Wishing everyone
A
Very Merry Christmas
and
A Happy and Safe New Year
Quotation: Nature is the greatest place to heal the mind and recharge!
Enjoy and use our local nature reserves!
The Elf’s are appearing…
If you are out for a Christmas walk at Raw Nook NR keep a lockout for the lovely Scarlet Elf cup fungi as they are just starting to appear.
They can be seen just off the main path on the floor in amongst the leaf litter and fallen branches.
In European folklore, it was said that wood elves drank morning dew from the Scarlet Elf cups. Hmm…Now a Wood Elf at Raw Nook NR that would be something..ha
Woodland management with YWT…
Yesterday I met up with Peter, Sarah and the rest of their team from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. In a way it was a bitter sweet day in that Peter had noticed that one of the Wych Elm at Raw Nook NR had Dutch elm disease which is caused by the fungus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi which is spread by the elm bark beetle. Sadly because the disease kills the tree it had to be taken down.
So the 32 year old Wych Elm fell to the ground. However, the wood was cut up but not wasted as Sarah and Gillian got their creative heads on making various things.
tree’s transport tissues, which will eventually kill the tree
The remaining wood has been left to nature and the invertebrates. Peter had also brought two new Elms to plant on the reserve another Wych and a Field Elm Ulmus minor which we do not have on site. And yes ! I will be recorded that as a new species for the reserve..ha
So once the Elm tree was sorted out it was on to other jobs. Which included taking a couple of Silver birch tree out to let more light onto the woodland floor.
The cut down trees have been left where they fell which will provide valuable habitats for various wildlife and insects.
We also took out a good number of young Silver Birch sapling from the heathland area to help protect from encroachment.
Whilst Bramble is excellent for wildlife in can soon get out of hand especially in the heathland. So there was an excellent job in methodically cutting back the Bramble.
So all in all it was a very good day made even better for us all when in the afternoon a flock of 102 calling Pink-footed geese came in from the E and moved low to the S/W.
A big thank you to Sarah, Peter and volunteers from the YWT for all your hard work and time.
The Firethorn shrub…
Every wildlife garden should have one!. What I hear you ask? The beautiful Firethorn/Pyracantha shrub. Why?
Well there’s the lovely white flowers in spring that attract many bees and hoverfly species and then bright red berries feed hungry birds in the winter time. Oh! and you may get a surprise visitor like I did in my garden on Saturday…
Three at once…
Yesterday the skies were sunny and bright for me metaphorically speaking. After my shortened vis-mig watch as autumn migration is almost over I decided to go to Raw Nook Nr & TH Beck as I was on a mission to find a particular new moth leaf mine Ectoedemia intimella . The larvae mine the leaves of sallow (Salix), and Goat Willow
I thought I would have a look at the Goat Willows at TH Beck first.
After much searching I had drawn a blank.
However, I veered off one of the path into some fairly dense woodland and to my surprise I found a sapling Horse Chestnut tree. I scratched my head and thought I’m sure I have not recorded the species before in our area! I was right the sapling has been hiding in it’s dense surroundings!
So a new species and it was off to Raw Nook NR to find my moth. And yes I found the leaf mine Ectoedemia intimella so another new species. Incidentally Yorkshie Moths describe it’s status as: Local Status: Uncommon and local resident.
But then on a nearby Sallow Sp I found a different looking leaf mine.
And brilliant it turned out to be a leaf mine of Stigmella salicis…And my third new species of the day.
Because the leaf mines contain larvae the moth should emerge in spring. This proves the species are breeding in our area which is excellent news.
Late to be out…
This afternoon at Raw Nook Nr I caught a glimpse on a small flying dragonfly….In November!
Thankfully the insect landed nearby and I managed to ID it as a late male Common Darter – Sympetrum striolatum. My latest ever record for the species.
A bit of a rarity…
Vis-mig today was OK with the highlight been two large flocks of continental Starling that came in from the N/E. One party was estimated to contain 450 birds and all flying fairly low…an excellent autumn sight!
Recently I have been searching Aspen trees in Raw Nook Nr to try to find the moth leaf mine of Ectoedemia argyropeza with no luck. So I tried again today looking at Aspen leaves at the vis-mig point at Caldene fields.
There were none at the first two trees but further on to my excitement I didn’t find one leaf containing the moth larvae but 15!
If you look at the base of the yellow leaf you can see the dark triangle and the green above. The larvae are active mainly at night and retreat into the petiole (stalk) during the day.
The great news is that the moth is a bit of a rarity! National Status: Local. Local Status: Rare and local resident.
and according to Yorkshire moth the nearest site to ours is 20k away! So really pleased! That brings my moth species list for our recording area to 366.
Pond flashes Blue…
Yesterday there was little vis-mig due to the blanket fog. The little bit I did produced 3 skeins of Pink-footed geese moving N/W I could hear them but couldn’t see them in the fog.
I then walked to Raw Nook NR where the recent rain has brought our pond back to life. And the first bird I saw was a lovely Kingfisher feeding!.
Today I walked to TH Beck and heard the Kingfisher calling at the small pond, so keep your eyes peeled for that lovely flash of blue!
On my way back I couldn’t help but noticed the aptly named Jelly Ear Fungus – Auricularia auricula-judae on a dead piece of Elder.
Interestingly you can see the dead black Jelly Ear fungus below with a burst of new growth above.
Four Bullfinches were showing well in a nearby Hawthorn tree.
Record Smashed…
Wow! what a day at the vis-mig point. Wood Pigeon were on the move again and the conditions were just right cold with good visibility up to 20 miles.
It was an unprecedented morning !!! With my previous WP record totally smashed. The birds moved before dawn with one four figure count the highlight. Around 8am I had strings of 4,500, 2,400 and 4,560. Most birds observed moving to the E of the watch point. However, the count is probably an undercount as a casual glance over my shoulder and a ” Black cloud ” of pigeon passed high to the W. Passage stopped at around 09.00 then picked up again around 09.10 petering out around 10.00.
Total count 40,137
Wood Pigeons on the move…
Wood Pigeons have been moving S over and to the E of the watch point for the last few days. I must admit I was surprised that the birds would start to move with a strong headwind…but they did.
On the 31/10 I recorded 2,497, a 1,007 on the 1/11 and 7,598 today Please see: https://www.trektellen.org/count/view/779/20201102
Normally Wood Pigeons seem to favour the cold frosty mornings in autumn with little wind to move S. However, the birds have started to move in unfavorable weather conditions i.e. mild weather and a strong headwind. The weather is to settle and turns cooler in the next few day so it will be interesting to noted what happens then.
