Moths and Birds and Bees

With the good weather holding and the nights warm and dry I have had the moth box out in the back yard for 3 nights running, something I wouldn't ordinarily do. It's usually slim pickings for moths in the back yard in October and with the weather set to turn and cool and wet nights forecasted I decided to make the most of it and it proved to be quite successful.

I had the box out overnight for 3 nights from Sunday 8th October to Tuesday 10th October and caught an interesting selection of moths with numbers increasing each night as the overnight temperatures increased too.

The highlights over the 3 nights were a Vestal, 2 Olive-tree Pearl, a Dark Sword Grass, a Feathered Ranunculus, an L-Album Wainscot and 3 Black Rustic.

Vestal

Olive-tree Pearl

Olive-tree Pearl 

Dark Sword Grass 

Feathered Ranunculus 

Black Rustic

I met up with Mavis at Wembury on Wednesday 11th October for a walk, it was grey and claggy but warm and humid and we enjoyed watching the insect life feeding on the Ivy blossom - Red Admiral, Wasps, Common Carder Bees, Hoverflies, Bumblebees, Flies and Ivy Bees.

Ivy Bee

Ivy Bee

White-tailed Bumblebee

It was quiet on the bird front with 2 Mediterranean Gulls (1 adult, 1 1st winter), 5 Turnstone, 4 Curlew, a Grey Heron, Gannets and very flitty Cirl Buntings the highlights but a Large Shearwater found offshore heading west out past The Mewstone was too far out to call. By the time I had gotten my scope out of my rucksack and had set it it had moved through but it was probably a Cory's (from all the recent experience of these birds I've had over the past few weeks).

The weather was set fair for Saturday 14th October and I had planned to head out further afield for a birding day out but there is very little around at the moment to entice me too far away from Plymouth so I headed out to Wembury instead. I caught the early bus and arrived at around 7:30 just as the light began to lift and I set up my scope for a scan offshore. There were good numbers of Gannets offshore, adults and juveniles and all moving west, also with them were small pulses of Kittiwakes with one group having the menacing presence of a dark phased Arctic Skua on their tale. The passage dried up within an hour with just the odd Gannet passing by from then, just goes to show that the early bird really does catch the worm.

Also moving west were around 70 Skylarks, passing over in small flocks and giving themselves away by occassionally calling. A Siskin also flew over, a Wembury first for me, and again picked up on call.

A Curlew, 6 Turnstone, a Grey Heron and 10 Mediterranean Gulls ( 1 1st winter and 9 adults) were along the beach with the usual Oystercatchers. A few large spashes seen offshore were likely to have been feeding Blue Fin Tuna.

A Sparrowhawk and a Kestrel flying over the valley to the beach proved fruitful, causing the resident Cetti's Warbler to alarm call and show well but briefly out in the open before diving back into cover. Cirl Buntings were as flitty as ever but 2 Chiffchaffs showed well with a third bird heard. Only 1 Ivy Bee was found on the Ivy blossom amongst the Wasps and Flies and 2 Red Admiral, a Speckled Wood, a Small Copper and a Dark Bush Cricket were also seen. 

Dark Bush Cricket

Small Copper - form caeruleopunctata