The children are rennovating their playhouse in the vegetable patch. At the weekend they found conglomerations of Harlequin Ladybirds Harmonia axyridis. They were obviously overwintering. Further information on this species and its invasion of Britain can be found at http://www.harlequin-survey.org/.
Also in the playhouse were some overwintering Lacewings.
Monday 18 February 2008
Friday 15 February 2008
North Norfolk and a Twitch(!)
We went as a family to North Norfolk for a long weekend. The weather was glorious and birdwatching was good. We visited Titchwell RSPB http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/t/titchwellmarsh/index.asp, Snettisham RSPB http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/s/snettisham/index.asp, Cley NWT http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature%20reserves/map-links/cley.htm and Pensthorpe http://www.pensthorpe.com/. We even fitted in time for our second ever twitch - the long staying White-crowned Sparrow at Cley.
As this is supposed to be an insect blog, I will mention the insects we saw. Some 7 spot Ladybirds were around at Snettisham and most sites had various Bumble Bees (Mainly Bombus terrestris, with a few Bombus lucorum).
This cheeky little Robin was in the car park at Titchwell RSPB. It was very tame and came right up to us.
Numerous other birds were around at all the reserves we visited. Lots of Brent Geese, as well as Pink-footed at Snettisham.
Stonechats were much in evidence and we got good views. On the beach at Cley, a birdwatcher kindly pointed out a flock of Snow Buntings to us, much to the children's delight.
Eleanor was practising her filming again and seems to be improving all the time. She got good footage of Redshank, ducks and Egrets, as well as some Marsh Harriers.
We rounded of the trip with a visit to Pensthorpe to see the Cranes and Corncrakes.
As this is supposed to be an insect blog, I will mention the insects we saw. Some 7 spot Ladybirds were around at Snettisham and most sites had various Bumble Bees (Mainly Bombus terrestris, with a few Bombus lucorum).
This cheeky little Robin was in the car park at Titchwell RSPB. It was very tame and came right up to us.
Numerous other birds were around at all the reserves we visited. Lots of Brent Geese, as well as Pink-footed at Snettisham.
Stonechats were much in evidence and we got good views. On the beach at Cley, a birdwatcher kindly pointed out a flock of Snow Buntings to us, much to the children's delight.
Eleanor was practising her filming again and seems to be improving all the time. She got good footage of Redshank, ducks and Egrets, as well as some Marsh Harriers.
We rounded of the trip with a visit to Pensthorpe to see the Cranes and Corncrakes.
Sunday 3 February 2008
Species Champions - Birdlife Preventing Extinctions Programme
As there is not a lot of insect life around at the moment (a few ladybirds today), I thought I would mention the Blue Throated Macaw.
At last year's British Birdwatching Fair in Rutland, money was being raised for Birdlife International's Preventing Extinctions Programme. A frightening number of bird species are threatened with extinction.
Each stand at the Fair was asked to promote a species. Peregrine Production's species was the Blue-throated Macaw, Ara glaucogularis.
More information on this endangered parrot from South America can be found at http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=1548&m=0
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