January Moths and Garden Bird Count

 Sunday January 31

The RSPB's Big Garden Bidwatch weekend started on Friday. We did two x one hour sessions of watching, and maximum number counting, of our garden birds.  The first session was yesterday from 10.30 -11.30 when we totalled 17 species

To-day, we watched from 2.30-3.30, seeing 18 species, adding  5 more species to yesterday's list.

 Total

11    Blue Tit        

3      Great Tit        

7    Long-tailed Tit        

8    Pheasant         

4    Goldfinch        

4    Greenfinch        

3    Blackbird        

2    Coal Tit        

3    House Sparrow        

3    Chaffinch 

1    Nuthatch

2    Brambling

1    Great Spotted Woodpecker (female)

2    Magpie  

1    Redwing

1    Wood Pigeon

2    Dunnock

1    Robin

To-day's Additions

1    Wren

2    Collared Dove

1    Sparrowhawk

1    Blackcap (male)

2    Jackdaws     

 23 species

Rules are simple. Only count the birds actually in the garden, no fly-overs included, and the maximum number of any one species seen simultaneously. We both take half the garden feeders each, constantly calling out the number of species present. As accurate as we can make it!

 January Moth Trapping

The 60 watt actinic (thought to be better in winter than the 150 watt MV) light, Robinson moth trap has only been set five times this month. Too cold with very few moths flying. Friday the 29th was the best night, despite the strong wind, with 10 moths of 3 species, making the grand total of 4 species in the month. A lone Chestnut earlier in the week, Pale Brindled Beauty, Early Moth, and Spring Usher the other three. 

Spring Usher

Pale Brindled Beauty

 

Early Moth

Many Moth-ers do not start trapping until Easter time, or when the weather is warmer. I like to know what's about. There is a national winter moth trapping survey whose intrepid members trap every Friday night during the winter months. This is allied to a summer survey which I was very tempted to join. In previous years, travelling on birding trips made regular weekly commitment impossible, in non-Covid years it still would.

Birding

Saturday January 30 

We're running a day late with Winterwatch, as a result of watching Man U lose to Sheffield United on Wednesday night. Therefore, I didn't watch Thursday's episode until after I'd posted yesterday's Blog. What came up? A session on virtual birding being a good replacement for the real experience. As I posted earlier, enjoyable, but not a replacement, something stimulating to do whilst in lockdown. 

My favourite live, virtual birding videos, are all found on YouTube. If you ask for nature cams or more specifically, bird cams, a whole host of live feeds come up. There's a particularly good - recorded live - clip of Brown Bears standing on top of a small waterfall, catching salmon in mid leap as they travel upstream. A Waved Albatross sitting on its nest in tall grass was unexpected. A Florida Bald Eagle nest already has two newly hatched eaglets, the slightly larger of the two already attacking the younger at every opportunity. The parent looks on.

The best bird table cams are Climbers Run in Pennsylvania and an Alabama bird table cam. It doesn't get light there until past mid-day our time.

Back to yesterday when we did some local birding. Adrian was finishing the gutter cleaning, so it was late morning before we left in sunshine. The light soon deteriorated as it clouded over, and we drove home in rain. I don't remember ever seeing so many flooded meadows where there have been none before. Small inland lakes. 

Haddiscoe Marshes held the largest flock of Lapwing I've ever seen. There must have been well over a thousand swirling into the sky before re-settling. Add several hundred Starlings, it becomes a monumental storm cloud of birds. One female Stonechat made a brief appearance.

We also added Meadow Pipit to the year list.

Having failed to see the Walcott Mediterranean Gull so far this year, we drove to our favourite spot where there were at least ten, still in their winter garb. Their constant preening, feathers drifting away in the breeze, heralded the spring moult into their black-headed, deep red beak and legs glory. 

Stopping to turn round, Pam hesitated, as there was a gull in the way. She then identified it as a Yellow-legged Herring Gull. Excellent. My snatched photo out of the driver's window does not do the bird justice.

 

One flooded field had four White Wagtails tittuping around the water's edge. I know that this is the nominate race and not always counted on the UK list. They're on mine.....

 Enjoying a hot drink at home, Pam appeared - in a rush. I managed to see the Grey Wagtail as it flew away from the pond. 

Another quick, Pam appearance from the kitchen, added Mistle Thrush to the year list. 

TO-DAY 

We did an hour's garden bird count this morning for the annual RSPB citizen's science project. We had an admirable 17 species of bird visit during that hour, including Brambling, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redwing and Magpie.

Caged Bird sings

 Friday January 29

I turned on Radio 2 this afternoon in time to hear the diesel engine song from Starlight Express. Was it my now departed nephew, Nick, on lead guitar? If it was a recording from the show, yes it was. He spent a number of years playing lead guitar in Andrew Lloyd Weber's West End shows. Those were the days when after the show finished, he would change his black jeans and Tshirt for dinner jacket and bow tie, before doing the midnight cabaret at the Savoy.

Not an expected career for someone with a polymer science degree. 

I spent a little time watching the garden yesterday . The two Brambling did not re-appear for my camera. Nor did I catch the Grey Wagtail (year tick) visiting our pond. 

A Jackdaw landed on the weather vane, which was already showing evidence that it's a popular look-out perch.

 

We have been out birding to-day, the first time since the early two days of the month. It had become necessary for our mental wellbeing. Despite enjoying virtual birding, watching some very active bird table webcams in Pennsylvania and Alabama, identifying the birds as they appeared, nothing compares with the actual. 

Memory jogged by listening to the US's young poet laureate reading her impressive poem at Joe Biden's inauguration, I researched Maya Angelou's poem.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

 I'll write up to-day's outing to-morrow.

Missing Piece

 Sunday, January 24

Google shut me out for some unknown reason. I have been unable to access my Blog on either Firefox or Edge, using a previously reliable, saved link. Several hours later .....two changed passwords, and a new login, here I am. I use welsh bird names on which to base my passwords, why are they suddenly unsafe? A Welsh Hackers mafia trained by the Chinese?

We've been puzzled by trenches, holes, and orange plastic fencing appearing in a field half a mile up the Happisburgh road. 

A sign

water-logged trenches

and some hi-vis-clad men from a bogged down van gave a clue. An internet search delivered this. 

PROJECT SUMMARY

From October 2017 to March 2018 Headland undertook a magnetometer survey, covering approximately 600 hectares, along the proposed onshore cable corridor and associated onshore project area for the Norfolk Vanguard Offshore Wind Farm, to provide further information about the archaeological potential of the cable route. This work was focused on areas identified in the Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment (ADBA) as potentially containing buried archaeological remains, following preliminary analysis of aerial photographs, LiDAR, and Historic Environment Record (HER) data.

PROJECT DETAILS

The survey successfully evaluated 127 Priority Archaeological Geophysical Survey Areas, identifying twenty distinct areas of archaeological activity, ranging from isolated ring-ditches to extensive areas of settlement and enclosure.

Most of these areas were previously known, although some were less extensive than had been identified by the geophysical survey, whilst several others were not known at all. These areas have been assessed as being of high archaeological potential. Anomalies at numerous other locations have been interpreted as being of possible archaeological potential, including possible field systems, trackways, isolated ditches and pits.

All very interesting. Is this the real reason why the proposed route was redirected?

Next door neighbours have been occupying some of their time doing jigsaws, they have been grateful recipients of my store. To reciprocate, they lent us a jigsaw that they had been given for Christmas. A map of Norfolk, based on their home.  Their house address (ours too) is a house based jigsaw piece situated just under the one missing . They lost it, thank goodness, the dog might have eaten it

It was a challenge, we both did our bit..

I managed some iffy photos of the female Brambling this frosty morning, no frost left where the ground feeding birds have been trampling.

We also had a visit from our first Redwing of the winter, perched high in the Silver Birch.