Author Archives: sconzani

A Chiffchaff from Siberia

23 Thursday Feb 2023

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It’s been three years since I saw a Siberian chiffchaff, though one or two seem to appear in the county almost annually these days, blown off course as they move from their Siberian breeding territories to their usual over-wintering grounds south of the Himalayas. I first spotted this one in early February and thought it a Common chiffchaff but a more expert local birder did tell me then that he thought it had the look of a Sibe about it (the Siberian birds look rather grey and have darker legs). Almost a fortnight passed until that same birder saw the bird again and, more importantly, heard it call, because that is the clincher when it comes to these birds. Though it has been very elusive, I’ve managed two further sightings but have yet to hear that distinguishing call.

230223 siberian chiffchaff

Gorse weevils and dung flies

22 Wednesday Feb 2023

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Last Sunday was very Spring-like, the sunshine warm on your back if you were out of the wind. Nature thought so too and I was delighted to see some insects out and about. Though my first butterfly of the year, a Brimstone, didn’t linger long enough for a photo, the abundance of Gorse weevils on the flowering Gorse bushes were much more obliging.

230222 gorse weevils

And, on a rather large splatter of dog poo, which the dog’s owner hadn’t bothered to pick up, Dung flies were out in good numbers. Which is probably one of the very few reasons I would ever want to look closely at dog poo.

230222 dung fly

The voice of wildness

21 Tuesday Feb 2023

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‘The shape and voice of wildness’ – that is one of David Gray’s many evocative descriptions of the Curlew in his piece for the BTO’s publication Into the Red. ‘Mottled mud spirit’, ‘dressed understatedly in streaked browns and greys’ are two more but, as you would expect from a well-known singer-songwriter, Gray’s most basic response is to this mystical bird’s voice: ‘To hear a Curlew’s song as it carries across the land, is to hear, quite literally, a place being sung into being’. I sincerely hope you and your children and grandchildren get to experience that singing.

230221 curlew

Galls: Phytoptus avellanae

20 Monday Feb 2023

Posted by in insects, trees

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These are my latest gall finds, caused by the mite species Phytoptus avellanae, shown here on Hazel (Corylus avellana) though they can also affect the buds of Filbert (Corylus maxima). The feeding of the mites on the plant cells within the buds causes those buds to swell and multiply. You can see a comparison in my photo below, the mite-infected gall bud on the left, the normal bud on the right.

230220 gall Phytoptus avellanae (1)

The mites that cause these galls are tiny, so rarely seen, but the Dutch Bladmineerders website has some excellent photos showing them in minute detail. As with so many galls, they are thought to be widespread in Britain but are not well recorded. So, if you’re out and about enjoying a spring walk and spot some Hazel, do please cast an eye over the buds, and record any galls you see. Citizen scientists really do make a difference to our knowledge of the natural world around us.

230220 gall Phytoptus avellanae (2)

Springtail and slime

17 Friday Feb 2023

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My most recent leaf-diving session in my favourite slimy Sycamore leaf spot turned up these two tiny treasures. This first is a miniscule springtail with a very hairy bottom which I think is Dicyrtomina ornata. There is another very similar springtail, Dicyrtomina saundersi, but that has distinct orange patches on its antennae and I’m not seeing that in my photos of this little critter.

230217 springtail

The second treasure was a lovely bit of slime, which may or may not be Metatrichia floriformis. Slime moulds can be tricky to identify accurately and I’m well out of practice.

230217 slime

Holly speckle

15 Wednesday Feb 2023

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Have you ever noticed what look like little black spots on the brown fallen leaves of Holly? This is the perfectly named fungus Holly speckle (Trochila ilicina) and those spots, or speckles, are, in fact, the fungal fruiting bodies. When they first develop, they are a dark olive green but, after their lids open and the spores within are released, the speckles come to resemble tiny black craters. If you want to know more, a blog on the Woodlands.co.uk website has a very detailed description of these intriguing fungi, as well as an explanation of how their fruiting mechanism functions.

230215 holly speckle

A baker’s dozen

14 Tuesday Feb 2023

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I was walking along Sully beach over last Friday’s high tide when a walker and her wide-roaming dog put up this little flock of waders. In panic, they flew together along the beach, wheeled out over the waves and around, heading back to their original location.

230214 ringed plover (1)

Luckily for me, once they considered the woman – or, more likely, the dog – was far enough away, they settled back on the rocks again. The astute amongst you may have counted the flying flock and noted that there were, in fact, more than a baker’s dozen. That was the number of Ringed plovers. They were accompanied by two Turnstones and a single Dunlin.

230214 ringed plover (2)