After a week's non-birding (mostly) holiday in the Cotwolds I was back on the patch today, keen to see what I'd been missing. Dave and John had each visited Morton Bagot at the weekend and had seen the usual stuff, with Dave's drake Shoveler being the nearest to something unusual.
I can't really say I managed to beat that. My best birds were a first summer Peregrine back on the pylons, a singing Garden Warbler (Dave had recorded two), a single Green Sandpiper on the nearest flash which remains largely full of water thanks to the farmer's efforts, a pair of Stonechats again, and proof that the pair of Lapwings in the scrape field have bred successfully. A single well-grown chick, large enough to be seen.
I didn't count them, but even on my early morning visit it was apparent that there were lots of Marbled Whites and Meadow Browns on the wing.
Speaking of insects, I took up Leigh and Tony's invitation to join them at Spernal STW on Friday morning to see what moths Leigh had caught overnight in the inaugural moth-trapping session for the site. As it was Leigh's trap, she will have the burden of reporting the findings to the recorder, while I was just free-loading and hoping to add to my personal moth list. Not that I know exactly what moths I've seen. But I know what I've seen in my garden, so the following were new to me:
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| Minor Shoulder-knot |
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| Dark Umber |
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| Silky Wainscot |
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| Calamotropha paludella (Bulrush Veneer) |
Many of the moths caught were reed-bed specialists, with lots of Smoky Wainscots, many Obscure Wainscots, some Common Wainscots, a Drinker, and several Scarlet Tigers in the haul of about 45 moths. Quite a lot escaped before we could examine them.
I'll be trapping in the garden tonight.
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