And so it begins...

Yes, the slow decline into failue. It was bound to happen really. Just as I managed to outsmart the snails and the plants had settled in, something was bound to go wrong.

RIP Minnow I. A victim of what I suspect to be foul play, on the part of my Ram. I am keeping a close eye on this one... Still, these minnows have already easily outlived their life expectancy, so it could be the result of a combination of reasons. However, concerns over the welfare of my fish population have taken a slightly more sinister turn...


Currently my Corydoras schwartzii isn't looking this good. Really not very good at all, bearing in mind the two massive lesions on his head and lack of barbels. Bumcakes. Methinks I'll be heading down to the fish shop first thing in the morning for some sort of miracle fixitude, after a water change. I'll keep you posted, but my hopes aren't high for this little guy :(

Note to readers: Don't search for "Hole in the Head Corydoras" unless you want to throw up some gay porn...

Local birding again

Mostly as a result of not being motivated enough to head any further afield after some hula-related drunkeness the day before, me and the man ended up at Rainham on Sunday for a very pleasant if not particularly productive few hours.

Wennington marshes

We started off at the other entrance to the reserve near the tip, as I've never been there before. There are some brilliant views across the Thames and across Aveley Pools. Other than the unsuprising smellyness, this area of the marshes is really interesting and has such a great variety of wildflowers considering it's only been developed over the past few years (enough to warrant me needing to buy a ID book now). Some more gorse bushes are needed, and then it'll be full of dartford warblers :)

Of course, to keep up with my recent habits of completely neglecting to take any bird photos in favour of lots of invertebrates, here are my efforts from Sunday. Suddenly the gatekeepers are out and about, and we also spotted some small heaths, peacocks, commas, ringlets, large, small and green veined white, a couple of different types of skipper and loads of cinnabar moth caterpillars on ragwort. Quite pleased with some of the photos :)

Peacock butterfly

Large white butterfly

Gatekeeper butterfly

Comma butterfly

Common darter (common but still pretty awesome)

In other news, The Man saw a quail on the road towards my village yesterday. I didn't. I think I was probably too busy telling a Very Important Story about something, while trying to avoid all of the suicidal wood pigeons and collared doves that like to fly at my car. Anyway, that's another one for me to have to keep up with on my year list. Also, the field in my BTO survey area that was full of butterflies and yelllowhammers was completely cut down a few days ago, and I haven't seen the yellowhammer since. Never really sure why they do this so early in the year, as I dread to think how many caterpillars were harvested along with the crop... Oh well it was nice while it lasted.

Sunday sunset- been plenty of good ones lately but this is the first one I've got on camera.

Hampshire Dahhling

Skipped off to the Shire this weekend for a quick friendly visit, and also hopefully to bag a nightingale across Ludshott Common, as previously and better described in some other blogs.

The area is really lovely, as are the two pubs we frequented during our stay there, and it's always good to see somewhere new. Was most impressed by Maiden Lulu's local patch, as it puts essex to shame a bit. The river walk was beautiful despite the scary bridge. I was also excited to drive past here, due to some books I used to read when I was little :)

In invertebrate-related news, I had a lepidopterial first for me in the shape of a Comma, which was a nice surprise. As ever there were Meadow browns and ringlets everywhere, together with a whole pile of small/green veined whites and various skippers.

An actual Red Admiral being very obliging

Comma butterfly

This is a bit off-topic, but saw this in the news and thought it was pretty cool. My nan would love it anyway... Plenty of links for you to have fun with in this post.

Obituary

I am sad to report today the sad demise of Alan the Shrimp.

Beginning his life in The Tank as one of a team of six pioneer organisms, he flourished in his new home where his fellow tankmates were unable to match his determination. Starting as a tiny shrimp only destined for fish food and donated for free, Alan reached almost nephropidic proportions later in life. He spent his days hanging out amongst the plants, sneaking up on the corydoras and his favourite activity of running through water (an amazing feat in itself). He surpassed all of our expectations, and entertained all that had the pleasure of meeting him. He never let being the only of his kind in the tank get in the way, and I feel privileged to have known him. Rest in Peace. (note to self- must restock tank livestock levels ASAP).

Looking at the Alan in the Mirror.

Once Bittern Thrice Shy (continuing bad humour)

I started writing this post on Sunday evening, then tiredness won and I forgot to press "publish" before heading off to bed. Sorry about that... Anyway.

Despite the LIES of the whole weather-watching community, we decided to embark on our third visit to Lakenheath on Sunday. Not a bad run up there, so still had a decent amount of time for a wander round despite the late start. Superior birders were also in attendance, and may provide you with a more useful summary of the day.

There were lots of birds, many of which I can't remember now. Plenty of sedge/reed warblers everywhere, several cuckoo there like last time, and bearded tits amongst the reeds. As well as the now really boring bittern booms, we think we heard some young bittern calling which was pretty cool. Bit late to see the cranes out and about, but we heard them too so is tickable I suppose even if not satisfactory. Of course the real reason we went an hour and a half out of our way was to try and catch a glimpse of some golden orioles before they disappear for another year. Me and this one heard some very distinctive singing, and together we saw a couple of flashes of yellow through the forest with an audience of about 20 other people. I am told this was an oriole, but we must try harder next year I think.

I was a bit distracted by all the butterflies everywhere, so apologies for the lack of photographic evidence of any of the above. Here is what I did manage to get though...

There were more birds than this, but it was the only one that made it into my photographs. Young great-crested grebes were on my Things To See list for this year, so it was worth documenting.

The less cuddly variety of buzzy things. Was quite obliging for the photo though.

Small tortoisehell butterfly, one of a great many.

An Essex skipper, or so we believe. Feel free to correct me with your superior knowledge...

I'll try to avoid moths and butterflies and try to concentrate on the birds more next time, my most sincere apologies.

Scientific Birdan

Me and the boy managed to drag ourselves out of bed this morning bright and early after winning a pub quiz last night, in order to carry out some very important super scientific surveying.

Our BTO survey square isn't all that amazing to be honest- it consists mostly of wheat fields, with the odd hawthorn hedge, grass verge and angry property owner thrown in. It was good to see there were still a few skylarks kicking about (including one very obliging individual who flew nice and low over the crops), and a great spot woodpecker flying over was a surprise considering the habitat. There were plenty of spiders and beetles in the field, and it was good to see that despite the lack of diverse habitat, the hedgerows along the road were enough to support a good variety of butterflies. I think we managed to spot small white, large white, green-veined white, ringlet, meadow brown, peacock, painted lady and some sort of skipper.

small white butterfly

common ringlet butterfly

The star of the show had to be the yellowhammers in a hedgerow towards the end of our survey. There were at least three individuals singing and I saw a female amongst some chaffinches. We haven't really seen them here before although we knew they were in the area. They looked like they were defending a territory or something so we will have to go see if we get more of a flock during the winter months. Beats the Ingrebourne lot anyway :P

tweet tweet (i can't remember what they actually sing..)

Hopefully heading somewhere more interesting tomorrow, depending on whether the promised downpours appear or not. Managed to finally get my windscreen fixed, so wherever we go I will be planning on avoiding loose stones on road. Occupational hazard of driving to interesting places I suppose...

OMG AMAZING!!

Or not. Haven't had the time to get out in the zoo with a camera this week so far, so no amazingly cute photos yet. There are about a million ducklings in the gorilla moat at the moment though and fledgling sparrows everywhere, which are pretty entertaining. For those of you not in the know, London Zoo has one of the largest sparrow populations in london or something.

Other than that, the nearest to wildlife watching I've got to over the past few days is spotting some magpies, rooks, starlings, a good number of various Columbiformes a few red-legged partridges, and a single robin darting across the road on my way home today. Oh, and a yellowhammer :)

On the home front, the tank is still going swimmingly (sorry), thought I still need to plant it up some more and up my fish stock levels. Contemplating disbanding project platy, and going with a plan b...

I am hoping all this rain that has been forecast for the weekend doesn't materialise, as we were planning a day trip out somewhere nice on sunday, not to mention a weather-dependant windscreen fixing on saturday. Bah. Fingers crossed it holds up for the weekend...