Beet Moth flashback

 Back on August 10 2022 I caught a tiny moth which Obsidentify told me was a Beet Moth Scrobipalpa ocellatella. 

A brief bit of research told me it shouldn't occur in Warwickshire, so I assumed the app had got another one wrong.

Since then records have appeared in Worcestershire and widely across southern England. The images I have seen look identical to my moth, so I am reinstating it as a candidate for the garden list.

Whether it turns out to be a first for Warwickshire, only time will tell.

Beet Moth ?

Tuesday August 30 - the birding lottery

 It can be argued that finding rare birds is very much a lottery. For birders for whom this matters every time they go out is like buying a ticket. Very occasionally this pays off. The Honey-buzzard at Morton Bagot in mid July 2022 is a classic example.

But is it possible to stack the odds in your favour? I've always believed that it should be. Dave and I used to head for Filey on an easterly forecast in the 1990s, and would invariably have a good weekend. In the Midlands wet weather should produce waders and terns at the right times of the year at the big reservoirs.

But what about the unassuming habitat within 10 kilometres of my house? This morning the wind was a light north-easterly, and it's the end of August. What to do? With no rain around I had two plans for two species; Tree Pipit and Osprey. 

I headed for the top of Cobley Hill in the hope of seeing the former. Noc-miggers had been recording plenty over their gardens for the last few nights, and high ground is best for visible migration. It stood a chance of being a winning ticket.

In the event it wasn't.  Nothing flew over at all, apart from four Swallows. A flock of 36 Lapwings was nice to see, but not what I had had in mind.

Lapwings

Time for Plan B. I drove to Lower Bittell where I hung around on the canal dam for about ninety minutes scanning the skies for birds of prey. The reservoir has a good record for Osprey, and late August to mid September is the time.

Not today though. I saw a Sparrowhawk, and at least four Buzzards didn't cut the mustard. To pass the time I counted 20 Little Grebes, 11 Great Crested Grebes, 14 Mute Swans, nine Tufted Ducks, two Teal, 24 Mallard, 31 Coots, 31 Moorhens, two Cormorants, and a Kingfisher. Yawn.

This afternoon I headed to Specsavers to pick up a new pair of glasses.

Perhaps that was the problem!

Sunday August 28 - three by three

 Dave was able to join me for a walk around Morton Bagot this morning. It was again largely sunny with a light easterly breeze. Someone will have thrown open the curtains this morning and found themselves looking at a Wryneck. Not us though.

In apparently ideal conditions we found nothing wonderful, but also noticed that the best things came in threes.

The contractors don't work on a Sunday, so we explored the old pool field to see what they had been up to. About four small scrapes are awaiting the rain which must surely fall eventually. In the meantime we found that the hedgerow and piles of soil bore three Whinchats and three Stonechats.

Whinchat

Stonechat

The area they preferred also featured several Whitethroats, a Lesser Whitethroat, and a Chiffchaff. For a moment there we thought we were doing well.

Moving on to the flash field we counted three Snipe, and three Green Sandpipers, along with 85 Lapwings, and 18 Teal. 

Snipe and Lapwing

By this time it was past 10.00 am and getting warm, getting flat, getting duller. It was a little better than my last visit, but with just 39 species the prospects for next weekend look bleak.

Friday August 26 - back on the patch

 Today was sunny and warm with a very light south-easterly. An ideal day for photographing birds at Morton Bagot, but any hopes of dropping on a rarity soon evaporated. 

Reed Bunting (probably a juvenile male)

Juvenile Bullfinch

Kestrel (probably juvenile)

There are still plenty of Whitethroats around, and at least one Lesser Whitethroat, but getting views of such warblers was very challenging despite the ideal conditions.

The contractors are continuing to churn up the pool field, so I gave that a miss. The nearest thing to a highlight was the appearance of a Snipe by the nearest flash along with an increase of Teal to at least 19 individuals. A couple of Green Sandpipers and 52 Lapwings remain, as does a decent covering of water.

The autumn alldayer is due to take place in a couple of weeks, so I'll have to improve dramatically on the 42 species I logged today.

Thursday August 25 - Birds and moths

 Last night the moth trap went out for only the second time this August. With overnight temperatures remaining north of 15 degrees, it seemed disrespectful not to. 

The result was loads of moths as hoped, but not the variety desired. Out of 181 moths the majority were three species; Large Yellow Underwing (57), Flounced Rustic (28), and Agriphila geniculea (21). The rest were the usual selection of brown late summer moths, and my final species total was 32.

New for the year were Centre-barred Sallow (two), and Six-striped Rustic, while other noteworthy discoveries were my second Rush Veneer, Chinese Character, and Light Emerald of the year.

While the extracting was going on, my Whatsapp pinged to let me know I should be at Earlswood. The Greenshank had been joined by a juvenile Redshank. By mid-morning I finished logging the moths and was due to drive to Shirley to collect my Mum. An ideal opportunity to call in at Earlswood.

Juvenile Redshank, its legs stained greenish by the algae

I only had 15 minutes from the dam but it was enough to see both shanks and to make an estimate of 300 hirundines, slightly over half being Swallows and the rest House Martins, plus a couple of Sand Martins, and a Swift.

So the Redshank was #LocalBigYear tick number 129, a species I thought I would miss out on having failed to see any in spring. 

Shortly after writing this post another Whatsapp message, this time from Joe Owen, had me dashing back to Earlswood. Just before 19.00 he had found two juvenile Black Terns.

One of the Black Terns

Trying to photograph flying Black Terns in fading light with a bridge camera is tricky to say the least. The above shot was the only one which was not a total disaster. The important thing is that my list has advanced to 130. It sounds as though they were first seen at 3.00pm, but the observer wasn't sure. They definitely weren't present at 11.00 am when I was looking at the Redshank.

Back to birding Morton Bagot tomorrow.

Tuesday August 23 - more twitching

 It's been a slightly odd day. We had some friends visiting, one of whom was keen to come birding with me. My plan was to take him to Earlswood for some easy birding.

A couple of hours before they were due to arrive I learnt that a Ringed Plover had turned up on the island. Just a Ringed Plover, but it would also be a LocalBigYear tick. So I went straight away, briefly joined Matt and John O who were able to indicate where it was, and then return home to await our friends' arrival. The whole operation took just 30 minutes.

Ringed Plover

Our friends were late, and I didn't get back to Earlswood until 11.00. We had been allowed two hours (lunch in Stratford was on the agenda), so just had time to walk around Windmill Pool.

The Greenshank was still around, and the Ringed Plover remained on its island. The rest of the visit produced just the usual birds, but also the arresting spectacle of a very large gentleman who had capsized his dinghy being rescued by another sailor. He had been towed to the shallows but was too exhausted to get back on his boat, and too large to be lifted aboard by his rescuer. We were about to take our shoes and socks off to wade to their aid when he finally managed to stand up and clamber aboard.

The only other noteworthy event was the discovery of a yellow and black caterpillar in the car when we were back home. I reckon I must have accidentally knocked it off the bushes below the dam at Earlswood when I opened the car door. It turned out to be a Buff-tip moth caterpillar.

Sunday August 21

We have now entered what I consider to be the three-week peak of the early autumn bird migration. I headed for Morton Bagot and tried to find migrants. With heightened anticipation comes an increased risk of disappointment, and today's visit did not hit the mark.

The only migrants were Whitethroats (ten), Lesser Whitethroats (two), Blackcaps (five), and Chiffchaffs (nine). All birds which may well have been journeying from elsewhere, but are equally likely to be home-grown. The only chats I could see were the two Stonechats.

There were straws to be grasped. The work in the pool field has produced two small scrapes which may fill with water when we finally get some rain, and there may be more to come. Meanwhile the nearest flash was more promising than on my last visit (the bar was low), producing 68 Lapwings, one Green Sandpiper, nine Teal, three Shovelers, and 60 Greylag Geese. At least 40 House Martins and a few Swallows were dashing around over the furthest flash.

So with no unexpected birds and nothing allowing fantastic views, I ended up only photographing a few butterflies. 

Brown Argus

Red Admiral

I still think there are promising signs for future visits.

Friday August 19 - Earlswood again

 When I said I could see myself becoming a regular at Earlswood for the next couple of months I wasn't kidding.

This morning was fairly sunny and fairly breezy, probably not the kind of weather to encourage any new arrivals, but I wanted to spend a bit longer looking for birds than last time. In the end, three hours was only enough time to walk around Windmill Pool, and one side of Engine Pool from the causeway.

The bushes were dominated by Tits and Chiffchaffs (at least 15), plus a couple of Willow Warblers and three Blackcaps. At least five Swifts flew around Engine Pool, while at least 20 Swallows were mainly congregating at the south end of Windmill.

Feeding the kids

The highlight was a Hobby which chased the hirundines, and was then mobbed by them as it flew off to the south. The Greenshank was also on this pool, but near the dam, while the long-staying Pintail and a couple of Teal hid among the Amphibious Bistort (I think) along the western edge.

Greenshank

One of the Teal

Back at Engine Pool, where earlier in the morning I had counted 296 Canada Geese, and a couple of Greylag Geese (plus the Bar-headed Goose) as they made their way from the causeway in the direction of Terry's Pool, I decided to have a good look at the gravelly island.

A brood of tiny Tufted Ducks dived just off the island, but the main attraction was the Yellow-legged Gull. There seems to have been some discussion about whether it was the same bird as was present all winter, and how old it is.

When asleep, it looked very adult-like, and could easily be considered to be just one moult away from adulthood. However, closer inspection of the preening bird reveals a few faint brown barred lesser coverts, and also secondaries and some of the tertials, while the longest primaries were old, the new white tipped primaries were starting to grow.

I decided to film the bird as the best way to show the feather detail, and here are a couple of screen shots.

Tertials and secondaries brown

White tail, pink feet and yellowish legs

Here is the original video: https://youtu.be/Ah6kKKV04Yg

Or here if that doesn't work:

I'm coming round to thinking it is a second cycle bird moulting into third cycle (if I've got the terminology right). 

Wednesday August 17 - Twitching a Greenhank

 It is testament to how impoverished for waders my Local Big Year Circle is that this afternoon I was tempted to twitch a Greenshank at Earlswood Lakes. I just don't feel confident that Morton Bagot will get one.

As it happens there were additional benefits to my visit. For one thing the Greenshank, a juvenile, showed very well. Earlswood may be the poor relation compared to Upper Bittell which has acres of shoreline, but you get much better views than at Bittell (or indeed Morton Bagot).

Greenshank

The bird was on Windmill Pool, and was remarkably tolerant of stone-throwing kids and loose dogs, simply flying to a different patch of stony shore when disturbed.

On the other side of the causeway lies Engine Pool and a nice gravelly island containing various Gulls. I joined John Oates who kindly pointed out the near adult (he reckoned third summer) Yellow-legged Gull. It was rather petite for a Yellow-legged Gull, which probably means its a female.

Yellow-legged Gull with juv Lesser Black-backed Gull

Also present was a Sand Martin with probably 50+ Swallows, two distant Shovelers, the Wigeon, and a couple of Swifts. In the course of searching for the Greenshank I had heard a distant Common Sandpiper.

All in all I can see Earlswood Lakes becoming a regular feature of my birding this autumn.

Wednesday August 17 - the two bird theory

 Last time I visited Morton Bagot the sun was beating down and the best I could manage were one or two chats which caused me a few difficulties. In the fierce glare of the sun I had been unsure whether at least one bird was a Whinchat or a Stonechat.

This morning the sun had gone, replaced by cloud with a hint of drizzle and a moderate northerly. But the chats were still there, and in much more favourable light proved to be two Stonechats and two Whinchats. Although I hadn't had the courage of my convictions, I felt my first instinct that the Chat sp shown last time might have been a Stonechat was vindicated.

Stonechat

Whinchat

Rather like last time, that was as good as it got.

The contractors have scraped some earth at the south end of the pool field, creating some Wheatear habitat out of the pile of clods in the corner. Meanwhile the flash field continues to lurch from one extreme to the other, last week's mud with barely a hint of water being replaced by a flooded flash and no muddy edge. I guess the farmer is farming for cattle, not birds.

Wootton Pool/Wawen - Monday 15 August

 With the temperature dropping at last, I decided to check out a gathering of Egrets reported by the weir at Wootton Wawen over the weekend. 

This morning it comprised just one Little Egret, which was a bit disappointing. I had a plan B on the back-burner which was to have a look at Wootton Pool a short distance away.

Having a look is the problem there. I do not have access to the fishing pool, so have to skulk around on the wrong side of the stream, peering through trees. Not ideal. However I could see enough to establish that the recent dry weather has not created a shoreline.

Despite this I managed to see five Mandarins and a Little Egret, both pool ticks. The former probably bred here, although the young (if that's what they were) had fully fledged.

Mandarin

Little Egret

I was also pleased to find a recently hatched brood of Tufted Ducks, plus the usual Mallards and Greylag Geese. About two Kingfishers dashed up and down the stream, and a flock of warblers and Tits contained two Willow Warblers.

One day I'll find something good here, but not today.

Thursday August 11 - a dash to the flash

 It's getting too hot to go birding. This morning I chose a very short visit to the flashes at Morton Bagot to see if it still existed. It kind of didn't. The nearest flash has almost completely dried up but still contained three Green Sandpipers and at least 43 Lapwings. The furthest flash held about a dozen Mallard and three Teal.

I then scanned the pool field and saw the HOEF contractors in the distance creating habitat. I believe the plan is to resurrect the pool (although obviously we need some rain).

It looks like being a big job

Scanning the north end of the field I spotted a chat perched on some reedmace. The sun was against me and I wasn't entirely sure whether it was Stonechat or Whinchat.

Chat sp

I decided to venture in and try to get a different view. I suspected it might be a Stonechat, but the further investigation produced two definite Whinchats and no third bird. So perhaps it was just a very poorly marked juvenile Whinchat.

My attempts to photograph the Whinchats suffered from distance and heat haze, and were frankly embarrassingly bad. But at least you could tell they were Whinchats, presumably the two seen by John C on Sunday afternoon.

Whinchat

Within an hour it was too hot, and I sloped off home.

Tuesday August 9 - mostly moths

 The hot weather has returned, dampening the birding spirits but stoking the fires of moth enthusiasm.

I made a pretty token attempt to go birding yesterday, choosing Lower Bittell for a change, and getting precious little reward. I ended up identifying plants (it was that bad). The previous night a little moth had found itself in our bathroom and turned out to be Coptotriche marginea, my first since 2018. I took it as a sign.

So the trap went out on Tuesday night, and I have to say it was a pretty successful session. The final haul reached 123 moths of 47 species which included four/five new for the garden and another ten/eleven new for the year.

Just to deal with the issue of how many garden ticks I got, one was a migrant micro called Rush Veneer not seen since I got the moth trap, so new for the garden. Except that in the days when I relied on the bathroom, no camera, and no internet searches (just the field guide) I recorded one in 2015. So not technically a garden tick, but it is now added to the list.

Rush Veneer

I don't often see genuine migrant moths, so I was pleased to get it.

The other four garden ticks were also micros, but mostly they were quite big micros. The first was resting about seven feet up on the outside of the utility room shortly after 05.00 am. I grabbed a stool and got a shot of it before it made a sharp exit. It turned out to be a Dusky Pearl, Udea prunalis. This is a common moth, found throughout the UK, so it was about time I had one.

Udea prunalis

One of the things about recording micros is that I'm never completely certain that I'm not throwing away potential lifers. My next moth came in that category. It looked like the grass moth Agriphila tristella, which I hadn't seen yet this year, so I took a photo. Then I checked with the Obsidentify app and that said Agriphila selasella 100%. Oops. 

Agriphila selasella

I checked the photo against other images, and finally ran it passed the on-line expert UKMothIdentification and there was no reason to doubt the app. I was slightly comforted that this species is less common than tristella, but I do wonder how many others I've cocked up.

The next goody was a remarkably patterned moth intercepted as it attempted to escape. I knew immediately it was not something I'd seen before, and that I wasn't even sure what genus it was. This was another one for the app, and that gave me a 97% confidence identification of Anacampsis blattariella.

Anacampsis blattariella (Probably)

The image in the book was broadly supportive, and I couldn't see another that looked like it, so I let it go. Since then I've done some more research, and it seems that there are two difficult to separate, highly variable Anacampsis moths, of which this is the rarer. To get the record fully accepted a specimen is recommended. I tried running it past UKMothIdentification, and he had no quibbles about the app's identification, so I'm ticking it. The caterpillar has been recorded on birch and alder, and both occur at nearby Ipsley Alders. However, the rival moth's caterpillar lives on poplars and there are some of those a similar distance away. I suspect the recorder will want it recorded as either/or.

The last garden tick was on the small side. I took its photo, but didn't have high hopes for an identification. The app excelled itself, and came up with Scrobipalpa costella. Double-checking the image with the Internet, it still looked plausible so I ran it passed UKMothIdentification, and he concurred.

Scrobipalpa costella

This rather dowdy little moth is apparently reasonably common throughout the UK.

I think I have found a happy medium between trusting the app and following other lines of enquiry. The app struggles with adventives like the common Australian species Light Brown Apple Moth which doesn't appear to be in its database, but it can be brilliant in cutting down on the hours of research I usually have to go through for most European moths.

New for the year were the macros Oak Hook-tip, Lime-speck Pug, Common Carpet, Flounced Rustic, Square-spot Rustic, Straw Underwing, Orange Swift, and Maiden's Blush (first since 2019).

Maiden's Blush

I also recorded Mother of Pearl and Ypsolopha dentella as new for year micros.

I have no intention of twitching the Cape Gull currently attracting the hoards at Grafham Water. It seems I am quite content pottering around locally, noticing and recording whatever is on offer.

I'm a happy man.

The evening produced an extra tiny moth which may turn out to be very rare indeed (according to the app), or maybe not. I'm afraid it's in the freezer awaiting identification. At the moment it's Scrobipalpa ag.

Sunday August 7 - Not all Magpies are bad news

 The temperature's rising again, and Dave was back in the field after being sidelined by covid for a couple of weeks. I was hoping a walk around Morton Bagot might give him a chance of catching up with the Great White Egret, but there was no sign of it. We did at least see the Spotted Flycatcher which was still present. 

Tony was busy ringing, his best capture being a Willow Warbler. Although there was no Egret, the flashes did contain a Shoveler, and three Green Sandpipers.

Willow Warbler - Tony K

Fortunately the warm weather was good for insects. We saw a Black-tailed Skimmer, which was only my second this year, and a few Common Blue butterflies, plus a suspected Brown Argus, and a Painted Lady.

Black-tailed Skimmer

Common Blue

Painted Lady

The highlight was saved for last. I have caught the micro Small Magpie, and also seen them in the field. But as far as I know I have never seen the macro moth Magpie. Until today that is. I spotted it fluttering out of some brambles and into the bottom of a hedge where I got a shot. I called Dave over and pointed it out, saying that it was probably a Small Magpie. But on uploading the photo and checking the books I found that I was wrong, it was an actual Magpie.

Magpie

They're not rare, but a tick nonetheless. It definitely saved the day for me.

And just to prove that more eyes will produce more birds, John Chidwick visited in the afternoon and saw two Whinchats in the pool field, and two Red Kites over Bannams.

Finally, I now have the ringing results for Friday and Sunday:

Blue Tit 45 (including 10 retraps)

Great Tit 19 (3)

Marsh Tit 1

Long-tailed Tit 1

Wren 3

Chiffchaff 3

Willow Warbler 1

Blackcap 3

Common Whitethroat 5

Lesser Whitethroat 1

Sedge Warbler 1

Robin 4

Dunnock 2

Greenfinch 6

Goldfinch 1

Lesser Whitethroat - juvenile

Friday August 5 - perseverance pays off

 I owe today's successful visit to the patch to the ringers. Not because they caught anything especially unusual, but because they mentioned they would be there. I decided it might be worth joining them instead of visiting Alvechurch Fishery (which had been my first thought).

I arrived at 08.00 in time to see a Kingfisher and a Sparrowhawk carrying prey as I chatted to Tony and Leigh. They had caught a juvenile Marsh Tit earlier on, but that was long gone.

As they prepared to pack up, I strolled off to view the flash field. A Red Kite appeared and showed well for a while. Almost expected nowadays, but with just enough star appeal.

Red Kite

Initially there didn't seem to be much else. Two Teal were the first of the autumn, and I eventually located a Green Sandpiper on the nearest flash. When the Red Kite had been flying around it was briefly challenged by a dozen Black-headed Gulls which had evidently been present, but out of sight, on the furthest flash. So when, having emerged from the second near flash viewing position, I heard and then saw about 100 Gulls circling from the direction of Studley, I decided to head back to the first spot. 

There was a handful of Black-headed Gulls, not enough to explain the breakaway movement of 30+ Black-heads which had flown by. I decided to scope the furthest flash by retreating up the slope and looking through the trees. This immediately bore fruit as I discovered at least 70 Black-headed Gulls and another Green Sandpiper.

Then a flash of persil whiteness as an Egret seemed to land. It was partly obscured by a tree so I took a step to the right and found it was a Great White Egret, only the third for the site. No sooner had I taken in its long neck and yellow bill, it suddenly flew to the left. I scanned for it for about 30 seconds, after which it got up from the amongst the gulls, and again flew left. I was having to walk right to keep the gap in the trees, and I think I saw its neck again through the bins. But this time I couldn't find it in the scope. An hour later it still hadn't reappeared and I concluded it may have flown off.

So I didn't see it arrive or leave, and it might be still there. Anyone seeking it should bear in mind that you cannot enter the private flash field, but it may be visible by distantly viewing the furthest flash....if it's still there at all.

The day had one more gift. Walking down the hedge bordering the Morton Brook I spotted a Robin, and near it another bird. Through bins I couldn't decide what it was, but I had my suspicions. And sure enough it turned out to be a Spotted Flycatcher, only my second this year.

Spotted Flycatcher

A bit of careful approach work gave me some decent views.

By now it was after mid-day, and further cursory looks again failed to reveal the Egret, so I went home. It's a sign of how wedded I am to my Nikon P900 that failing to get any image of the Egret took the edge off the day. But that's still a Circle year-tick leaving me on 126.

Finally, here is Tony's photo of the trapped Marsh Tit.

Marsh Tit - Tony & Leigh K

Tuesday August 2 - A wild egret chase

 The plan seemed reasonable enough. Sunday's Great White Egret must be somewhere, so I thought I'd check a couple of likely spots. 

First up was Mappleborough Green Flash. The recent drought had reduced it to a puddle, and it contained virtually nothing. Strike one.

Next I tried Spernal STW (from the outside). I walked down the river from the church at Studley, and was disappointed to find it impossible to see even the slightest bit of the lagoon within the site. However, I did flush a Little Egret from surrounding trees, saw two Swifts and heard a calling Yellowhammer, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. Strike two.

The last chance saloon was Morton Bagot. The thick cloud and fresh westerly breeze continued, but was encouraging a few raptors into the air. OK if you like silhouettes. First to appear was a very obliging Red Kite.

A shame about the light

A Kestrel added to the raptor tally, and then a good opportunity to compare the very different wing profiles and tail shapes of an adult and juvenile Common Buzzard.

Adult leading, juvenile following.

Juvenile Common Buzzard still calling at the adult

The slender wing shape and longish tail of the young Buzzard looks rather Marsh Harrier-like, but its behaviour and breast band confirm it to be just a young Buzzard.

Down at the flash I missed an opportunity to look closely at another interesting bird. Bear in mind I was still in full Egret hunting mode (my only excuse). Two large adult gulls were standing in the water, and I quickly dismissed them as Lesser Black-backs, before counting seven Black-headed Gulls and failing to find any waders (or Egrets). Just as I returned to the large gulls, they took off revealing bright yellow legs and feet. But one of them was a Herring type. I watched helplessly (and haplessly) as what was presumably the site's second ever Yellow-legged Gull (an adult) flew away with the Lesser Black-backed Gull. They were joined by several more LBBGulls as they all disappeared over Bannam's Wood.

I can't explain why I failed to notice that one of the gulls had a lighter grey back when they were standing together. In fact I have no mental image of the two together (maybe the YL Gull was partly obscured). 

Must try harder next time.

Meanwhile, a closer look at the flash showed that it can hide 82 Lapwings which were only visible when they took off, and at least one Green Sandpiper which only revealed its presence by calling. There may have been loads of them there, but they (or it) remained hidden in the lee of the near side rushes.