Friday October 7 - Earlswood Lakes

 I hadn't spent any time at Earlswood (apart from twitching it) lately, so decided to pay a visit today. The weather remains uninspiring; westerly and mild, so I had no great expectations. It was just as well.

I did at least walk around all three lakes. Windmill Pool was the most productive. A loose party of a dozen upending Shovelers was near the dam, and two more were present at the south end. A Little Egret flew in and proceeded to the south-west corner. I missed the chance to have a good look at the Common Sandpiper when it was flushed by a dog-walker to the western edge, but the wing-bar raised no alarms. Three Teal were also feeding in the south-west corner.

Little Egret

Distant Common Sandpiper

Teal

I got to the causeway seeing the first of three Chiffchaffs, and a Swallow, and then hearing a calling Green Sandpiper. So there's still not much sign of autumn where I'm concerned.

On Engine Pool I located two juvenile Little Grebes, one by the shingle bank and one by one of the man-made islands, and counted six Cormorants. I couldn't see anything unusual among the gulls, but I hear a Yellow-legged Gull was seen after I left.

Little Grebe

Later on, a Raven and 37 Goldfinches flew over the causeway.

Walking around Terry's Pool added a handful of Tufted Ducks, three Grey Herons, and a Kingfisher before I spent several minutes watching various garden birds and a Brown Rat feeding on seeds at the stump.

Who can resist a tame Robin

So no real surprises, but still a nice place to spend a morning.

And I nearly forgot. A couple of days earlier I was obliged to drag a bag of old mulch out of the shed and in doing so disturbed a small moth. It followed me out of the shed and perched on the nearest plant. I knew immediately that I hadn't seen one before, and rushed to get my camera. I returned in time to see it jump onto the camera, then on to me, and then fly away.

Fortunately I had an idea that it was one of the flat-body micro moths called Agonopterix and it was so distinctive that on turning to the right page in my field guide I spotted it immediately. Agonopterix alstromeriana, a common species which can be seen in the autumn and is known to hibernate. So no photograph, but a high enough confidence level for a tick.