Sunday October 10

 Another pleasant day of sunshine, the wind having shifted to a light north-westerly overnight, presaged another rather quiet visit. For all our efforts in the first hour, Dave and I managed to turn up just a fly over Redpoll, first of the autumn, and a circling Peregrine. 

The ringers were in the field for the second day running, and reported having caught a lot of Blue Tits.  

Their report is as follows: Blue Tit 65 (6 retraps), Great Tit 12 (2), Long-tailed Tit 5 (2), Blackcap 1, Meadow Pipit 16, Goldfinch 7 (1), Reed Bunting 2.

We moved on down the hedge, counting Stonechats and glimpsing a Blackcap before arriving at the flash field which at least contained plenty of Teal.

We eventually counted 45 Teal and four Snipe, although I'm sure there were plenty more hidden from view.

Numbers of Skylark seemed higher. There were 16 in the weedy field where the ringers were operating, and a steady trickle of birds heading south overhead. Back at Netherstead we found four Stonechats, which may have been different from the three at the old pool (or may have been the same).

On Friday night my moth trap went out on a night when temperatures dropped no lower than 13 degrees. As a result I caught a respectable 23 moths of 13 species. These included two beautiful Merveille Du Jour moths, and a Beaded Chestnut, plus an unexpectedly early December Moth.

Merveille Du Jour

Beaded Chestnut

December Moth

The full list was:

Caloptilia semifascia 1,    Ruddy Streak 2,    Light Brown Apple Moth 2,    Garden Rose Tortrix 2,    Pine Carpet 1,    Spruce Carpet 1,    December Moth 1 (nfy),    Merveille Du Jour 2 (nfy),    Barred Sallow 5,    Beaded Chestnut 1 (nfy),    Lunar Underwing 2,    Large Yellow Underwing 2,    Lesser Yellow Underwing 1.