The day after the Alldayer is pretty tough. For me, my feet hurt and I was knackered, so I opted to stay at home. Dave had no such inhibitions, having birded as normal at Marsh Lane GP on Saturday.
He spent Sunday morning at Morton Bagot, and naturally found a species we had not seen. A female Whinchat had arrived overnight, and was haunting the dragonfly ponds.
On Sunday night I felt duty bound to put the moth trap out for the GMS (Garden Moth Survey), so I knew I needed to be up early again on Monday morning. I therefore turned down an invitation to join Tony and the team at Spernal STW.
They struck gold, when an adult Cuckoo (thought to be a male) found its way into their mist nets. This was only the second Cuckoo Tony had caught, the other being a juvenile a couple of years ago.
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| Cuckoo at Spernal STW - Tony Kelly |
After counting my moths I had a slightly restricted amount of time available, so chose Mappleborough Green. I was hoping for a wader, but only found the usual Little Ringed Plover.
Fortunately there was more on offer. Two female Wheatears were hopping around a horse paddock near the dried up footpath flash, and on my way back to the car I saw a late Siskin as it flew over calling.
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| Wheatear at Mappleborough Green |
As for the moths, I caught 38 of 18 species. This was a big improvement on last week and included many newly emerged regulars. There were also a few less frequently seen species, including a beautiful Alder Kitten and a tiny (but striking) Triple-spotted Nest Moth. The latter was a species I saw for the first time last year.
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| Alder Kitten |
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| Triple-spotted Nest Moth |
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