Wildlife Diary Analysis  Lezant  2004   by Alison Jewell     Jan - Mar,  April-June,  July-Sept, Oct -Dec
 Birds, Mammals, Bats, Amphibians and Reptiles, Fish, Butterflies, Moths, Other Insects, Plants

19 sets of records were submitted covering 5 different tetrads within the Parish.  (The actual dates covered were 22.07 – 06.10). This period covers “high” summer to the beginnings of autumn and as such contains a wealth of different wildlife. This is particularly reflected in our records of Birds

Birds Most of the birds have finished nesting, although some species have more than one brood per season and may still be incubating or raising young.  Many young birds will be more independent now and by the end of our period most will be self sufficient, with the migrating birds getting ready for their long flights to warmer climes.  By the end of our period not only will they be thinking of leaving us, but our winter visitors may be putting in an appearance in our ever changing skies, so we have the possibility of recording both summer and winter visiting birds, along with our resident species.

Well Recorded Bird Species. As we have found in previous recording periods, the blackbird, buzzard, crow, chaffinch (right), magpie, blue tit and robin (although one recorder noted that this bird is absent from the garden during the summer), are our most commonly seen birds. This list is augmented by the swallow at this time of year.  Most of us saw all or most of these birds. It appears to have been a good year for the swallow in 2004, despite some wet weather later in the summer.  Several of us reported good numbers and two broods, some returning to areas not visited last year. One recorder also noted the late departure during the last week in September.

In addition, between 50% and 75% of us also recorded the following birds: greenfinch, heron, jackdaw, pheasant, wood pigeon, collared dove, rook, house and hedge sparrows, sparrow hawk, coal and great tits, pied wagtail and wren.  This is a good cross section of garden, and woodland birds and indicates a good all round knowledge.

 It was encouraging to see several reports of both barn and tawny owls.  The latter, associated with woodland, are often heard in the early autumn as they establish their territories and one recorder noted hearing one all one September day.  Partridge, both red legged and common were recorded; linnets were seen by two of us, as was the stock dove.

Birds which fall short of sightings (which one would anticipate to be greater) are the chiffchaff (they are around in numbers in the summer and have a very distinctive song), pipits both meadow and tree, blackcap and skylark (disappointingly only one recording each), goldcrest (a common little bird), raven (usually needs to be heard to be sure), spotted flycatcher (although the one recorder did say there were good numbers), and house martin.  Birds on our list not recorded at all were cuckoo, curlew, duck other than mallard, little owl, whitethroat, willow warbler, lesser spotted woodpecker, yellow wagtail, or redstart (plus of course the winter birds that had not yet arrived).

River/Pond Birds – We are blessed with several watercourses within the parish as well as some larger ponds, so water birds are regularly recorded.  The bird seen by most of us is the Grey heron, but we also had sightings of Cormorant (a sea bird that will also come inland from time to time), Dipper, Kingfisher, Mallard, Canada goose (left), and one record of a Moorhen.   There were no records of curlew (more likely to be seen on estuaries of larger rivers) or water rail (a fairly shy bird of reed beds).

Our birds of prey deserve a special mention this time as we have had some interesting sightings.  Almost all of us know the plaintive cry of the Buzzard and we all record sightings of this bird, no doubt as it wheels above us on a hot day riding the thermals with several others, or sits on a prominent post along the hedgerows.  However, the Sparrow-hawk, recorded by nine of us seems to be fairly prolific within our parish as well. Two recorders noted seeing a sparrow-hawk regularly, one being privy to the taking of tits.  The Kestrel by comparison was only seen by two recorders.   The two most interesting records are of a Hobby and several sightings of a Peregrine (one chasing a collared dove) in two different tetrads.   Well done to those who managed to spot these beautiful birds, and keep your eyes open for the Red Kite which is reportedly moving into our area.

Mammals  The Rabbit continues to be our most recorded species and there were reports of black ones, and a population explosion in one tetrad. These are closely followed by the Grey squirrel.  Over 50% of us have seen Badger (signs of), Fox, Wood mouse (long tailed field mouse), and Common shrew. There were six recordings of Mole (no doubt mole hills), but other than that, other mammals, both small and large are very sporadic.  There were only two sighting of both Red deer and Roe deer, the latter now being absent from an area where previously recorded, only two records for Otter, none at all for mink (an encouraging sign – although I doubt they have disappeared completely). Only 3 people recorded a Hedgehog, but one of these is a resident, coming for cat food and a drink on regular occasions.  A few records of both Field vole and Bank vole (left), as well as House mouse. but only 3 of the Pygmy shrew.  I was pleased to see 3 sightings of the Stoat, a particular favourite of mine, despite its reputation as a hunter/killer, albeit if two of those sightings were of dead examples.  We had no reports of fallow deer, dormouse, hare, harvest mouse, water shrew or weasel.  One recorder had their beetroot crop destroyed by mice!

Bats  We had 8 records of bats during this period, 3 of which were unidentified, and the rest were recorded as pipistrelle.  This is the smallest of our bats and weighs only ½ oz.  Bats are difficult to identify and virtually impossible to do so on the wing without a bat detector which records the frequency of the bats calls.  We had 2 roosts reported and one little pipestrelle  (right) that was found in an outhouse but sadly later died.

Amphibians and reptiles Several of us have garden ponds and one or two recorders are lucky enough to have sizable ones on our land. However, a pond is not a necessity to see this class of creatures as most of them are also to be found in wetlands, and some will be found in dryer areas as well.  Slow worms, lizards and adders prefer the latter and we had one record of an Adder for the first time as well as several sightings of Slow worms and 5 of Lizards (including one that was found mummified in a window box!).  Newt larva was recorded, but only one record of an adult.  Frogs remain high on the list, as do Toads. There were no sightings of a grass snake this period.

Fish  There were just two reports of fish and both of these were Brown trout.  Our rivers are well stocked with fish but it is obviously difficult to identify and see them in their natural habitats.

Butterflies The latter half of the summer was not particularly good for certain species of butterfly.  Our wet weather meant a reduction in the migratory butterflies such as Red admiral and Painted lady, in contrast to 2003 when we had a long, hot summer and large numbers of these butterflies. Several recorders were aware of this. Conversely there seems to have been good numbers of Peacock and Gatekeeper as well as Wall brown butterflies. Despite the lack of numbers of some species, most people recorded most butterflies, 20 different species, and there appears to be a good general recognition of this insect.  The Red Admiral was recorded by the most number or people.  A Small pearl bordered fritillary was the most unusual.

Moths  Our knowledge of moths is increasing.  There were several notes of moth sightings during this period.  The hawkmoths were in evidence again with the Hummingbird Hawkmoth charming several of us.  One lucky person saw a Cinnabar, and another a Scarlet tiger, both of which are colourful daytime flying moths. The other colourful moths are in the burnet family and there were reports of both the 5 and 6 spot species.   I continued to trap moths periodically with a light trap, recording 47 different species during this period using this method.  Other moths were found at night in the house, including the Spectacle, Magpie, Drinker, Silver Y, Feathered gothic (left), and Herald (right). There were large numbers of large Yellow underwing both in and out of the trap. Other records were of a Scalloped oak, and the best sighting that of a Convolvulus Hawkmoth, a migratory but not common moth and one of the largest to be found in the UK.   Elephant Hawkmoth larva were seen by more than one person and this at first sight alarming caterpillar is now being recognised more frequently (look especially on fuchsia bushes in your garden and willowherb in the hedgerows).

Other Insects  It seems to have been a good year for dragonflies.  Nearly 50% of us recorded these along with damselflies.  I personally saw several different species this year, and many more than the previous one, several of them around my small garden pond. Identification can be difficult, not least because they tend to be on the move most of the time, but also due to the fact that there is a great similarity between some of the smaller damselflies. However we did manage to recognise Golden ringed, Beautiful damselflies, darters, and a Southern hawker amongst our recordings.  Pond insects recorded included one dragonfly larva, a backswimmer and several water boatman.

The insect world continues to baffle many of us but we are beginning to get to grips with it in small stages.  We all know a bumblebee, but few are able to specify the species.  Similarly over half of us recognised the 7 spot ladybird but few other ladybirds were mentioned.  Shield bugs were well recorded, and one or two spiders were mentioned.  One notable finding this year was the numbers of Hornets (left) recorded.  8 people recorded these and one or two of us managed to get photographs.  Up to 4 Glow worms were noted by one recorder during July.

Plants  Our flower list was prepared for us by the botanist Ian Benallick from ERCCIS (Record Centre).  It reflects the more unusual or interesting ones to be found in our parish.  I suspect that many of them are unfamiliar to us although 37 of the 59 on the list were recorded.  The most recorded were Common Toadflax, Common ragwort  (right) (which is dangerous to horses and cattle), Lords & Ladies, Common Mallow, and White Dead-nettle.  Many of the flowers listed are specific to certain areas and it is unlikely that we would find all these in one tetrad, but all habitats covered were represented by at least one recording. E.g. we had one record each for the wetland plants Water Horsetail, Water Avens, Water Figwort and Marsh Woundwort.  Several of the flowers of unimproved grassland were recorded including Agrimony, Common cow-wheat and Bastard Balm. 

Some recorders reported other plant sightings, including an increase in Devils Bit Scabious; others noted what was in flower on a particular date.   All 4 alien plants were recorded and we will have to watch the spread of these in the future. 

Thank you to all of you who took the time to note down what you saw and look up those things that you did not recognise.  The information you are providing is already helping us to draw up a picture of what is and is not around in our parish and in the future will help establish trends and hopefully make us all more aware of what is around us.                     A Jewell.