Sunday August 9 - Morton Bagot

 The continuing heat makes it a torrid time for late morning birders like me and Dave, but we completed our usual circuit and came up trumps with a patch tick for me (and a lifer for Dave). Shame it wasn't a bird.

What it was, was a Lesser Emperor dragonfly. I spotted it as we scanned the virtually birdless nearest flash. Although it was patrolling back and forth over the nearest edge of the flash I couldn't tell whether it was Lesser or Vagrant Emperor until I switched to the scope (which fortunately I'd brought with me). The clincher was seeing it had green eyes (which rules out Vagrant).

I didn't think there was much point trying to photograph it, but knowing that the current Warwickshire odonata recorder won't accept any record on irecord without one, I gave it my best shot.

Lesser Emperor

Whether it gets accepted or not, it definitely was one and its going onto my patch dragonfly list (currently just lodged in my head).

The only previous record for the site was one seen by Mike Inskip about 10 years ago, when they were really rare. I believe they have now colonised southern Britain, and I may well get a chance to photograph one more satisfactorily in the future. Mind you, like male Emperors they seem very reluctant to land.

We did have one surprise bird today. A male Redstart was in exactly the same hedge as the one seen three weeks ago. Although I've checked the hedge a few times since without success, it is still tempting to speculate that it could be the same bird. The Long-tailed Shrike has been hanging around for a similar time. Perhaps the Redstart too has just been completing its moult (it was preening a lot when I last saw it).

Redstart

One other interesting creature seen today was a non black-tailed Black-tailed Skimmer. Checking the books when I got home it is likely to have been an old female. 

Black-tailed Skimmer

All my other "ticks" were plants which I have seen many times before but never recorded in writing. So here for posterity I can confirm I have definitely seen: Ash, Hawthorn, Greater Willowherb, and Wild Angelica. 

I plan to put the moth trap out tonight, so there may be a supplement later.

Saturday August 8 - Long-tailed Shrike

 I could stand it no longer. The third British record of Long-tailed Shrike had been sitting in a hedge on the Gloucestershire/Oxfordshire border for about three weeks. The key was Lyn's suggestion that she come with me (essential equipment in the boot). This worked a treat and we arrived at the impromptu car-park (a farmers field), and donated three quid in the honesty box. While Lyn sat and read the paper, I set off up the road to join the small group of birders who were trying to see Shrike.

There was a half hour wait while those who had seen it assured new arrivals that it was probably just the other side of the hedge. Eventually it appeared and decent views were had by all.

By waiting until all the real twitchers had seen it, the crowd this morning was of very modest size.

Other birds were also seen, including a Corn Bunting, a Marsh Harrier, and a Whinchat.

The other thing I've doing this week is adding up all the organisms I've seen in the British Isles for my PSL list. So the Long-tailed Shrike became tick number 1,300. This might seem a lot, but I'm a real lightweight compared to my fellow competitors. The lead guy has seen over 13,000, and I'm outside the top 200 listers.

On the other hand my list is just birds, garden moths, butterflies and dragonflies plus a scattering of other life forms. One big gap is vascular plants simply because I rarely record them. Plenty of scope for advancement.

Tuesday August 4 - Morton Bagot (and garden moths)

 Dave and I teamed up on Sunday at Morton Bagot, and thanks to Dave's suggestion that we incorporate Bannam's Wood on our walk we hit the jackpot. The hope was that we might see the family party of Spotted Flycatchers seen the day before. As far as that went we were unsuccessful, but as we paused to search the trees a juvenile Goshawk flew towards us under the canopy and perched in close proximity. Where was my camera? In my bag! As I slowly withdrew it, the bird decided it had teased us enough and flew over our heads and away into the wood.

Anything else would be an anticlimax, and sure enough we'd peaked early. A Sand Martin over the village was the best of the rest, while the flash pool could muster only two Teal, a few Lapwings, 90+ Greylag Geese, and three or four Green Sandpipers.

Long-tailed Tit

We also saw another Clouded Yellow.

Last night was the latest I could afford to keep my GMS obligation on track. The trap went out and I caught just over 100 moths. As it was warm, there were a lot of micros and my two garden ticks, and two that weren't new, demonstrates the randomness of garden recording.

The new ones were Hawthorn Moth (a tiny micro), and Ringed China-mark (a big micro). The books say they are both reasonably common.

Hawthorn Moth

Ringed China-mark

Among the rest were two species which were respectively scarce, and non-existent in Warwickshire until this year. Thus my tally of Small Mottled Willows for the year now stands at 20, while lasts week's "first" was joined by a second Cydia amplana, this one looking more like the books say it should look.

Rusty Acorn Piercer Cydia amplana

I surely can't be the only Midland moth botherer catching these this year.

The full list of additions is on the appropriate page as usual.

Thursday July 30 - Morton Bagot

 It's been a really quiet week (hence the lack of posts), so this one is a summary of what little I've seen on the patch recently.

In fact last Sunday probably saw the best of my three visits. The highlight was the rediscovery of the male Whinchat. It was in the scrape field but I chose not to get a close view, and settled for a record shot.

The flash pool looked great and was occupied by nine Green Sandpipers. That was on Sunday, but since then I've struggled to see more than three or four.

On Tuesday I was surprised to discover that the Stonechat numbers had doubled to four, with pairs in the scrape field and at the Dragonfly ponds.

Today I couldn't see the new birds, but the dragonfly pool still supported the original pair.

However, the main highlight was a Kingfisher at the nearest flash. Unfortunately it was too quick (twice) for a photo. The large gulls were back, and I counted 37 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and seven Herring Gulls.

If this is all sounding a bit nerdy, you ain't seen nothing yet. I have been tempted to buy Graham Lyons' book Pan-Species Listing. Reading it cover to cover in no time, I'm already spending hours putting my moths on his Pan-Listing website. Everything else will follow, and I've no doubt I'll be down on my knees trying to identify grass before very long.

I'll try not to blog about it though.

Sunday July 24 - Confessions of a lazy mother

 First I should clarify the title of this post. I have not recently changed sex and given birth, and I am not having an American potty-mouthed rant. Mother should, of course, be pronounced moth-er. I suppose it was natural for the term birder to be paralleled by mother.

But I do have something to confess.

When I first started to develop my interest in birding, forty plus years ago, I took it very seriously. I spent ages reading through the largely rubbish field guides we relied on in those days, I took the time to painstakingly learn and remember birdsong, and through the whole course of my birding life, as many bird calls as I could. So theoretically if a new bird was to land in front of me I would have a good idea of what it was, and how rare it was.

My moth journey has been very different. The impetus came when the first moth book was published which showed moths in their natural resting positions. A Field Guide to the Moths of Great Britain and Ireland, followed by its sister Field Guide to the Micro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland made me realise I could do this. I bought a moth trap in 2018.

I quickly realised there were an awful lot more moths than birds and I needed help. 

My first mentor was John Sirrett and, bless him, he spent every week of that first year studying my terrible photographs and talking me through the identifications and misidentifications I had made after hours of staring at my books. I also realised there were on-line references that could be tapped into, and I found the Nature Spot website (which strictly speaking covered Leicestershire) very helpful.

Within a year or so I was able to give John a break when I discovered Twitter. An on-line Moth Identification UK guru (Sean Foote from Hampshire) willingly answered everyones queries. I relied on him for the ones I wasn't sure of.

Then about four years ago AI appeared. Someone put me onto the app Obsidentify, and I let that take the strain. Mind you, as I got more experienced I came to realise that it wasn't completely reliable. A poor photograph, or an "odd" moth would produce a misidentification. But it was so much quicker than looking through books or posting your photos and waiting for the expert to post his identification back.

So now I've become lazy. I've never been particularly interested in trapping away from the garden, and every year still brings new moths with remarkable regularity. I really like the fact that as I open my trap I can find myself staring at a moth which I have literally no idea about.

Which brings me to this morning.

The first notable moth did ring a bell. And it was gorgeous. I had previously caught a Gold Spot in my first year of mothing, 2018, but had not seen a single one since.

I technically didn't need Obsidentify, but I've become addicted to the security blanket it provides so I pointed my phone at it anyway. Identification confirmed.

So I picked my way through the rest of the catch. The really familiar ones I just named, the less familiar I Obsidentified for reassurance. Some moths catch me out every year. I find a Straw Underwing in the trap every year, but it never seems to ring a bell. 

But generally I do recognise the macro-moths. Not so the micros. There are a core of regulars I'm happy to wave through, but many are a challenge. Obsidentify also struggles more with micros, but its pretty good and I use it a lot (if only to remind myself what the moth I'm looking at is called).

This morning two micros in particular looked unfamiliar. The first was this one:

Obsidentify had no doubt. Neocochyllis molliculana it told me. New for the garden. I should have put it in a pot, but being lazy I didn't bother. Instead I moved on to the next moth I didn't know.

Quite a big micro, the same size as the several Cydia splendana also present in the trap. Obsidentify told me it was definitely Cydia amplana. It meant nothing to me, but I assumed it was just one of the many common micros I hadn't come across previously.

Can you guess where this is going? 

After emptying the trap I went indoors to check the books and on-line. I spent ages comparing photos of several very similar species before tentatively concluding that the N molliculana was most likely that species. The downside of my approach is that I don't know which feature is the critical one to look for. (With birds I always know what I need to consider). So my photograph didn't show the thorax particularly well, but on balance I think it's right. I also checked a spreadsheet I have from the micro-moth recorder which gives a numerical code which tells me whether a specimen might be needed. It wasn't...phew.

Turning to the Cydia amplana, the picture in the book didn't look as similar to my moth as I'd hoped. However, checking on line I couldn't find any other likely candidates, and a couple of images were bang on. The English name the book gives is Rusty Acorn Piercer. Doesn't sound rare does it. Lots of acorns in Britain.

When I came to check the Guidelines, its name wasn't there. Uh oh! New for Warwickshire? I had another look at the book. The text said scarce migrant, possibly breeding on the south coast. 

People might want to see this moth. 

I went to the cardboard box where I'd roosted the moths, but it had gone. So if you are reading this as an experienced local mother who would dearly have loved to add this moth to your county list, I'm very sorry for your miss.

One last thing. Obsidentify can also save you from overlooking stuff. Resting on the fence were a number of grass moths, one of which I decided was Common Grass-moth Agriphila tristella. But the pale streak along its length bothered me a little. So I pointed the phone at it, and discovered it was actually Agriphila selasella Pale-streaked Grass-moth only the second I have identified in the garden.

I wonder how many I have previously missed.

I should say that Obsidentify isn't necessarily the best AI tool available. It is a Western European organisation based in Netherlands. This means for example that the Rusty Acorn Piercer was described as fairly common. It's easy to forget that this means in Holland and not necessarily the UK.

Thursday July 23 - Morton Bagot

 Maybe it was the later start (09:20), but the birding was rather less exciting than on my last visit. I did manage to see a Lesser Whitethroat among the numerous Common Whitethroats but the Whinchats and Redstart seemed to have gone.

The nearest flash remains dry, so it was left to a combination of the furthest flash and the Kingfisher Pool to supply the only waders, five Green Sandpipers and the usual Little Egret.

Fortunately there was enough interest among the insects to make it worth banging out a post. One species that is common at Morton Bagot is the Emperor dragonfly. Seeing them is quite easy, but they rarely settle so I don't get to photograph many. Today my luck was in.

Butterflies too were on the wing in reasonable diversity (although I wouldn't have said the numbers were anything special). On Sunday I had seen my first Clouded Yellow here and attempted a shot of it. Today I saw another one, and this time it perched in a place where it was easy to see well.

This is certainly the year to connect with one.

Tuesday July 21 - Morton Bagot

 One of the best things about birding is that you can never quite predict what you are going to see. I had the opportunity to get out early this morning, and decided on another visit to Morton Bagot. I didn't expect to see much, but for once I had underestimated the patch.

I gave myself a metaphorical pat on the back for the first good find of the day. As I walked along the hedge leading away from where the ringers set their nets I noticed a lot of small birds, mainly Whitethroats calling persistently. I wondered whether they had seen an Owl, but I was on the wrong side of the hedge to give the favoured tree stump a look. It would have been easy to be lazy and just keep going, but no, I opted to clamber over the gate at the end and backtrack. A Barn Owl was my reward.

Before I could work out how to get a clearer shot, the Barn Owl jumped up the tree and exited out of the back of the hedge. This was the first I'd seen here since January, although I was aware that a pair was still in the area.

I continued to the Flash field, but was disappointed to see that the nearest flash was completely dry and occupied by just two Lapwings and a Black-headed Gull. I decided to walk back up the slope to scope the furthest flash, which at least still contains water. It also harboured four Green Sandpipers and a few Mallard and Moorhens.

On the walk back a helicopter flew directly overhead and rather did me a favour because it flushed three more Green Sandpipers proving that there must still be some water in one of the HOEF scrapes.

I was just passing the line of small bushes which stretch over the ridge away from the scrape field when I noticed a Whitethroat flit into one of the shrubs. I raised my bins to look at it, and found that the bush also contained a male Whinchat. Now I have seen Whinchat here in July before, but not often. It seems that the ringers theory that passerines had started to migrate was right. Adults tend to leave first, leaving the youngsters to work it out for themselves once they're strong enough.

It looked a bit scruffy, and was rather distant (the photo was taken at maximum zoom). I edge closer hoping for another shot, and found a second Whinchat. This time a female type.

Further attempts to get a decent shot were largely unsuccessful, but I did manage one with both birds in frame (albeit at either end of the shot).

I was very pleased to see these birds, although I suppose it could signify a failed breeding attempt somewhere in northern Britain.

How cool would it be to also see the Stonechats. So I headed back to the dragonfly pools at Netherstead, and sure enough a male Stonechat was still there.

But I wasn't done. The hedge in front of Netherstead Farm can be good for passage Redstarts, so I gave it a scan with no real expectation. And blow me, I was standing directly opposite a male Redstart busily preening its rather scruffy plumage.

I'd seen both a Whinchat and a Redstart here in spring, but it was great to find both in July. There's no doubt that for birds the autumn has arrived.