Cydia interscindana – New for VC22 and 14th UK record, 14/09/2020

In general I’m not often allowed to trap on ‘school nights’ but thankfully the night of 14-15^th September 2020 was an exception. It was going to be a warm night with favourable winds, so I could put the trap out with the promise that I’d sort through it after school the next day. In hindsight the next night turned out to be far better conditions for trapping, with many Berkshire moth’ers getting several hundred moths, incredible numbers for the time of year. But I’m very glad I picked the night I did.

At about 21:30 on the Monday evening I went out to check the trap one last time before leaving it alone until the morning. There weren’t huge numbers but Orange Sallow was a nice lifer and there were several other more common things. The only other moth that caught my interest, however, was a very small tortrix sitting on the rim of the trap. I knew that I hadn’t seen it before, so very carefully I potted it up and took it inside to examine.

Being very poor at tortrix identification in most cases, the first thing I did was to take some macro shots of the moth. Thankfully it sat still for long enough to get some decent images, although a few times it did fly a short distance only to be recaptured – I may have been slightly more careful had a known what it was! I next had a look through the tortrix section of the Bloomsbury Field Guide to the Micro Moths of Great Britain and Ireland. I generally don’t have much success when attempting to ID tortrixes in this way, but I couldn’t find anything that looked spot on this time. It looked quite a lot like Grapholita jungiella but flight season was off.

Being none the wiser to its actual identity, I then posted an image of the moth along with my very tentative ID on a young moth’ers WhatsApp group, and also sent them to Sean Foote (@mothIDUK) on Twitter. Sean got back very quickly as always, saying it looked odd but he couldn’t see what else it could be. Still not convinced, I then posted images in the UK Micro Moth Identification Facebook group. This time I was met with success, as Ben Sale quickly commented to say it was not G. jungiella, but the far rarer Cydia interscindana!

I got straight onto the laptop, and started researching the species. The first thing I checked was the Berkshire micro moths spreadsheet, and quickly realised that my moth wasn’t present, so was new for VC22. I next tried ukmoths.org.uk and britishlepidoptera.weebly.com, my go-to websites for moths, only to find it wasn’t present on either of them either! Indeed, the only reference I could find to the species’ presence in the UK was Robin Peter Knill-Jones’s detailed report on his Bucks record from late August 2019, the 6^th British record at the time (see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338855501_The_sixth_British_and_first_Buckinghamshire_record_of_Cydia_interscindana_Moschler_1866_with_suggestions_to_assist_in_mapping_its_UK_distribution).

Since my initial research I have found out a little more about C. interscindana. It is a species that feeds on Juniper (Juniperus spp.), and was first recorded in the UK in 2016. To the best of my knowledge my record was around the 10^th for the UK, following 4 from the Denham area of London, suggesting there is an established population in the area, 1 Surrey record not too far from the London ones, Robin’s Bucks record, and a few from Middlesex this summer. No doubt I have missed some, but it is clearly a very rare and localised species. What is remarkable though is, through a quick Twitter search, I discovered that there were in fact 2 further records from the same night as mine – one in an unknown location and one from Worcestershire; easily the most isolated of the British records. So, despite this moth not being in many (any?) of the UK moth field guides or websites at the time of writing, this is clearly a species rapidly expanding its range across the UK, and should definitely be on all our radars in the future.

24hr Bird Race & Dawn Chorus Day

On Sunday the 3rd May I decided to take to take part in my first ever 24hr Bird Race, coinciding with the already-planned International Dawn Chorus Day. Given that I'd already planned to wake up at 4am latest, I decided that I might as well get up at midnight and do the whole thing properly, giving myself some experience for the many bird races that will inevitably come in the future! In hindsight, that maybe wasn't such a brilliant idea!

Obviously, with everything going on this wasn't going to be the usual bird race, and birds would be limited to anything seen or heard in or from the garden between 00:00 and 23:59. Reluctantly I set my alarm for 23:55 and headed off for an early night! 

I didn't sleep of course. The whole of the 3 hours I had in bed were spent wide awake thinking about how ridiculous this whole idea was! I did make full use of that time though, planning how I'd go about the day to get the most birds, and also training my ears - a Tawny Owl was calling from in the park and a Coot flew past my window at 23:25! I also used the time to create a list in my head of the 30 or so 'essential' birds, and decided on a target of 40 - something that I'd need a bit of luck for but was definitely within scope.

When my alarm finally did go off at 5 minutes to midnight it was almost a relief to finally get up and do something. Bleary-eyed I got dressed, collected up my phone, camera and notebook, and headed outside. My dad had set up the hammock with sleeping bag for me the evening before, so I got tucked in and set to waiting for something to happen!

The first bird of the day came in the form of CANADA GEESE calling distantly at 00:25. That was a bird I could hear at any time through the day though, and I really wanted something nocturnal to make doing the nights worth it! Thankfully that followed soon after, with a TAWNY OWL hooting from Whiteknights Park at 00:32. However, this was proceeded by a long wait for the next bird - HERRING GULL finally started calling from somewhere off by the river at 01:13, making it 3 so far just over an hour in.

The jump of 2hrs15 between birds number 3 and 4 may seem like it was just a really quiet night, but it was actually because I fell asleep during that time! I dread to think what I might have missed in those 2 hours, but thankfully I was eventually woken up at 03:36 by a COOT flying over my head! This was a bird I thought I was likely to hear, but I hadn't counted it in the 30 or so 'must haves' so it was nevertheless great to tick it off and get one closer to my target of 40 species.

The first really unexpected find of the day came about half an hour afterwards, when a COMMON SANDPIPER flew over my head calling! This was just the 2nd garden record, after 2 flew over my head a few evenings before.

    Common Sandpiper

The Sandpiper pretty much marked the turning point for the day, as things really started picking up from there. The first ROBIN started singing at 04:05 and BLACKBIRD joined in at 04:09. These had the stage to themselves for a while, but the dawn chorus really started to get going soon afterwards. First, the local LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS started 'singing' at 04:36, and a WOODPIGEON got going at 04:44. A MALLARD was heard flying past at 04:46.

From around quarter to five the dawn chorus really started to reach its crescendo, with WREN, BLACKCAP, COLLARED DOVE, GREAT TIT and CARRION CROW duly noted by 05:00. The singing kept on going, and from sunrise I could start to tick off birds by sight too, so by 06:00 by list had reached 25, having added BLUE TIT, GREENFINCH, MAGPIE, GOLDFINCH, DUNNOCK, GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER, BLACK-HEADED GULL, FERAL PIGEON,  HOUSE SPARROW and JACKDAW. Again all expected birds but still nice to get them onto the list.

    The Dawn Chorus!

4 more 'essential' birds (STARLING, CHAFFINCH, SONG THRUSH and CORMORANT) were added in the next half an hour, followed by another unexpected sighting - STOCK DOVE - at 06:34. This was not the only Stock Dove seen throughout the day, and I expect they're probably far more regular than records show owing to my difficulty in identifying them in flight. Now it really started hotting up, with both GREEN WOODPECKER and GREY WAGTAIL added at 07:37 - the latter represented the 4th garden record. A GREY HERON was another excellent record, flying over at 06:42.

After this I failed to add anything for 20 minutes, so feeling relatively safe I left my brother to keep watch while I went upstairs to get something. Thankfully he saw nothing new, but a quick glance out the 2nd floor window revealed just one bird - a JAY flying over Palmer Park! Heading back out into the garden a PIED WAGTAIL was heard somewhere high above, and both HOUSE MARTIN and SWIFT revealed themselves at 07:10, just minutes after I said they must be here any moment! 

Quantity started to leave from this point but quality certainly did not, with a NUTHATCH briefly visiting the Common Lime just behind my garden, and my brother spotted a LITTLE EGRET flying over. These were the 3rd and 5th garden records respectively! That put me on 39, and I reached my target of 40 species by 07:35 with an EGYPTIAN GOOSE flying high NW - the first for the garden! I was amazed I'd already reached my aim so early in the morning!

    A very distant Egyptian Goose

However, things really slowed down after that. With the majority of my predicted species ticked off it was now mainly down to luck. One more bird I'd been hoping for did finally make an appearance at 08:14 though with a GOLDCREST heard singing. Being so cloudy it felt like a very poor day for raptor migration, and that really showed but thankfully I finally spotted a RED KITE on the horizon at 10:34. Eventually a couple of Kites started to show well, but they certainly took their time over it! 

    Silhouetted kite

That was my final addition of the morning, and soon after the Kite tiredness really set in, so I took a break for a couple of hours early afternoon. From 4pm I had a meeting on Zoom, through which I mainly sat in silence yawning, although twice I gave everyone a shock by leaping out of my chair and shouting about a BUZZARD and PEREGRINE that came drifting over! Soon after this I heard a PHEASANT calling from some distance away, taking me to 45. This was another first for the garden list, although I had to be careful I wasn't hallucinating! I did hear it another couple of times though, wiping any doubts. There have been so many times I think I've heard a pheasant, but it's always so sudden and distant, so I'm very glad to finally say with certainty that I've heard one!

    Peregrine Falcon

    My state of exhaustion!

From here and onward was by far the hardest quarter of the day, with tiredness really setting in and pretty much nothing happening, bar another Grey Wagtail and Egyptian Goose. In fact I didn't add anything else to the list all evening, and as it got dark I set up my recording device and microphone and got settled with a hot chocolate for a very long last few hours. As I usually do when outdoors in the evening, I made a note whenever I heard something unidentified, so that I could check on the recording the next day. Although I wrote down lots of sounds, I didn't think anything would be any good, so when the clock finally turned to midnight I was both very glad to finally go to bed but also slightly disappointed that I hadn't heard the Moorhen or any waders that I'd hoped for.

My extensive list of noises!

After I very long lie in, I got round to checking the recording for each noise I'd written down. Many of them I couldn't find at all and those that I could find were almost all mechanical or unidentifiable. Still, I posted several on a WhatsApp group to see if anything came back. As expected, almost all were useless but one recording from 23:22, which I'd nearly written off as a squeaky tyre, got a response of "maybe water rail?" Very excited that I may have found something good, I posted it on a different Noc Mig group chat and immediately got 2 experts confirm it was in fact a DUNLIN - the first ever for the garden! What a great way to wrap up the list, especially as it meant staying up till midnight wasn't pointless after all! (I did only get it confirmed and added to the list at 17:02 on Monday, but please can it still count?!)

I'm so glad I took part in the 2020 Berks Garden Bird Race, although it was honestly one of the hardest days of my entire life. I'd like to say "Yes! I did a 24hr bird race! And now I don't have to do another one for ages!" I feel I deserve to say that. Except that won't happen, as someone's decided to organise a young birders' 24hr garden bird race on the 16th! So I guess I'll just have to try to catch up on my sleep as much as I can before this whole things starts again...

Sunday 3rd May - Dawn Chorus Day

As some of you may already know, International Dawn Chorus Day is coming up soon, every year taking place on the first Sunday of May - this year that's the 3rd. Normally, this day and the week either side is the time when local nature reserves organise early morning walks; waking up and getting out early to experience the incredible sound of nature waking up, with the summer migrants back and in full song and the chance of a winter lingerer or something rare turning up too.

The last 2 years, I've got up at 4:30am and headed out to my local patch for an organised walk. These have been unforgettable experiences, hearing my first (and only) Nightingale and seeing things like Common Sandpiper and Cuckoo for the first time too. It's truly incredible to stand there in the darkness, the human world not yet polluting the air with noise, as hundreds of birds serenade you with song from every side!

Obviously that's not going to happen this year. There'll be no organised events with groups getting together to share in the magic of the Dawn Chorus. But I'm going to get up at 5am anyway, and I'm trying to get as many people as possible to join me. Set up the deckchair in the garden, and relax as you absorb the sounds of nature. Coronavirus may have ruined the social aspect of these walks, but it can't take away the magic!

Please share this far and wide; you're more than welcome to copy and share this but otherwise write up your own experiences, tell all your friends! Lets see how many people we can get outside in the garden at 5am on the 3rd May, discovering a beautiful side of the natural world not usually witnessed.

The International Dawn Chorus Day is usually shared using #IDCD but this year I'll be using #MyGardenIDCD, please use this to spread the word and share your experience on the day. We may not be able to visit the same places as last year, or see the same people as last year, but we won't let Covid-19 bring us down!

Wildlife in Quarantine

It’s hard to think of positives about the situation we all suddenly find ourselves in. However, if there’s one good thing about Coronavirus, lockdown and self-isolation, it’s that we’ve all got time to spend in our gardens to really appreciate the wealth of wildlife quite literally on our doorsteps, that so often goes unnoticed as we go about our normal work and school lives. Since I’ve been in self-isolation for a week now so can’t even have a quick walk round the patch, I’ve been making a big effort to really get to know the nature out in my garden – both the common and rarer species.

The first way I’ve done this is simply going outside and looking. Already I’ve had 2 garden lifers – a RAVEN which flew over today and a PEREGRINE that has visited a few times in the last week, today seen mobbing a Red Kite! I’ve also seen my first ever HAIRY-FOOTED FLOWER BEES, as well as plenty of DARK-EDGED BEE-FLIES. It’s really feeling like spring is upon us, with the BLUE TITS darting in and out of the nest box, NURSERY WEB SPIDERS sunbathing on the geraniums and butterflies fluttering around – PEACOCK, COMMA and BRIMSTONE have all visited in the last few days. Migration is really kicking off, with a lots of CHAFFINCHES on the move – I had a flock of 11 go through the other day – and raptors dispersing to their breeding grounds – I’ve seen RED KITES, BUZZARDS and SPARROWHAWKS regularly, as well as the Peregrine. I’m yet to see any of the rarer migrants, such as Little Gull and Osprey, but with them turning up randomly across the UK at the moment anyone has a chance!

The second activity I’ve recently started is moth-trapping. I got a moth trap for my birthday but it was too cold in January, but since school ended I’ve started putting it out regularly, and so far I’ve caught a grand total of 3 moths – BRINDLED BEAUTY, HEBREW CHARACTER and COMMON QUAKER. These 3 are all relatively common, but still all lifers for me! Hopefully as the nights start to warm up I’ll catch bigger numbers, and maybe get some rarities too.

Finally, I decided that, to keep me busy, I’d give ‘nocmig’ a go. Nocmig, short for Nocturnal Migration, is done by leaving a microphone in the garden all night, then looking through the track the next day to see what flew overhead. I was very surprised to discover the huge range of species that fly over urban areas in the middle of the night, some of which you’d never see during the day. In just 3 nights, I’ve had plenty of REDWINGS heading off to their breeding grounds in Scandinavia, giving their high-pitched “seep” call so typical of winter nights. As well as this I’ve also heard the local pair of LITTLE OWLS, a DUNNOCK, a MALLARD, a flock of WIGEON and (most unexpected of all) a REDSHANK! Both these were new species for the garden, and definitely not ones I’d predicted would come soon!

It’s really incredible just how much wildlife there is to be found metres from your home, and I really recommend everyone goes out there (if you haven’t already) and sees what they can find. Professional recording equipment and moth traps can cost £100s but both can be home-made for relatively little, and they are great ways to pass this time and discover so much about areas of the natural world you may never have even noticed before!

    A Very Distant Peregrine!

    Dark-edged Bee-fly

    Blue Tit

                      Moth Trap

    Hebrew Character

    Male Brindled Beauty

    Calling Wigeon!