A Year on the Common: Monday 18th to Monday 25th February 2019

Monday 18th February:
I only had time for a brief visit to the Common today so I decided to check out Rush Pool and The Bog. There was no sign of any Frogs or spawn on Rush Pool although the water levels are returning nicely since the work parties to cut back the trees and shrubs there. Sadly, the same cannot be said for The Bog which had all but dried out again. Whilst walking the length of The Bog I was treated to the sight and sound of a ♂ Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming.

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)

Wednesday 20th February:
This afternoon I decided to have a mooch about around the Oak wood and heath on the SE side of the Common. The weather was quite mild and Spring like so I thought there may be the chance of an invert or two. I wasn't disappointed as I saw two queen bumblebees: a Tree Bumblebee and a Buff-tailed Bumblebee. There were also a few active Honey Bees visiting the Gorse flowers.

Tree Bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum)

It was quite a productive visit on the bird front as I added two more species to my site year list. A Cormorant flew over heading SW and a single Lesser Redpoll was feeding in the Silver Birch trees.

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)

Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret)

Friday 22nd February:
As the week progressed the weather became warmer (unseasonably so in fact) with temperatures in the mid-teens as opposed to around the usual 7 or 8°C. This meant that more inverts were likely to emerge (and yes I do like my invertebrates!). I undertook a walk on the SE area of the Common again and started checking the gorse bushes for any ladybirds that may have been tempted out of hibernation. I was in luck and found a pair of Pine Ladybirds that not only had emerged but decided to start mating too.

A single Raven that flew over 'kronking' heading SE was another site year tick.

Pine Ladybird (Exochomus quadripustulatus)

Saturday 23rd February:
The warm sunny weather continued and more Pine Ladybirds have emerged. On one area of Gorse on the Upper Terrace of the Common I counted 14 of these diminutive ladybirds.

Else where on the Common there were good numbers of Redwing present in the SE Oak wood, with a number of them being in sub-song. It was really great to hear this warbling vocal.

Redwing (Turdus iliacus)

Monday 25th February:
The unseasonal temperatures kept rising and today was official the hottest UK February day on record with the temperature reaching 20.3°C in West Wales. On the Common it was an amazing 18°C.

For my visit I decided to focus on the Lower Terrace and the Terrace Embankment and was soon treated to my first butterflies of the year in 2 Commas that were flitting about over the lower area. On the embankment itself I recorded 3 Small Tortoiseshells, all of which were basking on the warm bare sandy areas. I also observed my 2nd species of ladybird, a 7-Spot Ladybird. A small number of Pine Ladybirds were also present on this area of the site.

Comma (Polygonia c-album)