Too cold, too clear...

Brimstone Moth

Well, last night's moth trapping was unspectacular, with 57 moths caught. Square-spot Rustics, Large Yellow Underwings and Setaceous Hebrew Characters are starting to dominate proceedings.

Though I keep getting a trickle of other odds and sods too, so I shall persevere in the hope of catching something interesting.

Moth list follows...

An autumn's day... in August

Red Admiral

Common Darter

Common Darters mating

Migrant Hawker

Young fox in the garden

What happened to summer?

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Yawn...

Maiden's Blush

Not the best moth night ever - probably too windy and cold - with a catch of 86 moths of 20 species.

I am still getting worried about Square-spot Rustics (wondering if I am identifying them correctly), as they seem to be so variable. Some are really nicely marked, and others rather dull. They all seem to have gold-coloured eye/kidney markings though. Or I think they do...

Maiden's Blush was a garden tick, and quite nice. She's in the fridge waiting for a photo. Light Emerald was one of the prettier ones.

Moth list, if you want it...

Clopton

Looking south towards Royston

Almost harvest-time

Brown Argus

Meadow Browns...

Small Heath

Common Blue

Haws

Elderberries

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, or Canon Powershot A640

Big Bertha

Red Underwing

This gigantic moth - a Red Underwing - was snoozing on the wall next to the trap when I turned up at just after 5.30 this morning.

Though it was really warm overnight, I didn't catch big numbers - c110 moths of 25 species. But there were some interesting ones nonetheless.

It's been 8 days since I last put the trap out, and it feels like things have changed in that time... There were no Orange Swifts back then, and Setaceous Hebrew Characters seem to be on the rise.

Poplar Hawkmoth

Square-spotted Clay - the second for the garden and quite fresh-looking 

Orange Swift

Small Blood-vein - garden tick

Hornet - one of four around the trap

Boring moth list follows...

And number 98...

This takes the biscuit, really. Getting ready to go to work, I was gazing out of the window over the garden and into the field of unharvested oilseed rape behind it.

Goldfinches, Greenfinches and a few Linnets have been nibbling on the pods lately, so when I saw a bird fly over and perch on the top I wasn't surprised.

Still, something made me look at it in the scope, and it was a chat! There was still mist on part of the outside of the window so my view was blurred. It took me a few seconds to be sure it was a Whinchat and not a Stonechat, but it didn't matter, to be honest - either would have been a garden tick (not that it's all about listing...).

What a lovely bird. It even had the decency to fly into the garden and sit on a shrub right outside the window! Sadly I was too slow off the mark to get the camera and scope aligned for a photo.

But I'm still astonished. This garden is ridiculously good, but pond aside, it's not really anything to do with me. Perhaps it lies on some bird-attracting ley lines...

Whinchat!

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

The dove from above

Juvenile Turtle Dove

In a few weeks time, I hope this fellow will be heading south through Europe to spend winter in Africa. He's a young Turtle Dove and he was ringed yesterday (by me, as it happens) as part of a project to find out what's going wrong for Turtle Doves - their population dropped by 77% between 1970-2001!

We had a productive morning, catching about 120 birds in total - not all Turtle Doves, unfortunately, but lots of Greenfinches, Blue and Great Tits, a smattering of Whitethroats, Blackbirds, Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers, Goldfinches, House Sparrows and a Wren.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

Catching Kingfishers

This month's ringing demo at Beeston turned out to be a corker! We caught nearly 60 birds - about three times as many as we've had in recent months - and two of them were juvenile Kingfishers. Most of the rest were juvenile Great Tits, with a scattering of Whitethroats, Blue Tits, Dunnocks, Greenfinches, Blackbirds, Chaffinches and Robins.

Everyone say: oooooh!

The first of two Kingfishers we caught today

Maybe the back view is even better

'Oh - you mean I can go now?'

'I'm outta here - but I'll crap on your hand first. Byee!'

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

Gahhhhhhh!

Hornets have a fearsome reputation, so I was mildly perturbed when I put my hand into the moth trap, got out an egg box (which is what you provide for the moths to hide in), and found this whopper resting on the underside.

Fortunately it was very docile, perhaps being a bit cold, and seemed more interested in the cardboard than the moths - or my hand.

Hornet

It wasn't a bad night, moth-wise, with c110 moths of about 30 species. This Sallow Kitten was one of the prettiest, and I caught Broad-bordered, Lesser Broad-bordered, Least and Lesser Yellow Underwings. No Large though!

Sallow Kitten

The moth list...

A moth with a plan

Square-spotted Clay

Not many moths at all today, but one was pretty good. It goes by the unassuming name of Square-spotted Clay, and it's brown and not at all spectacular. But it's a moth with a plan, its own Biodiversity Action Plan. It eve has its own Butterfly Conservation PDF and there's lots of info about it on ARKive.

I'm quite pleased with that. Thanks to everyone who I annoyed with questions about its identity.

The moth list...

Trapping and ringing

Today we combined bird ringing with moth trapping. The moths went first, with the trap left on overnight. I got up early and blocked up their escape routes, then went back to bed. Next, Del and Jacqui came round and we put up a couple of nets to catch some birds. 

Conditions were really a bit too breezy to be much good, but we caught

• Great Tit, 14 - all juveniles
• Blue Tit, 4
• Greenfinch, 4 (3 juvs, 1 adult male)
• Dunnock, 3

and three Swallow nestlings

Baby Swallow

Inbetween net rounds we went through the moth catch (it didn't take long - only c60 moths of 25 species).

The Olive - first for the garden

Yellow Shell

Flame Shoulder

Bordered Pug - another first for the garden

Not much of a moth list today.

Down by the pond

Common Darter

Emerald Damselfly

Pyrausta moth

It's been a good day for wildlife in and around the garden today. Darren found loads of Common Blues just next door. I saw a Spotted Flycatcher sitting on our washing line post, right outside the kitchen window (I was in the bathroom at the time). Darren saw a female Southern Hawker cruising around the pond (which I missed). I saw a Brown Argus perching on a waterlily bloom (what a photo that could have been!) but by the time I'd fetched the camera, it had gone.

An Emerald damselfly has been around the pond - is it the same one from a couple of weeks ago? I hadn't seen it again until today, but I'm sure I miss most of the pond action while I'm at work.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Rhapsody in Blue

Common Blue (and hoverfly friend)

I've got the Common Blues

Brown Argus

and another sneaky Brown Argus (I think)

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

A Magpie in the trap

The Magpie - the moth, that is...

After carefully consulting the weather forecast, I decided that it would probably be a reasonable night to put the moth trap out. A few light showers were predicted.

Of course, it rained more than they said it would, but despite that, there were at least 100 moths of 35+ species in the trap this morning (and a few UFOs too).

But  can't say I'll be that keen to put the trap out on a damp night again.

Moth list follows...

And now for something colourful

Small Copper

Gerbera