 |
| Lobesia littoralis |
 |
| Peppered Moth |
 |
| Broom Moth |
 |
| Marbled Minor agg |
 |
| Flax Tortrix |
 |
| Celypha striana |
 |
 |
 |
| Brimstone | Red-barred Tortrix | Common Swift |
Monday, 18 June 2012
Could Sunday be a precursor?
Hopefully this Wednesday we will be trapping at work again, and by the looks of the weather it seems like the next few nights are going to be similar. So I put the trap out with great expectations. It certainly had that feel about it - calm, warmish, patchy cloudy. I even got that frisson of a hope that the Elephants might be on the charge, but I was let down on that one.
The rest of the trap contents however, were pretty good with 6 new for years and the one right awaiting confirmation (EDIT: it has been confirmed that this is Lobesia littoralis, my 2nd record for the garden!). Out of the usual array of early summer visitors the stand out inhabitants of the trap this morning were a Peppered Moth, 2 x Small Dusty Waves, Treble-bar, the first Willow Beauty of the year.
This beautifully subtly marked Broom Moth (my 2nd ever!) plus Flax Tortrix, Celypha striana, and a pale version of the Clouded-bordered Brindle. There was also some variety to the Marbled Minor agg. which got me excited but I think they're all just Marbled Minor, and I won't get them chopped up anyway so that's what they go down on the list as!
A late, forgotten post
Ooops! With all the excitement of the Charity Garden Party this weekend (from which we raised £1400 for Macmillan Trust and Motor Neurone Disease Association by the way) I've completely forgotten about posting my moth news from Tuesday. It wasn't massively exciting but looks like it marks an improvement in the weather (slightly!?!) and the moths. The day was fairly warm, getting up to 14 degrees and staying around 12 into the evening, dropping to 9 degrees in the night. But the key things was that it was calm and cloudy - the two key ingredients that I'm beginning to understand are vital to a good moth night.
So to the catch - 27 altogether with only two new ones. The first is Dark Arches (oh-no, I hear you mothers groan) but it has to be recorded as it's the turning point in the moth calendar. From now on both this species and the Heart and Dart will rise in numbers to epic proportions (Dark Arches max last year was 42 in a single trap on 25th June - with Heart and Dart on equally high numbers in that trap with 65!).
The other newbie was actually a new one for me altogether - a snazzy little micro called Epiblema cynosbatella. The lovely yellow nose separates it from some similar congeners, and it's a species I saw lots of others catch last year but I missed out. Glad it's on my list this year, as number 398.
These other three are on show here cos they're some of my favourites. Simple as that!
So to the catch - 27 altogether with only two new ones. The first is Dark Arches (oh-no, I hear you mothers groan) but it has to be recorded as it's the turning point in the moth calendar. From now on both this species and the Heart and Dart will rise in numbers to epic proportions (Dark Arches max last year was 42 in a single trap on 25th June - with Heart and Dart on equally high numbers in that trap with 65!). 
The other newbie was actually a new one for me altogether - a snazzy little micro called Epiblema cynosbatella. The lovely yellow nose separates it from some similar congeners, and it's a species I saw lots of others catch last year but I missed out. Glad it's on my list this year, as number 398.These other three are on show here cos they're some of my favourites. Simple as that!
 |
 |
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| Bright-line Brown-eye | Angle Shades | Freyer's Pug |
Monday, 11 June 2012
Two half-decent moth nights
Saturday and Sunday nights were not ideal conditions, but they were DRY! Hurrah! In fact the dry from Saturday night lead onto the very lovely morning walk that I posted about yesterday at Cannock Chase. The evening temperatures were around 12 degrees on Saturday but 10 degrees on Sunday, but given that both nights were fairly similar I decided to run an experiment testing the lights against each other. I ran the 15W Actinic/117W CFL combo trap on Saturday and the 80MBF on Sunday. Same trap, same setup just different lights.
The results were...
...rather inconsequential to be honest - although Saturday's catch was fairly uneventful (Freyer's Pug, Scoparia ambigualis, Silver Y and Ingrailed Clay being the only interesting moths) the MBF bulb did pull in Poplar Hawk, Pale Tussock, Angle Shades, Scoparia pyralella, Peppered Moth, Clouded-bordered Brindle and Cabbage Moth. So I'm tempted to say that the MBF was more successful, but that's only cos the bigger showy moths grab your attention, don't they!?!
Any way some photos from Saturday first:
And some from Sunday:
2012 Moth Yearlist = right on the verge...99
The results were...
| Saturday | Sunday | ||
| Micros | Macros | Micros | Macros |
| 6 | 20 | 5 | 19 |
...rather inconsequential to be honest - although Saturday's catch was fairly uneventful (Freyer's Pug, Scoparia ambigualis, Silver Y and Ingrailed Clay being the only interesting moths) the MBF bulb did pull in Poplar Hawk, Pale Tussock, Angle Shades, Scoparia pyralella, Peppered Moth, Clouded-bordered Brindle and Cabbage Moth. So I'm tempted to say that the MBF was more successful, but that's only cos the bigger showy moths grab your attention, don't they!?!
Any way some photos from Saturday first:
 |
 |
| Silver Y | Heart & Dart |
 |
 |
| Ingrailed Clay | Scoparia ambigualis |
And some from Sunday:
 |
 |
 |
| Angle Shades | Scoparia pyralella (nice comparison to S. ambigualis above) |
Marbled Minor agg. |
 |
 |
 |
| Foxglove Pug | Peppered Moth | Bryotropha similis (I think?) |
Sunday, 10 June 2012
A proper go at Cannock
This morning we got up early and headed out to Cannock Chase to do a repeat of the trip I had there on Tuesday night. If you read that post you will see that I went in the drizzling conditions from 5pm onwards and managed to find Redstart, Tree Pipit and Cuckoo and came tantalisingly close to a Wood Warbler! Well if the views I had of those birds were ok then the results me and the nipper had this morning were out-of-this-world.
Only a few times have I proved to myself that old adage of "the early bird gets the worm"....one of those was whilst in Kos a few years ago when I spent five days having an evening visit around the salt pans at Tingaki and picking up one or two goodies before attempting an early morning visit (I think it was 5am! On my holidays! God knows how I swung this one past the girlfriend?). There are no words to describe the differences. I literally walked around gobsmacked ticking off Hoopoe, Tawny Pipit, Lesser Grey and Red-backed Shrikes, Marsh Harrier, Great Reed Warbler, Greater Sand Plover, Squacco Heron, Temminck's Stint, Wood Sand, 63 Stone-Curlew in one field....the list goes on. The whole place, the feel, the atmosphere was simply alive. Completely different to the afternoon visits which were, now looking back, lacking in energy (from me and the birds!).
This same difference in the wildlife can also be attributed to Cannock. The weather obviously made the difference too - today was bright and cheerful, sunny patches, actually warm by lunchtime! But the other difference which I think is important at Cannock is the tourism industry. By 9am the place was thronged with mountain-bikers and dog-walkers, horse-riders and families out for the day. This is of course the magic of the place, the way that all these activities can be catered for is a very clever management system developed by the Chase District Council (among many others) but for the birder wanting to get good views of Cannocks speciality birds I heartily recommend getting up early, being the first on site, feeling the Chase wake up to a gorgeous summer's day!
And so to the birds - the only one we missed was Pied Flycatcher. A shame, yes. But when you consider that within the first 300m we'd had jaw-dropping views of 3 Wood Warblers parachuting their song around a birch copse, Spotted Flycatcher at the nest, numerous Tree Pipit, and 4 Redstart I think you'll agree it was worth the effort. We parked at the Punchbowl car park again and followed the main bike track to the Stepping Stones and then along the Sherbrook Valley. It was clear that Redstart and Tree Pipit had territories right along this track, we must have seen and heard at least 7 Redstart in total, and the Cuckoo was heard again in the Valley towards the heath. Brocton Coppice was popular with the Wood Warbler, but were not singing when we returned at 1130 so the emphasis to start early was brought home to me. At the top of the Sherbrook Valley where the track opens out to heathland a pair of Stonechat (another new for the year) stood on guard, and here we kicked a pale moth out of the grasses.
After a short chase we pinned it down and got this awful photo, to prove it was a Grass Wave - my first! We also encountered Cinnabar, Celypha lacunana, Common and Silver-ground Carpet as well as Small Heath and Large White butterflies and numerous bugs and other crawlies and flyers. It really was a beautiful mornings walk and if anyone ever says again "Why do you need to go birdwatching so early?", I'll simply say "if you're an early bird then you WILL be well fed"!
Only a few times have I proved to myself that old adage of "the early bird gets the worm"....one of those was whilst in Kos a few years ago when I spent five days having an evening visit around the salt pans at Tingaki and picking up one or two goodies before attempting an early morning visit (I think it was 5am! On my holidays! God knows how I swung this one past the girlfriend?). There are no words to describe the differences. I literally walked around gobsmacked ticking off Hoopoe, Tawny Pipit, Lesser Grey and Red-backed Shrikes, Marsh Harrier, Great Reed Warbler, Greater Sand Plover, Squacco Heron, Temminck's Stint, Wood Sand, 63 Stone-Curlew in one field....the list goes on. The whole place, the feel, the atmosphere was simply alive. Completely different to the afternoon visits which were, now looking back, lacking in energy (from me and the birds!).
This same difference in the wildlife can also be attributed to Cannock. The weather obviously made the difference too - today was bright and cheerful, sunny patches, actually warm by lunchtime! But the other difference which I think is important at Cannock is the tourism industry. By 9am the place was thronged with mountain-bikers and dog-walkers, horse-riders and families out for the day. This is of course the magic of the place, the way that all these activities can be catered for is a very clever management system developed by the Chase District Council (among many others) but for the birder wanting to get good views of Cannocks speciality birds I heartily recommend getting up early, being the first on site, feeling the Chase wake up to a gorgeous summer's day!
 |
 |
 |
| male Redstart | Wood Warbler | uncooperative Spotted Flycatcher |
And so to the birds - the only one we missed was Pied Flycatcher. A shame, yes. But when you consider that within the first 300m we'd had jaw-dropping views of 3 Wood Warblers parachuting their song around a birch copse, Spotted Flycatcher at the nest, numerous Tree Pipit, and 4 Redstart I think you'll agree it was worth the effort. We parked at the Punchbowl car park again and followed the main bike track to the Stepping Stones and then along the Sherbrook Valley. It was clear that Redstart and Tree Pipit had territories right along this track, we must have seen and heard at least 7 Redstart in total, and the Cuckoo was heard again in the Valley towards the heath. Brocton Coppice was popular with the Wood Warbler, but were not singing when we returned at 1130 so the emphasis to start early was brought home to me. At the top of the Sherbrook Valley where the track opens out to heathland a pair of Stonechat (another new for the year) stood on guard, and here we kicked a pale moth out of the grasses.
Saturday, 9 June 2012
Desperate material for blogging
With the weather being so bad here in Derbyshire (for mothing at least!) here is my desperate attempt to include new stuff in my blog. And it is new...just not really exciting. It was found resting on the side of Jordan's TV. Not one I've caught/seen before so it is exciting enough to include as a blog post I'm sure you'll agree?
This pot-shot is probably the best of the two photos (at least it's in focus!!) but I'm sure this is a Case-bearing Clothes-moth.
The moth trap is currently on - the weather has at least stopped wetting itself and hopefully will keep cloudy but dry for most of the night without cooling of the moths until they visit my trap. Off to Cannock Chase to repeat my visit from the other day but early on, so I'll post tomorrow and update you on how different it is!
Moth Yearlist = 87 including 6 new macros and 8 new micros.
The moth trap is currently on - the weather has at least stopped wetting itself and hopefully will keep cloudy but dry for most of the night without cooling of the moths until they visit my trap. Off to Cannock Chase to repeat my visit from the other day but early on, so I'll post tomorrow and update you on how different it is!
Moth Yearlist = 87 including 6 new macros and 8 new micros.
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
A few more birds for the list
Monday 4th June -
afternoon arrived a little too soon and I was in danger of not seeing a bird all day, and when compared to the previous days stomp around Yorkshire this would have been sacriledge!! So when news of a Red-footed Falcon at Willington turned up on the internet I have to admit I nearly jumped. Then I thought "leave it a while, there's no point racing down there if it's onyl a fly-over". And sure enough an hour later there was the dreaded 'no sign' message on Birdguides. So I got on with updating my blog, and bird and moth records. That killed 2 hours, and I checked the internet again. Bugger! The earlier no sign message had been followed with at least four more positive mesages. I packed the bins and shot down the A38 and fast as I was allowed.
On arrival at Willington one very determined gentleman overtook me whilst pointing out a Lesser Whitethroat to me on song, so I decided to keep up with him. As I got down towards the end of the lane more and more people appeared to be coming away...mutterings of "crap viewpoint" and "not seen for an hour" were reaching my ears! Within minutes of standing at Platform 5 I could understand their frustrations. It appeared the bird was feeding low down over the other side of the river and the chance of seeing it through the willows at Platform 5 were very slim. A few birders had chosen to try down the other side of the Trent, and soon a text came through from one of the gathered birders to say that the bird had been found over there. My determined gentleman was one of the first off the mark, with me close behind him. We traipsed down the opposite side of the Trent (although by this time he'd outpaced me, and I thought I walked very fast!?). A few others had chosen to give this route a try and around 15 of us were stood overlooking the fields beyond the wood. After half an hour or so I picked up a bird coming up off the river, floating low over the fields and it landed in a bare hawthorn. Red-footed Falcon! Epic! Until my determined birder just pipped me to the post! He'd spotted the same bird and got his voice heard first!! The following hour was taken up watching the falcon hunt low over the fields, around the willows along the river and mostly perched in a small hawthorn hedge. My second ever RFF, and amazingly both in Derbyshire and even more amazingly only around 6km apart and even, even more amazingly only (4 years and) 10 days apart!
I also finally managed to pick out a Garden Warbler whilst watching for the falcon!
Tuesday 5th June -
An evening wander around Cannock Chase to try and pick up the specialities (yeah, I know now that this wasnt the best time to visit!). I parked at the Punchbowl and walked up to the Stepping Stones and then into the Sherbrook Valley. It was the first time I've visited this part of the Chase and I can see, despite the large amount of rain that was falling this evening, how attractive it would be to birds such as Pied Flycatcher etc. The walk was wet but very pleasurable with Cuckoo calling in Sherbrook and eventually showing over my head. A Green Woodpecker seemed to call constantly around me, and eventually gave itself up - my first for the year would you believe (see previous posts as to my frustration with this species). The only other decent bird was a Redstart that didn't seem to mind the rain. The rain was pretty persistant until around 745pm when it lifted and seemed to immediately put the Tree Pipits into song. I picked this one up in a side path along which a number of oak trees were growing. Apologies for the terribly gloomy video but it gives you an idea of the conditions.
and a quick walk up one of the side paths gives views over the heathland such as this (left). Probably not the best photos in the world, and definitely not going to make it into the "Cannock Chase Sunny Day Visitor's Guide" but was gobsmacked at how wild this pace felt, despite being completely managed.
As is usual I came away with some photos of the magnificent fungus species found along my walks which continue to thwart my id skills. If anyone can put a nam to these faces then I would be most appreciative of your help.
afternoon arrived a little too soon and I was in danger of not seeing a bird all day, and when compared to the previous days stomp around Yorkshire this would have been sacriledge!! So when news of a Red-footed Falcon at Willington turned up on the internet I have to admit I nearly jumped. Then I thought "leave it a while, there's no point racing down there if it's onyl a fly-over". And sure enough an hour later there was the dreaded 'no sign' message on Birdguides. So I got on with updating my blog, and bird and moth records. That killed 2 hours, and I checked the internet again. Bugger! The earlier no sign message had been followed with at least four more positive mesages. I packed the bins and shot down the A38 and fast as I was allowed.
On arrival at Willington one very determined gentleman overtook me whilst pointing out a Lesser Whitethroat to me on song, so I decided to keep up with him. As I got down towards the end of the lane more and more people appeared to be coming away...mutterings of "crap viewpoint" and "not seen for an hour" were reaching my ears! Within minutes of standing at Platform 5 I could understand their frustrations. It appeared the bird was feeding low down over the other side of the river and the chance of seeing it through the willows at Platform 5 were very slim. A few birders had chosen to try down the other side of the Trent, and soon a text came through from one of the gathered birders to say that the bird had been found over there. My determined gentleman was one of the first off the mark, with me close behind him. We traipsed down the opposite side of the Trent (although by this time he'd outpaced me, and I thought I walked very fast!?). A few others had chosen to give this route a try and around 15 of us were stood overlooking the fields beyond the wood. After half an hour or so I picked up a bird coming up off the river, floating low over the fields and it landed in a bare hawthorn. Red-footed Falcon! Epic! Until my determined birder just pipped me to the post! He'd spotted the same bird and got his voice heard first!! The following hour was taken up watching the falcon hunt low over the fields, around the willows along the river and mostly perched in a small hawthorn hedge. My second ever RFF, and amazingly both in Derbyshire and even more amazingly only around 6km apart and even, even more amazingly only (4 years and) 10 days apart!
I also finally managed to pick out a Garden Warbler whilst watching for the falcon!
Tuesday 5th June -
An evening wander around Cannock Chase to try and pick up the specialities (yeah, I know now that this wasnt the best time to visit!). I parked at the Punchbowl and walked up to the Stepping Stones and then into the Sherbrook Valley. It was the first time I've visited this part of the Chase and I can see, despite the large amount of rain that was falling this evening, how attractive it would be to birds such as Pied Flycatcher etc. The walk was wet but very pleasurable with Cuckoo calling in Sherbrook and eventually showing over my head. A Green Woodpecker seemed to call constantly around me, and eventually gave itself up - my first for the year would you believe (see previous posts as to my frustration with this species). The only other decent bird was a Redstart that didn't seem to mind the rain. The rain was pretty persistant until around 745pm when it lifted and seemed to immediately put the Tree Pipits into song. I picked this one up in a side path along which a number of oak trees were growing. Apologies for the terribly gloomy video but it gives you an idea of the conditions.
Then there it was, slight at first, right on the edge of my hearing, but after I'd heard it I focussed on it more and it became much more positive. That fast trilling endin in a rapid flourish? A Wood Warbler, and no doubt. Just a short distance away it trilled a few more time allowig me to pinpoint its location. Alas it would not show! So I vow to return and pin down both this warbler and the Pied Flys that are supposed to be in this area. It is a great little spot some amazing spots such as along the stream at the Stepping Stones picnic area (right)
and a quick walk up one of the side paths gives views over the heathland such as this (left). Probably not the best photos in the world, and definitely not going to make it into the "Cannock Chase Sunny Day Visitor's Guide" but was gobsmacked at how wild this pace felt, despite being completely managed.
As is usual I came away with some photos of the magnificent fungus species found along my walks which continue to thwart my id skills. If anyone can put a nam to these faces then I would be most appreciative of your help.
Bird Yearlist - slowly edging up now at 161.
Monday, 4 June 2012
A Yorkshire Ride
Having my boy away for five days has given me a bit of spare time to myself (unfortunately not a limitless amount petrol, but we can't win 'em all!). After reading about the Roller in East Yorkshire for a few days I thought it only polite to pay him a visit, and if I'm going that far then I might as well make a day of it and pull the other Yorkshire birds too. So I made a plan of sorts. This included a visit to Bempton Cliffs to top up my seabird yearlist, and probably also Blacktoft, but I'd keep an eye on the birds during the day and see what turned up.
Unfortunately I didn't plan on the weather being quite so wet as it was, the Yorkshire area was supposed to be dry but overcast - so typically it was as wet as the rest of the country! I did have some break in the rain however so it wasn't all wet.
Stop One -
A new reserve for me - Hatfield Moors in South Yorkshire. This is a massive area of peatlands and is home to some unique creatures. A Red-necked Grebe has been visiting on and off for a while so I thought I'd try my luck. I got to the car park to find one of the guys from English Nature coming back to his car after completing some transect work since 5am! Now he looked wet!!
He told me that I was in the wrong car park for Ten Acre Lake, unless I fancied a 50 minute walk in the rain. I moved around to the correct car park and had a wander around the lake. The reserve looks fascinating with low silver birch woodland with these (obviously well-managed) ditches draining the land to create several lakes.
In some areas the cut peat was allowed to flood, and this provides good habitat for Lapwings and other ground nesting birds. There are warning signs about Adders but unsurprisingly given the conditions I didn't bump into any. I also didn't see the Red-necked Grebe, but I did enjoy exploring this very wild reserve.
There are no real footpaths (like most touristy reserves) so you do feel like you are very close to the nature. The only birds I saw were Great Crested and Little Grebes, Tufties, Mute Swan, Coot and Moorhen but I did find this intriguing fungus (any ideas readers?) along one of the paths, and this Twin-spotted Quaker caterpillar was on my hat when I dropped it into the car boot! (Thanks to James O'Neill for the cat id)
Stop 2 -
Stop 3 -
was Bempton Cliffs. The universally accepted best seabird site in mainland England. The views of the breeding birds here are second to none, and I was pleased to catch up with the three auks, Kittiwake and Gannet. I've not visited Bempton for a few years, and so was very pleased to see that new watchpoints had been installed (together with very knowledgable staff) and that the whole reserve was doing really well. There were certainly lots of people there, not all mad birdwatchers either. And it was great to see so many kids interested in what was there. A grandpa was pointing the birds out to his grad-daughter - "Oh look Grandad I know that one. That's a Gannet cos it has an orange head. I saw it on tv". Never underestimate the power of kids tv!!
The added bonus was that someone spotted a Great Skua feeding on a dead Gannet floating on the sea just below the southern watchpoint. Splendid, but not for the Gannet obviously!
Here's a montage of most of the species seen. I didn't get Puffin but hope you like the photo instead.
Strictly speaking stop 4 was the the McDonalds in Goole but after checking the birdnews there wasn't anything different reported so my plan from yesterday to visit Blacktoft was borne out. There has been a Marsh Warbler present here for a few days too, and it was reported till about 3pm, even in the rain. I got to Blacktoft at 6.15pm, and only two cars were in the car park. Brilliant! I love having the reserve to myself, it feels so magic. And indeed it turned out to be! The first hide (Xerox) and I picked up a Mediterranean Gull floating round being harrassed by the Black-heads. Unfortunately it didn't stay put very long and dropped out of sight on the river.
A quick chat with two birders in the next hide (Marshland) found out that there wasn't much down at Ousefleed, but some Yellow Wagtails got my attention so I went down anyway. One other quiet birder was intently scanning, and when I asked him if the Med Gull had come this way he said he'd not seen it but had been busy "counting all these waders". I trained the scope on where he was looking and immediately out at least 2 Ringed Plovers, 6 Sanderling, 2 Dunlin, and a Little Ringed Plover. The first two being new for the year. As I watched the group a Whimbrel dropped right into my scope view! Unbelievable, the stuff you read about on other people's blogs not mine!! The Yellow Wags madeit 14 ticks for the day, so I was extremely happy as I retuned along the main path to see the earlier birders listening for the Marsh Warbler. As I stood waiting it made a few attempts at song, an amazing mix of warbles and mimics from other birds. But alas it didn't want to show, and by 9pm the Visitor Manager came along to kindly advise me that he wanted to close the reserve!
Unfortunately I didn't plan on the weather being quite so wet as it was, the Yorkshire area was supposed to be dry but overcast - so typically it was as wet as the rest of the country! I did have some break in the rain however so it wasn't all wet.
Stop One -
 |
| The view over Ten Acre Lake didn't look great in the gloom! |
He told me that I was in the wrong car park for Ten Acre Lake, unless I fancied a 50 minute walk in the rain. I moved around to the correct car park and had a wander around the lake. The reserve looks fascinating with low silver birch woodland with these (obviously well-managed) ditches draining the land to create several lakes.  |
| Flooded section of peat |
There are no real footpaths (like most touristy reserves) so you do feel like you are very close to the nature. The only birds I saw were Great Crested and Little Grebes, Tufties, Mute Swan, Coot and Moorhen but I did find this intriguing fungus (any ideas readers?) along one of the paths, and this Twin-spotted Quaker caterpillar was on my hat when I dropped it into the car boot! (Thanks to James O'Neill for the cat id) Stop 2 -
For some reason the video of the Roller wouldn't upload to this post so I've put it here instead
The star of the day! The main road north out of Aldbrough is, I would imagine, not particularly bird-rich. But in the best sense of birding tradition the ploughed fields here have played host to a rather confiding Roller for the last few days. With all the rain overnight/morning I arrived somewhat skeptical. But I need not have worried. Within a few minutes I'd grabbed these amazing views. The bird was looking a little bit more downcast than on other pictures I'd seen on the net, but it was my 2nd ever Roller - the first being seen from a coach in Kos for a split second - so this bird blew my mind!Stop 3 -
was Bempton Cliffs. The universally accepted best seabird site in mainland England. The views of the breeding birds here are second to none, and I was pleased to catch up with the three auks, Kittiwake and Gannet. I've not visited Bempton for a few years, and so was very pleased to see that new watchpoints had been installed (together with very knowledgable staff) and that the whole reserve was doing really well. There were certainly lots of people there, not all mad birdwatchers either. And it was great to see so many kids interested in what was there. A grandpa was pointing the birds out to his grad-daughter - "Oh look Grandad I know that one. That's a Gannet cos it has an orange head. I saw it on tv". Never underestimate the power of kids tv!! The added bonus was that someone spotted a Great Skua feeding on a dead Gannet floating on the sea just below the southern watchpoint. Splendid, but not for the Gannet obviously!
Here's a montage of most of the species seen. I didn't get Puffin but hope you like the photo instead.
Stop - 4
Strictly speaking stop 4 was the the McDonalds in Goole but after checking the birdnews there wasn't anything different reported so my plan from yesterday to visit Blacktoft was borne out. There has been a Marsh Warbler present here for a few days too, and it was reported till about 3pm, even in the rain. I got to Blacktoft at 6.15pm, and only two cars were in the car park. Brilliant! I love having the reserve to myself, it feels so magic. And indeed it turned out to be! The first hide (Xerox) and I picked up a Mediterranean Gull floating round being harrassed by the Black-heads. Unfortunately it didn't stay put very long and dropped out of sight on the river. 
A quick chat with two birders in the next hide (Marshland) found out that there wasn't much down at Ousefleed, but some Yellow Wagtails got my attention so I went down anyway. One other quiet birder was intently scanning, and when I asked him if the Med Gull had come this way he said he'd not seen it but had been busy "counting all these waders". I trained the scope on where he was looking and immediately out at least 2 Ringed Plovers, 6 Sanderling, 2 Dunlin, and a Little Ringed Plover. The first two being new for the year. As I watched the group a Whimbrel dropped right into my scope view! Unbelievable, the stuff you read about on other people's blogs not mine!! The Yellow Wags madeit 14 ticks for the day, so I was extremely happy as I retuned along the main path to see the earlier birders listening for the Marsh Warbler. As I stood waiting it made a few attempts at song, an amazing mix of warbles and mimics from other birds. But alas it didn't want to show, and by 9pm the Visitor Manager came along to kindly advise me that he wanted to close the reserve!
All in all a wonderful day - 14 ticks in 13 hours birding! And one new for Britain. That ain't bad!
New birds for the year -
Roller
Gannet
Kittiwake
Fulmar
Puffin
Guillemot
Razorbill
Great Skua
Mediterranean Gull
Avocet
Ringed Plover
Sanderling
Whimbrel
Yellow Wagtail
Bird Yearlist = 157
Roller Video
For some reason I couldn't upload this fantastic video to my blog post regarding the Roller so here it is!
First british record for me and only my 2nd Roller after seeing my first at Mastichari in Kos, 2009 whilst on the coach transfer to the hotel! Not a brilliant first view but you can't miss them on the telegraph wires...
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Another armchair tick!
So there's a good reason that I've spent so many hours photographing EVERY moths that I caught last year (well all those that looked different anyway!)
I'm currently updating my lifelist page with small thumbnail images, and whilst looking through my photos from the 2nd June 2011 I flicked past this one which immediately stopped me in my tracks as I new instantly what it was.
I'm currently updating my lifelist page with small thumbnail images, and whilst looking through my photos from the 2nd June 2011 I flicked past this one which immediately stopped me in my tracks as I new instantly what it was.
Don't ask me how I missed this fantastically different Scoparia pyralella, but I did! It's sharp gold coloured spots stood out in the photo, maybe they didn't whilst I was photographing it. Then again there were a lot of moths to photograph from that trap (83 of 40 species - 41 species now!) so maybe it was all a bit rushed. Anyway, it slots into my list as number 291.
A late night fish
Friday night was Jordan's trip to the scout camp - five days without him is going to be weird! My friend was down at the river Amber doing some fishing, so I joined him around 8pm. It's a quiet spot (apart from the background hum of the A610) and a really good wildlife area. Before long he'd caught a small Perch and whilst setting up to cast in again nearly trod on this gorgeous Banded Demoiselle! It stayed put probably due to cooler temperatures and the late time of the day?We moved further downstream and found a slow pool below a run. There were a number of fish loafing along the edges of the river so it looked pretty good.
A Brown Trout came out first, not very big but a good meal for two (not that we took it home, that's naughty. I was just using this as a measure of it's size!) and then things hotted up with plenty of nibbles but even with cat-like reflexes we only managed a half-decent Chub. Beautifully fit and healthy fish though, the sign of a good river system! As the sun went down and the Pipistrelles came out, we carried on getting bites and eventually struck into something a bit more sizable. After a short fight, a small Barbel popped into the net, a lovely bar of gold from this cracking little river. The night was finished off with a Barn Owl which flew along the river right opposite us. Amazing! This white flower was found in the meadow behind our spot, the only one I could find. It had a number of these white flowers which grew on tall stems about 40cm high. Anyone have any ideas?Wednesday was a big one!
A brilliant night - the weather looked threatening and heavy but despite the potential for a thunderstorm I put the trap out with the Actinic and 117W CFL. I guessed right too, as the moths were coming from the moment I turned on the lights at 10pm! The final tally was 69 moths of 30 species and with them came a new micro for me, which I'm just waiting for confirmation as Dichrorampha acuminatana. New for the years came in the form of a cracking Peppered Moth, a very flighty Small Dusty Wave, Epiblema trimaculana, and Bryotropha affinis. After picking up my first Mottled Pug in the last trap I caught 6 this time, I think you could call that a pug explosion? Common Swift also came in good numbers with 7 being caught, 4 males and 3 females.
And finally, this tiny 3-4mm long creature which at first I thought was a moth, but now having photographed it - I'm not so sure. If anyone knows what it is I'd be most grateful for your ideas!
Moth Yearlist total = 86 - the May total of 68 is quite down on last years 87, so I suspect the cold April has a lot of influence into May too. Individual moth numbers were also down with 299 this year compared to 362 in 2011, and trapping days down - 11 traps this May and 16 last May.
As far as the sugar-water experiment is going you can see that the trick seems to be working for the micros again. Never last year would I have expected to get any of the those three micros to sit still outdoors long enough to snap it! These species were the only ones I'd fridged up plus two that didn't respond to the sugar water (Small Dusty Wave - hence the horrid potshot, and Silver-ground Carpet enjoyed the sugar water but refused to flatten his wings out, had his fill and then started flitting round in the pot - so no photo).
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| possible Dichrorampha acuminatana | Epiblema trimaculana | Bryotropha affinis |
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| Flame Shoulder | Small Dusty Wave | Small pug species |
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| Something strange? Can't figure out this is |
Moth Yearlist total = 86 - the May total of 68 is quite down on last years 87, so I suspect the cold April has a lot of influence into May too. Individual moth numbers were also down with 299 this year compared to 362 in 2011, and trapping days down - 11 traps this May and 16 last May.
As far as the sugar-water experiment is going you can see that the trick seems to be working for the micros again. Never last year would I have expected to get any of the those three micros to sit still outdoors long enough to snap it! These species were the only ones I'd fridged up plus two that didn't respond to the sugar water (Small Dusty Wave - hence the horrid potshot, and Silver-ground Carpet enjoyed the sugar water but refused to flatten his wings out, had his fill and then started flitting round in the pot - so no photo).
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