Wildlife

James Lowen

New macros at home are like hen's teeth nowadays - even more so new macros for me. And this would have been that - a full-fat tick - had I not popped over to see a friend Iain yesterday morning, who had a Tawny Pinion clinging to his wall for two days.

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19 March 2023 Moth-er's Day

It is Mother's Day in the UK. When I was growing up, my sister and I used to call this (and Father's Day) 'Commercial Con Day'. With time, I have appreciated its importance. Which is why - while our daughter remained steadfastly asleep this morning - I presented my wife with a lepidopteran present. After all, add a hyphen, and you get 'Moth-er's Day'. The winged prize was the garden's first Tawny Pinion.

This was a lesson for me: patience, boy, patience. I rarely pot-twitch nowadays, and should simply have waited. Granted, I had given up home of catching Tawny Pinion at home, but with two records in north Norwich the past couple of days, it might have been worth me keeping the faith. Anyhow, the good news is that it meant that (a) I recognised its long-winged form as it flicked between white wall and plants near the MV and (b) I potted it in the run-up to midnight, and as there was very little in the MV this morning, it probably wouldn't have been there had I not been outside to check. I even had a bonus while checking - 2+ Dunlin that flew over calling, a 'full-on house tick' to complement another of its guild, a long-overdue Lapwing earlier in the day. Three house ticks in a day!