Moths, Mice and where is that Water Rail!

We’ve had a fairly mild and sunny week for half term at Fairburn with many of the usual wildlife suspects around, including juvenile willow tits and tree sparrows busy with nesting material! Apparently the tree sparrows nested well into November back in 2006; if it carries on being mild with plenty of resources around who knows how long they’ll keep it up this year.

A couple of interesting moths turned up in last nights moth trap a Satellite; a fairly common moth that overwinters as an adult and is often active in mild weather. Interestingly the caterpillar is omnivorous (I did a double take reading this); and will prey on other caterpillars! The moth it’s self is quite richly coloured; reddish-brown to tawny orange-brown and has a small kidney mark on either forewing with two very small satellite dots either side of it. I’ve tried to highlight these diagnostic features in the image taken by our intern Jonny.

The other moth was a feathered thorn; thorns are a stunning group of moths many of whom rest with their wings held together over their body. The feathered thorn however rests with its wings flat and often has a beautiful white spot near the tip of the forewing. The male has wide and highly feathered antennae.

Photo © Nick Greatorex-Davies accessed http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=1923 and Peter Orr accessed https://www.flickr.com/photos/orrpix/6304276518/

We have been getting regular sightings of water rail at Pickup hide; this normally elusive bird is often more easily identified by hearing its piglet-like squeal.

Photo by Mike Richards accessed at rspb-images.com

There is obviously plenty of other wildlife to be seen including goldcrests around the discovery trail, lesser redpoll near the river bank, goosanders and the winter gull roost on the main lake.

As always if you come for a visit please pop in to see us at the visitor center and jot your own sightings in the book.