Sunday 3 June 2012

Deluge drenches Jubilee June bioblitz

The Safari was out at 05.00 and with a dozen other early risers. We approached the moth trap location with some trepidation as it had rained heavily all night - would the light have blown up and tripped all the electrics to the cabin in the woods, would the trap be full of drowned moths, would there be ANY moths?
No it hadn't and yes there was, nine species in fact. Not brilliant but considering the rain and cold temperatures but a nice selection to kick off the list - - will we reach the now rather optimistic target of 500.
A bird walk followed but only a paltry two dozen hit the notebook as the rain poured down. 
Next was the inspection of the mammal traps - a great result four of the 28 had an occupant, a whopping 14+ % and even one of the first pair of traps had a Wood Mouse.

Very welcome hot bacon butties followed with many thanks to the girls at the Crematorium Tea Rooms.
By late afternoon a trifle over 300 species had been recorded with only a pond survey for amphibians;  still no Toad on the list and a Great Crested Newt or two wouldn't go amiss either. After that the bat detectors will be out but if the temperature doesn't reach double figures and the rain doesn't stop it's quite likely no bats will be found, but try we must.

Where to next? Far more news and the final result tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know if the rain put the dampners on the wildlife in your outback.

1 comment:

Warren Baker said...

Isn't this weather crap Dave, It isn't normally good in this country anyway, but this year it's particularly crap!