bunting, short eared owl, blackbird, whooper swan, shoveler, teal, tufted duck, lapwing, mallard, buzzard, crow, sparrow hawk, marsh harrier, redpoll, chaffinch, bullfinch, coot, moorhen, blue tit, great tit, long tailed tit, crane, snipe, wood pigeon, woodcock, goldcrest, gadwall, goosander, wren, pheasant, water rail, fieldfare, black headed gull, robin, grey lag geese. Roe deer and red deer.

[Robert]

Hi Ian,

Thank you for sharing your experiences. 

Veronica persica is a common annual weed at the Placerville, California farm. It is pretty so I do not mind leaving a few around here and there.

I greatly enjoyed the last photograph in the set. The subtle reflection of the sun off the water is very peaceful.

What happened to the above average temperatures? I just do not have enough time to follow the weather in Europe. I did spot that last anomaly in the 300 mb jet, as I look at the northern hemispheric map every day.

My wife and I did the weekly snow survey yesterday. I will be reporting on this soon. I will have to do the numbers (you know I do this stuff     ) but I am fairly sure that this February was to coldest I have recorded to date. My detailed records go back to 1983. Also the low elevation snow has hung around for a long time period too. The last time this happen may be back to the 1980's too. I have records on this too (      ).

At least we got back in one piece. My wife fell a bit over a meter into a soft snow drift. Nobody was hurt! 

[ian mcdonald]

Hello Robert, the temperature has dipped again. It was mild and sunny this morning but the weather turned cold and dull this afternoon. I noticed that Hyacinths are in flower in some gardens here. The change in temperatures will confuse the plants.

[Robert]

Hi Ian,

When I looked at the 300 mb northern hemispheric jet analysis this morning it looked like stormy weather could arrive soon in your area (UK).

The rain is persisting here in California. I had one good gardening day 2 days ago. The plants are "beat up' from all the rain and very strong winds. At least there will be no drought this year. We always have to keep an eye on this.

[ian mcdonald]

Today was wet, slight rain at first. We went to one of the woods where my collegues have found another site for the Diacheopsis mitchellii. We looked at quite a few trees hoping to find more but no luck. We saw a caterpiller on one tree and it was tentatively identified as a Footman. Quite a few Common whitlowgrass, Erophila verna , were seen. Also noted were a number of Coltsfoot, Tusilago farfara. Turkey tail fungus? was seen on one tree. By mid afternoon the rain became heavy so we decided to leave early. Birds seen were, black headed gulls, teal, reed bunting, marsh harrier, crow, blackbird, redpoll, water rail, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, willow tit, cettis warbler, curlew, lapwing, gadwall, grey lag geese, robin, mallard, goosander, tufted duck, shoveler, sparrow hawk, bullfinch, coot, wood pigeon, wren, redwing and chaffinch.



Footman.



Turkey tail?



Common whitlowgrass.



Coltsfoot.

[Robert]

Hi Ian,

The Turkey Tail looks very similar to what I call Turkey Tail here in California. Fungi is certainly not one of my strong points.

The rain continues today, here in California.

[Hoy]

The other fungus on the same tree, is it a tinder fungus (Fomes fomentarius)?

[ian mcdonald]

Hello Troy, yes it is. We call it hoof fungus or horses hoof fungus here.

[ian mcdonald]

Natural England, the managers of the site, are encouraging people to visit nature reserves with their dogs. We are getting reports of people killing adders, in case their dogs are bitten. Adders are protected by law. Perhaps it would be better for wildlife if people left their dogs at home? Yesterday was very windy. We had a report of a sea eagle passing through the area but did not see it. A number of adders and a grass snake were seen. Where the adders are found has become better known and they are being disturbed by people who decide to get a closer look. This means that the people who are studying the adders are having difficulty in counting numbers etc. We found an adder which had been "bitten"? in half. It had several puncture wounds and may have been attacked by a raptor. I went to look at one of the woods, the water is still rising even though the "new" pump was working. It still does not work as designed and has to be switched on manually. This at a cost of more than £700,000. Later I joined my collegues counting adders. In the wood there were a number of tits feeding on insects in the trees, including a willow tit. The pools were too choppy for the water birds and they were on water filled ditches in the shelter of trees. Marsh harriers were struggling against the strong wind. We stayed until dusk and were rewarded with views of a hen harrier. Battling with the wind was a Yellow Horned moth, Achlya flavicornis. It flopped down beside us. After taking photos. it was placed behind a grass tussock out of the wind.



Bullfinch

[ian mcdonald]

The remains of old pine tree stumps.



The stumps were the home to lichens.



Arthur adder.

Birds noted were, mallard, teal, reed bunting, marsh harrier, water rail, magpie, blackbird, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, willow tit, kestrel, bullfinch, grey lag geese, shoveler, buzzard, stonechat, wren, crow, pheasant, hen harrier and roe deer.



Yellow Horned moth.

[Robert]

Ian,

It seems like there is an appropriate time and place for domestic animals (dogs). Here in the U.S.A. some off-road-vehicle hobbyist believe that they have the "right" to drive their vehicle anywhere. I have no objection to off-road-vehicles, I just believe that there are appropriate and inappropriate places for these vehicles. We have the same problem with dogs, horse back riders, etc. Some habitats are very sensitive and adversely affected by these activities. There are plenty of other locations where they can enjoy their activities. Conservation certainly has many challenges.

As always I enjoyed your posting. Hopefully the dog policy will change for the better and other life forms will have a chance to live and thrive.

[Maggi Young]

As most here will know, I am a great advocate of household pets - but these, particularly  dogs and cats, seldom mix well with wildlife and to encourage dog walkers to a  conservation site seems ridiculous.

One of these years, Ian,  you are going to post that that "new" pump is working properly, as was intended - I just hope the shock is not too much for me!

[Robert]

Ian,

I too will be shocked if the pump finally works as intended! 

[ian mcdonald]

Maggi, regarding the "new" pump. As far as I know it has not yet been "signed off." This means that Natural England are not satisfied with it because it is not working as designed. As far as I know it also means that NE have not yet paid for it. As far as I can tell, the problem is that the batteries are not being charged enough to operate the generator which in turn starts the Screw Motor, which lifts the water from the ditch into the main drain. I understand a stand-by battery has been bought to "jump start" the system. After all this time you would think that someone in this country could locate and fix the problem. Maybe NASA could help? They managed to send men to the moon and back in 1969, using a computer with the power of a small pocket calculator. The opinion among some locals is that Natural England will hope that the problem will be forgotten and written off.

[ian mcdonald]

The weather this week has turned mild with no wind. A group of 86 whooper swans were on one of the pools, making quite a noise when I approached. We received a message that eight bearded tits were on reeds at one site. When I arrived there was no sign of the birds so I sat and waited. After a while they emerged from the reeds and sat on top of the seed heads, feeding. When I stood to take a picture they flew off and the resulting photo. was poor, as the camera would only focus on the reeds. Later, I disturbed a fox which was hidden from my view and it ran off. Water rails were heard calling in several areas but not seen. The black headed gull colony is occupied again. They make plenty of noise, quarreling for nesting space.Chiff chaffs are on site now and singing in various places. In one of the wet woods we flushed a woodcock. Both common and mealy redpolls were seen.  Fieldfares are still here but will be returning north soon. Cettis warbler was heard briefly singing from undergrowth. A few butterflies are around now with good numbers of peacocks. One comma was seen and several orange underwing moths. It was still sunny by early evening and we had good views of a short eared owl hunting, too far away for a decent photo. We noticed three columns of smoke rising towards one side of the site and suspected arson. My collegue rang one of the Natural England staff, who lives not far from the site to see if he would come and investigate but he flatly refused. We then rang another of the staff who lives about twenty miles away. He said he would come out straight away. We then rang the fire brigade who said they would respond. A local farmer/naturalist was called and he arrived soon after. The fire was extinguished just before the brigade and the NE member of staff arrived. Not an ending to the day we wanted.



An old pine stump looking like a sculpture.



Another view of the same.



Some of the whoopers.