I put the moth trap out over the night of the 12th-13th January. It was quite mild and I caught this Spring Usher Agriopis leucophaeria as well as a Winter Moth Operophtera brumata.
Friday 18 January 2008
Plates!!
Over the Christmas period, I tried my hand at a different type of painting - ceramics. Whilst the children painted boxes and ornaments, I did this Jay on a plate. It seems to have come out not too bad, though some things did not work quite as well as I planned them.
The border is not very good and some of the background came out rather strange.
It is not the first plate I have done. Below is a Tiger Beetle I did a few years ago. Both of them show I have a lot to learn before I am happy with this technique!
Monday 7 January 2008
First big beetle of the year!
We visited Minsmere RSPB Reserve, http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/m/minsmere/index.asp, as a family on Saturday 5th January. Again, Eleanor was filming. She managed to capture footage of a very tame Muntjac in the picnic area. It took lettuce from our hands while we were eating. She also filmed a male Stonechat and views from the hides.
Walking through the woods, we were looking under logs and found a Devil's Coach Horse, Ocypus olens. Eleanor filmed this running around the ground.
Tom became an expert at finding Goldcrests amongst the Tit flocks, but we did not see the Firecrest that was supposed to be about. Sophie and Tom borrowed some RSPB rucksacks with binoculars in. They were much better than their own binoculars and both of them were observing the birds well. They have both decided Lapwings are one of their favourite birds.
Walking through the woods, we were looking under logs and found a Devil's Coach Horse, Ocypus olens. Eleanor filmed this running around the ground.
Tom became an expert at finding Goldcrests amongst the Tit flocks, but we did not see the Firecrest that was supposed to be about. Sophie and Tom borrowed some RSPB rucksacks with binoculars in. They were much better than their own binoculars and both of them were observing the birds well. They have both decided Lapwings are one of their favourite birds.
Thursday 3 January 2008
North Warren RSPB reserve
Visited North Warren http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/n/northwarren/index.asp, near Aldeburgh, Suffolk on New Year's Day. My daughter, Eleanor had her new camcorder to practise for her future career in wildlife filming (!)
Despite the cold, a fair amount was about to be immortalised on film. There were a couple of Barnacle Geese amongst the White-fronted Geese. North Warren is one of my favourite RSPB reserves and has a good variety of habitats. I hope to return in the summer for the insects.
We walked further than we anticipated - into Aldeburgh for a chip lunch, followed by ice cream.
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