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bill s birding bill s birding natural history etc 10 december 2017 wistman s wood in winter last weekend i teamed up with budding botanist alex mills for a brief stomp around dartmoor we dumped the car by the side of the road at two bridges and headed off north across the moor towards wistman s wood weighed down with backpacks full of camping gear and bryophyte field guides the sun was beaming down through the oaks but it did little to subdue the freeze noses were running and fingers were numbing but it didn t stop us thoroughly enjoying a few hours of daylight searching out the primitive plants that thrive in a really unique and enchanting upland habitat alex won find of the day with tunbridge filmy fern thriving in sizeable numbers amongst various cracks and crevices high up on the slopes spot the botanist tunbridge filmy fern in truth it was hard to look in any direction and not pick out something interesting to stare at every tree was plastered from head to toe twig to trunk with bryophytes and lichens that challenged my already extremely challenged knowledge of them between us we did recognise a handful of the more conspicuous species scapania gracilis western earwort rhytidiadelphus loreus little shaggy moss plagiothecium undulatum waved silk moss thuidium tamariscinum common tamarisk moss racomitrium lanuginosum woolly fringe moss we pitched up for the night on longaford tor alex had bought along his trusty vango banshee but i d decided earlier that day to bite the bullet and go with a lighter and more exposed bivvy bag in order to save enough room to bring along the mosses and liverworts of britain ireland in the end it was a gamble that paid off the frost was already setting over a spectacularly super moonlit landscape as we scoffed down a wholesome supper consisting of a mix of baked beans hummus but that was about as cold as it was going to get the clouds rolled in and temperatures rose a bit cracked open a couple of beers and took in the moorland vista not a bad way to spend a friday night no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 01 december 2017 nothing does autumn like a beech there s a quiet tucked away patch of beech woodland on esher common and this was the scene there early last week the turning of the beech leaves is something i look forward to every autumn it d take a lot to convince me that there s a more beautiful species of tree out there 4 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 24 october 2017 one of those nights moth trapping has been desperately poor in the garden this autumn a bright led streetlight illuminates the garden for half the night which is something i can cope with during high summer when there s enough moths to go around but i m sure it has an effect of drawing moths away in the quieter months last week i was about ready to pack away the trap for the year after yet another catch of just lesser yellow underwing and tachystola acroxantha but the appearance of the garden s second merveille du jour managed to persuade me otherwise i m very glad it did because this morning following a night of perfect weather conditions i woke to a trap full of moths underneath the egg boxes were red green carpet feathered thorn black rustic and red line quaker classic autumnal moths that don t show up in the garden half as often as i d like them to it was exciting felt like i could stumble across something unusual at any moment perched on top one of the egg boxes was a tiny but quite strongly marked moth with two distinctively huge white strigulae a fancy word for stripes along its dorsum another fancy word for the moth s back i recognised it instantly but only because i d recently been drooling over pictures of the one that bob arnfield caught in his putney garden last year it s cydia interscindana a tortrix that feeds on the mediterranean plant juniperus oxycedrus bob s one from last year was the 1st uk record and i believe he s caught another this autumn too the species natural distribution covers much of the mediterranean but like many insects it has almost certainly been given a helping hand northwards with the cultivation of its foodplant as far as i know we re the only two people who have caught one at the moment but it seems likely that there s a low key population flying around the london suburbs also new for the garden but slightly overshadowed was this vestal one of two caught last night 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 27 september 2017 grey phalarope things have been a little slow burning since my summer contract with the lulworth rangers came to an end two weeks ago and i moved out of the caravan at durdle door that s been home for the past four months saying goodbye to a great bunch of people and a great part of the world is always a kick in the teeth and the challenge now will be to find the next gig preferably as good as the one i ve just left on saturday i was back down on the south coast dropping my brother off in southampton for his second year at university after fulfilling said brotherly duties i twitched the juvenile grey phalarope that had made landfall in a small ditch near the picturesque village of keyhaven it went about its business in the typical manner you d expect from a displaced young phalarope frantically bobbing around and feeding on aquatic invertebrates without batting an eyelid at the families dog walkers cyclists and birders out enjoying a beautiful evening alongside the saltmarsh no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 30 august 2017 i got lost a few weekends ago i nipped over to aberystwyth to catch up with some old school friends i got horribly lost on my home and ended up first at the dyfi osprey project then on the minffordd path heading up into the spectacular cadair idris mountain range nightmare llyn cau twin spot carpet fox moth parsley fern 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest 16 august 2017 a night on the moors lulworth cove is a popular tourist hotspot all year round but during the august summer holidays it becomes a whole new level of manic the car park over flow car park and back up overflow car park are filled by midday at the moment and the coast path to durdle door attains the kind of people traffic you d expect along the southbank in the run up to christmas walk anywhere off the beaten track or up a steep hill and you pretty quickly shrug off the majority of tourists but the other weekend i opted for a complete change of scenery and took my tent down to dartmoor for the night i ve been waiting for a chance to return ever since visiting for the first time back in june the landscapes are entrancing and it s only an hour or so s drive from my base camp at lulworth i parked up at two bridges a secluded hamlet deep in the wilds of the moor and waved goodbye to the car with tent sleeping bag tomato soup tea bags a stove and a pair of binoculars all crammed into my rucksack i set off off down a track and then onto a well trodden path towards wistman s wood the sun was wavering just above beardown tor to the west as i reached the wood gradually dipping below the hillside i watched the shade line slowly creep up through the woods towards me and the dappled rays of sunlight on the moss cladded oaks and boulders i d heard good things about wistman s wood but this was magical beyond words as much as i wanted to be able to say i d kipped in such a bewitching spot i ve also heard creepy stories of pagan rituals and ghosts that encouraged the superstitious side of me to resist pitching the tent quite yet from the top end of wistman s wood i headed north west up onto the moors there was a grasshopper warbler singing somewhere amongst the tussocks of sedges and rushes and a herd of testosterone filled dartmoor ponies were busy chasing each other around the hillside i set up the tent on a rocky outcrop which turned out to be lydford tor so called because the ancient track that runs alongside it was used by 13th century residents of local farmsteads as a route by which to carry their dead across the moor for burial at lydford church luckily i had no such processions pass by me during the night as far as i m aware and i woke up at 5am to a positively freezing misty and completely silent moorland landscape amazingly there was an owl hunting in the distant gloom it was too dark to make out any detail but the size and flight pattern perfectly matched an asio species short eared owls are strictly winter visitors in the south west so one hunting over dartmoor in the middle of summer would be unheard of long eared owl on the other hand does breed on the moor in very small numbers although it is strictly nocturnal and rarely seen without decent views or a photo the owl sighting will have to remain a mystery an apt way to end an eerie magical and atmospheric night on dartmoor 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest older posts home subscribe to posts atom about me billy dykes view my complete profile archive 2017 37 december 2 wistman s wood in winter nothing does autumn like a beech october 1 september 1 august 2 july 3 june 7 may 10 april 6 march 1 february 3 january 1 2016 45 december 2 november 5 october 7 september 1 august 3 july 4 june 5 may 5 april 5 march 3 february 3 january 2 2015 58 december 4 november 3 october 4 september 5 august 6 june 6 may 9 april 7 march 8 february 5 january 1 2014 101 december 2 november 1 october 2 september 4 august 5 july 4 june 17 may 12 april 22 march 15 february 9 january 8 2013 82 december 2 november 1 october 2 september 4 august 6 june 12 may 6 april 14 march 9 february 11 january 15 2012 32 december 4 november 4 october 3 september 1 august 3 july 2 june 2 may 2 april 4 march 5 february 1 january 1 2011 36 december 3 november 3 october 4 september 2 august 2 july 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after the drought eventually 3 years ago regent s park birds norfolk over xmas and the new year 2019 6 years ago 1000 for 1ksq thorne end of year update 6 years ago blue jay barrens pileated woodpecker 6 years ago a natural interlude courting ravens corn buntings 8 years ago nt1582 dalgety bay fungus gnat updates 8 years ago donegal wildlife another update 8 years ago midlands birder american golden plover at the gann 8 years ago thoroughly pissed off birding thursley nnr 30 april 9 years ago ben porter wildlife photography a day in somerset 9 years ago south guildford birding shetland 9th 16th october 2016 9 years ago devon s wild things supermicro marvel 9 years ago punk by nature time to reignite the blogging 10 years ago notes from the doorstep new year flower hunt 10 years ago micro moths of kent flippin ec 10 years ago east malling ditton and barming monday 2nd march 2015 11 years ago followers watermark theme powered by blogger