Week 5 of Lockdown in Cornwall - The Nature Around Us

There are a healthy population of Roe Deer around my house but you need to get up very early to see them

It isn't just birds which have caught our interest over the lockdown and it has been amazing to see the variety of nature that visit our garden and the surrounding farmland around the house..... 

Brown Trout rely on camouflage to avoid capture from Heron's and other predators and their cryptic colours and spots certainly help achieve this, can you spot it in the picture?

Earlier on in lockdown I bought a trail camera for only £50 and each night me and Libbie take it turns to place it somewhere around the garden or the farm next door and it's been amazing to record the different animals which pass it at night! Basically the camera works on movement so if anything goes past it's sight it will trigger 20 seconds of video and with the night vision it has it really is amazing value and great fun to look through the next day. Seeing these Roe Deer behaving naturally in the wild and also these two Wood Mice without them being disturbed is really captivating as it offers a glimpse into their lives.

Our 'pet' rabbit (known in the family as Reggie!)

I've also recorded foxes and hedgehog's overnight on my sound recorder and both noctule and pipistrelle bat. Plenty of rabbit's have also found the garden to their liking and have so far managed to avoid the dog! 

Common Toad is best looked for at night as they roam about searching for insects

Our garden pond at night is full of Newts, Frogs and Toads and we've even seen a Grass Snake briefly sunbathing but sadly no photo! 

I've never seen the point in mothing before now but I've been ignorant to these fascinating creatures. (Species photographed are: top Angle Shades, left Small Phoenix and right Muslin Moth)

We have also taken an interest in Moth's and set the trap each night and wait in anticipation to see what gets attracted to the light. The only thing is that our trap consists of an outdoor porch light and a fishing net! But it works well enough for us to learn them slowly and we have so far seen seventeen species including Fox Glove Pug, Least Black Arches and Ruddy Streak. All of the moths have really intricate and often stunning patterns and some of them have fascinating origins such as the Ruddy Streak which is an escapee originally from Australia! 

Never an easy Butterfly to photograph, it has been a very good spring for Holly Blue with numerous sightings 

Butterflies have been out in force especially over the weekend and we spotted the first Wall Brown of the year taking the overall tally to … species since lockdown. Sunday's warm weather also brought out the first Dragonfly of the year with this stunning Beautiful Demoiselle.

Beautiful Demoiselle

This was supposed to be a blog post without birds but I can't help it they will always be top of the tree for me and they have been the highlight of the week for me as usual! An early morning walk brought me the gift of a singing Cuckoo ,the first one I've heard near to home for many years! Swallow's, House Martins and even a Sand Martin have flown through the garden during the day whilst at night I recorded an Oystercatcher (first for the garden!) and more groups of Whimbrel, Little Grebe, Coot and Moorhen. Probably the most unexpected bird though was a Woodcock that flew over on 28th April calling as the sun set. Probably just a late migrant as I don't think they breed in Cornwall I only recognised the call after hearing them frequently in Lithuania last Spring. So the surprises that nature can give are still just on the doorstep and learning about the Mammals, Moths , Reptiles and Amphibians has been a great distraction and certainly something that wouldn't happen in normal life and yet I'm glad that it has. 

Juvenile Blackbird