Newport Garden Log - March 2020

To keep us all amused while we are mainly confined to home undertaking only essential journeys (you are doing only essential journeys aren’t you?) here is a short log from my home and a few photos from today’s permitted one daily exercise walk

Firstly the log of all things – mainly birds – seen from my garden. With the dramatic expansion of Newport to the west I am no longer close to open country. Tawny Owl disappeared many years ago. Distant singing Cuckoo and Yellowhammer are likely to sounds of the past.

Notable recent scarcities have been finches. I used to get up to 20 Greenfinches and Goldfinches at a time on the feeders and Chaffinches gathering the spilt food on the ground. When I was frequently travelling I stopped garden feeding – unfair for birds to rely on a source and then cut it off. When I was grounded on health grounds for a while I restarted but no-one seemed interested. An occasional Greenfinch. Almost no tits either. I am sure next door’s two cats did not help.

There are still open fields about half a mile to the north and the remnant Newport Canal is the same distance

These days it is all Feral and Wood Pigeons, House Sparrows and, sadly, a Magpie nesting in an adjacent tree

From my garden when it was sunny I managed

An Eristalis hoverfly (Drone fly). But which? Key feature is the dark front legs making this a Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax) – and a dark male with none of the usual markings. It is very hairy – likely a fresh specimen

Here is my 2020 garden log to date – anything seem from my house and garden

Birds
32 30/03/2020 Mute Swan
31 27/03/2020 Mallard
30 23/03/2020 Collared Dove
29 20/03/2020 (Common) Kestrel
28 03/03/2020 Canada Goose
27 21/02/2020 Raven
26 31/01/2020 Great Tit
25 31/01/2020 Common Buzzard
24 31/01/2020 Wren
23 29/01/2020 Goldfinch
22 21/01/2020 Pied Wagtail
21 21/01/2020 Grey Heron
20 15/01/2020 Cormorant
19 07/01/2020 Sparrowhawk
18 05/01/2020 Rook
17 04/01/2020 Herring Gull
16 02/01/2020 Carrion Crow
15 02/01/2020 Chaffinch
14 02/01/2020 Feral Pigeon
13 02/01/2020 Lesser Black-backed Gull
12 02/01/2020 Black-headed Gull
11 02/01/2020 Coal Tit
10 01/01/2020 Magpie
9 01/01/2020 Blackbird
8 01/01/2020 Jackdaw
7 01/01/2020 Starling
6 01/01/2020 Long-tailed Tit
5 01/01/2020 Dunnock
4 01/01/2020 House Sparrow
3 01/01/2020 Robin
2 01/01/2020 Wood Pigeon
1 01/01/2020 Blue Tit

Mammals
2 20/03/2020 Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus): dead
1 06/02/2020 pipistrelle-type bat

Butterflies
1 27/03/2020 Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Other insects
6 26/03/2020 White-tailed Bumble Bee (Bombus lucorum agg.)
5 26/03/2020 Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax)
4 24/03/2020 Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris)
3 23/03/2020 7 Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)
2 30/01/2020 Garden Spider (Arameus diadematus)
1 30/01/2020 Common Rough Woodlouse (Porcellio scaber)

Plants (selected)
1 24/02/2020 Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna)

And to liven things up a bit ... I took my daily exercise to the Newport Canal and back. Very little in the way of birds

On the canal: Mute Swan, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot

Otherwise of interest: 3 singing Chiffchaffs

And these flowers that you might see on any walk at the moment

An early flower is this White Dead-Nettle (Lamium album). As its name implies while the plant is very similar in appearance to ‘stinging nettles’ it lacks any irritating hairs.

Another, closer view. Successive plants flower almost continually until the frosts of Autumn and beyond

A typical clump of Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna). Many early-year flowers seem to be yellow.

Many of the flowers in the group had a few – or even – most, petals that were very pale or even white. Not sure why this might be.

More in a few days

(Ed Wilson)