Mid-April round-up
Locally, the past few days has seen a great improvement on the bird-front. I have been putting in the miles, walking across farm, heath, wood and hill with no great reward as far as rarity goes, but happy enough to come across good numbers of Northern Wheatears - with counts of between 6-8 at three sites, plus a fine male Whinchat at Mogador and a bonus Black Redstart at Canons Farm. The local patch challenge list rises to 88. My efforts with the MV in the garden have not been whole-hearted. Last Tuesday night it did pick up a bit, with the first real assortment of moths to look through, including Early Thorn (pictured), Brindled Beauty and Scalloped Hazel. I also had a single Zelleria hepariella , a smart micro that I have previously overlooked. Botanically things are a little behind. The chalk slope at Buckland Hills normally has, by now, Milkwort in flower in good number, but on Wednesday I could find none. The local exotic, Koch's Gentian, was also behind, with only one ...
