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 Now guns have been replaced by cameras, and the days of field notes and reputation are receding.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.