I'm talking to the outside world again

It's been what seems like months that I have been without my internet connection and posted onto the this blog. That's because it is. BT in the first of a series of cock-ups removed my internet and landline on the 22nd April and I have just got it back. I'll not go on for too long about the absolute appalling customer service for most of this time but among the highlights were -

1). A total of just under 12 hours I had to spend talking, mainly to Indian call centres after somebody phoned BT to say they were moving but their move request was attached to my account and I lost everything including my sanity at times 

2). Being told I must have moved house because their screen says so
3). Being asked when will I be moving then if I haven't moved already.
4). Being told the problems were because I have moved back to my old address.

I haven't %$^!£  moved I've told you a dozens times, that's not me.

5). Being told I don't exist after having my account completely deleted so they can''t help
Worries of identity theft started creeping in.

6). Ending up with 2 accounts which apparently is impossible.
I have had at least 3, perhaps 4 during this fiasco

7). Being told by an account manager that they were looking into all my issues and NOT to phone BT anymore but they will contact me with updates.

She never contacted me again. 

8). Getting standard broadband back for 36 hours only for BT to pull the plug because ....
9). I received a bill for the person who had moved.
10). Being told that I cannot have broadband until I pay as I am a bad debt.

11). Getting Broadband back again but having to wait until a new order for infinity was issued and an engineer to call the following week
... to do what !!!

12. Getting Infinity back at 10:00 on Wednesday but for it to stop again on the stroke of midnight.

and 13). Lucky for some, I got my broadband back on Thursday night.

That's enough,  I think. though there's more, an awful lot more,  but back to the nature.


During all this it has not stopped me trying to see 1000 species a 1km square around Waldridge Fell.
I reached the 400 mark on 26th May with a Hoverfly Cheilosia bergenstammi, a widespread though rather localised species, this one preferring Ragwort.

Since then it's been hectic, but the moth trap only really started producing about a week ago.Here's a a listing and a couple of pictures since the last posting.

Green Hairstreak
Still on the fell though the numbers are nothing like they used to be

401	Medicago lupulina (Black Medick)	29-May
402	Delichon urbicum (House Martin)	29-May
403	Bombylius major (Bee-fly)	29-May
404	Veronica montana (Wood Speedwell)	02-Jun
405	Hyacinthoides hispanica (Spanish Bluebell)	02-Jun
406	Ematurga atomaria (Common Heath)	02-Jun
407	Pyrrhosoma nymphula (Large Red Damselfly)	02-Jun
408	Volucella pellucens (a hoverfly)	02-Jun
409	Sphaerophoria interrupta (a hoverfly)	02-Jun
410	Myosotis discolor (Changing Forget-me-not)	02-Jun
411	Ajuga reptans (Bugle)	02-Jun
412	Salix phylicifolia (Tea-leaved Willow)	02-Jun
413	Stellaria alsine (Bog Stitchwort)	02-Jun
414	Sonchus asper (Prickly Sow-thistle)	02-Jun
415	Argyrotaenia ljungiana (Micro moth)	02-Jun
416	Arrhenatherum elatius (False Oat-Grass)	02-Jun
417	Poa nemoralis (Wood Meadow-grass)	02-Jun
418	Bombus monticola (Mountain Bumble Bee)	02-Jun
419	Valerianella locusta (Common Cornsalad)	02-Jun
420	Eriophorum angustifolium (Common Cottongrass)	02-Jun
421	Hydrocotyle vulgaris (Marsh Pennywort)	02-Jun
422	Trigonotylus ruficornis (Capsid bug)	02-Jun
423	Voria ruralis (a Tachinid fly)	02-Jun
424	Agriotes obscurus (Click Beetle)	02-Jun
425	Meconopsis cambrica (Welsh Poppy)	02-Jun
426	Cantharis nigricans  (Soldier Beetle)	02-Jun
427	Agriotes pallidulus (Click Beetle)	02-Jun
428	Pardosa amentata (Spotted Wolf Spider)	02-Jun
429	Cylindroiulus punctatus (Blunt-tailed Snake-millipede)	02-Jun
430	Cheilosia latifrons  (a hoverfly)	02-Jun
431	Cheilosia pagana (a hoverfly)	02-Jun
432	Platycheirus podagratus (a hoverfly)	02-Jun
433	Eupithecia vulgata (Common Pug)	03-Jun
434	Selenia lunularia (Lunar Thorn)	03-Jun
435	Tragopogon pratensis (Goatsbeard)	04-Jun
436	Meligethes geneus (Common Pollen Beetle)	04-Jun
437	Epilobium montanum (Broad-leaved Willowherb)	05-Jun
438	Lolium perenne (Perennial Rye-grass)	05-Jun
439	Ancylis badiana (Micro moth)	05-Jun
440	Scoparia ambigualis (Micro moth)	05-Jun
441	Odontopera bidentata (Scalloped Hazel)	05-Jun
442	Plutella xylostella (Diamond-back Moth)	05-Jun
443	Opisthograptis luteolata (Brimstone Moth)	06-Jun
444	Vespula vulgaris (Common Wasp)	06-Jun
445	Agrotis exclamationis (Heart and Dart)	06-Jun
446	Chloroclysta siterata (Red-green Carpet)	06-Jun
447	Chloroclysta truncata (Common Marbled Carpet)	06-Jun
448	Abrostola triplasia (Dark Spectacle)	06-Jun
449	Lobophora halterata (Seraphim)	06-Jun
450	Lasiommata megera (Wall)	08-Jun
451	Bombus lapidarius (Large Red Tailed Bumble Bee)	08-Jun
452	Quercus robur (Pedunculate Oak)	08-Jun
453	Fallopia baldschuanica (Russian-vine)	08-Jun
454	Panorpa germanica (Scorpionfly)	08-Jun
455	Primula veris (Cowslip)	08-Jun
456	Puccinia phragmitis (Dock Rust)	08-Jun
457	Rumex conglomeratus (Clustered Dock)	08-Jun
458	Melangyna umbellatarum (a hoverfly)	08-Jun
459	Helophilus pendulus (a hoverfly)	08-Jun
460	Merodon equestris (a hoverfly)	08-Jun
461	Lathyrus pratensis (Meadow Vetchling)	08-Jun
462	Aira caryophyllea (Silver Hair-grass)	08-Jun
463	Festuca filiformis (Fine-leaved Sheep's-fescue)	08-Jun
464	Cydia ulicetana (a Micro Moth)	08-Jun
465	Coleophora serratella (a Micro Moth)	08-Jun
466	Veronica arvensis (Wall Speedwell)	09-Jun
467	Xanthorhoe montanata (Silver-ground Carpet)	11-Jun
468	Silene latifolia (White Campion)	11-Jun
469	Fumaria capreolata (White Ramping-fumitory)	11-Jun
470	Phylloscopus sibilatrix (Wood Warbler)	11-Jun

Damn that branch. My Wood Warbler in Felledge wood.
This species is getter rarer by the year in the NE
and my first on the fell since 2002.
Well chuffed.

471	Scirpus sylvaticus (Wood Club-rush)	11-Jun
472	Rumex acetosa (Common Sorrel)	11-Jun
473	Salix aurita (Eared Willow)	11-Jun
474	Nardus stricta (Mat-grass)	11-Jun
475	Epilobium palustre (Marsh Willowherb)	11-Jun
476	Carex remota (Remote Sedge)	11-Jun
477	Carex acutiformis (Lesser Pond Sedge)	11-Jun
478	Salix myrsinifolia (Dark-leaved Willow)	11-Jun
479	Ranunculus flammula (Lesser Spearwort)	11-Jun
480	Juncus conglomeratus (Compact Rush)	11-Jun
481	Dasineura ulmaria (Meadowsweet Gall Midge)	11-Jun
482	Crepis paludosa (Marsh Hawk's-beard)	11-Jun
483	Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Common Spotted-orchid)	11-Jun
484	Chrysotoxum arcuatum (a hoverfly)	11-Jun

Chrysotoxum arcuatum - A 
strictly northern and western hoverfly,
locally frequent on the fell

485	Nomada ruficornis (Red-Horned Nomad Bee)	11-Jun
486	Tipula oleracea (Marsh Cranefly)	11-Jun
487	Platybunus triangularis (a harvestman)	11-Jun
488	Ulmus glabra (Wych Elm)	11-Jun
489	Carex echinata (Star Sedge)	11-Jun
490	Carex sylvatica (Wood-sedge)	11-Jun
491	Milium effusum (Wood Millet)	11-Jun
492	Lysimachia vulgaris (Yellow Loosestrife)	11-Jun
493	Salix pentandra (Bay Willow)	11-Jun
494	Valeriana officinalis (Common Valerian)	11-Jun
495	Lysimachia nemorum (Yellow Pimpernel)	11-Jun
496	Cantharis pellucida (Soldier-beetle)	11-Jun
497	Plagiomnium affine (Many-fruited Thyme-moss)	11-Jun
498	Eupithecia assimilata (Currant Pug)	11-Jun
499	Calliteara pudibunda (Pale Tussock)	11-Jun
500	Lomographa temerata (Clouded Silver)	11-Jun
501	Ecliptopera silaceata (Small Phoenix)	11-Jun
502	Biston betularia (Peppered Moth)	11-Jun
503	Notodonta dromedarius (Iron Prominent)	11-Jun
504	Thera britannica (Spruce Carpet)	11-Jun
505	Aphomia sociella (Bee Moth)	11-Jun
506	Diarsia mendica (Ingrailed Clay)	11-Jun
507	Hofmannophila pseudospretella (Brown House Moth)	11-Jun
508	Stenodema calcarata  (Capsid bug)	11-Jun
509	Episyrphus balteatus (a hoverfly)	12-Jun
510	Pucciniastrum epilobii (Willowherb Rust)	12-Jun
511	Hordeum murinum (Wall Barley)	12-Jun
512	Thera obeliscata (Grey Pine Carpet)	12-Jun
513	Deilephila elpenor (Elephant Hawk-moth)	13-Jun

So that's it so far. I'll  post some pictures and more details later, I have a great deal of emails to go through as I have the internet back.

The idiot on the fell

The moth trap has been out on a couple of occasions and last night was the best so far this year with 20 moths of 7 species including 3 Early Grey (with a 4th being found in the garden later), and 2 new species for the year, Clouded Drab (at last) and Early Thorn.  The session a couple of nights earlier  produced Early Tooth-striped and the micro-moth Diurnea fagella.

Early Tooth-striped

Early Grey

Saturday was the better day and I got my first butterfly of the year, a Small Tortoiseshell. There must have been a huge arrival of migrants Friday night as there were 7 singing Willow Warbler and a Blackcap on the Fell on Saturday morning where there were none the day before. 2 pair of Lesser Redpoll  and several pair of Linnet are back on territory and  singing and it looks like many of the Siskins are hanging on to breed too. A couple of birds flying over 'the square' were also new - Sparrowhawk (another 'at last')  and Oystercatcher

Lesser Redpoll feeding on Willow catkins

Still plodding on with my 'square-bashing' and my 1km square NZ2549  species list for the year is now on 287.
Additions over the last few day as well as many already mentioned above include -
 Two more mosses - Plagiomnium undulatum (Hart's-tongue Thyme-moss) and Dicranoweisia cirrata (Common Pincushion Moss), Smooth Sowthistle, Broad-leaved Pondweed, Wood Burdock  and  European Larch. I also found another species of worm Lumbricus rubellus (Red-head Earthworm) in the garden as well as the blind centipede Cryptops hortensis  and Water-slater (a sort of aquatic woodlouse) in the garden pond. I spent a couple of hours looking for bees on fell on Saturday and it resulted in me finding Early Bumblebee and 2 mining bees - Andrena cineraria (Grey Mining Bee) and Andrena clarkella together with the cuckoo-bee Nomada leucophthalma and quite a few Bombylius major (Common Bee-fly). Another mining bee Andrena haemorrhoa (Early Mining Bee) was in the garden later in the day. The final species was Amaurobius fenestralis (a Lace-webbed Spider) on the windowsill.

Nomada leucophthalma

Andrena clarkella 

Bee-fly in the garden on cultivated Oxlip

 So if anyone saw some idiot on his hands and knees with his nose 2 inches from the ground on sandy bits of the paths on the fell on Saturday and had to walk around him, guess what, that idiot was me.

And a Swallow makes 258

A few things are beginning to appear now the sun has decided to shine occasionally. On Monday, despite the strong winds, the temperature got to 15.4C and for the very first time it felt like Spring. I thought it was never going to get here as it snowed only 7 days previous.Things have started to wake up so there has been a rush of new species in the limited time I have had in the field, not surprisingly the majority being invertebrates. The 250 mark for my 1km square was hit on Saturday with that Hoverfly and my latest additions, all from the garden were -


250. Eristalis tenax (Drone Fly)
251. Steatoda bipunctata (Common False-widow Spider)
252. Lithobius forficatus (Garden Centipede)
253. Vicia sativa (Common Vetch)
254. Bombus terrestris (Buff-tailed Bumble Bee)
255. Limax flavus (Yellow Slug)
256. Cepaea hortensis (White-lipped Snail)
257. Orthosia munda (Twin-spotted Quaker)

I am still awaiting my first butterfly anywhere and still no Clouded Drab appearing in the trap.

I put the trap out again last night but it was getting blown around too much and I abandoned it with the contents being a big fat zero. This evening my first Swallow zoomed past in a strong tailwind, number 258 and as I write this not only has the wind not died down but it's stotting down with rain too so no moth trap again.

A summary of the species I have seen within  NZ2549 (the 1km square around my house) is -

Birds	60
Vascular Plants	104
Mosses & Liverworts	38
Lichens	12
Fungi & Slime Moulds	8
Terrestrial Mammals	6
Butterflies	0
Moths	10
Dragonflies	0
Hoverflies	1
Other invertebrates	18
Amphibians & Reptiles	1
Aggregates & hybrids (not included)	9
TOTAL	258

Spring at last?

Possibly spring at last,  though slowly. I didn't think it was this morning when I checked last night's moth trap and found it was completely empty.  As I had to go to Hexham today, I was somewhat cursing as the weather decided to warm up. My first hoverfly of the year was in the garden and thought it was the common Drone Fly (E. tenax) it did feel that spring had started.

On the way back from Northumberland it started to rain (and forecast tonight) but I was thinking it may bring a few hirundines down and sure enough I saw a Sand Martin flying over the A69. Better still on the A697, by the sewage works at the Riverside Park a Swallow was flying around. 

So possibly spring, I'll put the trap out again, despite the rain, maybe winter has turned the corner.

A good bird but it by-passed Waldridge

On the way home this evening, I had a very good bird in Chester-le-Street, which chuffed me significantly. An Osprey slowly flying over the Durham County Cricket ground and the A167, heading NE towards and over the Lambton Estate made my day, especially as it was my first day back at work since the Easter break. In fact it was my joint earliest ever, having seen one over  Deadwater Fell in Northumberland on the same day in 2007. Though outside my Waldridge 'square', I don't reckon it ever  entered it, unlike my one and only, in July 2009.

Apart from that excitement, an improvement in the weather on Saturday, abiet for one day only, I haven't seen much else. Still  no butterflies or bees for example. My list for the 1000for1ksq moved on by 3 to 244 with the additions of a moss,  Ulota crispa (Crisped Pincushion), a vascular plant,  Water Horsetail and two Common Quaker moths. The latter,  because it was still warm enough to have a go with the moth trap on Saturday night. Though the temperature plummeted, I managed to get 2 Oak Beauties, a Hebrew Character and the aforementioned Common Quakers before I called it a night. Much better than I thought.

Crisped Pincushion Moss

Common Quaker

Two Oak Beauties

Apart from from these few new species, and of course the Osprey, it's still been too cold for much in the way of new stuff. Actually the bird table at the moment, since I threatened to take it down for the Spring has never been busier. Siskins are on it continuously and despite the weather, a recently fledged Wood Pigeon appeared with a gang of adults on Sunday afternoon. The Siskins are particularly entertaining. I temporarily moved the table to another part of the garden so we could have a spot of lunch in the garden on Saturday. Very civilised. They weren't happy,  and were flying around our heads, calling and buzzing, the male singing from a few feet away in the plum tree, twittering and squeaking away and generally showing displeasure that their new food source had been moved (not removed I may add). Even at dusk when I was setting the moth trap up, they ascended and were feeding on the lawn right next to the trap.

Siskin on the lawn

Sphagnum mosses are not easy

Still off, so I've been continuing checking for my 1kq square the last few days. The Chiffchaff is still present but has moved about 40 metres east, but today there were 2 other singing birds, 1 on each side of Waldridge Lane. Still flushing the odd Woodcock in the woods and a few Meadow Pipit have now joined the Skylarks, singing on the fell. There were 2 pair of Grey Wagtail on the South Burn and the singing Siskins are still present with a singing Bullfinch nearby today. Together with Wrens, Robins, Chaffinches, Greenfinch, Tits and Thrushes there was a lot of song today.

Wren in South Burn

I was nearly knocked over by a running Roe Deer yesterday which saw me at the very last moment as it hurtled over Waldridge Lane right into my path, veering off at the very last moment. At one point I thought it was going to leap over me.


Siskins are also now visiting my bird table which they have ignored all winter, just as I'm using up the last of the food to put out.

Siskin at my bird-feeder

I've spend some time looking at the sphagnum mosses in Felledge wood and Wanister and after much deliberation, checking through the field guide and other books and gazing through my microscope I am happy that I've identified three species - Sphagnum fallax, squarrosum and palustre.  It's not easy that's for sure.

The year list for my square has moved on to 241 with a few mosses and some commoner plants such as Common Mallow, Weld and Field Forget-me-not.

A summer visitor (at last)

It's been hard work, flogging my 1km square for new species and though I've been checking every day  over Easter, it's only today that I can say it's been worth it. My first summer visitor of the year, a Chiffchaff, singing by Brass Castle pond and soon followed by a small flock of Lesser Redpoll . The Redpolls were also new for the year as they have been very difficult generally in the area this winter. Unlike their cousins, Siskin, that seen to be everywhere and today at least 2 were singing and song-flighting in the woods. Also everywhere are Woodcock, for every time I've been in the woods recently, crashing around after mosses and the like I have flushed one, or two or three.  Another sign that spring is sort of starting is that the Grey Wagtails have returned to their nesting spots on the burn.

Chiffchaff

My first Common Frog spawn for the year was late, having just seen it on the pool by the fell car-park on Saturday. But besides that, it's been mainly a few more mosses and lichens and the vegetive states of some of the more common flowers.

Moths continue to be absent due to the cold, it's never been above 2C  overnight since I last had the trap out and tonight fares no better with it forecast -2C. I should have seen up to 16 or so species so far this year but have only seen 6.

So my list is 224 so far this year.