After the Wind

Moth Quiz 11These antlers need bleaching
Yellow Horned

Moth Quiz 12
Milk Tray is a cert in the 1.30 at Fakenham.

Tuesday, May 12

Our carers' morning drive produced some nice birds. The last two days' buffeting and cold, northerly wind, kept the birds well hidden. We had another Big Sit - indoors this time.

The moths have disappeared too. We did manage some new ones for the year on Sunday night, including a couple which we found difficult to identify. One, a Clouded-bordered Brindle was a variation known as combusta.

The other puzzle was a, seldom caught in our garden, Oak Nycteoline. Adding to the problem was its size, small for a Macro, a bit big for a Micro, and this version of a very variable moth, does not appear in the Lewington book.

We even managed to identify one of the less difficult Pugs. A V Pug.

We also had our first, lively, Flame Carpet. 

and Coxcomb Prominent

This morning, Adrian prepared the bed ready for planting the sweetcorn plants on Friday. I grow a variety called Lark which stands well in our garden, is sweet, and freezes well. One of Pam's favourite vegetables. Probably because of the sweetness. The next planting job for us is sweet peppers in pots in the lean-to greenhouse. They stand on the staging. We intended using growbags this year, but despite asking for deep ones, the delivery was of standard shallow bags. We'll use those for the French Beans and Tenderstem, on staging outside the kitchen for easy picking.

This morning's birds included, new for the year, Common Tern and Reed Warbler. Of necessity - sea-side entries are blocked off - all sightings were very distant and needed a scope to identify. We were delighted with the tern especially.

An even more distant Greenshank is always a pleasure, 

 a month tick, as were Bullfinch, Meadow Pipit, and Black-tailed Godwit. Cetti's Warblers were very vocal in several places, the Reed Warbler was a heard only from a lay-by.

That was the most satisfactory birding session I've had since Lockdown, self isolation  started for us a week before the designated lockdown date. Meeting a friend was a bonus - one day early but the suggested distance apart and in the open air.