Not a bad job really.

A tough day at work today. The marsh was heaving with Lapwing nests. In fact there were so many that many of my usual scanning points were unsuitable as they were too close to some of the nests. Can you see this one sitting just to the right of the dock?

As well as lapwings, I also bumped a couple of female Shoveler off their eggs. I only discovered these as I was marking nests and it made me wonder if they adopt the same strategy as Redshank. In a couple of weeks time, when I will be out checking Lapwing clutch sizes, invariably as I approach a nest, a redshank will burst from cover within ten metres or so. Lapwings make for excellent early-warning systems and missile defence.

 

A handsome male Lapwing.

 

 

A male Shoveler. No doubt a female is on eggs nearby.

 

 

I came off the marsh at lunch and spent an hour down at Mistley Walls. There were 110 winter-plumaged Bar-tailed Godwits coming up on the rising tide. There was a similar number of Knot in amongst them, with one or two of them showing their true 'Red' name. The 30-odd Black-tailed Godwit were all in summer-plumage.

 

As I was stood watching, a passer-by told me that there were three Mandarins at Mistley Quay. I thought this was a little odd, but it turned out he was right!

 



 

Whimbrel

Another afternoon stint on the patch today with more showers pushing through from the south-west. The hirundine flock on Alton Water was still in excess of 500, with Swallows and House Martins to the fore and just the odd Sand Martin. I didn't notice any swifts.

Once the rain had cleared, I biked down to Holbrook Bay in search of Whimbrel.

 



The bay is a reliable spring spot on the estuary for this species. At high tide they can often be found probing the sheepfields just inside the borrowdyke which are overlooked by the Royal Hospital School.

Sure enough, the first scan of the field and one was doing just that. Over the next hour two spent their time commuting between field and estuary, allowing me to expand my album of abject record shots.

Out in the bay a flock of 300+ Dark-bellied Brent Geese were still shuffling around the entrance to Holbrook marina, whilst in the main channel, 50 Great Crested Grebes and seven Red-breasted Mergansers were loafing.

Passage.

When it comes to finding passage migrants, the Stutton part of Alton Water is hard work. Is it that it is sandwiched between the Stour and Orwell estuaries; the fact that it is chock-full of walkers, cyclists, dog-walkers (flagrantly breaching the 'Dogs on lead' bye-law) and boats, or perhaps there is a lack of suitable habitat. I am sure all three play a part to some degree.

With Black Terns starting to appear across the south-east and grumbly, heavy showers coming in from the south-west, I wasn't going to let all of what I said above put me off having a look at the first available opportunity this afternoon.

A quick scan from the end of Alton Hall Lane just before 3pm and it was clear that something was up. A small swarm of 500 hirundines was buzzing over the water. The Swallows were keeping low, whilst the House Martins seemed to favour a higher flight path. In amongst them were a couple of Swifts and Sand Martins. Foolishly, I had opted for binoculars and camera, leaving the telescope behind. After just two weeks, I am now finding it difficult to go anywhere without the camera. It was going to be no use for scanning through what was quite a distant flock in search of something more unusual. The rain soon came and I sought shelter in Larchwood Hide staring at nothing in particular. Once it had passed it was back up to the marina, where the number of swifts had increased to over 30 and I was fortunate to bump in to a couple of cracking Yellow Wagtails that permitted a close approach.

Above me on the dam was a tight flock of 120 House Martins, sounding rather pleased with themselves. When I looked at the grass slope, what I thought was smoke turned out to be a major emergence of midges. In the picture below, it is the grey smudge running diagonally down the slope above the short, wooden railing.

 

On the dam itself was one of two Common Sandpipers around the east end of the reservoir.

 

 

I didn't see any Black Terns, but you might have guessed that by now.

 

Name that Gnat

Time was at a premium last night, so I had to resort to trapping in the back garden. I had plans to set up the MV, but a drizzle set in at dusk and was still going a couple of hours later so the actinic had to suffice. My thanks to the BBC for failing to forecast that the whole of lowland England would be getting wet overnight.

Usually, low cloud and drizzle drops stacks of moths in, but only twenty graced the trap come the morning. Either the rain put them off, or we are just entering that post-spring lull when the Quakers and Drabs are tailing off and we await the first Ermines, Muslins and Prominents. It is akin to that early-March slot in the birding calendar when many of the winter visitors have pushed off and we await the first Chiffchaffs and Wheatears.

Scores were:

Double-striped Pug - 2
Early Grey - 5
Pine Beauty - 1
Engrailed - 1
Hebrew Character - 5
Chestnut - 1
Common Quaker - 3
Shoulder-stripe - 1
Agonopterix arenella - 1

Aside from moths, there was a thin crust of dead and dying insects on the bottom of the trap as well dozens of live ones hanging around outside. No idea where to start with these, so would be grateful for any pointers.

 

Double-striped Pug

 

Pine Beauty

 

Shoulder-stripe

 

Small, green mozzy-type thing

Mercury comes up trumps

I borrowed a 125w Mercury Vapour lamp yesterday and deployed it on the Skinner trap in a private garden just round the corner from me. I trapped here last season and it produced some good moths for the village list. What was once "just fields" is now a rich tapestry of maturing shrubs and trees.

Surprisingly, there were fewer moths in trap (44) than the night before on the 15 watt actinic (47). I suspect the clear skies may have played a part. What may have lacked in quantity was more than made up for in quality. I didn't appreciate that Red-Green Carpet over-wintered as an adult. The specimen in the trap was immaculate. How do they manage that?

Totals were:

Common Quaker - 12
Small Quaker - 7
Hebrew Character - 13
Clouded Drab - 1
Early Grey - 2
Twin-spotted Quaker - 1
Brindled Beauty - 1
Double-striped Pug - 1
Brindled Pug - 2 (although if anyone wishes to tell me differently once they have seen the picture please do)
Engrailed - 1
Nut-tree Tussock - 1
Powdered Quaker - 1
Red-Green Carpet -1

All of the images with the exception of the Powdered Quaker were taken in situ on the trap.

 

Powdered Quaker

 

Red-Green Carpet

 

Nut-tree Tussock

 

Engrailed

 

Brindled Pug (I think)

A good day all round

It was back to the private estate in the village last night with the actinic and hopes were high given the forecast mild night. 47 moths of 12 species dutifully presented themselves. Highlight was an Early Thorn which is a species I don't see much of and one I needed to study to rule out Purple Thorn. I had to stick the camera in to the trap to take this picture and I was glad I did as the moment I prodded him with a pencil he was up and off.

 

 

Totals were:

 

Early Grey - 5

Small Quaker - 8

Common Quaker - 22

Clouded Drab - 3

Hebrew Character - 2

Twin-spotted Quaker - 1

Chestnut - 1

Satellite - 1

Brindled Pug - 1

Early Thorn - 1

Agonopterix arenella - 1

Diurnea fagella - 1

 

The over-winterers (Chestnut and Satellite) were very tatty and many of the Common Quakers were beginning to look a bit tired. The fresher looking Common Quakers were smaller specimens. I always get the impression that the end of the generation tend to be runts. Some of them were the same size as the Small Qiuakers.

 

Later in the day at the wildlife garden there were four species of butterfly on show. The Green-veined Whites and male Brimstone came nowhere near, but the Comma and Peacocks were more obliging. One of the Peacocks spent all afternoon on sentry duty over the vegetable garden taking on rival interlopers, only to meet his match when this smaller Comma came along. An Angle Shades was spotted tucked up above the barn door as well.

 

Comma

 



 

 Peacock

 

 

Angle Shades

 



 



Slim pickings

Not much to report from the moth trap in the garden last night:

March Moth - 1 (pictured)
Small Quaker - 1
Hebrew Character - 3
Early Grey - 3
Common Quaker - 3

A warmer evening is forecast tonight so the trap is back on the private estate in the village. Fingers crossed for a better haul.

You never stop learning

My thanks to Richard Fox and @stewchat who pointed me in the direction of Oak Nycteoline as mystery micro on my blog last night. This was a species I hadn't encountered before so I forgave myself for thinking that it was a micro. It never ceases to amaze me how species like this along with Chestnuts, Satellites and a good few more see out the winter as adults tucked away in a nook somewhere. It was interesting to read that the Oak N. hunkers down in the epicormic growth of oaks.

Last night I made my first foray with the moth trap out to one of my regular spots in the village. There was a fair breeze, so I chose this place as I could set the trap in the lee of some outbuildings.

 

 

There is a good selection of mature trees (coniferous and deciduous), some scrub and open farmland and it easily outperforms my immature back garden which is less than a mile away as the moth flies.

 

Scores on the doors (those in caps are annual but infrequent around here):

 

Common Quaker - 23

Small Quaker - 33

Twin-spotted Quaker - 3

Clouded Drab - 8

Hebrew Character - 7

Chestnut - 2

BRINDLED BEAUTY - 1

SHOULDER-STRIPE - 1

RED CHESTNUT - 1

Oak Beauty - 1

pug (still to decide) - 1

 

And here are those bold ones:

 

 

Red Chestnut

 

 

Brindled Beauty

 



 

Shoulder-stripe

 

 





Macro-moth, macro-photography for beginners

A good night for moths with 37 in the 15w actinic of ten species. I was eager to have a go with the camera and took these of a Pine Beauty and an Early Grey this afternoon and applied some heavy cropping. This is all new to me, so any pointers gratefully received.

 

The vice-Chairman of the Stutton Moth Group (SMOG) runs a twin 30w actinic and consequently he was tripping over moths. Species that he trumped me on included Shoulder-Stripe and The Engrailed and this one here, which is eluding identification. Does anyone know please?

Lingerers

It was the last Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) count of the season today. It made a change to be over-dressed and being more worried about sunburn than my extremities freezing. The roost was sparsely populated throughout the count and only enlivened after high tide when a flock of 340 Dark-bellied Brent Geese came off the fields for a wash and a brush up.

Here's a shot of a few of them taken with the zoom cranked up to 30 times which I took laying down as the wind was right up (you can see the waves breaking in the background),

If the Stour Estuary stats are a reflection of trends elsewhere, 2012 was a very poor breeding season for these chaps up on the Taimyr Peninsula. Less than 1% of birds counted on the estuary were juveniles. Populations do fluctuate and their productivity is tied in with lemming abundance. Plenty of lemmings, means plenty of food for the Arctic Foxes. When lemmings have a bad time, the brent goslings become the foxes favoured food.

You're for it now

A momentous occasion yesterday - I bought a camera. It was a present from my parents for a forthcoming landmark birthday. With a knackered hip and a young family limiting birding opportunities nowadays, it seemed like a good thing to do. I ummed and erred over a couple in the store and eventually plumped for a Fuji HS30EXR. I could have spent 70% more on a Canon with a 50x optical zoom, but thought better of it in case it turned in to an expensive mistake.

So with the light streaming through the windows at dawn, I was out down to the reservoir to give the beast a try out. The dam was shrouded in mist, but sadly not in birds.

Heading back up to the Café, I bumped in to John who had set a couple of nets to try and bag the Bramblings that were still coming to the feeders. Within minutes of me turning up, he was extracting this young female:

Its a giant - look at the size of it compared to that car!

 

 

 

Dunnock



 

Yellowhammer

On the menu last night

What a difference a couple of 'mild' days make. Overnight temperatures also dared to break in to the positive.

In the 15w actinic were 25 moths of 11 species:

Oak Beauty - 2
Hebrew Character - 3
Satellite - 1
Early Grey - 1
Common Quaker - 8
Clouded Drab - 4
March moth - 2
Twin-spotted Quaker - 1
Small Quaker - 1
Grey Shoulder-knot - 1 (first for the garden)
Chestnut - 1

Grey-shoulder Knot, Satellite and Chestnut over-winter as adults, whereas the other species spend the winter as pupa underground. The caterpillars of Early Grey feed on honeysuckle and the Grey-Shoulder-knot is an oak-feeder. The other species are not as fussy.

Grey Shoulder-knot (this is an image from one I took off ivy last autumn)

 

March Moth - not its typical resting posture

 

Twin-spotted Quaker (a fresher specimen than two nights ago)

Satellite - another individual off ivy last autumn

 



 

Clouded Drabs - a variable species (but will bow to greater knowledge if anyone thinks the paler specimen is a Lead-coloured Drab)

Common Quaker - a nice ginger one

 



Pipits

I have got to the stage in my birding life, when I don't care if I make a mistake. Yesterday was one of those days, or was it? Your helpful comments would be welcome please.

A call from my patch birding neighbour had me hot footing up to the dam end of Alton Water reservoir, with my two year old in tow, staring at a cracking summer-plumaged pipit. I will say now, that my first words were "you have a Scandinavian Rock Pipit here". I don't know why, from the depths of my birding brain (when I actually did a fair bit) it just felt like one. I know "it just felt like one" doesn't hold much truck with a rarities committee. Anyway, twenty minutes later, we were walking away talking about and yes, I put out the news, of a summer-plumaged Water Pipit. White outer tail, brown mantle, no malar, stonking supercilium. Easy. Was I conveniently glossing over the lack of wingbars or shall I blame my nose-diving son for not giving the bird fuller attention?

Later the afternoon, a few record shots came my way and here they are:

I received the top one first and the mantle colour seems 50/50 between grey and brown, which immediately cast doubt on my original ID. I then received image two and three, which sent me back towards water pipit.

Now I think: sod it, blog it, stick it on Twitter and see what people say. Just be polite about it please.