With our third heatwave of the summer in full spate I had the moth box out in the back yard on Thursday 10th July on what was a warm, still and humid night and early the next morning I had caught a good haul of moths including my first Jersey Tiger Moths of the year.
As I was potting up the moths in the trap Birdy was watching me intently from the flat roof along with one of his parents, they both seemed very interested in what I was doing but there was none of the usual noise and aggression from the adult bird.
I could also hear Ring-necked Parakeets screeching away as they were leaving their nearby roost while 2 Grey Herons, a Sparrowhawk and 4 Swifts were seen flying overhead, it certainly pays to be up at such an early hour sometimes. Later that morning David found a Hummingbird Hawkmoth buzzing around the flowers in the back yard, the first one we've seen in the garden for a few years now.
Birdy continues to thrive but there was quite the kerfuffle going on in the morning of Sunday 13th July, the adult birds were very twitched and very noisy and eventually we realised why when we saw that Birdy's sibling had leapt off our chimney stack and was now residing on the main roof of the building 2 doors down. Eventually things settled down and the sibling seemed settled there but at least we now knew that he's not going to appear in our living room grate. Interestingly he was much larger and more advanced than Birdy, maybe he hatched earlier or he is the more dominant of the 2 and has snaffled more of the food brought in by the adults.
I had the moth box out in the back yard that night (13th July), it was warm and humid again but cooling down as the current heatwave begins to ease. I was woken up as usual at 5am the next morning (Monday 14th July) with the Herring Gulls making their usual racket but I laid in bed for a while waiting for the daylight to improve. Around 6am I heard the sound of rain beginning to fall and so I leapt out of bed to sort the moth box out before it got soaked. Fortunately it was only a brief shower although it was enough to get everything wet and to spook the moths outside of the trap into flight.
I did have a decent haul of moths though but less than on my previous session and there were no Jersey Tiger Moths to be seen this time. However there were even higher numbers of Four-spotted Footman present, the most I've ever seen in the back yard, while the appearance of the first Large Yellow Underwing of the year blundering around the trap caused complete panic amongst the other moths and I lost a few of them before I managed to pot them up.
A Coronet and 3 Mullein Wave were good to see as always and other highlights included a Black Arches, 2 Dun-bar, a Dingy Footman and an Argyresthia goedartella.
While sorting out the moths an adult Herring Gull came in to feed Birdy, it yacked up a lurid orange blob of something which Birdy wouldn't touch so it swallowed it again and flew off. Perhaps this is why Birdy is smaller because he's a bit of a fussy mare with his food!
I also had a look and a listen out for Birdy's sibling up on the roof but there was no sight or sound of him and this continued as the morning wore on. I eventually went out into the street for a proper look about but there was still no sign of him and I was beginning to get a bad feeling about things. Sadly I soon found him dead in the middle of the road having been run over by a car, he must have continued his descent from the roof and ended up down on the ground. A tragic end to one of our Herring Gull chicks this year but at least Birdy is safe and sound (for the moment).
