The morning dawned bright and sunny but my mood was anything but. Due to a broken rail there were no trains to London and so I was unable to attend the meeting I was meant to be traveling to. So what to do with my now free day? Well the wether was so lovely it seemed a shame to stay at home and work so I decided to get some of this months survey work done. It seemed a bit odd doing the Winter Thrush survey in bright spring sunshine but this was the last survey of the winter and I could combine it with looking out for Butterflies and Bees who if around should be out on such a lovely day.
I started of at Tarn park and saw that although I hadn’t managed to locate any nests there were two pairs of adult Mallard with broods (one of 10 and one of 2). Otherwise there still doesn’t seem to be much evidence of nest building amongst the water birds. Peacock, Orange Tip and Small White butterflies were present together with White-tailed Bumblebee.
Then onto Eltham Palace and now we have entered April the gardens are open and so I deviated from the survey route to check them out. Heading straight through the formal gardens I headed for the wild garden area beyond. On my way I was attracted by a scratchy warbler song and managed to locate a Common Whitethroat which had stopped off on its migration. In the wild area I saw Orange Tip, Brimstone and Holly Blue butterflies. I was very pleased to identify Common Carder-Bee and Garden Bumblebee along with White-tailed Bumblebee and a bee of another species which I have so far been unable to identify.
Returning to the survey route I made my way down King John’s walk and added another butterfly species when I located 3 Speckled Woods along with another Brimstone. The House Sparrows are still present in one location although I didn’t find any evidence of them in the other two locations I had identified last month, but they may not necessarily be bad news as the small birds were much less in evidence generally although there was plenty of song. I imagine they have more important things to concentrate on at the moment that sitting out where I can see them.
So from a bad beginning a great day. 24 species of bird; 6 species of Butterfly and 3 identified species of Bee and all around home area. Shame about the meeting?
Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser)
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
European Green Woodpecker [sp] (Picus viridis)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Common Whitethroat [sp] (Sylvia communis)
Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus)
Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis)
Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs)
European Greenfinch [sp] (Carduelis chloris)
Small White (Artogeia rapae)
Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines)
Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni)
Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus)
Peacock Butterfly (Inachis io)
Speckled Wood [sp] (Pararge aegeria)
White-tailed Bumblebee
Garden Bumblebee
Common Carder-Bee
Pete's Favourite Things 