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.