Sunday August 30 - nearly but not quite

 A morning of sunny intervals and a chilly northerly breeze can make birding hard work. Indeed the last 24 hours have been quite frustrating.

Bear with me, I'm just going to slip back to yesterday evening's mothing first. The target species group for Moth Night was a spectacular group of very large moths with bright red and crimson underwings and names which matched the description. What they have in common is that they are more attracted to sugar than light. Sugaring is basically daubing trees in sweet stuff, like the 2016 raspberry jam I found in the cupboard, and hoping something comes to eat it.

When I wandered down to the apple tree for the second time in the evening, torch in hand but camera back in the house, I was shocked to see a massive moth sucking the solution up. It was above head height but was definitely a "something" Underwing or a Clifden Nonpareil. By the time I retrieved my camera it had gone. 

Back on the patch, the morning had its moments but there was also a hangover of frustration  similar to last night's experience. Wildlife watching is often like that.

The first decent bird was a Kingfisher which unexpectedly flew across our path and over a hedge as it departed the Netherstead area. I then picked up a distant falcon powering away towards Studley. Probably a Peregrine. 

The same range of warblers were present in the hedgerows, but maybe slightly fewer than recently. We got to the chat field where three chats were found. However they were Whinchats and were not at all keen to pose for photos. There was no sign of the Stonechat family.

Whinchat socially distancing

Arguably the highlight of the morning was watching Dave attempting to do himself a mischief by climbing a rather saggy wire fence. By the time we reached the flash pool we had added the first Meadow Pipit of the autumn which headed over unseen, and also a rather smart Painted Lady. This migrant species has not been very common this year.

Painted Lady

The flash field contained 42 Teal, five Shoveler, about 50 Mallard, and 26 Lapwings. Yawn. Walking back along Morton Brook we came across the flock of about 80 Goldfinches and a few Linnets.

Juvenile Goldfinch starting to acquire its adult plumage

But that was about it for birds. Instead, we had to rely on insects to keep us amused. A Common Blue butterfly was presumably from a second brood.

Common Blue

But the most frustrating moment of the morning came at the dragonfly pools where we watched what I'm still fairly sure was a male Emperor head across to the far side, and then disappear. This is an exceptionally late date for this species, so we hung around hoping for another look. Instead, a male Migrant Hawker appeared. Personally I'm sure the first dragonfly was not a hawker, but Dave started to have doubts, so I'll have to let it slip away without conclusion.

Ah, the frustrations of recording wildlife.

Moth Night (part two) - 28 Aug 2020

A vital component of any moth trapping session was missing from yesterday's post, the weather. 

Last night's effort had to contend with very different conditions. Where Thursday night was relatively balmy (no lower than 12 degrees centigrade) and the wind was a gentle southerly, last night was cold (no higher than nine degrees) with a fresh northerly.

When I peered at my trap at various times during the evening it appeared mothless, and this morning I glanced out at 05.00am to see no insects around it, not even wasps. No wasps! This might suggest that their arrival could be dawn related, and they hadn't set their alarm. I dashed downstairs, turned off the trap and hauled it indoors before shutting all the doors and retiring back to bed.

When I finally emerged from the pit an hour later I was half expecting to find nothing at all, so I was pleasantly surprised to find moths pebble-dashing the walls of the utility room (actually I'm exaggerating, but there were several). 

My final tally was 49 moths of 12 species, about half as many as the night before. Weather is key.

As the variety was quite low, I will be sharing the full details, but before I get to that there was at least one which was new for the year, a Small Blood-vein. This is not a particularly rare moth, although I failed to catch one last year.

Small Blood-vein

The full list was: Light Brown Apple Moth 1, Agriphila geniculea 13, Agriphila inquinatella 1, Mother of Pearl 1, Small Blood-vein 1, Garden Carpet 1, Vine's Rustic 1, Flounced Rustic 14, Flame Shoulder 1, Square-spot Rustic 2, Large Yellow Underwing 12, Lesser Yellow Underwing 1.

I don't think I'll be winning any Moth Night prizes.

Moth Night (part one) - 27 Aug 2020

 I have been a subscriber to Atropos, a magazine for those interested in insects, especially migratory ones, since its first issue in 1995. This is despite the fact that for the first 22 years of my membership I only really knew anything about butterflies and dragonflies. Moths were just names. They meant nothing to me, although it was apparent that they meant a lot to Atropos. There are just so many species of moths and so few butterflies and dragonflies.

The reason I mention this is that Atropos introduced something called National Moth Night, a movable feast of moths set on different dates each year. Hundreds of moth-ers took part, and each year it grew and grew. The results were published annually in the magazine. I wished I could join in.

Finally I did. I bought a moth trap in 2018, and learnt about moths. At last I could take part. Unfortunately it has got so big that, as well as being rebranded as Moth Night, the results have stopped appearing in the magazine. To see them it is now necessary to access the Atropos website. I preferred seeing them in the magazine, but hey ho, the result of this year's efforts will eventually appear here: https://www.mothnight.info. 

Last night was the first of three nights over which this year's event will run. My trap went out and I did pretty well. After clearing all the wasps I found a total of 89 moths of 22 species.

Excitingly these included two which were new to the garden, one of which is still scarce in Warwickshire having spread from southern England in recent years, while the other was a less than common migrant.

The scarce one is a pug (but not a boring one). The Cypress Pug is quite a looker for a pug, and also massive (pugwise) with a forewing of 11 millimetres. Phwoar !

Cypress Pug

How rare is it? They were first established as a resident in Warwickshire in 2007, and ten years later fewer than ten were found each year. Since then they have got a bit more frequent with 16 in 2018, and 14 in 2019. So not mega rare, but still a pretty good find.

The migrant was a Dark Sword-grass. They turn up every year, but are still unusual enough that most records are documented. I have to admit that the 18 which turned up Warwickshire in 2019 included one I saw on the side of Selfridges in Birmingham, so last night's moth was new for the garden but not new for me.

Dark Sword-grass

This particular example seems to be a female and is rather more worn than it might have been, but I suppose if its flown all the way from southern Europe it has every right to look a bit worse for wear.

One other migrant turned up last night; a Silver Y, and one other moth was new for the year; a spectacular male Vapourer. 

Vapourer

You've probably seen this moth without realising it. An orangey moth jinking its way across the countryside in broad daylight at Morton Bagot generally goes unidentified, but is almost certainly a male of this species sniffing out the pheromone trail of the flightless female. 

My only previous garden record was in 2018.

The commonest moths were the usual suspects; 

35 Large Yellow Underwings, 16 Agriphila geniculea, 10 Flounced Rustics, and six Vine's Rustics. 

Part two will follow tomorrow. I can hardly wait.

Wednesday August 26 - Stonechat conundrum

 Yesterday was not a day for the fainted-hearted. So that let me out. The birding bravehearts were out there, suffering for their art, finding wader and tern passage everywhere they looked, and getting very wet in the process.

This morning I tiptoed out into the aftermath, dodging fallen saplings aplenty on my way to the patch. The wind was still a brisk south-westerly but lessened in strength with every passing hour. The calmer areas in the lee of the hedgerows were full of birds. Admittedly most of them were Blue Tits, but I did find handfuls of Lesser Whitethroats, Whitethroats, Blackcaps, and Chiffchaffs along with at least three Willow Warblers.

So to the chat field where, instead of the half expected Whinchats, I found a family party of Stonechats. The male was in heavy moult, while the female had been ringed. The question is, was it the female ringed here in December, or is it a completely new bird which has been ringed somewhere else? Either way it would be fascinating to know.

The ringed female Stonechat

The male Stonechat regrowing its moulted tail feathers

There seemed to be six in total; the pair plus four juveniles. As far as I could tell, the juveniles appeared to be weeks old rather than days old, so they may not be the second brood of the pair discovered to have recently fledged young at the end of May. I pinged an email to the ringers, but the earliest they can get down is late next week, so the conundrum may remain unresolved.

Four in one shot was the most I could manage

I continued to the flash field where, as expected, the water level remains too high for waders. Once again a single Green Sandpiper was on the furthest flash, and 42 Lapwings were getting their feet wet on the nearest. At least the two Shovelers had chosen to switch to the closest flash.

The Shovelers

A Tree Pipit called as it flew over while I was counting Mallard (44 if you're interested), but I nobly continued with the count and didn't even look up. I probably wouldn't have seen it anyway.

Lapwings

I haven't photographed many dragonflies this year, so when a typically inquisitive Southern Hawker decided to perch, the opportunity was not to be passed up.

Southern Hawker

On the walk back I got the chance to have a good look at a Willow Warbler. This species was once extremely common, but its range seems to be shifting northwards presumably due to global warming. It is therefore quite likely that this bird is a migrant from further north although it must be said that the HOEF woods are full of birches and young growth, which is ideal for Willow Warblers to breed in.

Willow Warbler

How do you tell them from Chiffchaff? Leg colour is useful but not diagnostic (pale is better for Willow Warbler), juveniles can have very yellow underparts or at least be quite pale like this bird. The supercilium (pale stripe above the eye) can be more obvious in Willow Warbler, and they lack the pronounced white eye-ring shown by most Chiffchaffs. 

Also it helps if it sings, which this one did.

I spoke to my old pal Mike last night. He told me that he does have some wader habitat on his patch at Middle Spernal, although it never seems to get any. So I decided to investigate. It took me about 45 minutes to find the pool (I have been there before but the HOEF trees are very disorientating) so I was greatly relieved to find it, and not surprised to see that Mike was right. The extensive gravel edge looks great, but not a single wader had found it. 

I did however flush a Barn Owl from a woodland ride, and a Shoveler, a Teal, and a Cormorant from the pool.

Sunday August 23 - Do I feel lucky?

 Yesterday I had a nose bleed. After stemming the flow I noticed I had bled onto my shirt, my lucky shirt. Also on my jeans, but they have no pedigree. 

So this morning I switched to my other lucky shirt, latterly considered to be an unlucky shirt. I drove the ten minutes to the patch. On arrival I discovered I had forgotten my phone, and as I don't like to leave Lyn with no way to contact me and I was early anyway, I returned home. As I pulled onto the drive I discovered it had been in my coat pocket, where I never put it! So that was twenty minutes of my life I'll never get back.

Back at the patch I warned Dave that we would be seeing nothing today. The weather suggested we had a chance, relatively calm and mostly cloudy. 

Hope arrived in the form of three Whinchats in the chat field. 

A smart Whinchat

A scruffy Whinchat

Shortly afterwards another bit of luck came our way. A Yellowhammer flew in and seemed to land in a hedge. A few years ago I might not even have been motivated enough to pick up my bins, but the species is now lost to the patch except for a few winter birds. This was the first since February. Unfortunately I couldn't see where it was calling from, and it took off before I got a proper view.

We did not have high expectations of the flash field, and as predicted the water-level was still too high for waders beyond a couple of Green Sandpipers and 23 Lapwings. On the other hand two Shovelers were swimming around the furthest flash, the first for a while. Other ducks present were 14 Teal and 94 Mallard. Two Kingfishers briefly appeared, chasing each other around. Probably the first time I have seen two here. 

The rest of the morning was busy. Plenty of finches, most of the expected warblers, and generally decent numbers of birds.

Luck plays a massive part in bird finding, and we may have used all ours on being in the right place at the right time when the Marsh Harrier flew through a couple of weeks ago.

Twitching on the other hand takes determination and effort. Half an hour after I got home I got a call from Dave. There's a Greenish Warbler in Staffordshire. He didn't know where (wrong Bird Guides tariff), but I made a quick enquiry and discovered it was at Cuckoo Bank, Heath Hayes. Should we go? Twenty years ago I'd have been out of the house like a shot, but these days I agonise. I don't know the place. How much can I be bothered? Which shirt should I wear?

Two hours later I'm still here.

Late summer moths

 My garden trap contained about 73 moths this morning, several of which were so worn that I released them without attempting an identification. There were also quite a lot of wasps again and I'm afraid one moth, a Dusky Thorn I think from the wings that were left, was eaten by them.

Most of the survivors were Large Yellow Underwings (27), and the next three in order of abundance were Agriphila geniculea (nine), Vine's Rustic (six), and Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (four).

There was just one moth which was new for the garden, a small micro which unfortunately cannot be identified to species level without the recorder becoming involved. However I believe it to be either Caloptilia alchimiella or Caloptilia robustella. The recorder later confirmed it was C robustella which is the commoner of the two.

Caloptilia robustella

The only other moth which was new for the year was a Six-striped Rustic, although an Orange Swift was unusual in being a female rather than a male, and is therefore sort of new for the garden.

Six-striped Rustic

The female Orange Swift

It looks as though I'm going to be stuck with the annoying wasps for the duration of the autumn as my neighbour hasn't noticed (I assume) the nest entrance in the corner of his garage. I keep having to remind myself that they are good for the garden ecosystem.

The Pits - 21 August

The title of this post is a reflection of where I went today, not necessarily how dire it was. With a howling gale and the prospect of no exposed mud at Morton Bagot, a trip to Salford Priors seemed a good plan.

 I paid a visit here in May when there was hardly any gravel poking up from the water surface. Today that island has expanded and looked suitable for waders. And indeed there were a couple, but just a Common Sandpiper, and a juvenile Ringed Plover. Yes these were the species which made my day at Morton Bagot last week, but here they were pretty much the staple diet.

On arrival I was pleased to see a couple of Swifts, my first this month and probably my last of the year unless I spread my wings again. A Sedge Warbler had dived into the hedge by the road, but it wasn't really a day for passerines. On the other hand, I had heard some interesting calls as I arrived and it wasn't long before I was able to confirm my impression that they were indeed Yellow Wagtails. At least two were present on the island. I'm ashamed to say that these were my first for a couple of years.

Yellow Wagtail (and Coot)

Its very likely that this species breeds in the agricultural land around here, but its another declining farmland bird so any I see are much appreciated.

Juvenile Ringed Plover

Another birder then joined me. It was nice to see Chris Lane again, and we spent the next half hour chatting. We also kept an eye open for anything which might turn up, but a juvenile Common Gull which joined the 50 or so Black-headed Gulls was the best we could manage.

I normally enjoy counting birds but only tallied 18 Little Grebes, at least three Gadwall, and a Teal before I lost interest in the numerous Mallards, Tufted Ducks, Coots, and Geese present.

I went across to the other pool, but was disappointed to find that it had no muddy edge. One thing it did contain was a Greylag Goose closely following a Mute Swan around.

Parent and child ?

This seems to be evidence of egg dumping where a Greylag Goose has laid in the Swan's nest. Perhaps the Swan's clutch has failed to hatch or has been predated, while the gosling has imprinted on the first bird it sees and the Mute Swan is quite happy to accept its strange "cygnet".

Tuesday August 18 - An early start reaps rewards

 I was up early this morning, not stupidly so, but it meant that I arrived on the patch about an hour earlier than normal. Had I not done so, I would not have heard the "skeez" call of a Tree Pipit as I was putting on my wellies. New for the year, and not recorded every year, this was a great start.

The weather was fresher than on my last visit, a moderate south-westerly. Sunny intervals which could be handy if I need to photograph anything. And it wasn't long before I found a nice sunny corner near the beehives where Blackcap, Chiffchaffs, and best of all three young Lesser Whitethroats were darting in and out of the foliage.

Lesser Whitethroat

Lesser Whitethroat

I could tell that these were young birds because their ear-coverts were a fraction darker than those of an adult and the plumage looked splendidly sharp and clean. One of my favourite birds.

I reached the pool field and noticed that the deep end actually contained some water. This would mean, yep, the nearest flash was now a sheet of water. It must have been Sunday afternoon's deluge.

So there'd be no waders then. Unless of course it was a wader with very long legs, like a Black-tailed Godwit. Excellent.

Black-tailed Godwit

Although it appears quite orange, don't be fooled. The neatly edged wing feathers confirmed that this was actually a juvenile. It was feeding enthusiastically, and a couple of my shots suggested that the prey was a species of Water-snail.

A water-snail dangling from its bill-tip

Anyway, apart from the Godwit, I was right about the habitat. In the course of a fortnight we've gone from not enough water, through just right, to too much water. No good for Common Sandpipers and Ringed Plovers, and I could only see two Green Sandpipers and two Snipe. The Teal were quite happy, and even the Lapwings were still present. I counted 24 of the former and 44 of the latter. There has also been an influx of Mallard, now 89 feeding happily.

A Hobby appeared and created mayhem, the unsettled ducks swimming out to the middle where they could be counted. Cheers Mr Hobby. Unfortunately the raptor promptly disappeared and I was again unable to get a shot.

It sometimes strikes me that birding is slipping back to Victorian times, when the gun was king. What's hit is history, what's missed is mystery, or so the saying went. Now guns have been replaced by cameras, and the days of field notes and reputation are receding. Perhaps one day all our pre-digital field note based observations will be reviewed out of existence. I hope not, but there's no doubt that cameras are a massive help.

The walk back to the car was a quiet affair, but I did manage to sneak up on a Silver-Y moth, and saw several. Perhaps it will be a good year for this migratory species.

Silver-Y

The Silver Y has a nicely appropriate English name, its upside down Y mark obvious in the middle of its forewing. It has quite a nice latin name too, Autographa gamma. I'll let you do the translation.

This brings me on to a micro caught in our bathroom last night, Carcina quercana. For most micros the books don't give an English name.

Carcina quercana

I am guessing that quercana refers to the Oak quercus which may be the caterpillar's food plant. Many people are put off by latin names, and I agree they do take a bit of getting used to. This micro, despite being featured on the cover of A Field Guide to the Micro Moths of Great Britain and Ireland by Sterling and Parsons, is not given an English name in that book. However, a more recent publication has put forward English names for the commoner micros like this one. It now has the name Long-horned Flat-body! 

I think I prefer Carcina quercana.

Sunday August 16 - migrants on the move

 This was the kind of morning which reminds me why I keep coming here. All the elements were there; a warm muggy overcast feel with the odd shower and some sunshine. Wader migration season - mid August, perfect. No other people (apart from Dave, who doesn't count), ideal.

All we needed were the birds. After a steady first hour with all the usual warblers, we reached the pool field and quickly located two Whinchats. 

Whinchat

A bit of a Morton Bagot autumn speciality, not particularly rare but scarce enough to make any day. There is still no main pool in the pool field, but you can't have everything.

Better was to follow. 

We got to the flash field where the nearest flash now looks in excellent condition. It soon became clear that the birds thought so too. Numbers had more than doubled since my last visit, 23 Teal, 10 Snipe, 12 Green Sandpipers, and best of all a Common Sandpiper. Yes I know, just a Common Sandpiper. But this species is barely annual here. We're always knee-deep in Green Sands, but Common isn't common.

Common Sandpiper

For those uncertain of the difference, Common is distinctly smaller and its white belly rises up almost to its shoulder. On Green Sandpiper the white belly meets its grey breast with no sign of extending upwards. The next shot shows the two species together.

Common and Green Sandpipers

Unlike at certain other Midland sites, Black-headed Gulls remain at manageable levels, i.e. hardly any, and although I like a gull as much as the next man, their absence makes the place much more peaceful. Noisy buggers, gulls.

Green Sandpiper, Teal, and Black-headed Gull

As you can see in the above photograph, it soon started to rain. Luckily, we were under the trees overlooking the flash at the time, the nearest thing to a hide at Morton Bagot.

Rain often drops waders in - is a mantra popular with birders. It is certainly true of big reservoirs and well-watched (pre-covid) sites like Upton Warren. It never happens here though. Well almost never. We were just about to start yet another attempt to upgrade our Green Sandpiper count, when a wader called and something shot across my line of vision. Seconds later we got onto them, two Ringed Plovers, an adult and a juvenile. Fantastic. Similar in status to Common Sandpiper here, and two of them. Make that three. Just as we were preparing to leave Dave astutely observed that he was now looking at two adults.

The adult Ringed Plovers

The juvenile, which I do have a blurred image of from when it stood behind some sedge, then decided it was time to go. It flew around calling, landing for seconds before taking off again. I just couldn't get a shot of all three together, and after thirty minutes the shower abated and they all circled ever higher to continue their journey from the Arctic (or maybe just Scotland) to West Africa or wherever. 

Migration in action is absolutely thrilling to witness.

We weren't finished. The journey back along the Morton Brook took us past a discarded walking stick (if anyone's lost one we can tell you where it is) to Stapenhill Wood. Here, first one, and then another Spotted Flycatchers flew up into a stunted tree, pausing just long enough for me to get a couple of shots.

Spotted Flycatcher

A bit more convincing than the dot on a hedge I thought might be this species on Tuesday. They quickly disappeared behind the wood and we did not see them again.

Instead we reached the edge of the ridge field where at least 137 finches were counted on the wires. About a hundred of them were Goldfinches, the rest being Linnets plus a solitary Reed Bunting.

Insects didn't get much of a look in today, but I did notice a Silver Y moth, which I mention because, like the birds featured in this post, its a migrant.

Back in moth world

 Last night's temperature dropped no lower than 15 degrees, but it was a bit breezy and didn't feel very warm this morning.

I caught 70 moths (and about 30 Common Wasps), and after encouraging the wasps to fly off I got down to business. It was actually slightly disappointing, the nearest I came to a new moth was a micro which I tentatively identified as Bryotropha domestica, which it may well be. However, SMW texted to suggest I bear in mind the possibility of Bryotropha basaltinella which has recently colonised Worcestershire. I no longer have the moth in question and my photos aren't very good either.

Bryotropha ag

There were several that were new for the year, the best in terms of looks and the number of years since my last one in the garden was Angle Shades.

Angle Shades

My excitement at seeing this moth was somewhat tempered by the fact that it was easily the commonest macro moth attracted to the discs on the side of Selfridges when I used to work in Birmingham City Centre. But it was still the first for the garden since pre-moth trap days when one entered the bathroom on 21 Sept 2015.

Another one new for this year was the pyralid Acrobasis adustella, of which I caught two.

Acrobasis adustella

Arguably better was a Straw Underwing which was the second for the garden, the other being last year. A rather smart noctuid moth.

Straw Underwing

I also caught my first five Flounced Rustics, and my first two Agriphila geniculea of the year. Both very common moths.

Flounced Rustic

Agriphila geniculea

The total number of species caught was 35. In addition to those already mentioned the most notable were a Swallow Prominent (first since the spring, so a new generation), a Setaceous Hebrew Character (also the first of the new generation), a Bright-line Brown-eye (first since the spring), an Orange Swift, a Marbled Beauty, three Common Carpets, and a Garden Carpet.

The top four in numbers were Large Yellow Underwing (nine), Common Rustic ag (five), Flounced Rustic (five), and Vine's Rustic (five).

Thursday August 13 - good signs

After some spectacular rain through the evening I was keen to see whether this would prompt the arrival of migrants, and also how the flash might look.  The morning dawned grey with a little hazy sunshine and a light north-easterly.

I headed straight for the flash field and was soon recording migrants, or rather not recording them. The first bird on offer flew over me giving a single call. Was that a Yellow Wagtail? This species normally gives a very distinctive call, but can also present you with a slightly different call. I wasn't sure. Either way I didn't see it and the doubts remained. Let it go.

Fortunately the next offering was a little more co-operative. A small passerine flew along the hedge line on the far side of the pool field, and I could see a white patch on either side of its tail. This meant that by the time it perched I was pretty certain it would be a Whinchat.

Whinchat

I've noticed that several Midland sites have been getting this species in the last few weeks, so it was nice to come to the party.

I got to the flash field and was relieved to see plenty of shallow water, and indeed it was occupied by 11 Teal. By the time I had moved on to the best spot something had flushed most of them, but the site was back to how it should look.

The water is back

Scanning around I started to see waders, and eventually counted 27 Lapwings, five Green Sandpipers, and five Snipe. I looked again and spotted something on the mud, but it wasn't a wader. The first Wheatear of the year (due to Covid wiping out the opportunity to cash in on the normally strong Spring passage) was very encouraging.

Wheatear

The walk back produced a big flock of at least 120 Goldfinches and a few Linnets.
I had been fighting my camera a bit all morning, and the reason became clear when I investigated further. I had forgotten to change the setting since photographing some moths this morning.

Orange Swift

Oegoconia quadripuncta ag

Agriphila tristella

What a twit. With the setting changed away from "close up" a Kestrel gave me the chance to see what I had been missing.

Kestrel

It'll be back to moths on Friday night, and hopefully I'll remember to put the camera on the right setting.

Tuesday 11 August - too hot

Actually, despite the title of this post, for the first hour of my visit to the patch the conditions were great. A very light easterly and humid overcast skies. The problem was that my first hour didn't start until after 09.00. By late morning the sun was out and things started to go wrong.

So lets start with the best bit. Warblers abounded at Netherstead, and I soon logged Lesser Whitethroats, Whitethroats, Blackcaps, a Willow Warbler, and Chiffchaffs. It was all very nice.

Common Whitethroat

Lesser Whitethroat

In fact the highlight was a moth, you'll be surprised to hear. I occasionally check posts and tree trunks for moths without ever finding any. Today I checked a telegraph pole and bingo, a Knot Grass. 

Knot Grass

I do get this species occasionally in my garden trap, but I don't think I've seen one at Morton Bagot before.

Moving on, I reached the flash field, the scene of Sunday's triumph. The situation did not look good. Evaporation has removed almost all of the water in just the last two days. Apparently thunder storms are on their way, and boy does the flash need them.

Scarcely a drop left

Apart from 33 Lapwings the only waders were two Snipe, and a single Green Sandpiper.

Earlier in the morning I had seen about 80 hirundines reacting in panic without seeing the culprit, although I did later spot the Peregrine on the pylons. But now, as I left the flash field I had the annoying experience of flushing a Hobby from a dead tree. I know I shouldn't have been annoyed, a Hobby is still a Hobby, but if I'd been a little more alert to the possibilities it could have been a great photo.

At the far end of the Kingfisher Pool I crept through the bramble strewn pathway to find no sign of the Kingfisher or anything else. Fortunately I lingered, and ten minutes later it appeared, saw me, and hurried off across the field where it perched on a distant hawthorn. Thus a rather incongruous sight of a Kingfisher perched about 100 metres from the nearest water.

Kingfisher

I headed on, and no doubt it breathed a sigh of relief and resumed its intended journey to the pool.

The bird of the day was also the miss of the day. Far away on the top of a hedge stood a small bird. It suddenly took to the air and returned to its perch. Surely a Spotted Flycatcher. The problem was, when I said far away I wasn't kidding.

Spot the spot fly?

I tried my scope, and got on it again. It looked even better, but it was still a silhouette. I decided to head to the ridge field to try to get closer and have the sun behind me. 

I never saw it again. The one that got away.

By now I thought sun stroke was a very real possibility so I staggered back to the car without really looking at anything else.