Morgrove Coppice

This afternoon the temperature was not too cold and not too hot. Ideal for coaxing Lyn to give the accessible path at Morgrove Coppice a try.

Success. Lyn loved it. We made our way around the entire route, Lyn even spotting the star butterfly before I did. This was a Silver-washed Fritillery. By the time I had got my camera out etc etc, you know the drill, it had gone. Never mind, I assured her, we would see another one. We didn't.

There were still loads of Gatekeepers, and several Speckled Woods, Large Whites, and a Peacock to see. 

Predictably, most birds were keeping a low profile as it was a late July afternoon, but there were several Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Whitethroats, and a couple of Marsh Tits on offer if you were quick enough.

A male Dark Bush Cricket stood impressively on the path in front of us.

Dark Bush-cricket

The flora was marvellous too. I really must get a smart phone, because after I get it I'll be able to download an App, and the App will be able to save me the bother of ploughing through three books and various wildflower sites before eventually googling tall pink flowers to identify Verbena bonariensis, a garden escape.

Argentinian Vervain

On seeing it Lyn had said "it looks just like the one's you see in Hillers". Hah, what does she know, I thought.

L K B. (Lyn knows best).

Tuesday July 28

This morning's birding at the patch certainly had its moments. Sunny intervals predominated, with a rather breezy westerly which meant most passerines kept their heads down.

Despite this I recorded a Grey Wagtail at Netherstead, and a singing Grasshopper Warbler in the field behind the beehives on the walk to the flash field.

The flash field is getting really difficult to observe properly this autumn. The one new wader present was a juvenile Little Ringed Plover on the sparsely vegetated part of the nearest flash. This area can only be seen from beneath trees towards the Kingfisher Pool, and it is increasingly difficult to see any birds which might not be in that one spot.

Little Ringed Plover (Lapwings in the foreground)

There is a species of tall sedge (I think its Common Club-rush) which is sprouting out of the mud of the nearest flash, and seems to be increasing each year. From a birding point of view it's a bloody nuisance because it makes counting birds (particularly waders) very inaccurate. Today for example I could only see two Green Sandpipers, but they were in the area favoured by the rush. So there may well have been more I couldn't see.

The visible flash

The traditional spot further back down the fence allowed me to see no Lapwings etc, but a Little Egret was visible, partly obscured by vegetation. However, it could not be seen at all from under the trees.

Little Egret

Anyway, apart from chunter away on this blog there is nothing I can do about it because the flash field is privately owned and, as far as I know, it is still a part of the Natural England stewardship scheme. I am grateful that it exists at all.

The walk back around the delightfully colourful HOEF weed-rich fields led me back to Netherstead where the paddock produced a Redstart. Although, it was at the track end of the field, I think that this is the same bird as was present nine days ago. Ageing Redstarts in late summer is quite difficult. Both adults and juveniles moult before they migrate, and this extremely tatty bird was certainly moulting.

Although there is no trace of juvenile feathers on its mantle, the head (and possibly the upper breast) still looks a bit spotty. This should mean it is a moulting juvenile.

Redstart

Sunday July 26 (and Friday's ringing data)

As it pre-dates this morning's visit I will begin with Friday's ringing details from Tony and Leigh.

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker - Tony and Leigh Kelly

They caught the following species: (retraps in brackets)

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

Blue Tit 10 (6)

Great Tit 10 (5)

Reed Warbler 6 (3)

Chiffchaff 1

Blackbird 1 (1)

Greenfinch 1

They also watched a Buzzard attacking a duckling, and heard a singing Grasshopper Warbler.

This morning was rather too windy, and started rather cloudy before the sun broke through. This is my way of excusing us for struggling to see anything at all for the first hour. Its not that the birds weren't there. Warblers were calling constantly and we accumulated a decent list based on half seen bits of tail and flurries of wings.

This Sedge Warbler was most showy warbler on offer

The former pool had evaporated despite some recent heavy rain, so our hopes were pinned on the flash field. Here, the water level was still high and we only managed four Teal, two Green Sandpipers, 10 Moorhens, and 32 Lapwings.

Lapwing

At least the sun came out and the day warmed sufficiently to boost the butterfly list. We saw our first Small Coppers of the year, and the first Brown Arguses and Common Blues of their second generation.

Small Copper

Brown Argus

So a slightly steady morning, but as my neighbour likes to say (in a different context) "there's always something".

Warmer but wet = fewer moths it seems

Last night was a little warmer than recently, no lower than 15 degrees C, so I was hopeful of a reasonable catch. However, it rained for a while and contrary to expectations this seems to have depressed the numbers (and the moths probably) and I caught just 53 moths of 30 species.

There was just one species which was new for the garden, an attractive tortrix Eudemis profundana. 

Eudemis profundana

It is an oak specialist, and is described as widespread and fairly common.

The only other moth which was new, this time for the year, was Maple Pug. This particular individual was at the upper end of the size range for the species.

Maple Pug

I am prepared to admit that this is not a very attractive moth.

To redress the balance here are two very nice looking moths, which were both seconds for the year. My last Sallow Kitten was back in early May, so this one must relate to a second generation.

Sallow Kitten

The second is September Thorn, and I've just realised that I haven't photographed it yet. The last one was on July 14. OK camera now charged, computer likewise, moth still available from trap, so here it is.

September Thorn

No species were particularly plentiful last night. Large Yellow Underwing, and Garden Grass Veneer led the way with six each, but an honourable mention should go to the three Ruby Tigers which were the second to fourth for the year.

More garden moths

The temperature overnight was a little low for the time of year, but not too bad.

My count of 71 moths (actually 72 but I gave up on a worn micro) included one which was new for the garden, and several year-ticks.

The new one was a striking micro called Mompha propinquella. Strictly speaking it can be very difficult to distinguish from another Mompha, but that species is scarcer and has a cream inner wing, whereas the one caught last night showed an extremely white inner wing.

Mompha propinquella

Actually most of the new for the year moths were impressive-looking beasts this morning. The best, because I have only ever caught one and that was in 2018, was Pale Prominent.

Pale Prominent

Also new for the year, in order of spectacular-ness were Black Arches (two), Pebble Prominent, Marbled Beauty, Dusky Thorn, Common White Wave, Ypsolopha dentella, and Yponomeuta ag. The last of these looked like the illustration of Willow Ermine, but as we have an apple tree in the garden was more likely to be Orchard Ermine or Apple Ermine. Unfortunately none of these can be identified to species level without microscopic examination or even DNA.

Black Arches

Pebble Prominent

Marbled Beauty

Dusky Thorn

Common White Wave

Ypsolopha dentella

Yponomeuta ag

The top five commonest last night were:

Bird-cherry Ermine 13

Garden Grass-veneer 7

Crambus pascuella 6

Codling Moth 4

Large Yellow Underwing 4

I know moths aren't everyone's thing, but you have to admit they aren't all brown and boring.

Tuesday July 21

I thought I'd check out Morgrove Coppice this morning. Its barely half a mile south of Morton Bagot. I've been there before, several years ago, initially sneaking in before eventually seeking permission from the gamekeeper. Access was denied. 

So this morning I jumped the fence and crept in, peaking nervously over my shoulder, until I reached a sign. It said "Accessible Path, HOEF." That's strange, I thought.

A little way along the path I met a very nice couple, Mike and Linda, who, it turned out, follow this blog. They explained that a couple of years ago Heart of England Forest had bought the wood and had built the path. I was given directions to the car-park.

I'm really warming to HOEF. They've done a fantastic job, and the woodland is just fabulous. I plan to come back with Lyn in the not too distant future.

My reason for visiting the plantation was an optimism that the Crossbills which had flown over our garden might have found it. Well I didn't see any, but I did hear a Siskin, a species strongly associated with the Crossbill influx. So that's encouraging.

I went on to Morton Bagot, parking by the church. A Swallow perching on wires was irresistible.

Swallow

My shortened circuit took in the flash field, which was pretty much unchanged since Sunday, although 31 Lapwings had returned. I counted just four Green Sandpipers, but so much of the site is obscured by grass and sedge, there may well have been more.

Green Sandpiper

The walk back to the car was to prove entertaining. A distant Red Kite was perhaps the bird I have seen a couple of times since lockdown was eased, and it was close enough for a photograph.

Red Kite

Then it came closer still.

On Sunday, Leigh had asked me whether I had seen a Peregrine here lately. I assured her I had not, which was true. So its somewhat ironic that a casual scan of the distant pylons from the footpath revealed a familiar blob.

Adult Peregrine

A very useful and enjoyable morning.

Svensson's Copper Underwing

I'm pleased as punch this morning.

Last night I switched the bathroom light on and found a large moth resting on the window frame. I dashed back downstairs for a pot and duly caught it. It was a Copper Underwing ag, the first of the year.

Until 1968 there was only one species of Copper Underwing in the UK. Then someone noticed, presumably from specimens, that some of them had more coppery orange on the underside of the underwing than others. It soon became apparent that this "new" species was actually widespread and occupied similar habitats as Copper Underwing.

Nevertheless, moth trappers typically aggregate the species as it seems that the only way to see this feature was to incapacitate the moth and move its wings around to have a peep. For incapacitate, read anaesthetise and hope it doesn't die (or if you can't be bothered, just kill it). Either method seems a bit cruel, so many observers, including myself, were happy to record them as either/or.

In recent years it has emerged that it might be possible to identify them without seeing the underside of the underwing. I should add that seeing the underwing is not as simple as just tipping them upside down because of the way the live moth folds its wings, the vital bit is always obscured.

Well almost always. As my moth started to shiver its wings to warm up I caught a glimpse of orange at the base of the inner underwing. This was a Svensson's Copper Underwing. But how could I demonstrate the identification without harming the moth?

The first new method regarded as a good indicator was to examine the shape of the inner line of pale arrow-head markings across the inner cross band. A very experienced moth-er stated that in almost every case where the inner arrow head was more pointed than the one outside it, the moth would be a Svenssons.

Svensson's Copper Underwing (note how the most pointed arrowhead marking is almost level with the top of the"eye" circles on each side of the moth's wings)

OK so that's promising, my moth does seem to show that. But this feature is very subtle, and even the expert was unable to leave out "almost" in his argument.

The next feature to be touted concerned the colour and pattern of the palps. The palps are the front bit on the head of the moth, like a nose. It said that these should be black with a contrasting white tip on Svenssons and greyer with less contrast on Copper.

The palps

Again this is very encouraging, the palps are very dark and white tipped. Unfortunately the feature itself has been questioned, and may not apply to all examples.

So this morning I resorted to waiting for the moth to warm up in the pot and was hoping to get another glimpse of the inner part of the underside of the underwing.

Just about enough underwing showing

Job done. Ignore the orange underside of the abdomen. Concentrate on the chequered side of the abdomen, and then look at the bit of wing poking out just to its left. The outer part is clearly coppery...ignore that. The inner part, nearer the head end, is also faintly coppery. That's the clincher.

So no more Copper Underwing ag. I reckon I should, with a little patience, be able to identify the next one too.

No moths were harmed during the making of this post.

Sunday July 19 and ringing update

A sunny morning with a light westerly.

A Grasshopper Warbler was singing by the dragonfly pools, but this time it wasn't visible. However, the same area provided the bird of the day when a distant "possible Linnet" aroused sufficient interest for a second look which revealed it was actually a juvenile/female Redstart.

We moved closer to get some photograph and film of it.

Redstart

It's always nice when the first passerine passage migrant appears, even though there is every likelihood that some of the warblers we are seeing are also passing through.

A large dragonfly investigated us as we headed towards the beehives, its curiosity strongly pointing to it being a Southern Hawker, and it then perched and allowed us to confirm that it was indeed.

Southern Hawker

All the usual butterflies were present, but despite it being The Great British Butterfly Count time, there were too many distractions to encourage us to take a disciplined approach. 

We joined the ringers, Tony and Leigh, as they were packing up. They had caught another juvenile Grasshopper Warbler this morning, and we were pleased that they chose to join us on a stroll to the flash field. On the way we noticed a Marsh Tit calling from the hedge close to where their nets had been, and then discovered a couple of Green Sandpipers chasing each other around in a bid to assert ownership of the last vestige of the main pool.

Usually when we try to show someone a Little Owl in the flash field oak tree, the residents are invisible, but not today. An adult and juvenile were peaking out of the foliage for Tony and Leigh to see.

We can see you

The flash itself was a bit underwhelming. The recent rain has reduced the amount of mud, and we could only see five Green sandpipers and two Teal.

Tony and Leigh headed back, and they didn't miss much. The best we could do was get another view of the Redstart as we returned to Netherstead.

Ringing update:

The control details are now through. A Great Tit trapped at Wolverton (about 10kms east of Morton Bagot) on 19 Oct 2019 was trapped at Morton Bagot on 12 Jul 2020. Champagne all round!

Meanwhile a summary of two short sessions this week is as follows:

Blue Tit 10 (5)

Great Tit 15 (6)

Chiffchaff 3

Grasshopper Warbler 1

Whitethroat 6 (1)

Wren 1

Robin 1

Greenfinch 11 (1)

Goldfinch 4 (1)

Reed Bunting 1

The Grasshopper Warbler was another juvenile, and Greenfinch numbers are building well. The feeders are doing their job.

Crossbills and moths (the garden update)

The gradual increase in night time temperatures with overcast skies was bad for comet-watching, but good for moths.

I woke up to find plenty of moths in and around the trap, and have spent most of the day recording them. In a "here's one I prepared earlier" moment I should mention that the first Mother of Pearl of the year made it through the bathroom window on Thursday night.

Mother of Pearl

It's the biggest micro there is, I think.

Moving on to this morning, I was up at stupid o'clock to check around the trap before hauling it into the house to see what was in it. This meant that no micros could escape before being identified and counted, and led to an excellent tally of 101 moths of 44 species, excluding one or two extremely worn ones which could have been anything.

At around 06.00 am I was outside trying to photograph something when I heard the unmistakable sound of Crossbills. I looked up and counted nine of them heading east, my second record this year. Its clearly a Crossbill year. The other notable bird event  was an absence. The House Sparrows which have been a garden staple for months have disappeared completely. There is probably nothing too sinister in this, as they have almost certainly headed a mile or so east to feed in the local fields edges. I used to count hundreds in farmland at Bittell Reservoir at this time of year several decades ago.

I am reluctant to list all 44 species of moths caught, so will summarise. The top five in numbers were:

1. Garden Grass-veener - 13

2. Large Yellow Underwing - 9

3. Crambus pascuella - 9

4. Common Footman - 7

5. Eudonia lacustrata - 7

New for the garden (and for me) were a pristine micro and a rather worn macro. The former was a Brachmia blandella, which it is probably fair to say has subtle charms. The latter was uncommon enough to be excluded from the garden moths which the GMS survey would have me count, but is still regarded as fairly common in Warwickshire. That was a rather worn Slender Brindle.

Brachmia blandella

Slender Brindle

A further five were new for the year; Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (2), Lesser Yellow Underwing, Yellow Shell, Dingy Footman, Agriphila straminella, and Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner. Of these, the leaf-miner was the first since 2018 (but they are so tiny they are easily missed), while the Dingy Footman was only my second record.

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Lesser Yellow Underwing

Yellow Shell

Dingy Footman

Agriphila straminella

Horse-chestnut Leaf-miner

Honourable mentions should go to the second Cloaked Minor this year, the second Grey (or Dark) Dagger, the second Hedya salicella of the year (the previous one was horribly worn), and the second ever Batia lunaris.

Cloaked Minor

Hedya salicella

And finally, my struggles to pick out a Rustic from the numerous Uncertains which probably live in the garden, led me to choose this one as a likely Rustic.

Rustic

I haven't asked for it to be checked because it gets a bit boring if you keep on with the same question every week, but I'm quietly confident its right.

Garden moth update

Before I get to last night's catch I should mention two little moths caught in the bathroom over the last few days. Both were micros, one instantly recognised as a Juniper Webber, a species I last caught in 2018. The other was unidentifiable to species level, but was at least a Parornix ag, and therefore a tick whatever it turns out to be. 

Update: It turned out to be Parornix scoticella which was not the species I had guessed at. It appears to be a relatively common micro. Thanks to Nigel S and his microscope.

Juniper Webber

Parornix scoticella (confirmed by gen. det)

So to last night. The temperature held up at a respectable 13 degrees and there was total cloud cover. These reasonable conditions produced 75 moths of 32 species (not including two very worn micros). 

Better still, I added three moths to the garden/life list, and another five to the year list. Also a Coleophora ag will very likely turn out to be new for the garden when Nigel gets to inspect it closely.

The lifers were an Anania coronata (a large and distinctive micro despite not having a generally accepted English name), Crambus perlella (a grass moth which is apparently common), and a Sharp-angled Carpet (definitely the most attractive moth of the night).

Anania coronata

Crambus perlella

Sharp-angled Carpet

The latter moth, despite looking amazing, was quite troublesome to identify. Other amazing Carpet moths are available, and my first thought was the much rarer Wood Carpet. However, shortly after sending a tweet I realised my mistake (as did the expert who replied). Sharp-angled Carpet is still a fairly local moth in Warwickshire I think.

The Coleophora ag may turn out to be lineolea, based on flight time and general appearance, but I won't know until the recorder examines it.

Update: It was examined and was actually Coleophora serratella, new for the garden but also one of the commonest Coleophora moths.

Coleophora serratella

As for the year-ticks, these included two I have only caught once previously in the garden; V-Pug and September Thorn. The latter flies from July to September, so isn't well named.

V-Pug

September Thorn

The other year-ticks occur annually in the garden: Euzophora pinguis, Cydia splendana, and Common Rustic ag.

Euzophera pinguis

Cydia splendana

Common Rustic ag

The full list was:

Bird-cherry Ermine 1, Diamond-back Moth 1, Coleophora ag 1, Mompha subbistrigella 1, Juniper Webber 1, Twenty-plume Moth 1, Celypha striana 1, Zeiraphera isertana 1, Codling Moth 3, Cydia splendana 1 (nfy), Euzophera pinguis 1 (nfy) Phycita roborella 3, Eudonia mercurella 1, Eudonia lacustrata 3, Garden Grass-veneer 8, Crambus pascuella 7, Crambus perlella 1 (nfg), Anania coronata 1 (nfg), Sharp-angled Carpet 1 (nfg), V-Pug 1 (nfy), September Thorn 1 (nfy), Scarce Footman 1, Common Footman 11, White Satin Moth 1, Coronet 1, Uncertain 4, Dark Arches 1, Marbled Minor ag 1, Common Rustic ag 1 (nfy), Shuttle-shaped Dart 2, Heart and Dart 4, Large Yellow Underwing 6. 

PS: I have updated this post several times today. In the last few weeks I have changed the way I process and later release moths. I now do it indoors (in the utility room) in the morning. This means that any escapes get no further than the window. I then return the catch to the trap to "roost" until the evening, when I take the trap back outside and let them escape as they wake up.

One by-product of this method is that one or two moths seem to disappear into the utility room before I have noticed and counted them. Hence the need for updates as the list rises, particularly at release time. This evening for example a Mompha subbistrigella, and more surprisingly a Marbled Minor ag appeared and got themselves added to the list.

But now that really is it for the day.