Kittiwakes live on the tidal river Tyne as far inland as my hometown, Newcastle itself. In fact, this is the farthest inland-dwelling colony of this small gull, known internationally as the black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) anywhere in the world.
We were in Newcastle for a university graduation ceremony in July, so it seemed somewhat churlish not to get photos of the seabirds in between family photos of us and the graduate and the great city itself. As Stephen Rutt points out in his excellent book The Seafarers, nobody has figured out why these Kittiwakes have come so far inland.
The world-famous Tyne Bridge, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, EnglandKittiwakes nesting on the Tyne Bridge, NewcastleThe Baltic Flour Mills (left of frame, on opposite bank of the river) GatesheadKittiwakes nesting up high on the Baltic Flour Mills, Gateshead
Gateshead Millennium Bridge over the River Tyne between Newcastle and GatesheadKittiwakes on the upper deck of the Baltic Flour Mills, GatesheadKittiwake outside the top-floor restaurant, the Baltic Flour Mills, Gateshead
Mention going on safari to most people and the assumption is that means a trip to a reserve somewhere far-flung, usually southern Africa, snapping photos of lion, giraffe, elephant, impala, and other big game. A wit might mention in passing the once-trendy concept of a safari supper, but let’s forget foodie affectations and take a safari around our local patch. What are you likely to see on a local safari?
Well, aside from the various birds we usually refer to in this column, the buzzards, kestrels, peregrines, hobbies, red kites, marsh harriers, and all those smaller specimens, there are quite a few large animals around. There’s no point offroading it and rocking up in a “Landie” like you might do on that African safari, the watering holes are not so scarce and there is almost as much chance of spotting your something in your back garden as on the farmland that surrounds the village and the local, small woodlands.
Reeves’ Muntjac on farmland behind Victory Way
Depending on the time of day, a walk through Les King Wood will often have you stumbling on and perhaps startling a Muntjac or barking deer. Specifically, the non-indigenous species originating in South Asia of Reeves’s muntjac were captive on the Woburn Abbey Estate in the roaring 20s and have since gone feral. Watch out for females with young, they will often make a noise and run out into a field as a decoy leaving their offspring out of sight in a hedgerow. They aren’t confined to the Wood though, you might spot one in and around the village at almost any time of year. Similarly, the various small herds of Roe Deer, which are more prominent on the farmland along Beach Road and in the fields beyond the Cottenham Lode.
An early morning run, as reader Andrew F will tell you, almost always has him stumbling over badgers on the “Birds Estate” in the village. Andrew tells me he sees them a lot and often with young. Foxes too are a common sight for walkers and runners especially in the photographers’ golden hours just as the sun comes up or when it is setting. That said, the inspiration for my Nature Watch report this issue was seeing a red fox in the wide open and newly mown hayfield alongside Rampton Spinney at midday.
Fox pouncing on prey at dusk, farmland between Cottenham and Rampton
The fox spent a lot of time staring at the hay, perhaps hoping for insects or small rodents to make an irresistible appearance. I watched him for ten minutes or so before he skulked off into the trees, presumably still very hungry. Some of the older residents will tell you of frequent sightings of foxes in gardens along the High Street backing on to the Lode and elsewhere in the village. They also might point out that fewer and fewer are seen even out in the more “countryside” areas beyond. Although chicken-keepers still have to be vigilant and several have lost their birds to the local vulpines nevertheless.
There are plenty of rabbits around these here parts, although thankfully they are not endemic to the allotments. That site does, however, have a European hare that makes a periodic appearance. There are plenty of that particular species around, often to be seen haring about in the fields beyond the Les King Wood and even on the back field of the recreation ground.
hare tongue
Moles are a little bit more an elusive target of our local safari, given their general subterranean existence. I have, however, once seen one of these velvetine mammals pop its head up from its hole. Seen slightly more often are stoats. If spotted these animals will often dart into the undergrowth but then come back out for a second look, just to check how feeble a predator you really are. There are water voles too, living in burrows in the banks of the Lode. Unfortunately, the Grey Heron sees this small swimming mammal as just another snack and I have seen one these birds standing atop the bank gulping down a water vole whole.
Stoatally marvellous
Meanwhile, the maintenance work the Environment Agency carries out there always takes the water voles into account and their work is done very much with protecting this species’ habitat in mind. I spoke to one of their engineers recently who told me as much and also pointed out some otter scat on stones beneath the Rampton Bridge, so there’s another mammalian target on our local safari.
Of course, if you’re unable or unwilling to venture out on our local safari, you might still be able to see some of the small game that lives alongside us in the village. Hedgehogs, once a frequent sight in their two-dimensional form on roads across the country, are seen far less often. It is important to make routes for them to traverse our gardens and to ensure ponds have escape routes to prevent drowning. Leaving gardens with some unkempt areas will give our prickly friends a place to hide and hibernate. Hedgehogs are lactose intolerant though, so don’t put milk out for them. They are omnivores, however, and will see a bit of soft cat food as a treat, although it is best to leave them to their natural diet of invertebrates.
Oh, and there are lots of American immigrants in the form of the grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in our environs as well as the melanistic form, the black squirrel.
If you have seen any interesting natural happenings in and around the village do let me know, you can email me [email protected] Photos and additional nature reporting on my website https://sciencebase.com
The Large Yellow Underwing is the kind of moth we used to call a logger when I was a bairn; Northern dialect word, short for loggerhead. On a warm summer’s evening there would almost always be a logger that would be attracted to a kitchen light and come in through an open window. I must confess I don’t ever remember seeing this species, Noctua pronuba (Linnaeus, 1758), specifically, and certainly don’t recall ever noticing any big moths that revealed brightly coloured hindwings when they were startled or fly. Like most people, until they learn, it’s assumed butterflies are colourful and moths are all brown, grey and dowdy. Simply not true.
Anyway, I’ve more than made up for any childhood failings in terms of moth observation over the last year or so. This summer alone I have caught and released more than 1000 moths of just this one species in my scientific trap, the peak was 148 specimens on the night of 26th August 2019. I’ve recorded their numbers and occasionally photographed them along with more than 300 other species of Lepidoptera (the word means scaly winged and also applies to the butterflies, which are really just a type of moth, anyway, there’s only any real distinction made in British English, because of the bipolar nature of our language with its Germanic and Latinate roots).
Anyway, I wanted to know the etymology of logger/loggerhead. Obviously, there’s the whaling term referring to a large post at the prow of a whaling vessel around which the harpoon rope would be slung to hold fast the catch. There are loggerhead turtles and the word is sometimes used to refer to a foolish person, someone thick as two short planks, and apparently, tadpoles.
Bill Griffith in his Dictionary of North East Dialect (Northumbria University Press, 2nd edn 2005). Refers to a logger as being a coloured butterfly. And mentions that it might also be used to refer to moths. He quotes its usage:
A've been doon the born coppin loggerheads
A literal translation from the Geordie would be: I have been to the burn looking at coloured butterflies/moths. But, figuratively it is a way of responding to the question “Wheor hev yee been?” (Where have you been?) with a curt “Mind your own business!”.
I’ve mentioned Peter Marren’s book on Lepidoptera nomenclature before – Emperors, Admirals, and Chimney Sweepers. It’s a fascinating read, especially if you love words and lepidoptera. But, if you enjoy either one of those things you’ll enjoy his book. Anyway, this morning, I had need to refer to it and put my various moth pots from the scientific trap next to it…ooh, I thought as I did so: photo opportunity. There are seven actual moths posing on my copy of the book in the photo immediately below. Can you spot them?
Angle Shades moth on Marren’s bookCanary-shouldered Thorn
On the upper picture there is an Angle Shades, a Canary-shouldered Thorn, an Orange Swift, a Green Carpet, a Ringed China-mark, a Coronet, and a Garden Carpet. Did you spot them all?
I’ve simplified my Imaging Storm “Mothematics” photo galleries. We now have – Butterflies, Hawk-moths, Macro Moths, and Micro Moths instead of dividing the macros between geometers, owlets, erebidae, notodontidae, lasiocampidae, drepanidae, and everything else.
Ruby Tiger, a member of the Erebidae family of moths
Peppered Moth – one of the geometers
Puss Moth, member of the NotodontidaeCopper Underwing, the owlet (noctuid) moth that got me started on mothing in July 2019
You can take a look at my detailed mothing records for 2019 here.
The mercury had been rising for a few days, nudging up the little iron shims on the garden’s max-min thermometer by mid-afternoon. Three days on the trot it has peaked at a little over 30 Celsius in the shade despite it having been a Bank Holiday Weekend. Nights have been sultry, as they say in a certain kind of pulp fiction. Humid, and the mercury not nudging the iron bars below about 16 Celsius.
Face to face with an Old Lady, Mormo maura
Of course, these are not extremes, these are puny temperatures when compared to much of the rest of the world. But, this is England and our weather is tempered by the Gulf Stream and admonished of late by global warming. It’s been good for the night-flying creatures you know I love. Both the bats and the moths.
Face-on view of Burnished Brass, Diachrysia chrysitis
The moths far outnumber the bats of course. In the scientific trap, drawn to the 40 Watt actinic, UV light, there were at least 421 leps of more than 43 species (highest density but not diversity so far for me in my garden in 2019).
Pebble Hook-tip, Drepana falcataria
I keep a detailed record, but some of the micro-moths, the grass veneers, for instance, don’t always get segregated in my logs, so where I say Satin Grass-veneer or Chrysoteuchia culmella, it is possible that I’ve overlooked a distinct species of the 2000 or so micro moths of the British Isles.
Setaceous Hebrew Character and Swallow Prominent
For the macro moths, I’m 99.9% certain I’m naming them and logging all of those correctly, albeit with an occasional escapee before it is ticked. There are around 500 macro moths in this country. Worldwide there are some 170,000 species of moths. #MothsMatter. I lodge rarities, interesting migrants, and vagrants that turn up with iRecord and the Cambridgeshire County Moth Recorder. Amazingly, of this morning’s haul not one of the specimens was new to the garden nor even new for the year, I’ve seen and photographed all of the species listed below several times.
Trapping record for 27/08/19Female Poplar Hawk-moth and eggs
Oh, by the way, in case you didn’t know, Lepidoptera means “scaly winged” and butterflies are essentially a sub-group of moths, they all having a common moth ancestor way back in evolutionary history. All leps are descended from a common ancestor with the caddisflies (of which many often turn up in the trap too).
A conventional sideview of Burnished Brass, showing its brassinessSmall Blood-vein, Scopula imitariaSetaceous Hebrew Character, Xestia c-nigrum
The main aim of the recent camping trip to the North Norfolk coast aside from camping for the sake of it was to see some of the seals that have a colony at Winterton/Horsey, a couple of miles along the beach from the Waxham campsite. You must keep the dog and yourselves at a good distance, which we did but so many people didn’t, which is frustrating to witness. Tragic consequences of such ignorance came to light in December.
Perhaps despite appearances, my photos were all taken from at least 10 metres away, which is what the signs tell you to do. The dog was never allowed anywhere near that proximity. They’re done with a 600mm zoom and then cropped to the frame.
Anyway, we counted a couple of hundred seals that we could see in the water and basking at the water’s edge. Two species here – Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus, the “hooked-nosed sea pig”, and Harbour, or Common, Seal, Phoca vitulina, which means “veal seal”.
There is an amazing diversity of colour and patterning of their fur and variation in size. Interesting to note that although they have a common evolutionary ancestor with the cat and dog a closer relative with a more recent common ancestor are the otters.
We like to take at least a couple of camping trips during the summer. It used to be that we would do three or four when the children were still coming along with us but that’s almost ancient history now. Anyway, there are several very important things to remember when camping:
Once you arrive, first things first:
Unpack the tent, get it erected
Make sure the pre-chilled beer gets stowed somewhere cool if not cold and crack one open as a reward for being so efficient with putting the tent up.
Then, it’s time to check the toilet blocks. Not for imminent ablutions after a long drive to the site, but to see if there are any local Lepidoptera in attendance.
Arriving at this week’s site on the more Easterly coast of North Norfolk coast where there are seals to be seen on the beach, we spotted quite a haul of toilet block moths. A Silver Y and a Flounced Rustic in the gents, but on the wall outside the Ladies, a Red Underwing and a Treble-bar (Aplocera plagiata, Linnaeus, 1758), which unlike the Red Underwing the others was new to me, although it was initially vaguely familiar as I’d seen it post by fellow moth-ers on at least one Facebook group prior to our trip.
The campsite was quite special, it had at least four toilet and one shower block and almost all of them had various ‘veneers’ in most of the buildings. With Mrs Sciencebase in tow as a chaperone also pot in hand we identified Small Emerald, Light Emerald, another much larger ’emerald’, and new for us a Magpie!
Magpie, Abraxas grossulariata (Linnaeus, 1758)
We will head for the beach when the campers are quiet and hopefully see the seals out of the water. There were half a dozen swimming near the shore but not landing as too many people and too many dogs. Despite appearances, seals are not evolved from dogs nor cats, rather they have a shared ancestor with otters. Whatever their heritage they would be unlikely to want to approach a domestic dog either way. Although that said, the ones we saw early in the trip were all very curious to see who these landlubbers are. There were also lots of Little Terns diving and quartering up an down the shore. Later that evening a Beautiful Plume, moth, a Straw Underwing and a Flounced Rustic in the red toilet block.
Next morning I got up at 6:30am and headed to the beach with zoom lens and rewarded by the sight of a single female Harbour Seal on the shoreline and a first winter Wheatear too. I was at least 30 metres away when I took this shot. The “authorities” suggest you stay at least 10 metres away.
Early morning Harbour Seal, Phoca vitulina, North Norfolk coast, 20 Aug 2019
On the back to the tent with breakfast in mind, the toilet blocks again, but there were Silver Y, Straw Underwing, and a Canary-shouldered Thorn.
Canary-shouldered Thorn, posing on my copy of Stephen Rutt’s “The Seafarers”, perfect camping reading
Mrs Sciencebase found a Sharp-angled Peacock and another Treble-bar in the green ladies’ block. Incidentally, the campsite was home to a decent-sized flock of Starling and lots of Pied Wagtail, and a few summer visiting Swallows and House Martins. We also heard a Nightingale on the first night somewhere beyond one of the site’s corners. And on subsequent nights Tawny Owl, and at least one other species of owl.
Sharp-angled Peacock, Macaria alternata ([Denis & Schiffermueller], 1775)A new camper turned up one evening with a tent perched on the top of his builder’s white van. Took him an age to set it all up with many trips in between the job where he headed off to the other side of the campsite and refitted somebody else’s caravan and then I heard him giving a quote to a dog walker in the dunes for a castle built on sand, typical builder.
Later: Blood-vein in green toilet block that night.
Next day was a chilly morning but with another Magpie in the Yellow toilet block. Also, Brimstone and Yellow-tail in the red block. The stars the next night were magnificent and the moths forgotten for a while as we gazed in awe at the Milky Way and discussed the meaning of life and the decline in Earth’s total biomass in some regions of Europe. We also played spot the satellite of which there were many heading to and fro across the night sky. Final morning, no new moths in the giant moth trap that is the array of toilet blocks on this site other than a Swallow Prominent high up on the outside wall of the green toilet block.
I also just about caught the sunrise over the North Sea at a little before 6am. Horrible phone photo though
My very good friend Ladybird Farmer, she of the multiple smallholding emoji, was impressed with the last moth blog post and suggested I do a count down of the Top Ten for the year. Well, while I’m holding out for a Merveille du Jour in September and perhaps a December Moth in November, I could have a go at picking out my favourites so far that perhaps highlight the incredible diversity of the 2600 or so Lepidoptera that we see across the British Isles.
Of course, all the ones that I’ve photographed were in our small back garden in a rural, but urbanised village north of Cambridge, so it’s quite a limited range. Nevertheless, there are some stunning moths to see here that highlight very well the fact that the leps really aren’t all drab brown and grey flittery things.
Number 20: The micro moth Lozotaeniodes formosana, known unofficially as the Orange Pine TwistNumber 19: The shield-like Herald, Scoliopteryx libatrixNumber 18: The Peppered Moth, Biston betularia, started an industrial evolutionNumber 17: It is impossible to determine whether this a Grey or a Dark Dagger without examining the moth’s genitalia or running its DNANumber 16: The Chinese Character, Cilix glaucata, is one of several moths that have evolved to camouflage themselves as a glistening dollop of bird muckNumber 15: The Spectacle, Abrostola tripartita, always seems to have its eye on youNumber 14: Angles Shades, Phlogophora meticulosa, of the most delicately marked of moths only one or two showed up in 2019Number 13: The Brassy Long-horn, Nemophora metallica, this thrashy little micro was on the Cottenham Lode rather than in our gardenNumber 12: The Small China-mark, Cataclysta lemnata, a beautifully marked microNumber 11: White-spotted Pinion, Cosmia diffinis, not a common visitor to CambridgeshireNumber 10: The Eyed hawk-moth, Smerinthus ocellata, uses pareidolia to face off against predatorsNumber 9: Buff Arches, Habrosyne pyritoides, a dull name behind a beautifully marked moth that camouflages itself as a hint of flint or perhaps a piece of fool’s goldNumber 8: Female Oak Eggar, Lasiocampa quercus, nothing to do with oaks, it lays lots of large eggs, but the name alludes to the large egg- or acorn-shaped cocoon formed by its larvae hanging from its food plant stems. Didn’t see a male Oak Eggar.Number 7: Privet Hawk-moth, Sphinx ligustri, the largest moth found in The British Isles, numerous entries in the garden this summer.Number 6: Puss Moth, Cerura vinula, the enormous “mother” of all the kitten moths. Beautiful grey-white creature with gold and black markings.Number 5: Emperor, Saturnia pavonia, the UK’s only silk moth, attracted to a pheromone lure during the day, the female’s are almost monochrome and fly at nightNumber 4: Sallow Kitten, Furcula furcula, a moth with a scientific tautonymNumber 3: Green Silver-lines, Pseudoips prasinana, some of the most delicate seeming moths are green, or yellow (Yellow-tailed, Yellow Shell, the Emeralds)Number 2: Red Underwing, Catocala nupta, one of the rarer underwings, Old Lady (Black Underwing) could’ve easily made the grade, as could any of the half a dozen Yellow Underwings, the Copper Underwing, or even the Straw Underwing. The scientific name alludes to something revealed on a wedding night!Number 1: Buff-tip, Phalera bucephala, the moth that so perfectly emulates a birch twig like this has to be Number 1
I must confess it’s difficult to choose, they’re all wonderful in their own way, all of the Hawk-moth I’ve seen this year are large and quite stunning, the Oak Eggar was a particular highlight almost glowing in the UV, the gentle and ghostly fluttering of Swallow-tailed Moths was a treat as was the likes of the Chocolate-tip turning up, the Iron Prominents, Marbled Beauty, and The Vapourer, which once again Mrs Sciencebase spotted before me. Some of the micros are quite stunning like Pyrausta aurata, Small Magpie, the Small China-mark, Pearl Grass-veneer, Orange=spotted Shoot, and the Bird-cherry Ermine. Even the greys and browns have their own intrigue from the Cabbage to the Turnip, the Pale Mottled Willow to the Mottled Rustic.
You can find my Mothematical Galleries on my Imaging Storm website. If you’re after the raw data, I’ve got the logs online going back to when I started lighting up again this year in late February. They’re here.
It was a slow build from just before the spring to the peak moth count and diversity where I was seeing almost 300 moths of 60 or so species in the scientific trap. At this point in the year there are many fewer moths arriving, just a few dozen this morning of 20 or so species. Still picking up an occasional NFM (new for me) and some NFY (new for year).
Old Lady, sometimes known as a Black Underwing
Among the recent highlights Oak Eggar, White-spotted Pinion, Red Underwing. But long gone are the days of several Hawk-moths to tally each morning and a range of beauties such as the Peppered Moth, Swallow-tailed Moth, Old Lady, Buff-tip, Buff Arches, and Buff-footman.
Buff Arches
I’ve not seen any “Tigers” other than the Ruby Tiger, and even the grey and beige brigade numbers have fallen off significantly, just one or two Dark Arches from a high of more than 60 of that species one morning. It’s to be expected, although there are still migrants around and the autumnal moths are yet to arrive (Rosy Rustic aside).
Buff-tip clinging to a twig, spot the moth!
There is always a chance of a Merveille du Jour, which never arrived last year, but there are other oak eaters that have come to the light during the summer, so who knows. Mervs usually fly in September and the December Moth another one to look out for often comes in November. We’ll see.
Female Oak Eggar
Favourite moth of the year so far? Hard to pin it down. Eyed Hawk-moth, Lime Hawk-moth, Privet Hawk-moth, Oak Eggar, Swallow-tailed, Buff Arches, Buff-tip, all beautiful, Peppered Moth is astonishing especially its industrial evolution, but I think the one that gave me the biggest surprise seeing it just perched roosting on the outside of the trap on the morning of the 15th May this year was the enormous Puss Moth with its beautiful markings.
Puss Moth
Some of the micros deserve a mention too though like the Brassy Long-horn Moths I saw on the Field Scabious along the Cottenham Lode, the Common Yellow Conch, Small China-mark, Small Magpie, Mother of Pearl, Orange Pine Twist, and the Orange Spotted Shoot. And, of course, there was also the Red Underwing
On the back to the tent with breakfast in mind, the toilet blocks again, but there were Silver Y, Straw Underwing, and a Canary-shouldered Thorn.
