| Nature Watch Summer-Autumn 2009 |
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As one nature watcher noticed – there was a hoar frost on Tuesday the 6th of October and this was followed on the 9th November with a -2oC frost. This caused the first windscreen –defrosting of the year and put paid to most of the flowers in the garden. As we can remember one November with a frost of -11 oC, we can claim to have got off fairly lightly so far.
Seasonal movements reported via the Nature Watch site included a massive flock of Canadas seen on 8th and 10th September by Mary Young. She noticed them seeming to enjoy the water in the stubble field immediately to the south-west of Ballindean. This was almost certainly a south-moving flock of migratory British Canada geese. This migration takes place within the British Isles to and from their moulting grounds near the Beauly Firth.
Migrant geese are here from Iceland and the arctic– the pink-feet are the ones most commonly seen around the Tay. Nature watchers have slipped up in not posting the date of the first skeins of “pinkies” seen. So if anyone made a note of this please put your postings on the nature watch site!
Much spotting of moths, butterflies and other insects took place in Abernyte over the summer. Alistair and Eilidh with the help of spaniel Sweep found the largest moth in Scotland, a Convolvulus Hawkmoth. It was such an uncommon moth that we reported the sighting to the moth recorder for this area who lives in Pitlochry. Interestingly he, runs a light trap, and had another Convolvulus Hawkmoth in his trap on that same night. The moth was nearly 7 cm long with a wingspan of 12.5 cm. It’s an annual immigrant species. sometimes found in large numbers in the South of England but it is resident in Africa.
We first noticed that there were several Painted Lady Butterflies in the garden on 31st May. This is a butterfly which doesn't overwinter in the UK but migrates here in "good years". This year was a good year for them as millions of them left North Africa and southern Europe to breed further north. Abernyte gardens were home to many of them over the summer. If you have a Buddleia you have a good chance of attracting a goodly number of these butterflies to the garden – and it makes your garden into an exotic butterfly haven! Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals and the Painted Ladies were all about in good numbers. It was particularly gratifying to see more of the small tortoiseshells because they have declined over the last few years. Butterfly conservation have been doing a survey of them this year and so please send in any records you may have via their website. If you went for a walk on the hill in the summer you were also likely to see Ringlets, Meadow Browns, Small Heaths, Small Coppers – and Blues if you were really lucky.
A Comma has appeared in Abernyte. No this is not unnecessary punctuation, but another species of butterfly! It is a very distinctive large butterfly, orangey brown in colour with a scalloped border. One put in an appearance on Anne’s Buddleia on 22nd September and we had one in our garden later. Watch out for it on your Buddleia next year. And if you see one put it onto Nature Watch. The Comma is extending its range North and this extension is being tracked by submitted records- we haven’t seen one in Abernyte before, although I think they have also been seen in Kinnaird and Knapp.
And when you’re walking up on the hill, keep an eye out for red squirrels – Mairi and Stephen had good sightings of them on the Scots Pines up there. They’re also regular visitors to some lucky people’s gardens.
Other birdie events included the hearing of a cuckoo on 27th May, breeding of tawny owls in the village, the sighting of spotted flycatcher and red kite in the area. You never know what you might see in the coming season – but when you see something extraordinary or just ordinary but interesting – make sure you post in on NATURE WATCH!
Cathy Caudwell 01828686709
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