Herculean Effort

Quite a bit to catch up on, as autumn has well and truly made its presence felt.  I'm putting in plenty of time...

A fairly uneventful trip to Ferrybridge on the 26th August was enlivened only by a single Knot...

 

...as well as the constant presence of a Hercules over West Bay.

 

 



On the 27th, I got the shock of opening my curtains in the morning, only to have the Marsh Harrier that had just been reported over Ferrybridge fly right towards me and over the roof!

Later, I was lucky to witness an Osprey hunting on the Fleet right by Ferrybridge.  It didn't catch anything sadly (apart from some seaweed!).

 

On the same day, a pair of Teal flew around on the Fleet, unusual at this site.  I also came across this Bright-line Brown-eye caterpillar on one of my many mid-island rambles.

 



The next day saw more action at Ferrybridge, as I twitched a Little Stint, only to have a Purple Sandpiper show up instead!  Very strange to see one feeding with Dunlin on mud.  I was able to see the Stint too in the end.

On the 29th, I got the opportunity to nip the 2 and a bit hours north to Frampton-on-severn, Gloucestershire.  I was working later that day, so couldn't give the fantastic Marsh Sandpiper the attention it deserved.  In the end I had to a bit of a tick-and-run, and I was still late for work!  The bird was at fair distance, but it was great comparing it directly with Greenshank and Ruff.

In the evening of the 1st September I was in Weymouth anyway, so thought I'd pop into the roost event at Radipole.  This was fantastic with huge numbers of Yellow Wagtail and hirundines coming to roost in the reedbeds.

The 2nd had already been decent when I had a flyover Snipe at Suckthumb Quarry.  A nice patch tick.  But, whilst I was attempting another vismig session up at The Verne, I heard some more news from Ferrybridge.  From The Verne, which thanks to the wonders of Google Earth I have found out is 1.8 miles from the Ferrybridge mud, I was able to scope the flock of 5 Avocet!  Aren't scopes wonderful things? 

I did of course decide to go and see them properly, eventually!

The 3rd day of September, and the third wader patch tick, as a Green Sandpiper calls as it flies over Suckthumb Quarry.  Lots of Wheatear around on this morning, but one ended up as lunch, probably at the hands of a Sparrowhawk.

But, was that milky-tea-coloured small warbler I glimpsed a Booted? One that got away.

Yesterday, the only highlight from a lot of walking was a distant large raptor soaring on flat wings.  It drifted off into the murk, and with it went yet another opportunity of a good find.  Will my rarity/scarcity-finding luck ever change?

In the evening I was fortunate enough to be invited to a private ringing session, targeting reedbed-roosting species.  It was a fabulous evening in calm conditions.  Yellow Wagtail and White Wagtail in the hand were real stunners.  I hope I'll be able to learn this tricky skill.

Today was equally calm, and although there were no particularly stunning sightings, all the migrants which were around the island were showing extremely well, even to my delicate photographic set-up (phone and scope - no adapter!).

Spotted Flycatcher:

Whinchat:

Tree Pipit:

My final migrant totals for mid-island were 700 Swallow, 300 House Martin, 40 Willow Warbler, 20 Blackcap, 10 Whitethroat, 10 Yellow Wagtail, 5 Sand Martin, 5 Spotted Flycatcher, 4 Redstart, 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Sedge Warbler, 3 Whinchat, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Tree Pipit, 1 Pied Flycatcher, 1 Swift, 1(!) Wheatear, 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Curlew, and 1 Green Sandpiper.

Back to Surrey tomorrow, and hopefully to get a bit of the Tice's Meadow wader-fest for myself!

Moth-er's Day

Yesterday, my activities were limited to just an evening jaunt to Ferrybridge, as the tide was rising.  No disturbance luckily, which is what I was fearing, though nothing of particular note was evident.  Ringed Plover were very conspicuous with 130 present.  Also there were 150 Dunlin (down on previous days), 11 Turnstone, 10 Sanderling, 3 Knot, 2 juvenile Yellow-legged Gull loafing on Chesil Beach, 1 distant Curlew, and a Little Egret.  I couldn't resist getting more shots of the pretty Knot.

 

In the evening, I went to help out Jack Oughton and his dad set up the moth traps for the National Moth Night event at Broadcroft Quarry.  Things looked promising, as there was extensive cloud cover, and a mild feel.  On the downside, we did experience a few drops of rain, and we feared we may have got drenched.  Luckily we avoided that.  The other problem was the strong wind, so we found a sheltered a spot as we could manage, to set up the traps.

 

The early signs were good, as every Buddleiha bush in the vicinity was covered in Silver Y, and there were a large number of Cloaked Minor flying before dusk too. 

 

I wouldn't say we were inundated with stuff, but it did start to get a little frantic towards the end.  We left the traps at 11 for some sleep.  On our return at dawn, we found that the generator had run out of juice, so as a result, there were very few moths sitting on the outside.  Initially, it had looked like the tight design of the funnels of the two traps had prevented many escapees, but actually, a few micros that we had noticed in the traps the night before, had now gone!

 

Anyway, the highlight for me were 2 Annulet - a specialty of rocky coastal localities.

 

 

Among the other Portland special macros were Crescent Dart, and this Chalk Carpet (1 of 3).

 

A sad lack of migrants, but, macros which went down well with the punters (turn out of about 8 people), were Peach Blossom, Drinker, Oak Eggar, and as the NMN was on the theme of Tigers, we managed 2 Garden, and a few Ruby Tiger too.

 

For me though, the real fascination was in the micros.  Even though I'm very much on a learning curve with these blighters, with Jack's help, I was pretty confident with the ID of most of them, some of which turned out to be pretty scarce.  Among the best ones were Scoparia subfusca, Gynnidomorpha luridana, Mecyna asinalis, plus this Agonopterix rotundella, a Wild Carrot feeder.

The best one however, was this rather unassuming-looking Acompsia schmidtiellus, which is really quite rare.

 

The final total was 372 moths of 81 species, not bad at all.

 

Later, I went on down the Bill where they'd had a very varied catch in the Obs traps.  Amongst them were the wanderers, Grass Emarald (red form).



 

 

 

A Twin-spotted Wainscot (shot through pot - sorry).



 



This was the best of the lot for me, being a lifer - Dog's Tooth.

 

And another wanderer from acid grassland - Antler.

 

 

I did do a little birding today.  I went on a wander down the East Weares whilst we were waiting for the punters.  Virtually nothing of note, bar a scatter of Willow Warbler. 

 

I hope it picks up soon, not least for all you birders hoping for a blog full of quality birds!

 

 

 

 



Knot Much



It dawned yet another misty day, but luckily it had largely worn off by the time I finished work, and could get out and do some birding.  The wader passage seems to be well and truly underway down at Ferrybridge, so I decided on there as my first port of call. 

 

It was still cloudy at this point, so luckily, there was minimal human disturbance out on the mud flats, bar for a few bait diggers.  I was delighted to see a swarm of waders out there, but also close to the centre on the stream.  Best here were two moulting Knot, still pretty dapper looking.

 

 

 

 

A short walk down the edge of the mudflats, and I was able to do a quick count of 93 Dunlin.  I also managed to find 3 Sanderling with the main flock, as well as another 9 on the mudbank off the Little Tern colony.  Also in attendance were 3 Turnstone, a few Ringed Plover (including the Swedish colour-ringed juvenile), a Little Egret, a Grey Heron (which landed by the Tern colony, but was quickly seen off by the Gulls - bet the Terns were happy with that protection service!), and a count of 44 Mediterranean Gull.  On the walk back I counted the Dunlin again - 105 this time!  By the time I'd got back to the centre, the loafing Med flock had built up too, to 70!

 

I found the Portland plant tick here of Common Stork's-bill.

 

On the exhausting trudge up Old Hill, I found another new plant, Wavy Bitter-cress.

 

I decided to look for Chalk-hill Blues next at High Angle Battery, as some had been seen there recently.  I then realised that King Barrow Quarry was closer, so it might be worth popping in there first.  Literally, the first butterfly I saw was this beauty!

 



 

 

I then watched this individual do something strange on these Bramble buds.  Curved it's abdomen round as if egg-laying!  But, it's a male!

 







 

After it left, I took a closer look at the spot, and it had left two tiny orange blobs on the buds. Can you spot them?  Excreta maybe?  Anyone any other ideas what went on here?

 



 

 I later found this gem, called Oncecera semirubella.  A micro moth, but one of the larger ones.  It's one I've seen before, but no less spectacular for that.  The shot doesn't do it justice - it really is bright yellow and pink!

Finally, I noticed a lot of Six-spot Burnet action.  Firstly, how many can you fit on a Knapweed head?

And, I can't imagine how it occurred, but this poor individual had lost a whole set of wings.  It should still be able to reproduce.

 

I hope tomorrow is going to be clearer, as I'm getting seawatching withdrawal symptoms!