Friday 26 June 2015

A Night with the Moths

Ben Sale and the Trust mothing team were up into the small hours on Wednesday night, trapping at the Brickworks. For the full report and a selection of great photos, see Ben's blog HERE.

Thursday 25 June 2015

Lesser Whitethroat, Ringlets & Bee Orchid

I had a very nice surprise yesterday, when a male Lesser Whitethroat popped up at the Brickworks, singing from scrub at the SW end of the site. It’s not an easy species to see or find locally, making it all the sweeter to experience. This isn’t the first record for the Brickworks though. Roger Prue found a singing bird on 2nd May 2013 in the field adjacent to Green Lane. Anyway, I recorded it’s vocal and hoped that when I returned in the afternoon I might be able to get some video footage. Unfortunately, it had either shut up, or flown off, and it wasn’t there this morning either.



On Wednesday, the Dacorum U3A Wildflower Group visited the Brickworks and let the Trust know that they’d found a Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) “in the field adjacent to Green Lane”. Great news and well spotted! I know Martin Parr came across 5 spikes at TL007028 last year, which is in a different area, so, it’s great to hear of another occurrence of this charismatic little orchid.

Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus)

This week, amongst the fresh Marbled Whites, there have also been a handful of newly emerged Ringlets and Small Skippers. I also had my first Damselfly at the site, a female Azure. And, having had a female Broad-bodied Chaser earlier this month, it was lovely to see a Southern Hawker dragonfly checking out the Buddleja bush by the entrance gate, on Monday.

Not the best photo but the colours are incredible on the Common Purple & Gold (Pyrausta purpuralis)

A few nice moths this week: Cinnabar, Burnet Companions, a vibrant Common Purple & Gold  and 2 Triple-stripe Piercers (Grapholita compositella). I first came across the Triple-stripe Piercer species with Martin Parr on 13 May, whilst we were looking for Cranesbill plants. This week, I was able to watch it in action. The moth would land on large bramble leaves and then rapidly spin round in a circle, with its head at the centre, as if playing Spin The Bottle. It was very odd and I can only assume that this process allowed the moth to pierce the leaf to feed on the juices? As for the larvae, they feed on Clover (Trifolium) species, where eggs are deposited singularly on leaves.

These 3 semi-out-of-focus shots don't do this little 10mm moth justice. Up close, it's smart!

Triple-stripe Piercer (Grapholita compositella)

Monday 22 June 2015

Wild Strawberries & Pygmy Shrews

Just a quick post to note the presence of a wonderful stretch of Wild Strawberries (Fragaria vesca) at the Brickworks (grid ref: TL007027). The species isn’t listed on the 2011 plant survey so must be a fairly recent colonisation. Fantastic to see!






Also, I picked up a couple of dead Pygmy Shrews (Sorex minutus) from the path but at different locations.

Both shrews were identical in their measurement:
Body = 65mm
Tail = 40mm
Tail relative to body = 61%







Thursday 18 June 2015

Migrants & Fledglings

A circuit of the Brickworks today produced the following butterflies and moths, including the first migrant butterfly of the year and some lovely fledglings.

Bovingdon Brickworks (TL008027 & surrounding area)
4 Speckled Wood
16 Meadow Brown
1 Small Tortoiseshell
2 Yellow-barred Longhorn (males)
7 Common Blue
1 Dingy Skipper
1 Marbled White (first of the year)
1 Painted Lady (Migrant. First of the year)
1 Large White
1 Yellow Shell
1 Hummingbird Hawk-moth (first I've seen at the site)

Also, at least 6, possibly up to 8 chirpy, newly fledged Nuthatches in the wooded area, grid ref: TL00800269.

Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), 18 June 2015. A rather worn specimen.

Tuesday 16 June 2015

Willow Warblers mixing it up!

There have been at least 2 mixed singing Willow Warblers on Box Moor Trust land this Spring. One at Roughdown Common, around the chalk dell, and one at Bovingdon Brickworks (TL006027). I think both birds are Willow Warblers that are just good mimics. Also, both birds had Chiffchaffs singing closeby on territory. I have tried a number of times to record both birds but sods law applies. Every time I press record, the bird reverts to pure Willow Warbler. Every time I give up and walk away, the bird rattles off a beautiful Willow Warbler refrain followed by chiming Chiffchaff notes. Flipping birds. Anyway, I finally managed to get a half decent recording of the mixed singing bird at the Brickworks this evening.



A few butterflies still fluttering at 5pm around the site:

3 Meadow Brown
4 Speckled Wood
1 Small White
3 Common Blue
3 Dingy Skippers

Also, my first dragonfly of the year:
1 female Broad-bodied Chaser

Thursday 4 June 2015

Adela (Cauchas) fibulella: 14th record for Herts, & Heath Speedwell

The title is a bit of a cheat and quite frankly a blatant pilfer of Ben Sale's far more deserving declaration of the 13th record for Herts. Last week, Ben visited Hexton Pits with the express purpose of finding Adela (Cauchas) fibulella, a day-flying moth (scarce in Hertfordshire), which feeds on Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys). Ben’s careful searching led to him finding not just 1 but 25 of these diminutive but attractive moths (for Ben's account, click HERE).

Discovering that Germander Speedwell was the all important ingredient, I knew that Bovingdon Brickworks was a possible home for the fibulella. My first opportunity to get there was Monday morning, in overcast, very blustery conditions. Not ideal but worth a punt, I thought. I started searching in the area favoured by the Brown Argus, east of Baker’s Wood, where I knew there was plenty of G. Speedwell. The third clump I came to, there they were. Five of them! One perched, the rest fluttering around the food plant. However, with minimal mothing experience, my identification was tentative at best. I found another single moth, again tentatively identified as the same species, in another area. Once home, I sent photographs to Ben and David K and they very kindly confirmed the ID as Adela (Cauchas) fibulella, a new species for the Brickworks and the 14th record of the moth in Hertfordshire.


Today, conditions were perfect to carry out a more accurate count of the Cauchas fibulella at the Brickworks. I concentrated on 2 large stretches of Germander Speedwell but also checked a couple of smaller clumps in the vicinity. The results were as follows:

LocationGrid RefNo. of Cauchas fibulella
East of Baker’s WoodTL00780263
14
Path into siteTL00650270
3
Open area 1TL00450270
12
Open area 2TL00440272
2
TOTAL
31

On the way home, I stopped off at Westbrook Hay to check another stretch of Germander Speedwell in Barnfield Meadow (TL02920565). I didn’t spend long there but counted at least 7 fibulella. It may well be that the moth is simply under-recorded rather than scarce but, even so, it’s always nice to add to the species list.

Finally, whilst searching for tiny moths on Monday, I came across what I think is probably Heath Speedwell (Veronica officinalis). I’d never seen it before and it isn’t included in the Brickworks 2011 Plant Survey. Further correspondence with Martin Parr, Conservation Manager at Maple Lodge, suggests that the plant has previously been recorded in the vicinity of the Brickworks but not actually at the site before. So, a new plant to add to the species list as well.

Heath Speedwell (flower stem)

Heath Speedwell (leaf stem)

Heath Speedwell (LEFT); Germander Speedwell (RIGHT)