Merveille du Jour

We had a good time in Derbyshire, staying in a converted barn close to Hognaston village and Carsington Water. The weather was reasonable and we were able to get out walking every day and I even managed to pick up Willow Tit, Tree Sparrow and Dipper as per my earlier blog. However, the nights always seemed to be cold, windy and wet and in the end I didn't even try putting the moth trap out.

We then moved on to stay for a couple of days at Bawdsey on the Suffolk Coast. It's a place we visit each year and the mothing had always been good but I had never tried it as late as the end of October. Mothing back home in my garden in Sussex drops off rapidly as we go through September and following a run of poor nights in Derbyshire I was not hopeful.

However, first night, sitting on the outside of the trap......

Merveille du Jour - Griposia aprilina

Merveille du Jour, it's not a particularly rare moth but we all have bogey birds, moths or other species, that we just do not manage to connect with and for me this was the moth that was top of my wanted list. Or nearly top, the Oleander may have just edged it.

It was the start of a couple of really good nights. Sixty percent plus of the catch were Beaded Chestnuts, Black Rustics, and Yellow Underwings but amongst the rest of the catch I had eight new moths. I would have preferred them on my garden list but on this occasion second best was good enough.

There was only one new micro - the Ashy Button

Ashy Button - Acleris sparsana

The next, looking a bit worn, the Brick, but it would have been a lot easier to identify if it had retained a bit more detail in it's wings.

Brick - Sunira circellaris 

The other moths were in better condition so there was no problem identifying them.

Feathered Thorn - Colotois pennaria

Green-brindled Crescent - Allophyes oxyacanthae

Mallow - Larentia clavaria

Satellite - Eupsilia transversa

Small Mottled Willow - Spodoptera exigua

 It was just like Christmas had come early.

Long-tailed Blue

 

A couple of years ago we planted Everlasting Pea in the garden in the hope of attracting the Long-tailed Blue Butterflies. Mid September, last year, and we had success with a couple found in the kitchen and another three in the garden (see blog here). 

There had been no sign of  caterpillar action on the Everlasting Pea but perhaps just having the plant in the garden is enough to attract females looking to lay eggs late in the season. The males will be sure to follow. We also have late flowering nectaring plants in the garden including Verbena which the butterflies seem to like.

This year September was no show and by the end of October I was starting to give up hope, my latest sighting ever had been 25th October. Then on 30th October during a heavy rain shower Sue walked into the kitchen and spotted one sitting on the kitchen window.

Long-tailed Blue

The next couple of hours played out exactly as last year. I took a few photographs. The butterfly refused to stay on any of the household green plants, preferring the windows and work surfaces. As with last year it only gave me one brief view of an open wing shot. Not ideal but you have to take whatever you are offered and it at least shows that this is a female.

Long-tailed Blue (back light)

 

With heavy rain outside I left it on one of the windows where it sat quiet happily till late afternoon.

Long-tailed Blue

Then with the sun breaking through I through I might have a chance of a picture on the garden greenery. I took it outside on my finger and gently placed it on the Verbena, with the image of it nectaring on the blue flowers already in my mind.

It was not to be, the instant it touched the plant it took off high over the garden, hovered there for about thirty seconds, then took off across the adjoining gardens. A replay of exactly what happened last year.

Long-tailed blues have successfully bred in this country but it is not clear if they can survive the winter in any stage of their life cycle. Perhaps with climate change we will eventually have a self supporting colony here.

I just hope she survives the incoming Storm Ciarán.

Willow Tit

 

Willow Tit, a rare bird for me as we don't get them in Sussex. I was staying up in Derbyshire with the family for a few days and with a rainy wet morning, the others were either off swimming or having a lie in, so I headed over to Carsington Water to see what birds were about. The target was the Willow Tit which e-bird said had been reported from around Stones Island on the reservoir.

After a couple of hours wandering around in the rain I had seen plenty of birds but had little in the way of pictures to show for the effort. A distant Tree Sparrow eventually gave itself up for a picture but on checking it later my initial reaction was to delete it. Mist, dull light and high ISO had given an image that was barely recognisable. Second thoughts when I got home and half an hour playing around with Photoshop eventually gave me a recognisable, if disappointing image.

Tree Sparrow

Still it was worth recording, my last sighting was at Bolderwall Farm Dungeness in 2019.

No sign of the Willow Tits so I retired to the bird hide adjacent to Horseshoe Island to eat my breakfast. It had a couple of feeders with various tits and finches dropping in to feed. I don't like taking pictures of birds on feeders but with a chance of the Willow Tit it was worth getting the camera ready.

Nothing unusual for thirty minutes or so but as I was getting ready to leave a bird dropped in that looked promising. I managed to snap a few quick pictures and it was gone. 

The trouble with photographing birds is that you don't really look at the bird, you are so focussed on taking the picture that you don't see the detail. Once it had flown I realised that I didn't know if it was a Willow Tit or a Marsh Tit. 

Willow Tit

Fortunately a couple of the pictures gave a clear view of the bill with no white spot on the upper mandible and with a face pattern and a pale wing patch that strongly suggested the Willow Tit. I didn't hear it call but I did have the Merlin App recording and it was showing Willow Tit confirming the sighting.

Willow Tit

So a miserable wet morning had turned into a successful birding session, my first Tree Sparrow for four years and then my first Willow Tit since 2016 at Fairburn Ings.

I also had good views of Dippers on the River Dovey but unfortunately was travelling light that day and had left my camera at home. Three birds I do not get to see in Sussex, I will have to visit the area again.

Spectacles

 

The weather in July had not been good for putting the moth trap out but with warm dry weather returning at the end of August and into September there was a chance to do some catching up. The moths would be different but there might be an opportunity  to get some new garden ticks.

Plenty of moths but where to start, perhaps the Spectacle. Easy to spot from the head shot but a bit harder to tell the Spectacle and Dark Spectacle apart.

Spectacle

Spectacle - Abrostola tripartita

Dark Spectacle - Abrostola triplasia

They are probably easy to tell apart when in pristine condition but once a bit worn and with markings beginning to fade it becomes a bit more challenging.

There have also been good numbers of less common moths, ones that I would have considered rarities and probable migrants, just a few years ago. Portland Ribbon Wave (6+), Channel Island Pug (6+), Blair's Mocha (10+), Clancy's Rustic (8+), Given the numbers involved and the nights they were caught I think local breeding populations are more likely.

Portland Ribbon Wave - Idaea degeneraria

Channel Islands Pug - Eupithecia ultimaria

Blair's Mocha - Cyclophora puppillaria

Clancy's Rustic - Caradrina kadenii

Clancy's Rustic - Caradrina kadenii

Best moth of the year so far and new for me, a Convolvulus Hawk-moth. It's not the rarest moth that I have caught but there is just something that raises the spirits when you open the trap and see a hawk-moth sitting there.

Convolvulus Hawk-moth - Agrius convolvuli 

Also new a Dewick's Plusia and an Old Lady.

Dewick's Plusia - Macdunnoughia confusa

Old Lady - Mormo maura

Others worth recording

Radford's Flame Shoulder - Ochropleura leucogaster

Scarce Border Straw - Helicoverpa armigera

Hedge Rustic - Tholera cespitis

Blackneck - Lygephila pastinum

Four-spotted Footman - Lithosia quadra

A lovely Frosted Orange, new for me but unfortunately not found in the garden.

Frosted Orange - Gortyna flavago

Large Thorn - Ennomos autumnaria

Straw Underwing - Thalpophila matura

Also a couple of green coloured moths. The moths are not rare but I don't find many of them in the trap.

Light Emerald - Campaea margaritaria

Small Emerald - Hemistola chrysoprasaria

One new micro

Red-barred Tortrix - Ditula angustiorana

And two that got away from me. Nice pictures but they need dissection to confirm the identity of the moths. Must check to see if there is anyone in West Sussex that offers this as a service although I am not really sure that I want to kill them just for the sake of my garden list.

Bordered Marble - Endothenia marginana or Teasel Marble - Endothenia gentianaeana

My money is on the Teasel Marble but I will never know. Over a hundred of these two species in the county records, were they all dissected to identify them?

And below what I thought was a Clover Case-bearer but now relegated to Coleophora agg. 

Possible Clover Case-bearer - Coleophora alcyonipennella

The catch through August and September has been good although I am still below last year on the number of different species recorded, with the bulk of the numbers usually made up of Box Tree, Yellow Underwings, Lunar Underwings, Rusty-Dot Pearls and Light Brown Apple Moths.

The moth trap is out again tonight, maybe still a chance to catch that Oleander before the cold weather arrives!

Aquatic Warbler

 

What to do, an Aquatic Warbler reported just a few miles from home. It would be a life tick but it meant facing up to another twitch and I knew I wouldn't like it. Still, a life tick, close to home, I had to go.

I skipped the Sunday hoping that the bird would still be there on the Monday and that there would be less people around. The bird was still present but unfortunately so were the people, a lot of them surrounding a bush that was apparently its favoured spot. About half of them where standing in the long grass, along side the river, which I would imagine was its feeding area. It didn't look promising.

I waited about an hour with the only view being a quick flight from the favoured bush into the long grass further down the river where it stayed for about an hour and a half. It was brown, I would even say light brown and it was warbler size but there was no way I could identify it as an Aquatic Warbler.

Fortunately after the hour and a half wait it emerged and showed well on some of the riverside vegetation before disappearing back into its favoured bush.

Aquatic Warbler

Aquatic Warbler

Not the easiest of places to get a good picture but the bird had shown well and I was confident in elevating my identification from "little brown job" to Aquatic Warbler.

A few years ago I would have joined the throng in trying to get the perfect picture. These days I am happy with the record shot and the chance to move on in search of something else a bit less stressful.