200 UP (and a few more!)

 

I love moths. I have done for a long, long time, much to the annoyance of Maria who in no way, shape or form shares the affection 😀. It started shortly after I joined the Ringing Group just under 15 years ago. We were having a particularly uninspiring session at the nets when one of the local birders, Peter Hogg, asked me if I wanted to join him to check the moth trap at the lighthouse. I didn't even know what a moth trap was, let alone know there was one not even 2 minutes from where I was sat! So, partially to relieve my curiosity and partially to relieve my boredom I did indeed join him. And that, as they say, was that. Hooked! Within no time I had joined the moth team, bought all the books and even got big John to build me a home made trap to use in my back garden! Over the years, and as experience grew, I started to get more confidence and so began running public events at the lighthouse with the help of Nick, Chappers and more recently Neil. This is something I absolutely adore. I love nothing more than sharing the love and shattering the myths of moths just being boring little brown things. They come in all different shapes, sizes and colours and they are all magnificent. But then came the change in my role last year. As I was no longer based at the lighthouse I didn't have the day to day access to the moth trap. Obviously whenever I was in the area I did the morning check but I really missed the regular visits. So, at the start of this year I decided I'd try and make a new trap and put it up at the Ranger base at Whitelea Farm where I spend the bulk of my time. I didn't get around to building it until early April as I was busy doing other things but I wanted it to be ready for the start of Spring and thankfully it didn't take too long to put together. As luck (bad) would have it, the first 4 nights that the trap was on was spoiled by rain, so I had to wait for the morning of 17th April to get my first ever moth(s) in my brand new trap. I'm not going to lie it was a really good feeling seeing that first moth, a Hebrew Character, in the egg tray I was holding. And if Maria is reading this, no, I didn't cry! Since then the numbers have slowly risen to 29 species, thanks mainly to a poor start weather wise to Spring, but no doubt I'll see a big increase as the temperature rises. I can't wait to see what the year brings! 

The new moth trap, a work of art 

The first ever moth, a Hebrew Character 

Shoulder Stripe moth 

Puss moth 

Pale Pinion moth 

Chinese Character moth

Herald moth 

 

 

Nesting season has begun! This is always one of my favourite, and busiest, times of the year and it has already become clear that this year will be no different. So much so that I've decided this year I'm mainly only going to focus on the nestboxes. Obviously if I come across natural nests I'll be delighted to monitor them but the truth is I simply don't have the time to go searching for tonnes of natural nests as I've done in the past. I'm fine with it as I've got lots of other things on the go but next year I'll hopefully be back in the swing of things and enjoying the thrill of the search. On saying all that my first active nest of the season was very much a natural nest 😀. A Pied Wagtail at the farm was found in it's usual spot containing 4 eggs. It's the third year running it's nested in the same spot so it didn't take much searching. Other natural nests found so far include Magpie, Crow, Blackbird, Chaffinch and of course the ubiquitous Woodpigeon. I'm sure I'll stumble across a few others in the coming weeks. Nestbox checks have gotten off to a mixed start. As always Moorhouse Wood is the top performer, with all but 2 boxes being used. Unsurprisingly Blue Tit and Great Tit dominate but once again we have a single box with Nuthatches in. Hawthorn Dene on the other hand is very disappointing with only 4 out of 20 boxes being used. Souter and the Academy of Light seem to be having similar years to their usual records. Species wise, as expected the bulk are Blue Tit and Great Tit but we did have a lovely Wren nest in one box and a Robin successfully raising a brood in an open fronted box. Last but by no means least, we have our first Kestrel eggs of the season, always an absolute delight. 

Pied Wagtail 

Robin 

Kestrel 

Nuthatch 

WORKPLACE WILDLIFE CHALLENGE 

It's been a much better month for the wildlife challenge, seeing me add nearly 100 new species to the total, taking me well over the 200 mark. Summer birds are continuing to arrive, meaning numbers of Warblers are climbing and of course the first Swallows have appeared. A first visit of the year to Gibside saw me pick up a couple of good birds including Red Kite and Green Woodpecker. New mammals included Roe Deer, Weasel and a couple of small rodents. Our second Rockpool event of the year gave me a few more sea creatures. The biggest boost by far though have been the numbers of insects seen. Obviously the new moth trap has played a part in that but I've also been trying to actively get out searching for stuff whenever I've had any spare time. This has seen numbers of bees, butterflies, beetles and a whole load of other things start to rise. Hopefully another good couple of weeks might see me hit the next milestone in 300 species 🤞

SPECIES LIST 

144.  SWALLOW - Hirundo rustica 

145.  KITTIWAKE - Rissa tridactyla 

146.  GREY WAGTAIL - Motacilla cinerea 

147.  MANDARIN DUCK - Aix galericulata 

148.  TEAL - Anas crecca 

149.  STOCK DOVE - Columba oenas 

150.  RED KITE - Milvus milvus 

151.  COOT - Fulica atra 

152.  GREEN WOODPECKER - Picus viridis 

153.  LESSER BLACK BACKED GULL - Larus fuscus 

154.  LESSER WHITETHROAT - Sylvia curruca 

155.  COMMON WHITETHROAT - Sylvia communis 

156.  WILLOW WARBLER - Phylloscopus trochilus 

157.  SHORT TAILED FIELD VOLE - Microtus agrestis 

158.  WEASEL - Mustela nivalis 

159.  ROE DEER - Capreolus capreolus 

160.  COMMON SHREW - Sorex araneus 

161.  PONDSKATER sp - Gerris sp

162.  COMMON RAGWORM sp - Perinereis cultrifera 

163.  COMMON HERMIT CRAB - Pagurus bernhardus 

164.  AMPHIPOD sp - prob Gammarus locusta 

165.  COMMON WHELK - Buccinum undatum 

166.  BLOODY HENRY STARFISH - Henricia sp 

167.  SHANNY/BLENNY - Lipophrys pholis 

168.  MISSING SECTOR ORB WEAVER SPIDER - Zygiella x-notata 

169.  SPIDER sp - Larinioides cornutus 

170.  SAC SPIDER sp - Clubiona sp 

171.  RUNNING CRAB SPIDER sp - Philodromus sp

172.  ZEBRA SPIDER - Salticus sp 

173.  CRAB SPIDER sp - Xysticus cristatus/kochi 

174.  ORANGE TAILED MINING BEE - Andrena haemorrhoa 

175.  COMMON CARDER BEE - Bombus pascuorum 

176.  EARLY BUMBLEBEE - Bombus pratorum 

177.  HONEY BEE - Apis mellifera 

178.  HOVERFLY sp - Syrphus sp

179.  HOVERFLY sp - Eupeodes luniger 

180.  SAWFLY sp - Dolerus haemotodes 

181.  SAWFLY sp - Dolores ganager/puncticollis 

182.  COMMON WASP - Vespula vulgaris 

183.  ICHNEUMON WASP sp - Ophion sp

184.  SMALL TORTOISESHELL BUTTERFLY - Aglais urticae 

185.  LARGE WHITE BUTTERFLY - Pieris brassicae 

186.  SPECKLED WOOD BUTTERFLY - Pararge aegeria 

187.  MICRO MOTH - Diurnea fagella 

188.  MICRO MOTH - Ancylis badiana 

189.  PALE PINION MOTH - Lithophane socia 

190.  PURPLE THORN MOTH - Selenia tetralunaria 

191.  POWDERED QUAKER MOTH - Orthosia gracilis 

192.  SHOULDER STRIPE MOTH - Earophila badiata 

193.  SHUTTLE SHAPED DART MOTH - Agrotis puta 

194.  LEAST BLACK ARCHES MOTH - Nola confusalis 

195.  PUSS MOTH - Cerura vinula 

196.  SILVER Y MOTH - Autographa gamma 

197.  WATER CARPET MOTH - Lampropteryx suffumata 

198.  WAVED UMBER MOTH - Menophra abruptaria 

199.  BRINDLED PUG MOTH - Eupithecia abbreviata 

200.  SMALL YELLOW UNDERWING MOTH - Panemeria tenebrata 

201.  GLASS SNAIL sp - Oxychilus sp

202.  PINE LADYBIRD - Exochomus quadripustulatus 

203.  POINTED KEELED LADYBIRD - Rhyzobius litura 

204.  COMMON GREEN LACEWING sp - Chrysoperla sp

205.  GROUND BEETLE sp - Paradromius linearis 

206.  PEA LEAF WEEVIL - Sitona lineatus 

207.  YELLOW DUNG FLY - Scathophaga stercoraria 

208.  BLOWFLY sp - Melinda viridicyanea 

209.  LESSER VARIABLE BIBIO FLY - Bibio lanigerus 

210.  FLY sp - Phaonia tuguriorum 

211.  FLY sp - Gymnocheta viridis/magna 

212.  ST MARKS FLY - Bibio marci 

213.  WOLF SPIDER sp - Trochosa ruricola/robusta 

214.  DAGGER FLY sp - Empis trigramma 

215.  CHINESE CHARACTER MOTH - Cilix glaucata 

216.  SCALLOPED HAZEL MOTH - Odontopera bidentata 

217.  GARDEN CARPET MOTH - Xanthorhoe fluctuata 

218.  GANNET - Morus bassanus 

219.  SISKIN - Carduelis spinus 

220.  TREE BUMBLEBEE - Bombus hypnorum 

221.  RED TAILED BUMBLEBEE - Bombus lapidarius 

222.  WATER MEASURER - Hydrometra stagnorum 

223.  DARK EDGED BEE FLY - Bombylius major 

224.  CINNAMON BUG - Corizus hyoscyami

225.  MICRO MOTH - Esperia sulphurella 

226.  COCKSFOOT MOTH - Glyphipterix simpliciella 

227.  HOVERFLY sp - Eupeodes carvallae 

228.  CHOCOLATE MINING BEE - Andrena scotica 

229.  CRANEFLY sp - Tipula vernalis 

230.  CRANEFLY sp - Nephrotoma appendiculata 

231.  BEE MOTH - Aphomia sociella 

232.  MUSLIN MOTH - Diaphora mendica 

233.  ANGLE SHADES MOTH - Phlogophora meticulosa 

234.  HERALD MOTH - Scoliopteryx libatrix 

235.  GARDEN CROSS SPIDER - Araneus diadematus 

236.  14 SPOT LADYBIRD - Propylea quatuordecimpunctata 

237.  CREAM SPOT LADYBIRD - Calvia quatuordecimguttata 

238.  ORANGE TIP BUTTERFLY - Anthocharis cardamines 

239.  WOLF SPIDER sp - Pardosa sp

240.  LONG JAWED ORB WEAVER SPIDER sp - Pachygnatha degeeri 

241.  MARSH KNOB HEAD SPIDER - Hypomma bituberculatum 

SHORT TAILED FIELD VOLE 

DAGGER FLY - EMPIS TRIGRAMMA 

HOVERFLY - EUPEODES CARVALLAE 

DARK EDGED BEE FLY 

CINNAMON BUG 

CREAM SPOT LADYBIRD