Sunday July 31 - branching out?

 A cloudy and rather muggy morning. A couple of showers later. This visit to Morton Bagot started encouragingly, but rather petered out.

Shortly after watching a party of newly fledged Whitethroats at Netherstead, I was in the right place to see a Hobby dash past before gaining height and circling until a mobbing Kestrel moved it on. Sadly it was too quick, and then too distant to allow for a photo. But the Whitethroats had been more obliging.

Whitethroat

A single Lesser Whitethroat, and a juvenile Willow Warbler joined a big flock of 30 plus Blue and Great Tits but no other migrants were apparent.

The flash field was absolutely hopeless, but fortunately Morton Bagot has plenty more to offer. Casting my eyes over the bank of thistles and nettles bordering the Morton Brook, it didn't take long before I saw something different. A fly called Eriothrix rufomaculata drew attention thanks to its crimson and black abdomen. Obviously I hadn't a clue what it was at the time, but eventually followed an Internet trail to the right answer. I resisted the urge to ask the app.

Eriothrix rufomaculata

Plenty of other insects vied for my attention.

Ruddy Darter

Udea lutealis

The broad border to the mown field was fantastic for flowers, but I could name few of them. In fact eventually I had a "what is this stuff?" moment and remembered the obsidentify app. It turned out to be Upright Hedge Parsley. I'd never heard of it.

The white bits are Upright Hedge Parsley

It's a hell of a lot easier than trawling through pages and pages of flowers in one of my plant field guides. I could get into plants at this rate.

Breaking news: Mike Lane flushed a Great White Egret at Middle Spernall Pools at 09.00am this morning. It flew off in the direction of Studley.

Friday 29 July - Saved by the moths

 This morning's visit to the patch was pretty disappointing. The weedy field has been mowed, leaving the usual bits in the middle. The flash field contained nearly 50 Lapwings and not a lot else. A Kingfisher was partly hidden on its perch at the Otter Pool.

I should have seen a Purple Hairstreak, but the few small butterflies at the top of some oaks refused to settle, and so had to be left as unconfirmed. Better views were had of a few newly emerged Brown Argus butterflies.

Brown Argus

As for dragonflies, most of the expected species were on the wing including a Black-tailed Skimmer which like most of them refused to settle. There were also many mating pairs of Common Darter at the dragonfly pond.

Common Darter

If all this sounds like I'm padding it out a bit, well I'm afraid I am. I ended up identifying thistles, Creeping Thistle and Spear Thistle, both much appreciated by the resident flock of Goldfinches. 

Fortunately I own a moth trap, and it will be going out tonight. It promises to be a warm and muggy evening, so there should be plenty.

And indeed there were. The running total stands at 157, but may rise this evening when any that escaped into the nooks and crannies of the utility room will no doubt reappear. I ended up with two micros new for the garden (with a third if you believe in the infallibility of Obsidentify...which I don't).

The best moth though was a second for the garden. A Tree-lichen Beauty is still rare in these parts, but is likely to have established itself recently on its march north.

Tree-lichen Beauty

Definitely new for the garden were Double-striped Tabby Hypsopygia glaucinalis, and Pine Leaf-mining Moth Clavigesta purdeyi. The former was photographed on the fence early in the morning and made a sharp exit before I could get a better look.

Double-striped Tabby

Clavigesta purdeyi

I don't get the sense that either of these new ones is particularly scarce. However, the one the app thought was 97% certain to be a Bryotropha basaltinella is quite a scarce moth (being increasingly detected under microscopic analysis). I must say I did think it looked more blotchy than the more common Bryotropha domestica from which it cannot be safely separated.

Possible Bryotropha basaltinella

Best of the rest were Common Rustic ag (13 of them), Canary-shouldered Thorn, Dusky Thorn, Small Phoenix (second for the garden), Cydia splendana, and Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing ( seven of them), and Silver Y (two, and a migrant species to boot).

Morton Bagot - July 26

After foregoing my normal weekend visit to the patch, I thought that today I should make amends. Fortunately Sam had gone there on Sunday, and had noticed both a Stonechat and a Whinchat.

This morning started well. As I was donning my wellies I found I could hear a reeling Grasshopper Warbler from the direction of the dragonfly ponds. Unfortunately I couldn't maintain this solid start, not helped by the drizzle which set in and persisted for about an hour.

Despite the rain there was plenty of passerine activity. Numerous Blackcaps, Whitethroats, and Chiffchaffs diving into cover, with a single Marsh Tit by Clowse Farm probably the pick of the bunch.

Whitethroat

I eventually arrived at the flash field and made two encouraging discoveries. Firstly, the farmer has reflooded the nearest flash, and secondly he has cut down most of the rushes which have been obscuring the mud for the last few years. It would be nice to add that a decent wader was on view as a result, but it turned out that two Green Sandpipers were as good as it got.

As I headed back the rain gave over, and a few butterflies started to emerge. But there was nothing notable to see. 

However, it was nice to see that a brood of Kestrels has fledged, being three juveniles and an adult in attendance.

Juvenile Kestrel

My last throw of the dice was to survey the dragonfly pools. The sun poked its head out for the first time, but the temperature didn't get above 17 degrees and all I saw was a Blue-tailed Damselfly and two Small Red-eyes.

It sounds as though Upper Bittell Res (sum plum Knot) and Bartley Res (Black Terns and a Little Tern) are the places to visit, but I have no plans to do so....yet.....or maybe I do.

News of a Cattle Egret at Upper Bittell tipped the balance. I got there at 19.15 and dipped. I hate twitching. At least I saw the Knot and Black-tailed Godwits.

The Knot is lurking towards the right of the image.

Upper Bittell is not a haven for photographers.

Sunday July 24 - Spernall STW

 This morning I was invited to join Tony and Leigh at a ringing session at the private Spernall STW. It was great to get to be inside looking out, and not the opposite. The site is quite extensive with loads of filter beds choc a bloc with Pied Wagtails (c30), at least six Grey Wagtails, and about 150 Starlings.

Numerous Gulls and corvids hung around, including at least 15 Herring Gulls and 70 Black-headed Gulls. The small lagoon contained at least 40 Mallard, and a couple of Grey Herons and nothing else. Well it is still July after all.

While Tony and Leigh got down to the business of catching stuff, I wandered around the periphery and was rewarded with a brief burst of song and some calls from an unseen Cetti's Warbler, and a calling Kingfisher.

I returned in time to get some shots of some of the birds caught.

Juvenile Blackcap

Adult male Greenfinch

Juvenile Pied Wagtail

In the course of my stroll around I had half heard, and then seen very distantly, a possible Yellow Wagtail flying around. In the end I decided the views weren't good enough to count it, which made it just a little galling that while I was in the process of leaving, in the course of closing their traps Tony and Leigh found this:

Juvenile Yellow Wagtail

Another gripping shot

And another.

That'll teach me for being the first to leave ! It is tempting to think it may have been raised locally.

The full results were:

Blue Tit 17

Great Tit 2 (1)

Whitethroat 2

Blackcap 6

Blackbird 1

Robin 2

Dunnock 2

Pied Wagtail 3

Yellow Wagtail 1

Greenfinch 8

Goldfinch 2

There is of course no entry to this locked site, but extremely poor views can be had from a footpath on the opposite side of the river Arrow.

Friday July 22 - Earlswood Lakes

 I fancied looking at waterbirds today, and within the Circle that meant Earlswood Lakes. It was a rather cloudy morning, but the threatened heavy showers never materialised.

Since joining the Earlswood Bird News Whatsapp Group a month ago I've been keeping an eye open for anything unusual there, but there hasn't been much to encourage a visit.

A couple of hours around Engine Pool produced the long-staying Pintail, and the summering Wigeon. I can't say for certain that they are of captive origin, but they were certainly happy to keep company with the human-tolerant Mallards.

Pintail

Wigeon

Also very photogenic were a number of juvenile Grey Wagtails, and a female Tufted Duck with brood.

Grey Wagtail

Tufted Duck and surviving brood

The only unexpected birds were two juvenile Little Grebes swimming together in the middle of the lake. They looked slightly different from one another, so I concluded that they may be from two different broods, and were probably hatched elsewhere.

The Little Grebes

The recent dry weather has produced a small edge in some parts of the lake, but I didn't see any waders. There is a new Gull identification book on the market, and it looks pretty good. At least one Yellow-legged Gull has been seen here recently, so I stopped to look at a group of large gulls. I now realise I need to get that book, because when it comes to moulting large gulls in late summer, I'm pretty clueless.

Canada Goose, Herring Gulls, a LBBGull, and maybe something else

I got back to the car, and wondered whether the ObsIdentification App would help. I tried it on the other photographs shown and it passed with flying colours (but I knew what they were anyway). Then I tried it on the right hand gull in the above picture. It said 67% Yellow-legged Gull, 33% Herring Gull. Then I tried zooming in to its head only. It said 97% Caspian Gull. Good grief.

So I won't be using the app on any more birds. I'll use my own judgment, which is 100% unsure.

Tuesday July 19 - Hot moths

 What a scorcher. I kept my powder dry until Tuesday night, the last uncomfortably hot one. A night of record temperatures following a day too hot to go out in. My plan was to wait until the heatwave broke to minimise the discomfort (for me and the moths) of hours of painstaking identification which I knew would follow.

And the results are in. Complicated by my visit to College Wood earlier in the month, my year-list has reached 200. You'll be relieved to hear that I'm not going to list all 69 species I caught, that's 331 moths of 69 species. It's a record garden count to go with the highest temperature (19 degrees C) I have ever trapped in.

My app played it's part, but it often created confusion and was sometimes overruled both by me and by MothIDUK, who I also ask to double-check the difficult ones.

I was left with four lifers; Scarce Silver-lines, Eucosma campoliliana, Eucosma cana, and Endotricha flammealis the latter probably the scarcest of them.

Scarce Silver-lines (one of two)

Eucosma campoliliana

Eucosma cana

Endotricha flammealis

I also have one iron in the fire. The only Pug I caught look pretty dowdy, so to save time I consulted the app. That gave me a 90%+ suggestion of Golden-rod Pug. I checked the photo against the books and it still looked plausible, but I also discovered it's another rare one and that some (mainly melanistic ones) cannot be identified without the dreaded genital determination. Well that wasn't happening to this moth and so I've referred an image to David Brown to see whether I can count it.....and he's just given it the thumbs up.

Golden-rod Pug

Out of the remainder, there are a few honourable mentions. The Gold Triangle, and a Teleiodes vulgella were my first since 2018, two Slender Brindles were only the second and third for the garden, and a Box Tree Moth was also my second.

Gold Triangle

Slender Brindle

Finally, a quick mention of some birds. While I was messing about with the trap on Wednesday afternoon I became conscious of some screaming Swifts and looked up to see about 30 to 40 in a mass high above. This is probably my largest count this year.

Sunday July 17

 As the heat has been building I have been doing a certain amount of cowering at home. This morning though I joined Dave for a bit of a route march around Morton Bagot before it got too hot. 

We managed one birding surprise in the form of a Stonechat, the first of the autumn. It disappeared before I could get a better shot.

Stonechat

We weren't too surprised to discover that the nearest flash has largely dried out again, and that the only waders on it were about 50 Lapwings.

There were plenty of insects about, but the heat meant that they were extremely active and hard to photograph. Too hard for me anyway. Most were ones we've seen before this year, but they did include two Silver-washed Fritilleries below Bannam's Wood, and a Southern Hawker dragonfly in the lane.

During the last few days of hunkering down at home, Lyn and I have noted several flying ant emergences. These were gratefully received by a female Blackbird still feeding a brood in the garden.

I probably should have put the moth trap out, and will do so by midweek. In the meantime, simply leaving the bathroom window has brought a few moths in, including a Svensson's Copper Underwing, which was only the second for the garden.

The underwing pattern confirmed this as a Svensson's Copper Underwing

With autumn (in birding terms) just about to start, the insects will soon be taking a back seat.

Friday July 15 - Feckenham Wylde Moor

 Taking advantage of the calm before the temperature dial turns to Sahara, I thought I'd visit Feckenham again, but this time go the the Worcestershire Trust Reserve. I got a bit confused about where you could and couldn't park, but otherwise enjoyed a couple of hours.

The highlight was a recently fledged juvenile Cuckoo which flew across a reedbed before perching in trees some distance away. It's probably over ten years since I last saw such a young one, although the reserve does support a population of Cuckoos, so it wasn't so surprising really.

Cuckoo

I spent a lot of time waiting for the numerous White butterflies to settle so that I could work out what they were. I plumped for almost all being a summer generation of Green-veined White (although Obsidentify tried to tell me the one I photographed was the first British record of Southern Small White). I'm afraid I'm losing faith in the app.

The lightly marked summer generation of Green-veined White

Other butterflies included several Essex Skippers and an equal number of Small Skippers. 

Essex Skipper

As usual I was up for pointing my camera at any interesting looking insects, including this Meadow Plant Bug, which the app reckoned was Leptopterna dolabrata.

Meadow Plant Bug

I'll end with a couple of birds, a trilling Little Grebe on the main pool, and a fly-over Red Kite with some suspicious damage to one of its wings (I suppose it could be moult, but I suspect a gunshot may have been involved).

Little Grebe

Red Kite

Thursday July 14 - A tiny bit of excitement

 The thing that is most exciting about natural history is that it can sometimes seem like a bottomless pit. Yes I can do birds, butterflies, and dragonflies, and I'm starting my journey into moths, but there's so much else out there.

One night this week I was in the bathroom, window open, hoping to attract the odd moth. I peered at a tiny creature in the sink, and mentally labelled it not a moth, and then some kind of tiny fly. As I had my camera ready for any moths, I took a shot and then zoomed in to see a rather spectacular Gnat.

Lestodiplosis vorax

I decided to try to identify it, but got absolutely nowhere. I then found the Royal Entomological Society's website and sent them the photo. 

A few days later I got a reply from an impressed-sounding Andrew Whittington who basically said he had never seen anything like it, and his own research had led him to the Gall Midge family Blastodiplosis. But he said there was very little research to go on.

The following evening I found that the unfortunate insect had made it as far as the landing, where it had sadly keeled over. This at least gave me the chance to give you some scale, and to send off an update to Andrew.

An ex-Gnat

Today I've had further emails from Andrew, saying he has been in touch with a Professor Jim Hardie in Edinburgh, and they think it could be an "important fly". They are waiting to hear from "Peter from Oxford" to see whether he would be interested in taking collection of the specimen with a view to attempting an identification. I'll keep you posted if I've found a first for Britain.

So am I going to start a Fly list ? Naah ! It's back to the birds and larger inverts for me, like this rather spectacular Swallow-tailed Moth which joined me in the bathroom last night.

Swallow-tailed Moth

The Gall Gnat turned out to be Lestodiplosis vorax. A little studied species which already on the British list.

Tuesday July 12 - Feckenham Village

 There is of course a Worcestershire Trust reserve near the village of Feckenham called Feckenham Wylde Moor, but going there would have been too obvious a move. So this morning under grey sultry skies I plumped for the village, and I have to say that if we could afford it Lyn and I would move there tomorrow. It's a proper English village with a great community spirit and some very nice wild areas to walk around.

The first area of interest was a rough meadow just beyond the football pitch, bordered by banks of bramble and great for butterflies. The highlight here was seeing several Essex Skippers outnumbered about two to one by Small Skippers.

Essex Skipper showing ink blob antennae tips

From there I walked down a wooded valley bordering the Bow Brook (other Bow Brooks are available in the county). It was the sort of place I could imagine once held Spotted Flycatchers and Turtle Doves, but today the most noteworthy birds were two male (possibly immature male) Grey Wagtails. Well you can't find a Honey Buzzard every day!

Grey Wagtail scrupulously avoiding showing me its black throat

Back in the village I was very pleased to find three House Martin nests, one of which contained a brood of four. A couple of pairs of Swifts were low enough to suggest that they probably breed in the village too.

I then took a footpath east of the village and found more good habitat.

Marbled White

Shaded Broad-bar (moth)

Beautiful Demoiselle in a hedge nowhere near any water

So no big surprises, but more ground covered.