I have received a report of a Barn Owl/s around the Spen valley greenway…
The last time I saw a Barn Owl near to our recording area was about 5 years ago at East Bierley.
I would be very interested if anyone has any other sightings or information of Barn Owls in that area.
Any information received will not be put on social media.
Yesterday I got a real surprise!.
I had put the moth trap out and there was nothing exciting to be found.
But after recording all the species I decided to have a closer look in the area directly where the moth trap was set.
And I found this stunner…. a Red Underwing resting on a fence.
It had it’s wings closed so I carefully encouraged it into a glass jar and as it woke it gave me a reason why the moth is called the RED Underwing.
This is my third record with the first one been at Raw Nook NR when one fed from a sugar and alcohol mixture I had placed on a tree.
A juvenile Common Buzzard appear yesterday low over Caldene fields only to land in a Hawthorn tree. The good news here is that it was probably a local bred bird ( May be from Birkenshaw/Tong area)
I was filled with anticipation on the hot tropical night on the 19th of July, with an overnight temperature of 23c!. I knew because of the weather it was going to be a special night for attracting moths here at Caldene fields. And yes it was!!! However, it was the Ladybirds that stole the show with 3 new species recorded and all in the moth trap!. This brings my Ladybird species list for our recording area to a respectable 11 species.
Cream streaked ladybird
On Saturday it was the Low Moor & Oakenshaw conservation groups work day or should I say morning as it was very hot!
We were tackling the spreading Himalayan Balsam at Toad Holes Beck and thankfully we found an area that was in the shade!
As well as clearing some of the Balsam we trimmed the Bramble from the footpath leading up to the large pond.
There is however, a heart warming tale to tell. It started as my wife and I were walking to the event. We noticed a Robin on a small tree and I thought it strange that it didn’t move despite been a few feet away from it.
It was at this point we met Richard who explained he has put food down and feeds the Robins and has done so for the last 3 years! He explained ‘ They wait for us and follow us up the path and then come down and feed.
And sure enough within a second and at our feet the Robin came down and had it’s breakfast….Brilliant Richard!!! well done
Some wildlife sighting now. There was a Noctule bat feeding early evening at Caldene fields on the 12/7 and although the pond has dried out an Emperor Dragonfly and 3 Brown Hawkers were showing well at Raw Nook NR on the 14/7.
The best sighting though was on the 16/7 when I saw a Hummingbird hawk-moth at Caldene fields. There has been an excellent influx’s of these lovely moths from Southern Europe this year. Every year there are reports of a Humming bird feeding in UK gardens….These sightings are of the Hummingbird hawk-moth. So if you have Red Valerian in your garden you may be lucky!!!. Happy to receive any sightings of this moth in our area. Thank you
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/invertebrates/moths/hummingbird-hawk-moth
Today I spent a couple of hours surveying the site mainly counting butterfly species and day time flying moths.
So the good news I found a lovely Clouded Border moth (opposite) which is a new species for the site.
At the bottom of the site I stumbled across two Perforate St John’s-wort which again have not been recorded before at the site.
I had a excellent minimum count of the Ringlet butterfly…127! a site record. However, hopefully it was just the cooler weather but I recorded only 4 species of butterfly, and not a single White butterfly.
The other concern were very low numbers of Six spot burnet moth which is normally very common at the site. However, I counted a minimum of 47 Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet many in the mating position.
I visited the orchid area but could only find the 2 original Bee Orchids which are now not looking their best.
Yesterday I took my Lunar Hornet Moth pheromone lure to Raw Nook NR and hung it up by the bench in the meadow area. The reason I placed it there is that the uncommon LH Moth likes Sallows and Goat Willow habitat and last year I attracted a male moth at that location.
I only had to wait about 10 minutes before a male was attracted to the scent of the female within the pheromone lure.
Now last year I tried it at T H Beck with no luck. So I thought I would give it another go.
I hung the lure by the large pond with lots of mature goat Willows.
Well with about 2 minutes a rather frisky male was around the lure…A brilliant record for the site. I now know that the species is at RN nr, THB and nearby Low Moor Banks.
It is now thought in the moth circles that because of the Lunar Hornet Moth pheromone lure this moth may not be as uncommon as first thought as a good number of records are now turning up.
Well I have just about recovered from the family day and ‘ALL’ night event with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
Sarah Goldsmith, Peter Gurney and their excellent team put on the event and with so many experts on hand I knew new species would be found for the reserve.
My main role along with Peter and Simon was finding new moth species with the aid of a sweep net and moth traps.
However, the event got off to a great start with Peter finding some Betony in the wildflower meadow, which is a new species for the reserve.
As always the pond dipping at Toad Holes Beck was very popular and encouragingly many Smooth newt tadpoles were found.
Time just seemed to fly by as it was soon time for the bat walk when Peter lent all the excited children their own bat detector! Four Common pipistrelle were at RN and at Toad Holes Beck six Noctule bats put on a fabulous display in the early twilight.
At 3.30am myself and Simon had an excellent experience at Caldene fields when we were near surrounded by a minimum of 9 Common pipistrelle bats feeding ‘ Inches ‘ above our heads!!
Then it was the turn to see how the moths had faired. However, sadly the night was cool and a total of only 31 species were recorded. However, 9 were new species for the reserve including 3 which are new for our recording area bringing my overall total to 411 species.
An adult Hedgehog was in the meadow at Raw Nook NR ( A welcome sighting) and 2 Wood mice were also recorded.
Apart from the new moth species for the reserve, 2 new plant species were recorded ( Including Wood Sage ha..ha Peter), and we now know Hedgehog and Wood mouse use the reserve. A new Hoverfly species was added to the species list and we also know that there is a healthy population of Noctule bats at T H Beck.
So I have to thank wholeheartedly Sarah Goldsmith, Peter Gurney and all other members of YWT team for staging this excellent unforgettable event!!!
Looking forward to the day and night and what new species we may all find! See you on Saturday!
After seeing my blog about Tree Sparrows in nearby Birkenshaw, Chris who lives in Oakenshaw contacted me with some exciting news!
He wrote ” For at least the last three winters three Tree Sparrows have joined our resident house sparrows and visited my feeders daily here in Oakenshaw. ” Thank you Chris!
This is exciting news, Is the Tree Sparrow hanging on in small number somewhere in our area?
So if anyone sees a Tree Sparrow in the Low Moor/Oakenshaw area would you let me know with location and date please . Ok I’m dreaming but if they are hanging on we could put conservation methods in place for them to possibly bred.
If anyone is a bit unsure of the identification between the Tree Sparrow & House Sparrow this RSPB link may be useful
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/old-world-sparrows/
Yesterday I went for a new walk around the farmland at Birkenshaw which is about 3 miles east of Raw Nook NR. I had only been there a couple of minutes when I heard the call of an overhead Tree Sparrow!
I then found 3 in a Hawthorn bush. Now as we know the Tree Sparrow is now an uncommon/almost rare bird in some parts of the UK especially Bradford! I then spoke to a local farmer who told me ” I have a about 8 TS regularly feeding on my bird feeder….They have been here for years!!!! The last time I recorded a TS in Low Moor/Oakenshaw was about 10 years ago.
Southern Hawker Dragonflies have been emerging from my garden pond in good numbers so keep in look out in Raw Nook NR around the pond area.
On Tuesday I went to Low Moor Banks and found 17 Small Heath butterflies and 3 Common Whitethroats in song.
Also on Tuesday at RNook two new micro moths were added to the species list as well as a new Diptera (Fly) species. All are relatively common in the Yorkshire area.
Orchids are starting to appear at Low Moor Banks according to Peter Gurney so a walk around the site might produce some good specimens. Any records will be most welcome..
Whilst moths might not be everyone’s cup of tea!
Well…I wonder this moth which was at Caldene fields last night is called the Beautiful Golden Y – Autographa pulchrina
Late news: A male Brimstone butterfly was at Caldene fields on 10/6
