12 June 2015 - Orlestone Forest

Spent Friday night in Orlestone Forest with 3x 125w MVs and 1 x actinic. After all the gloom about numbers, this was a real treat with some superb moths. Scarce Merveille du Jour, Barred Red, Red-necked Footman, Orange Moth, Rosy Marbled and Waved Carpet all made for a great night - the pugs just added for confusion. Micros to be named (possibly!) when I get my micro book in from the car!

Scarce Merveille du Jour

Barred Red

Rosy Marbled

Rosy Marbled

Red-necked Footman

Waved Carpet

Grey Arches

Micro 1

Micro 2a

Micro 2b

Micro 3

Micro 4

Micro 5

Grey Pine Carpet

Foxglove Pug

Dwarf Pug

Common Pug?

Grey Pug?

Micro 6

28 May 2015 - Blean Woods

Wanted to take a walk through Blean Woods to see how easy Lead-coloured Pug might be to locate amongst the Common Cow-wheat. With torch and net, I ventured forth... Five minutes of searching later...a Lead-coloured Pug!

Tempted to jack in and go home, I kept out and continued to wander in the woods - ten moth species later, I felt I'd given the evening my best possible attention considering I had no generator going!


Lead-coloured Pug

Lead-coloured Pug (as above)

Lead-coloured Pug (as above)

Fox Moth

Fox Moth

Large Pug - Mottled?

Cream Wave

Alabonia geoffrella

Alabonia geoffrella

Bordered Straw - East Malling, Kent

This fine Bordered Straw was caught by Jake and Luke Else in their back garden actinic trap on Friday night (15//5/15) - well done boys. Tentative ID by Mark Else was duly confirmed by Mitzi - a family team effort. Nice!

Bordered Straw, East Malling, Kent

13 May 2015 - Dew Moths at Abbotscliffe, East Kent

Up early to head for the Folkestone area in search of Dew Moth - the weather seemed perfect, still and sunny. The first Dew Moths seen fluttering over the cliff edge, occasionally flying straight up to and then round me - some travelling further inland and going over the nearby crops.

Easily counted a minimum of 30 Dew Moth - a great way to see a new moth spp and thanks to Ian Roberts of 'Folkestone & Hythe birds' fame for his generous time spent helping guide me in the right time and place.

Several new butterflies for the year - all in all, a nice start to the day and arrived back in the office in time for coffee...

Dew Moth

Dew Moth

Dew Moth

Dew Moth

Dew Moth

Dew Moth

Wall

Dingy Skipper

Mother Shipton

Small Heath

Painted Lady

Soldier Beetle spp

Cercopis vulnerata - a smart froghopper!

spid spp

22/4/15 - 10/5/15, Bryher, Isles of Scilly to Somerset to Norfolk

Time precludes me from writing a full account of three recent which have done so very well in getting themselves on to my UK life list.

First up was the Great Blue Heron - a Tuesday night twitch, sleep in the car (Otter at Marazion first thing), Scillonian out to the islands (complete with Hoopoe a long way out at sea), all followed by jet boats and beach landings - marvellous!


Great Blue Heron, Bryher, Isles of Scilly. Photograph by the Indie Birder

Seconds for Britain (the Great Blue Heron) as great, but grip-backs are even better. This stonking Hudsonian Godwit was a greater performer in Somerset. And I thought I'd have to look at one (eventually) at three miles range on some distant tidal flat - not a bit of it!



Hudsonian Godwit, Somerset. Photograph by Carl Bovis.

The final bird in the amzing spring run of 2015 (so far..!) was the cracking little Citril Finch in the west end of Holkham Pines. Only seven years since the Fair Isle bird - yet another amazing grip-back!


Citril Finch, Holkham Pine, Norfolk.Pphotograph by Penny Clarke

10 April 2015 - Kent

Spent two and a half hours trapping in East Kent - first session of the season. Target was Barred Tooth-striped (following success at the same site last year), which duly appeared for the assembled audience (well, both of us). A respectable 145 moths of 20 species.

Barred Tooth-striped

Mottled Grey

Water Carpet

Acleris cristana

Acleris cristana

Diamond-backed Moth (2 caught)

Herald Moth

11 April 2015 - Leybourne Lakes Country Park

A wander round the country park with family (Jenny, Max, Marc and Yasmine) produced a Swallow in addition to Slow Worms and Water Vole - nice.

Water Vole

Hoverfly spp - I think...

Slow Worm

Slow Worm - a longer, smiller, faster one

Slow Worm

10 April 2015 - Pulborough Brooks RSPB

I enjoyed Wednesday's visit to this fine reserve so much that I thought I'd go back and have another look... News of the Scarce Tortoiseshell showing on Thursday afternoon meant it had to show today, didn't it? Even Captian Slow and his wife saw the ruddy (OK, orangey) thing!

Alas, our quarry had other ideas... Some (but not much) consolation was had by an Adder and a distant Osprey.

Adder (male? - it was tres skinny)

House Sparrow

Another Small Tortoiseshell

8 April 2015 - Pulborough Brooks RSPB

The lure of a three-hour Scarce Tortoiseshell yesterday was to great... This morning I found myself staring at butterflies in West Sussex, hoping to see yesterday's mega. Alas, this most pleasant of trips failed to produce the birdie - or butterfly for that matter...

Bee Fly spp on Primroses

Peacock - complete with blade of grass in the wrong place

Small Tortoiseshell - common today and certainly not scarce at all...

Small Tortoiseshell - sans body hair

11 Jan 2015 - Chilham, Kent

Managed to escape this afternoon and pop to Chilham to see the Great Grey Shrike - always great to see these fantastic birds. This one caught a large rodent spp, just after narrowly missing being hit by a car, and took it to its larder where is was hung up and and then revisited several times over the next hour.

No pics - kept assuming it would come closer, which it never did!