Both Firecrest and Green Woody seen again.

Tuesday 15th March 2022.

True, not the greatest photo of a Firecrest, but it looked as though this bird has just had a good bathe.  

I am still Covid positive according to my flow test again today, but I cannot be far away now from getting the all-clear. The moth trap was out again last night, despite the cold overnight temperatures and I was rewarded with 8 moths of 3 species in total. There were 5 Common Plume moths, 2 Double-striped Pugs and my first Beautiful Plume of the month, hiding at the  base of the fencing panel below my moth box. No doubt, with overcast conditions and slightly warmer temperatures, I shall endeavour to set up the moth trap again tonight.

Beautiful Plume by the moth box.

Now there's a splash of colour to warm up the old cockles, matey!

The male Green Woodpecker being a tad showy this afternoon.

This afternoon, it was back over Highland Road Cemetery with Scruff in somewhat pleasant sunny conditions. There were a lot of dog-walkers present this afternoon and a few out for a stroll on their own too as I made my way slowly anti-clockwise around the perimeter of the Cemy. I clocked up to an impressive 20 species this afternoon, which included a few birds I did not see on Monday and even the delightful small male Firecrest and the vocal Green Woodpecker put in an appearance again.

Our humble Goldfinch was enjoying feeding on the seeds of Common Groundsel.

This female Blackbird came close enough to be most obliging in the sunshine.

There wasn't many insects about this afternoon but this Hoverfly species, Meliscaeva auricollis, put in an appearance. I had one of these in my garden a few days ago.

The male Firecrest showed on and off for at least ten minutes in the lone Holm Oak on the east side of the Cemy, but proved very difficult to photograph high up in the branches, so apologies for the scrappy photos. The Green Woodpecker, however, was much more obliging and literally sat out in the open in a tall tree in the centre of the Cemy, calling every now and then. In fact, there were a lot of birds singing this afternoon with both Dunnock, Wren and Robin in fine voice. I noticed Blackbird numbers have increased in the Cemy again with at least 6 birds seen, with a female bird already collecting worms! Has she an early brood already hidden away? 

Even the Dunnock showed well and sang at the southern end of the Cemy.

Total species seen or heard this afternoon included the following:

• Herring Gull
• Great Black-backed Gull
• Black-headed Gull
• Wood Pigeon
• Collared Dove
• Feral Pigeon
• Carrion Crow
• Magpie
• Jay
• Goldfinch
• Greenfinch
• Blue Tit
• Great Tit
• Robin
• House Sparrow
• Dunnock
• Blackbird
• Wren
• Firecrest
• Green Woodpecker

Not a great deal of insect life on the wing, though there was a Hoverfly species seen enjoying nectaring on the blossom of a small Cherry Tree. It was sad to see a large clump of bushes chopped away on the south-east corner of the footpath where the conifer was. It seems the Council are on a mission to remove a lot of bushes from the graves, a good feeding source for the insects, which can only have a negative effect for all nature here concerned.

A pair of Great Black-backed Gulls circled over the Cemy a few times before heading off north.

Sadly, another area of bushes has been destroyed by the Council.

This Wren was singing nicely above my head as I walked north up the footpath.

In Hampshire today, it seems the Little Ringed Plovers are back at Blashford Lakes, with a supporting cast of both Green and Common Sandpiper there. The Great Grey Shrike was again at Backley Bottom in the New Forest again and AJ had sightings of the Black-throated Divers in the northern end of Chichester Harbour this morning along with a ringtail Hen-Harrier. One of the re-introduced White-tailed Eagles was seen to fly west over Warsash this morning. Yesterday, Andy texted me to say he had a flock of Med Gulls, 5 Common Buzzards and a Red Kite over Cowplain Marsh yesterday!    

I particularly liked the colours in this photo of a singing Robin.