Colin's Garden Mustelid

I have received a message from Colin Carr with some photos - as follows:-

When you look out of the early morning window for some signs of Spring, and see something else entirely! #stoat or #weasel

Hard to be sure when you can't see the tail.   I would guess at the former based purely on its small but highly alert stature.

Sorry for the poor photography, but they move in spurts so very fast.

Only the second I have seen in the garden since moving to Blackfordby 5+ years ago.

 

Stoat (Mustela erminea) or Weasel (Mustela nivalis) - Colin Carr's garden in January, 2021

It can be difficult to see the difference between a Stoat and a Weasel but, as Colin mentions, the real clue is in the tail. A Stoat has a black tip to a tail that is approximately half the length of the body. The Weasel's tail is purely brown and rather short in comparison. A Stoat has a body length of 30-34cm, whereas the smaller Weasel is 20-27 cm. If that's a 4 inch pipe in Colin's second photo, it suggests to me that the animal has a body length of around 8 inches (20cm), challenging Colin's conclusion that it is probably a Stoat. Brian and I think that it is probably a Weasel. 

Note: due to me initially miss-reading an ID guide, I have changed the above paragraph! RP

 

There is an old addage that simplifies the situation:- "A Weasel is weasily recognised, but a Stoat is stotally different"!

Thank you, Colin, for sending in these delightful photos to brighten our day!

I hope that you are all managing to stay safe and well and that we'll have the opportunity to meet up in the not too distant future.

Best wishes - Richard

 

Lockdown Winter - from Brian

While the threat of this terrible virus still has us in its grip, most of us are, I believe, pretty-much confined to our homes, and our wildlife observations will largely be of what we can see from the windows of our houses. 

Brian has kindly sent me some photos of winter sightings which beautifully capture the spirit of winter.

The first is of a Magpie sitting in what I think might be a Viburnum (we have a similar tree in flower still, which is a Viburnum) 

Snowy Vigil

The winter theme continues, with his shot of a SilverBirch covered in hoar frost.
 

Hoar Frost on Silver Birch

His last shot is not so wintery, but is, nevertheless, seasonal and depicts a Long-tailed Tit. These small birds are often in need of our help in winter.

Long-tailed Tit

Thank you, Brian for these delightful images!

A sustained cold spell is often extremely difficult for birds, and supplemental feeding in our gardens can be of great benefit to them. However, every bit as important to them is a supply of fresh water. This should be changed on a regular basis.

Even more important is to regularly check that the water has not frozen. We use plant-pot dishes for some of our supply for the birds. When these freeze, they can be tipped up-side-down,  the ice knocked out in one piece, and then refilled with water. For our immovable 'bird baths' I take a kettle of boiling water to them, ensuring that the water is cold before I leave it.

Having Pied Wagtail in our garden is extremely rare - most years we don't see one - but during the recent freeze we were visited by one several times a day and I am sure that this is because we had the only non-frozen water in the area. As soon as the freeze was gone, the wagtail disappeared!

Pied Wagtail - the Pegler garden on 7th January 2021

Hopefully, the Covid vaccination programme will continue apace and we will all be able to meet up again in the not-too-distant future.

In the meantime, take great care and stay safe.

Richard Pegler
 

Winter Thrushes

At this time of year, we are visited by thrushes from the continent. These are, mainly, Fieldfare and Redwing. The Redwing is a small thrush, with a distinctive stripe on its head and a red patch under the wing. The Fieldfare is a larger thrush with a speckled breast and grey head. Both tend to travel in small noisy flocks. This year it seems that numbers are less than usual, but this may change if harsher weather arrives. Have you seen one yet?

Their main source of food is berries in hedgerows but, especially in severe weather or when berries run short, they can be tempted into gardens. They are quite partial to half an apple left face-up on the ground or stuck on the end of a branch or a stick in the ground. 

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) - Pastures Lane, Oakthorpe

Redwing (Turdus iliacus) - Oakthorpe Colliery

Wishing all a very happy Christmas, and a much-improved 2021!

Take good care

Richard

Birds from Brian

Greetings, all! I hope you are all well, and staying safe.

The weather has been more than a little grim of late, so here are a couple photos from Brian, taken of birds in his garden, to brighten your day! Thank you Brian.

I am using Brian's captions as I don't think anyone will have difficulty in identifying the species!!!

Sentry Duty on a misty morning

Another Sentry

Hang on in there - there's a light showing at the end of the tunnel. Best wishes - - - Richard

 

Goat Moth

Group member Sallie Corfield has sent in an exciting bit of news about a moth sighting she reported to the County Moth Recorder. Sallie, in her capacity as Community Ranger for Forestry England, was working on Forestry England's stand at the Timber festival in Feanedock Wood in July, 2019. County Moth Recorder for Leicestershire & Rutland, Adrian Russell had a 'walk-in' moth trap (something I'd love to see in action!) set up there, and Sallie wandered in and spotted and photographed a hitherto undetected moth, which she reported to Adrian. It was a Goat Moth! This once-common moth has become extremely rare, and the previous record in VC55 (Leics & Rutland) was in 1990 at Brown's Hill Quarry, near Melton Mowbray.

Adrian suggested to Sallie that it might be worthwhile surveying the area for signs of the Goat Moth, and I agree with Sallie's suggestion that we should make the groups members aware of this in case they would like to involve themselves in such an activity. Although the moth flies in June and July, its presence can be detected by the holes bored in trees by the caterpillars. If you would like to know more about the Goat Moth, which is one of UK's largest moths, and how to find them, please look at https://butterfly-conservation.org/sites/default/files/1.goat-moth-species-factsheet.pdf. If you would like to discuss this with me (Richard Pegler), please get in touch. In current circumstances, visits will have to be on an individual basis but, in happier times ( fingers are crossed) a small group visit might be arranged. I visited Feanedock Wood yesterday, and it is a splendid place. It is within walking distance of Blackfordby and can be found on the right hand side of Gorse Lane bridleway (as accessed from Boothorpe) through a gate before you descend the hill to Rawdon Road and Conkers.

Goat Moth (Cossus cossus) - Feanedock Wood

Incidentally, I didn't find any hard evidence during my visit yesterday, but did see a couple of tree trunks that had me wondering!?

Thank you, Sallie for this, and congratulations on this fabulous find!

Take great care and stay safe, everyone - - - Richard
 

Cue For a Song?!

Brian has sent in a wonderful image, with the following note:-

Attached is a picture a friend in Montrose, Scotland, sent me of Pink-footed Geese flying in front of a rainbow. My friend's name is Andy Wakelin. Montrose has an inland sea called Montrose Basin which has a Wildlife Centre. It is famous for it's flocks of geese every Autumn. This year there were over 84,000 at the basin. It is a great place to visit if any members are ever on the East Coast of Scotland see web site https://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserve/montrose-basin/

Pink-footed Goose (Anser brachyrhynchus) - Montrose Basin, Scotland

Thank you, Andy and Brian - much appreciated! 

 

Mouse Problem - Solved!

Our Chaiman, Brian, has had a mouse problem. I'll let Brian take over with the description, extracted from his emails to me. If you have a mouse problem you might find the following useful :-

 

I have a lot of problems with House mice in the shed that we store bird & dog food in, they even chew through plastic storage boxes if given the chance. I hate using lethal traps so bought a humane trap to try. I had tried a different design last year that wasn't very successful, however the new one has been out only 3 days & has already caught 2 mice so seems quite good. I am fairly sure they are House Mice (Mus musculus) but not certain. This one got a bath when I released it in the field away from the house as it jumped straight out of the trap into a puddle, shook itself and hopped off at a great pace. You need to clean & dry the trap between baiting it or the seesaw trap door sticks. They then eat the bait and can escape, cleaning & drying it stops that happening. Best bait is crunchy peanut butter.

The trap came from Ivanhoe Country Store & was less than £8. It works on a seesaw principle the weight of the mouse tips the seesaw & this raises the weighted door on the other end stopping the mouse from getting out again - (most of the time). The previous type I tried was much smaller & the whole trap was supposed to tip & a door shut but I never got it to catch anything so I threw it away. I always use Peanut butter as a bait as they love it, I also bait not only inside the trap but also on the inward end of the seesaw 

 

Thank you for this interesting information, Brian. I hope that the trap is continuing to serve you well