I missed out on the Merveille du Jour moths late last year, had a few November moths, and a Winter moth, but no December moths. I was beginning to think that our garden environment was too far away from oak trees for some of the species that are attracted to oaks.
But, then having started “lighting up” again a few days ago been graced with the presence of numerous Common Quaker the larvae (caterpillars) of which prefer deciduous trees, including oak and willows. Then I had a couple of Pale Brindled Beauty (Phigalia pilosaria), which also favour oak. And, best of the bunch in terms of patterning and antennae, an Oak Beauty (Biston strataria). The Dotted Border is also a fan of a range of deciduous trees.
Oak BeautyOak Beauty showing its patterning and antennaeDotted Border almost camouflaged on a business card from a local pub
A 7- or 8-mile hike from NT Wicken Fen car park out through Burwell Fen to The Anchor in Burwell and back via the electric sub-station. Timing was perfect, just ahead of sunset by the time we got to the western side of Burwell Fen, there were about 20 others with cameras waiting for the local Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus) to emerge for their late-afternoon prandials. Reckon we saw three of possibly six that live around this Fen.
Like I say, there were quite a few people on the Fen watching out for owls and hoping for a great photo.
Oh, and here’s that 7.65 mile route to the pub and back via the owls…
Then, there were these snappers who seemed to be snapping me rather than the shortie heading across their bow.
Oh, and one last shot just the sun was sinking and one of the shorties headed off over the Fen.
TL:DR – The males of many species of moth have feathery antennae to detect the sex attractant pheromones released by the females to allow the males to locate a potential mate, often from several miles away.
That feathery protuberance on this moth (Pale Brindled Beauty, Phigalia pilosaria) is one of a pair of antennae. What you cannot see clearly in my photo is that it’s fractal with each tiny hair on the main stem having its own array of tiny hairs and so on down to the molecular level.
Feathery antennae like this are found only on male moths and are basically its sex radar. They can catch a few molecules of female moth sex attractant pheromone on the breeze sometimes coming from miles away and guiding the male to where the female might be found. The female of this particular species has no wings and so the male must go to her to mate.
Steve on one of the mothing Facebook groups told us he gave a talk about moths and was asked if we had any use for them. Other than making silk from silk worms (the larvae, or caterpillars, of the domestic silkmoth, Bombyx morihe) was at a loss to suggest any purpose to moths other than their role in the wider concept of life on earth and diversity and all that. He posed the question on the group and was offered quite a few reasons to be cheerful when it comes to moths.
Shaun suggested that people have an odd relationship with moths as they are used as symbols and in myths in a variety of cultures, as food – some people eat the larvae and they’re an important protein source packed with essential minerals, they can be used as invasive plant controls and for the study of genetics etc. As decoration in jewellery, clothing, tattooing etc. Paul pointed out the traditional food of Aboriginal Australia, the witchetty grub, which is the larva of several moths, most notably the Cossid Moth Endoxyla leucomochla. There are a food source in Europe too and a form of tea that is brewed with moth and other insect faeces in China.
Martin’s take was that we make use of moths for interest, study, research, and in hobbies. They “brighten our lives,” he says. They also act as a gateway into other activities and interests, such as flowers, trees, walking, travel, and friendship.
Antony pointed out that pollination is probably the main use.
Matthew, somewhat tongue-in-cheek asked what do we use blue tits for? Or shrews? It’s not all about utility!
Roly asserted that moths have an important position in nature’s foodchain. Many birds wouldn’t exist without caterpillars for their chicks. He also added ever so slightly flippantly, I think, that his wife reckons she finds moths very handy for making her clothes look moth-eaten, proof that she needs continually to shop, though I’ve never seen a clothes moth in our closets, Roly emphasises.
Stewart had a research example of moth usage: Spodoptera frugiperda and Trichoplusia ni cell lines are used in the recombinant baculovirus expression system to produce proteins. The baculovirus most studied for this is Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus.
I haven’t yet been to see the Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) living on the edge of our village pond, but a visit to RSPB Fen Drayton today allowed us good views of a pair roosting and then feeding on the little islands right in front of the Coucher Hide there.
This species is incredibly well camouflaged in its normal environment. I spotted the first of two, Mrs Sciencebase the second. A fellow birder couldn’t quite home in on the places we’d seen them until the birds began to move to feed with their classic sewing machine bill action. Not to be confused with the Jack Snipe, which has shorter legs, a shorter bill, is a little smaller, and has more detailed and stronger markings but lacks the central yellow stripe on the crown of its head.
Here’s a shot from the hide of the more distant of the two Snipe we saw. This image is as it came out of the camera, uncropped, with no sharpening or processing, other than to resize for the web to reduce file load. Spot the Snipe!
The bird gives its name to the term sniper in reference to how British soldiers in the 18th Century used to hunt the species in India.
Okay…first moth I’ve seen this year was a Common Plume (Emmelina monodactyla), which I think may well have been hibernating in our car and flew out when we arrived home on 15th February landing on a Ribes bush to be phone-photographed seconds later.
Second moth was in the trap (accidentally, as the timer had lit it up briefly evening of 19th). This moth, a Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi), usually flies from March onwards. First time I’ve seen one. Added to the lepidoptera list and gallery.
Apparently, to some moth-ers the arrival of brown moths, such as the Common Quaker, are an indicator of Spring being on its way.
Other moth species on the wing in February March that might turn up if you’re trapping over the next few days: Pale Brindled Beauty, Early Moth, March Moth, Dotted Border, The Chestnut, Hebrew Character, Spring Usher, The Satellite, Dark Chestnut, Early Grey, Clouded Drab, The Herald, Oak Beauty, Winter Moth (which I spotted twice in December 2018 outside the trap), Red Chestnut, Angle Shades (which appeared regularly from when I started in July 2018), Small Quaker, Yellow Horned, The Engrailed, Silver Y (another regular visitor last year).
Meanwhile, butterflies. We saw a Small Tortoiseshell on NT Tubney/Burwell Fen 14th February and then a week later (21st Feb) a Brimstone and a Peacock at RSPB Fen Drayton.
I made a start on a bird book, but there are so many around, it seemed like a futile effort, once I’d done a bit of due diligence and spoken to my publisher. My plan was originally for a nice, bright and glossy, book of full-colour plates, but they’re expensive to repro in print. The unique selling point (USP), aside from my photos, was to be discussion of the etymology of the different birds’ names, their recognised names, their folk names, and their scientific names. But, then I found and read Stephen Moss’s excellent book Mrs Moreau’s Warbler, which basically covered it.
So, here, in part-work form are the first few chapters from the sampler of what was to be Chasing Wild Geese – Spotting your first 100 birds. Apologies if you put your name down for a more positive update regarding a hardback, unless somebody wants to take up the option this book may never materialise. That said, my list is up to well over 100 birds now, so I could add new chapters over the coming months if there’s enough interest.
Chasing Wild Geese – PDF sampler version with bonus chapter about the author
First trip out with the lensball to a specific location – the public art installation at Tubney Fen just before you get to the Reach Bridge over Reach Lode that takes you into Burwell Fen and thence Wicken Fen. The sculpture, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post shows a fen skater, an eel catcher, and an entomologist with a butterfly net, all important historical and perhaps still even contemporary fenland characters.
The main purpose of today’s trip was a long walk with Mrs Sciencebase, a chance to see Short-eared Owls (might have seen one in the distance) and a pub lunch (The excellent Maid’s Head in Wicken, served the purpose given that The Anchor in Burwell was closed for a private wake.
The birding list for today’s visit to Tubney, Burwell, and Wicken Fen included: Pale Common Buzzard (not Rough-legged, sadly), Kestrel, Short-eared Owl (possible), Whooper Swan, Mute Swan, Shoveler, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Greylag Geese, Canada Geese, Starling, Carrion Crow, Rook, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Black-headed Gull, Stonechat, Reed Bunting, Meadow Pipit, Fieldfare, Redwing, Skylark, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Blackbird, Wren, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Wood Pigeon, House Sparrow, Domestic Dove.
Fellow science writer Michael Gross recently realised (on a visit to a museum) that the Casio VL-Tone, VL-1, he owned. It was a sort of whimsical-seeming hybrid between calculator and musical instrument but was actually the first commercially available digital synthesizer. He tweeted and blogged about it, and did some video with his still working VL-1.
It gave me such nostalgia pangs as I too had the VL-1 with its ADSR (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release) digital sound envelope modelling. Indeed I remember as a kid pestering my parents to buy me one for Christmas, which they did, thank goodness, what would I have done without it? That and my sister’s cast-off classical guitar.
I dug mine out along with my old school programmable calculator fx-180p (one of the first). The calculator is still working, same batteries I had all those years ago (the best part of 40 years ago, in fact).
The VL-1 was battery operated but I seem to remember saving up to buy the power supply, which was expensive at the time, but far cheaper than the endless stream of 4x HP7 (double-A) torch batteries.
Aside from the ADSR, wich let you create your own weird sounds, the VL-1 also let you record a short melody and have it play up to four times in a row. It was almost a sequencer! I misremembered it having a quantization function, it didn’t but what it did have were two standalone keys that let you tap the time of a melody that you had recorded without having to finger the actual notes on the keyboard, which meant (if you weren’t a pianist) that you could get a better rhythm going.
I always wanted to be able to tape from the VL-1 and had a dodgy DIN cable that was so pathetic all I ever got into my Bush stereo cassette player was hiss and electrical noise. I was certainly not going to compete with Neue Deutsche Welle band Trio and their VL-1 hit “Da Da Da”.
So, today, having fired up the VL-1 I recorded a quick burst of the opening bars of Tubular Bells, which if I remember rightly are three bars of 9/8 time followed by a 13/8. Played it back into my USB musical interface and then processed it, just a tad in my mixing software. The upper one plays the wet mix, the lower one the dry, unprocessed, piano tone as it comes out of the Casio VL-1.
Wet tone:
Dry tone:
Oh, and here’s my old calculator spelling out the hilarious punchline of a classic calculator joke.
Also in the same treasure trove…a big box at the back of a cupboard…was a barely used Psion Organiser that I won when I sent a computer tip to a magazine around about 1989.
And, then there was my old Sanyo dictaphone, which I used to take with me to interview various academics and industrialists when I freelanced for the likes of New Scientist, Science, Chemistry & Industry and all those others back in the 1990s.
Did a bit of a marathon fenland crawl yesterday. Started mid-morning at Kingfisher’s Bridge Nature Reserve and learned a lot about the local setup and the Cranes, the Marsh Harriers, the otters, and the buffalo there from Bruce Martin. That’s a name any Cambridgeshire birder will know, he holds the record for the longest ticked list of species in the county, apparently, well over three hundred. Here are a few snaps from Kingfisher’s Bridge, NT Wicken Fen and Tubney/Burwell.
View from the left-hand hide up the mountain facing out over the lakeUnwanted otter in the lake despite the predator barrier (500m away)
Marsh Harrier harrying coots. It didn’t catch one.Marsh Harrier chasing MallardOnly mares allowed. The Konik pony stallions have been relocated to preclude breeding.Disgruntled Sparrowhawk failed to catch the Kingfisher he chased into the reed bed.Reach Bridge takes you over the waterway to NT Tubney FenReach Bridge and reeds at NT Tubney FenRusty Fenmen – Skater, Eel Catcher and Entomologist. Public art at NT Tubney Fen.
Birdlist for the day: Marsh Harrier, Coot, Wigeon, Pochard, Shelduck, Shoveler, Pintail, Whooper Swan, Sparrowhawk, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Mallard, Mute Swan, Kingfisher, Reed Bunting, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Robin, Kestrel, Lapwing, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gully, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Cormorant, Greylag Geese, Canada Geese, Egyptian Geese, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Wren, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Starling, Little Egret, Teal, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Buzzard, House Sparrow. Mammals seen: Buffalo, cattle, Muntjac deer, otter, grey squirrel, Konik ponies.
St Mary’s Church at Burwell viewed from the western bank of NT Tubney FenWhooper Swan over NT Tubney Fen, Cambridgeshire
Like I say, there were quite a few people on the Fen watching out for owls and hoping for a great photo.
