Sightings

March 2009

Sunday 1st

Early Grey

Light Brown Apple Moth

Saw a Badger in the garden for the first time this year last night.  There were at least three visits, but it looked to be the same Badger each time as far as I could tell.  There were two moths in the trap this morning that were both firsts for this year - Early Grey and Light Brown Apple Moth.  During the day, birds visiting the feeders included Nuthatch, Long-tailed Tit and Yellowhammer.  Later in the evening, a Dotted Border moth settled on the lounge window.

Monday 2nd

Scarborough Castle

Lesser Celandine

Hoverfly

A lunchtime visit to Castle Hill gave me my first sightings this year of Lesser Celandine (only a single flower out so far) and a Hoverfly.  Back home, the first of the miniature Daffodils that grow in our garden is almost in full flower.

Friday 6th

Small Tortoiseshell

Nettle

Another visit to Castle Hill, and I saw my first butterfly of the year.  It was a Small Tortoiseshell, but it took a bit of chasing about after it to confirm the ID and get a photo.  In terms of plants, I noticed that some Common Nettle had appeared since my last visit, there were a few Dandelions, quite a lot of Daisies, a couple of Red Dead-nettles in flower and two Lesser Celandine flowers (twice as many as last time).  Birds seen included Wren, Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird and Wood Pigeon.

 

Saturday 7th

Violet

Badger

Hebrew Character

Ran the moth trap overnight for our first night of recording for the Garden Moth Scheme.  It didn't look too hopeful due to temperatures dropping to three degrees (and it felt colder than that), but this morning we did find a single Hebrew Character in one of the last few egg boxes we removed from the trap.  We had more look with Badger visits, there being at least four (possibly from different Badgers) - not a great photo, but I don't think that the little pop-up flash on my camera worked too well at that distance.  This morning, I noticed the first of the Violets had come into flower in our garden.  Birds seen during the day included Sparrowhawk (perched nicely above the bird feeders for several seconds), Great Spotted Woodpecker, Long-tailed Tit and Yellowhammers (a male and a female).  Tawny Owls were hooting to each other overnight.

Tuesday 10th

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Blue Tit

Dotted Border

Jax managed to grab a photo of the Great Spotted Woodpecker that has been visiting the garden, and took a photo of a Blue Tit while she was at it.  This evening, we came home to find a Dotted Border moth on a lighted window - the photo shows it in the plastic pot I used to collect it for identification.

Friday 13th

Satellite

Small Tortoiseshells

Small Tortoiseshell

The moth trap did better overnight, with the catch including the first Satellite we've ever caught in our garden along with Early Grey, Dotted Border and Hebrew Character.  Earlier this week, Castle Hill produced counts of six Small Tortoiseshell butterflies on Wednesday (11th) and four on Thursday (12th).

Saturday 14th

Siskins

Early Grey

No new species in the moth trap overnight, but we did catch an Early Grey, two Hebrew Characters and a Dotted Border.  A pair of Siskins turned up in the garden this afternoon (photographed by Jax) and were joined by at least five Yellowhammers and a single Long-tailed Tit.

Sunday 15th

Common Quaker

Satellite

Siskin

The moth trap caught our first Common Quakers of the year overnight, along with another Satellite, an Early Grey, Dotted Borders and Hebrew Characters.  The male Siskin was back to feed on the niger seed, and a Goldfinch turned up later in the day.  A Badger was seen in the garden tonight.

Tuesday 17th

Small Tortoiseshell

Small White

Red Valerian

Another visit to Castle Hill produced my best butterfly count so far this year, with 17 Small Tortoiseshells, a Peacock and a Small White (the latter two being my first sightings of those species this year).  Red Valerian was just showing the first signs of flowering, several Lesser Celandines were in full flower and there were plenty of Dandelions around.  The previous night, I had rescued two small (ie young) Wood Mice from indoors after Boris (our cat) brought them home to play with.

Wednesday 18th

Large White

Bumblebee

Back on Castle Hill, and another new butterfly species for this year - my first Large White.  It was joined by 17 Small Tortoiseshells, a Small White, two Long-tailed Tits and my first Bumblebee of the year.

Thursday 19th

Red Chestnut

Pale Pinion

Clouded Drab

A good night for moths, with the catch including three new species for this year - Red Chestnut, Pale Pinion and Clouded Drab.  Also caught were Pale Brindled Beauty, Early Grey, Common Quaker and Hebrew Character.  Yesterday evening a Dotted Border moth settled on our front door, increasing the species count for the night even further.

Friday 20th

A bit cooler on Castle Hill today and fewer butterflies were seen as a result.  Seven Small Tortoiseshells were still out and about, but the only other butterfly seen was an unidentified White (too far away for a positive ID).

Saturday 21st

Cowslip (garden)

Blossom (garden)

Willow (garden)

Pinnate Coralroot

Butterbur

Wood Anemone

Coltsfoot

Iris

Primrose

Redshank (photo by Jax)

House Sparrow (photo by Jax)

Blackbird (photo by Jax)

The temperature in the garden dropped to two degrees last night, so it wasn't a good night for trapping.  Still managed a Clouded Drab and two Common Quakers though.  Next, a look round the garden showed a single Cowslip had appeared and flowered, there was blossom on the tree and even the Willow had decided it was Spring (see photos above).

In the afternoon, a walk round the old Mr Marvels derelict site and Peasholm Park gave me my first sightings this year of a few more flowers - Coltsfoot (which was everywhere, as was Lesser Celandine), Pinnate Coralroot, Wood Anemone, Butterbur, Primrose and Iris (mostly planted in Peasholm, but some had escaped to wilder areas).  Several more Small Tortoiseshell butterflies were seen, were a few Bumblebees buzzing around and Jax managed to take photos of Redshank (in the mostly drained Peasholm lake), House Sparrow and Blackbird.

Sunday 22nd

Yellow Horned

Dog's Mercury

Violets

We had a walk on Pexton and Ellerburn Bank in Dalby Forest today, but things don't seem to have progressed to quite the same extent there in terms of the onset of Spring. There were very few flowers to be seen - other than reasonable numbers of Violets on Ellerburn, we only saw a few Primroses and some Coltsfoot. Dog's Mercury was doing a bit better however, and was the first that I've noticed this year.

We didn't see any butterflies, but someone had left a moth trap on Ellerburn and the Yellow Horned moth (see photo above) was sitting on the outside of the trap. The trap held more moths, but we didn't want to mess with someone else's trap and so left it alone.

Other wildlife seen included several Rabbits and Pheasants, and we heard our first Chiffchaff of the year.

Saturday 28th

Brambling

Brambling (with leg ring)

Siskins

The Badger visited last night while I was putting peanuts out for him, so I got to spend about ten minutes in his company while he had a good feed.  He came within about six feet of me at closest, but preferred to keep further away most of the time.

The moth trap held three Hebrew Characters and two Common Quakers this morning, which was better than we were expecting given the wind and the rain overnight.

During the day, there have been at least three Bramblings feeding in the garden (two males, one of which had a leg ring, and a female), along with a pair of Siskins (one male and one female) and a couple of Goldfinch.  A female Pheasant also put in an appearance during the afternoon, as did a couple of Yellowhammers.

Sunday 29th

Comma (photo by Jax)

Bee-fly

Toads

Chiffchaff (photo by Jax)

Long-tailed Tit (photo by Jax)

Long-tailed Tit (photo by Jax)

Marsh/Willow Tit (photo by Jax)

Hoverfly (on Lesser Celandine)

Gorse (photo by Jax)

A cold night meant that there were only Hebrew Character and Common Quaker moths in the trap this morning, while the garden birds of note were a single Brambling and a single Long-tailed Tit.

A walk along the Sea Cut had Chiffchaffs singing at regular intervals, Long-tailed Tits building a nest in a Gorse bush and a Kingfisher which flew past over the water.  Other birds seen were Marsh/Willow Tit and Goldfinch.  A couple of Small Tortoiseshell butterflies were flying, along with several Hoverflies and Bumblebees.  Butterbur was just coming out, and there was Lesser Celandine, Coltsfoot and Daffodils everywhere.

Next, a trip to Burton Riggs gave us our first sighting of a Comma butterfly this year and our first Bee-fly.  There were a few Small Tortoiseshells, Hoverflies and Bumblebees as well, and several Chiffchaffs were heard.  Toads were 'getting together' in the pools, but we didn't see any spawn today.

Tuesday 31st

Large White

Small Tortoiseshell

Bumblebee

A warmer day on Castle Hill today, even though the sun wasn't out much while I was there.  I didn't see any new species on the butterfly front, just two Large Whites and nine Small Tortoiseshells, but it was nice to see that they were still around.  Some of the Small Tortoiseshells looked very fresh, as though they might have emerged today, while others (like the one in the photo above) were far more battered and looked like they might have been around for a while.

I'm seeing Bumblebees most days now, but the one in the photo is the first one I've noticed this year with a red rear-end.  If you click on the photo to see a larger version of it, you can make out several Mites hitching a lift just around the point where the wings join the body.

 

About these sightings

This is a list of the wildlife I've seen recently, along with any photos I managed to take at the time.  Click on the small photos on this page to open a larger version in a new window.

Any references to 'home' or 'my garden' refer to the Newby area of Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

---

Click on the links to see the sightings for previous months, or 'latest' to see the most recent ones -

Latest
February
March
April
May