Tag Archives: White Plume Moth

My Patch – July 2017

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I’m not sure where the last few months have gone! I fear the answer is spending far too much extra time at work. July and September are really busy and there is little time available for days off (though I did manage to squeeze in Birdfair 🙂 in August). Working later in the evening means little time to get to my patch unfortunately. Though I did manage a few short trips in July…

July 3rd – I took a short walk around the top end of the field encountering, 1 swallow, 3 woodpigeon and 11 starlings. 

July 12th – tonight there was a rabbit on the track at the side of field. I am yet to see a rabbit IN the field! 

July 17th – this evening I took a walk around the edge of part of the crop. I wanted to see what other plants were growing. I hadn’t gone too far from the house when Billy decided to join me, I always hear a meow before I see him! 

I found thistles, brambles, camomile and a few other plants and grasses that I am having problems identifying! A white plume moth, a red solider beetle and a red admiral. 

There are tracks through the crop that I’m guessing are either foxes, deer or both. 1 woodpigeon and 6 swallows flew over. 

July 19th – I was stood in the garden of the owners house looking again for any birds still nesting, when out flew a house sparrow carrying a feacil sac from under the roof tiles, I could hear the chicks chirping 🙂 There were also 15 Swallows over the field. 

July 20th – Roe deer and 3 swallows tonight. 

July 25th – The tree bumblebees appear to have gone from the facia board and I have seen the collard dove with the broken beak who is still feeding.

While looking out over the field from the gate 11 swallows flew by. I’ve started to notice that rooks and crows fly back over the field at dust to roost in nearby trees. 

30 Days Wild 2017 – Days 26 – 30

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Day 26 – As it was National Badger Week I decided to go out to look for the Badger again. I only found tracks this time, but in a slightly different location to where I saw it the first time. I’m slowly building up a picture of where it travels, hopefully as we head into the winter months and the tall vegetation dies back it will be easier to see where their sett is and hopefully observe them even more. 

Day 27 – After getting home late I was wondering what I was going to do today. Something flying caught my eye as I walked along the drive.  A White Plume Moth – it was overly obliging staying still to have its photo taken and I soon realised it was actually stuck on a thread from a spiders web. I soon freed it and it was on its way 🙂

28 – I was a little stuck on what to do tonight, all week I have been dog sitting for a friend for an hour or so and its knocked me off my path a little for what I had planned.  While looking for Ladybirds the other day I had taken notice of the leaves I was looking for them on.  Tonight I grabbed a torch and a macro lens on my phone and headed out into their garden, dog in tow to look at the leaves.  They look like micro worlds with field boundaries 🙂  

Day 29 – I finally managed to photograph one of the Swifts flying over home tonight 🙂

Day 30 – On my way home from work tonight I stopped at my patch to have a quick look to see what birds were about.  I sometimes use apps to help identify their calls when I hear something new or I’m not 100% sure I’m identifying them correctly.  I have a basic knowledge of some calls but I am definitely still learning.  When the season changes again and some of our current visitors leave for the Winter I’ll be learning all over again.

In my initial 30 Days Wild post I said I had a few days planed out, not all of those have happened in June but I will do them in the coming month or two. I managed to visit 2 Nature Reserves (rather than 3), I completed a litter pick up on June 11th, I didn’t visit a new birding site but I did visit Stanton Park which was new to me. 

I always enjoy 30 Days Wild though some days I find more difficult than others. Having a full time job and a commute does make it difficult on occasion to complete a random act of wildness. I often see wildlife on my commute which could easily work as an act of wildness for the day, though it would get a little boring for you after a few days of hearing the same thing from me!

Some of my favourite parts of the month have been the unexpected sightings of Brown Hare, Barn Owl and of course the Badger 🙂 It really is a case of going out and exploring areas near you, you never know what you will find…