SP5595ish - quiet

Yesterday I managed a late afternoon walk down the country lane that is pretty much the central 'vein' in my square. It's really not much to speak of, but it has wide verges and is lined by hawthorn hedgerow and through the year I will pick up inverts and various weedy bits along there. Except that at the moment it looks very sorry indeed - a fatal RTA on the main roadway that runs parallel to it (also in my square) on New Years Eve forced all of the traffic along this completely unsuitable route trashing the verge. On top of that, the hedgerow has been mercilessly flailed.

The knackered verge will recover quickly and the hedgerow is not exactly ancient so probably won't make a difference in the long run. In any case, I was on a birding mission and completely ignored the plantlife and made no effort to look for inverts on this walk - I was heading down the lane and out of the square to look for Barn Owl for my Foot It list (scored). I am very hopeful now that Barn Owl will drift into my square at some point, and I'll enjoy watching in the meantime. Did add a few other birds to the square list though (Long-tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Red-legged Partridge, Buzzard and Stock Dove) plus Rabbit. Incidentally, I find that when I am out, I am either birding or I am looking at everything else - I can't seem to do the two together. Once I've got a net or camera and hand and I'm searching the greenery I seem to go deaf and am oblivious to anything flying overhead.

Back at home in the dark, a garden foray was fruitless on this occasion - or may be. I got distracted by the unexpected finding of two noctuid larvae which I've failed to ID. I can't believe this - I've seen 1065 moth species in the UK and the first one I see this year I can't ID.

Note that the flash doesn't help, but I've collected one to try and rear and even in normal daylight I'm stumped - so much for Porter's guide.

I also found a spider that I can't resolve beyond Amaurobius sp. This also highlights the limitations of using a macro conversion lens in pitch black with flash - doesn't work well on fast moving things!

Nothing today as out for a local Ornithological society meeting this evening. However I keep telling myself that this is a marathon, not a sprint - and still have over 360 days to see something else .........