Mipits

There was well over 50 Meadow Pipits on farborough bank, Draycote Water when we arrived this morning and a further 80 seen passing over. Also on the move were Chaffinches 20+, Skylark 50+ and a single Redwing and Golden Plover. Also noted were adult and second winter Yellow-legged Gull, Grey Wagtail, Sparrowhawk, 4 Gadwall and 7 Wigeon.

Unfortunately by the time we reached Napton on the Hill the mipit passage had dwindle to zilch and all we had was single Chiffchaff, 3 Mistle Thrush, 8 Buzzard and 5 Raven. Did not bother to go searching for last weekends Redstart.

Dire

Draycote did its best this morning not to have anything present – struggled just to find a Yellow-legged Gull and on my way back for a cuppa 6 Swallow and a Redwing flew south down the valley off farborough bank. Two hours of viz mig from the country park produced 50+ Skylark going west and 3 Buzzard.

Ison and Daurian

Title of the blog sounds like a firm of solicitors but in fact relates to two different hobbies of mine that are literally light years apart - birding and astronomy. After yesterdays chuffers I had debated going to Shetland for a few days tempted by the discovery of a Thick-billed Warbler but eventually accepted a lift to Cornwall so up and away by the ungodly hour of 2am.

A comfy break at Exeter coincided with clear sky’s so once we were on the A30 in complete darkness we pulled over and searched for Comet ISON as it heads towards the sun and passing Mars so not to hard to find in a scope. This comet was only discovered last September when it was 584 million miles away. The night sky was brilliant but we needed to push on.

First port of call was around the Pendeen area with a trio of goodies in the shape of Daurian Shrike, Yellow-browed Warbler and 3 Wryneck plus a supporting cast of Snow Bunting, Whinchat, Raven and Peregrine before it was time for a proper birders breakfast. Stomach satisfied we pushed on to Treen for a Richards Pipit where I rested while the remaining crew checked out Porthgwarra, Kenidjack Valley and St Levan managing 2 more Yellow-browed’s, Balerics Shearwater, and Lapland Bunting. Final stop was the Hayle estuary where we had Lesser Yellowlegs, Black-winged Stilt, Spotted Redshank, Little Stint and an Osprey perched. Bit far for a day out but well worth it if you can cope with bum ache.

Chuffys instead of Chiffys

Swapped hobby’s and joined the enthusiastic crowd at the Great Central Railway, Loughborough for their GCR Autumn Steam Gala and had a thoroughly enjoyable few hours wandering around the shed and Station enjoying the coming and goings of at least eight engines in steam plus many others in various stages of restoration. Other attractions included many stalls selling railway memorabilia where I managed to locate a copy of Railway Nostalgia in Warwickshire by D Hibbs which features many pictures of the places and trains I used to see when I use to be freckled faced youngster and had met the author many times while birding locally around Flecknoe with out realizing who he was.

There was one engine present that I had not seen before in preservation, Battle of Britain class 34070 Manston. It was built in November 1947 and withdrawn from service in August 1964 to Woodhams yard on Barry Island where it rotted away till moved for restoration in 1986. Other sightings down memory lane included coal wagons that I use earn pocket money on and a rake of TPO carriages I used to service in the middle of the night on Coventry and Rugby station when working for RM in the late 70s.

Wind changes finally

After a wet night we finally lost the easterly airflow with the winds turning south west by the time we reached the pond but the squally showers that hampered our walk to farborough spit did not bring anything in and we just had this weeks regular Ringed Plover, 20 Meadow Pipit, 2 Goosander and Grey Wagtail.

After drying out in the visitor center we walked to hensborough bank as the weather improved managing Buzzard, 2 Gadwall and 2 Golden Plover going south. By late morning a scattering of birds started going over and we identified 14 Swallow, single House Martin, a few Meadow Pipits and the odd group of Skylark.

Having spoken to Tim, the two Keith’s and Paul there was not much around locally so decided to chill out on Napton the Hill for a dose of vis mig but the word chill was exactly what it said on the tin as the wind turned more westerly, single Swallow, Raven and Buzzard was all we managed though the views were incredible.

The Moth County Recorder confirmed my Four-spotted Footman was new for the county so Bob’s image is going on my Xmas cards and my next T-shirt will be inscribed Moth God.

Four-spotted surprise

Up early and with daylight an hour away I gave the moth trap the once over with a torch just in case anything on the sides had not gone in and instantly spotted a footman species which was unusual since I’ve not caught one for awhile. Potted it straight away and took into the kitchen to ID and the alarms went off in my head. For the next 30 minutes I was trawling ID books and internet sites confirming I had a Four-spotted Footman.

four-spotted Footman by Bob Hazel

O my god according the holy bible on Warwickshire Moths by David Brown the county recorder there are no records for the county up to 2006. Don’t know its status since so I might have added to the county list.

What a great way to start the day but once we were at the pond my new found happiness soon evaporated as the place was dire with poor visibility which took most of the morning to improve. In 3 hours of searching all we had was Ringed Plover, Grey Wagtail, 30 Meadow Pipit, Chiffchaff, 2 Swallow, 2 female Goosander and a female Shoveler. We had a view of the albino Squirrel in toft shallows and a Red Underwing was flying between the visitor center and car park early afternoon.

record shot of the albino Squirrel.

Re-hab comes first

Great Skua and Grey Plover passed through the pond this morning but I was not going to miss my cardio rehab session at any price so had to wait till early afternoon by which time is was quiet on the migration front till a weak front came in at 3pm but did not bring in anything bionic.

All we had between 1 and 2:30pm were Grey Wagtail, Ringed Plover, 30 Meadow Pipit, 5 Pochard, 2 female Goosander, 4 Buzzard, Raven and 2 Sparrowhawk while at 3pm 65 Lapwing and 6 Swallows moved south.

A few Comma, Small Tortishell and Large White butterflies were on the wing and Blair’s Shoulder-Knot moth was on the east wall of the visitor center.

Nene Wash

We had a pleasant surprise at the A605/A1 service station when we bumped in to Keith, Jim, Pete and Trevor having a comfort break on a day away from Brandon Marsh heading the Norfolk north coast looking for migrants.

We had decided not to be as adventurous choosing instead the tranquility of the Nene Wash where there may have not been a lot around but we had the place to ourselves and what we saw we had crippling views of.

Best was the Red Kite perched less than 100 yards away, 5 Marsh Harrier and 10 Buzzards hunting the patchwork of of recently cut meadows which kept the Snipe, Reed Buntings and Mipit’s on their toes and the only other wader species seen was a Black-tailed Godwit with a damaged leg. Redwing heard going over.

Little Gulls

On our return from walking to toft shallows Draycote Water, just as the easterly wind picked up a first winter Little Gull arrived to feed on insects off farborough spit at 10:35am to be joined by 3 adult birds at 10:47am when they all left to the west. Earlier we had seen Grey Wagtail, Ringed Plover, Yellow-legged Gull adult and juvenile Wheatear between the visitor center and farborough spit. A couple of chiffys were calling in toft shallows and 100 Great-crested Grebe but no sign of Wheatear on our return. There was a trickle of Swallows heading south and 6 House Martins appeared at mid-day before they also went south. Also noted were 16 Linnets, 45 Wigeon, Pochard, 8 Meadow Pipit and 4 Buzzard.

After lunch a visit to Napton Reservoir only produced 2 Wigeon and 4 Teal and another look at the pond while playing round 15 of the Bilton Scrabble Championship produced sod all apart from grumpy parents and screaming kids.

A little bit of mig

Having spent the previous day in Norfolk I dossed the morning away looking out for migrants over the garden managing Hobby, Swallow and 7 Cormorant all heading east.

Raptors and duck

It was a day for raptors at the pond with 3 Sparrowhawk, 5 Buzzard and Peregrine over the Grandborough valley seen from either farborough bank, toft bank or the balcony of the visitor center. Earlier there had been a Ringed Plover and Grey Wagtail in front of the fishing lodge, 5 Meadow Pipits on farborough bank, 23 Wigeon off hensborough bank commuting between there and the leam valley, two groups of Shoveler over east of 13 and 4 and a Yellow-legged Gull adult. Other sightings included Raven and a Snipe.

Our first impression of Napton Reservoir when we arrived was that it was void of birds but our walk produced a very skittish juvenile Water Rail, Grey Wagtail, 2 Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, 6 Raven and 3 Buzzard with the bonus of an adult Hobby hunting and feeding on dragonflies above our heads. Party of 40+ Linnet and 4 more Buzzards seen on the way home.

More plodding

With no mist this morning we toured the Grandborough valley before visiting the pond managing 60 Linnet, 6 Meadow Pipit, Red-legged Partridge, Grey Partridge and 2 Tree Sparrow. Just as we were leaving the Baseley Small Holding after chatting with Cym we had a large juvenile Sparrowhawk and presumed it was the bird that kicked up all the Lapwings, corvids and Starlings near Kites Hardwick only to arrive at Draycote to find out it had been a Red Kite – bummer.

A walk to rainbow corner produced 3 Grey Wagtail, 16 Wigeon, 2 Golden Plover still retaining their black bellies, 3 House Martin and a record count for me of 42 Greylag’s. Luckily we managed to get Bob on to the Little Gull we had spotted between the valve tower and ‘c’ buoy who was in toft bay at the time minutes before it flew off west.

Napton on the Hill was disappointing with no visible migration despite favorable conditions, a few local Swallows and House Martin, 2 Raven and 2 Buzzard.

Bob notified me he had tracked down the nasal saddle Tufted Duck that we saw earlier in the week and seen by him again today, it had been ringed at São Jacinto Dunes Nature Reserve (40º41’N 08º44’W) which is in Portugal for those who don’t speak longitude and latitude, surprising it should choose to migrate north to winter

It was another good catch last night with 117 moths of 23 species including my 4^th Merveille du Jour of the year along with good numbers of Lunar and Large Yellow Underwing.

Barred Sallow

Merveille du Jour

Draycote and Napton on the Hill

After another mild night meant that we were greet with 50 feet visibility which never cleared while we we present. Our walk to toft shallows produced 4 Grey Wagtails on farborough and toft bank and 7 Chiffchaff in willow scrub at the end of toft bank. Only other sightings were of adult Yellow-legged Gull, Ringed Plover, 2 House Martin and a single Wigeon.

Lunch at Brandon Marsh then a look at Napton on Hill which had 5 Raven, 2 Buzzard and a very large juvenile Sparrowhawk.

We have id this as 450 Scythropia crataegella but as its a July moth we will need the county recorder to confirm.

Angle Shades. I have trapped over 190 of these but this is the first that kept its wings open

Early moth records and dreary pond

Had a triple surprise in the moth trap this morning with my earliest record of Red-lined Quaker, 2^nd earliest record of Pink-barred Sallow and 3^rd earliest record of Blair’s Shoulder-knot due to last nights very mild temperatures before the low cloud and mist arrived.

Pink-barred Sallow

The same low cloud was responsible for very poor light conditions at the pond when Bob and I walked to toft bay which hardly improved through out our visit and made viewing very difficult.

Ended up with 2 Ringed Plover and a Dunlin on the south shore, 4 Ravens over our heads heading for toft, 2 Gadwall, 32 Mute Swan, 2 Swallow, Sparrowhawk and a Kingfisher flying across toft bank and along the brook bordering the sewage farm. There were plenty of Black-heading Gulls loafing around but nothing special among them.

Plodding along over the same old ground

Early morning mist cleared quickly as we walked out to farborough spit but all we managed to see was a 7 Wigeon, Yellow Wagtail, Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper. A chat like species seen distantly on toft bank was unfortunately flushed by a procession of cyclist and runners and never specifically identified despite searching for it when we got closer.

Napton on the Hill had a continuous movement of Swallows heading south occasionally joining the local birds over the village below us plus thirteen Cormorant and a Yellow Wagtail heading south west. Of the 15 Ravens counted only 2 were distant and there were at least 10 Buzzards present. Three Chiffchaffs heard and a Willow Warbler showed well in the churchyard.

The water level continues to rise at Napton Reservoir so apart from a juvenile Great-crested Grebe demanding the attention of its parents all we found was a Teal.

Plenty of Speckled Wood and Comma’s butterflies seen today plus Ruddy Darter and Migrant Hawker dragonflies.

Draycote and Napton on the Hill

A walk out to farborough spit at Draycote produced Dunlin, 7 Ringed Plover, Meadow Pipit and 14 Wigeon but last night harvest moon was a signal for the hirundines to migrate leaving only a handful. 

Napton on the Hill was productive with 5 Buzzard and 3 Raven on the south side and a 50+ mixed flock working its way through the canopy from the farm to the churchyard contained 20+ Long-tailed Tit, 4 Goldcrest, 5 Chiffchaff and a Blackcap.

Hobby

A look at the south shore of the pond produced Dunlin and 4 Ringed Plover then a walk to the outlet adding Shelduck, 4 Raven, 2 Grey Wagtail, 14 Wigeon and 2 Shoveler to our day tally, at least 800 House Martin and 300 Sand Martin still present. On our return to the visitor centre making our way to a table I noted a small raptor sitting on the floor of the balcony edge half hidden by chair legs, juvenile Hobby just feet away – but as Bob got the camera out it flew off over the country park.

Decided to have lunch at Brandon Marsh but the Pec and Osprey that were present earlier were not on show, 70+ Shoveler, 16 Snipe, Shelduck and Kingfisher noted.

Lots of tits but little else

While sweating away at my cardio rehab down at St Cross Hospital this morning a large tit flock went through the grounds and included 23 Long-tailed Tit, 4 Coal Tit and 2 Chiffchaff amongst the many Blue and Great Tits.

Lunch at the pond but with Bob already gone I knew we were wasting our time so concentrated on our plates. Yellow-legged Gull adult and 2 Wigeon when we did lift our heads. Back home a trickle of low flying House Martins all purposely heading south. Bob did manage in poor conditions to photograph one of the ponds juvenile Sand Martins.

Deer Hobby

On our arrival at the pond over 200 House Martins out of the 1000+ still present were gathered on the roof of the visitor center while beneath them 5 Ringed Plover, 5 Dunlin and a Common Sandpiper searched the southern shoreline for food. Our best find’s of the day were a stunning stag Roe Deer in the second field behind the inlet and on our return 2 Hobbies , adult and juvenile appeared near the end of hensborough bank hunting House Martins. Other sightings included 2 adult and a second year Yellow-legged Gull, Gadwall, Pochard, Jay, Buzzard, Grey Wagtail and 300 Sand Martin. There were very few Swallows around.

Not as windy ....

Although the wind increased through out our visit gusting up to 30 mph it did not produce the hoped for goody. No sign of yesterday's Turnstone, just 8 Ringed Plover and 3 Dunlin present. Still plenty of hirundine with an increase in House Martin numbers probably up to 1500+ while 300 Sand Martin were similar to yesterday's number but very few Swallows around. At least 4 Raven, 2 Buzzard, Yellow Wagtail juv and Yellow-legged Gull adult also noted.

Despite the wind and overnight temperatures dropping to 7c there were 54 moths of 14 species with 7 Lunar Underwing and Brindled Green the best of the catch.

Nice group of waders

Common Sandpiper, Turnstone, 3 Ringed Plover and 2 Dunlin on our early morning visit to the pond before a sponsored walk started was unusual as we have little suitable shoreline due to ST maintaining a high as possible water level policy. Single Yellow Wagtail while House Martins numbered 1000+, 100 Swallow and 300 Sand Martin.
After breakfast a discussion where to go next was decided by messages from John and Paul that a Pec was at Brandon Marsh and though distant it was present along with Ruff and 20 Snipe. Also Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, 2 Jay, Shelduck and Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Tornado

The Cathedrals Express London Euston to Kiddiminster and Worcester steam excursion hauled by LNER A1 class 4-6-2 60163 Tornado arrived at Rugby this morning two minutes early for her scheduled water stop courtesy of the local fire brigade. She still has her admires with a good crowd scattered on various platforms and nearby Myson House although her compliment of carriages did not do her justice and were looking disheveled and tired. She left on time but was reported as losing 11 minutes as she went through Coventry just 10 miles down the track so must have had a signal go against her.

Golden Hour

Dave and I arrived at the pond at 7:20am just as the rain cleared bringing down birds that needed to rest or were re-orienteering themselves as they continued on their migration. The first surprise was a Woodcock that flew over farborough bank and headed north.followed by 4 juvenile Shelduck arriving from the south but after checking out toft bay they carried on east closely followed by more arrivals in the shape of a Green Sandpiper, 2 Ringed Plover and Wheatear. Meanwhile Buzzard, Common Sandpiper, 100+ Swift and 4 Common Tern noted. The final ‘goodie’ was a Little Egret over rainbow corner. Good to see the fearsome threesome just starting out on their walk so I hope they saw as much as we did.

Buoyed up by our ‘fall’ we had breakfast at the Long Itch Diner where Vapourer Moth and Southern Hawker were buzzing around before checking out Butt Hill which had at least 10 Spotted Flycatcher , 2 Green Woodpecker, 4 juvenile Treecreeper, Willow Warbler and Coal Tit.

By this time it was mid-day and having been out mothing as part of the National Moth Night scheme the previous two nights I was suffering from fatigue so headed for bed.

I managed a couple of hours before being dragged kicking and screaming to see the long staying 2^nd summer Night Heron at Thornton Reservoir.

No doubt you have noticed the influx of butterflies attracted to buddleia or lavender so last Wednesday I checked out my estates front gardens and counted 227 Large White, 12 Small White, 5 Green-veined White, 5 Comma, 87 Peacock and the odd Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and Meadow Brown. Also seen were 6 Silver Y, 3 Vapourer and a Dusky Sallow. 

The patch is improving

My computer is slowly dying and does not always listening to my pleas to work so may be off-line soon for a while I make me mind up what to replace it with.

Birding locally has picked up in recent days with Turnstone, Dunlin, 5 adult and 2 second year Yellow-legged Gulls at the pond on Sunday morning, Osprey and Black Tern yesterday afternoon while today there were 5 Ringed Plover, Dunlin, 4 Common Tern, 50+ Swift and adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Still hundreds of Large White butterflies in the Cathiron area along with good numbers of Peacock and 20+ Silver Y’s when we looked at Oliver Cromwell going north again. Dave had 6 Comma butterflies in his garden this morning while we were clearing down his trap and I am getting a few Vapourer moths visiting mine.

Dave ended July with over 220 moth species trapped from over 5000 moths and his garden list just keeps growing with it now on 322 Macros and 321 micro species from 108,000 moths trapped since August 2005. I had just completed his records when he caught number 644.

Bordered Sallow

N.M.N and things above your head

National Moth Night is being held over the nights of 8^th to 10^th of August so if you are involved there are a few things happening above your head this week of interest.

The space shed will complete a few passes.

If you are up and about an hour before sunrise tomorrow morning you’ll will see a lineup of three planets low in the eastern sky. The first one you should spot is Jupiter which is the highest of the three and brightest, below Jupiter, look for Mars and below that will be Mercury.

Those in the know are predicting that this years Perseid meteor shower will be one of the best for sometime with over a hundred an hour so you’ll want to be out the mornings of the 12th and the 13th when it’s at its best. Best time will be between 2pm and 4pm but anytime after dark there should be some activity. Find a dark observing place, relax on a reclining chair and give yourself 20 minutes for your eyes to become accustomed to the dark and have a few drams nearby for comfort and enjoy, Bliss

July Moths - Kingfisher

A record 4,791 moths from 1308 records were captured in my home traps in July adding 3 macro and 10 micro moths to my garden list bringing it up to a respectable 578 species since August 2005. With so many moths around the traps also produced 22 second and 11 third only records. I recorded over 200 moth species averaging just under 150 moths a night. Still to do Dave's records but I'm sure his results will be better than mine - lets hope it continues in to August.

Lunar-spotted Pinion

Old Lady

1403a Duponchelia fovealis this one took hours to identify
all pics by Bob Hazel

A short walk around Brandon Marsh at mid-day did not produce much with the rising water levels but prolonged views of Kingfisher was welcome. Plenty of Damsel and Dragonflys around.

Aston Rowant

Aston Rowant looking NE towards Didcot

Despite the glorious weather and brilliant views looking out from Aston Rowant Nature Reserve with Dave and Bob it was hard to get away from the sounds of the M40 droning on in the background but it did not spoil a fantasic visit with 17 species of butterfly seen including 30+ Silver-spotted Skipper and 150+ Chalkhill Blue added to a growing year list among the hundreds that were in flight. Plenty of moths around as well with 100s of Six-spotted Burnets, 10 Silver Y, Yellow Shell and White Plume Moth. Birds included the ever present Red Kite plus 2 Hobby and a Sparrowhawk. As the temperature soared over the 30s we retreated for refreshment in the Carrier Arms at Watlington to cool down.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Chalkhill Blue
both moth pics by Bob Hazel

Steaming

Again another why are we bothering visit to the pond with single Yellow-legged Gull noted before the rain arrived.

Popped down to the station mid afternoon to see 70013 Oliver Cromwell arrive behind class 47 No 47245 nine minutes early heading for Southall and took many of its admirers by surprise when it left 27 minutes before scheduled leaving time eventually arriving 75 minutes early at Southall so had a clear run.

A very smart Drinker moth was in one of my traps this morning.

Insects galore

Overnight thunderstorms failed to turn much up at the pond so with the unusual record of 10 male Pochard flying over the visitor center and 3 adult Yellow-legged Gulls the visit was a disappointing.

After breakfast we livened the day up with a visit to Harbury Spoilbank where the place was alive with insects. Butterflies seen were Common Blue, 25 Marbled White, Dark Green Fritillary long past its best, Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Gatekeeper, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, 46 Peacock, Green-veined White and Small Tortoiseshell while moths included amazing numbers of Silver Y with 28 counted along with 3 Cinnabar, 2 Shaded Broad-bar, good numbers of Six-pot Burnet and 3 Yellow Shell. Also Blue-tailed Damselfly and Black-tailed Skimmer noted.

JJ spotted this Canary while on his dog walk near Long Lawford this morning.

Birding in July

Birding took a back seat this month as the weather was more suitable for my other hobbies but my travels did give me an opportunity to catch up with some of the New Forest specialties like Dartford Warbler, Woodlark and Nightjar while a twitch to the Farne Islands found me enjoying a number of sea bird species while watching the Bridal and Roseate Tern, while up north I also took the opportunity to visit the Filey area and enjoyed good views of Minkie Whale.

Locally then Draycote Water has been quiet with the odd Black Tern, Common Tern, Common Sandpiper, Dunlin and Ringed Plover going through with the rarest being a Wood Sandpiper at Brandon Marsh.
Yellow-legged Gulls dominate the roost at Draycote.

Dragons and Damsels in July

Took the opportunity this month with the nice weather to search locally and travel further a field to Hampshire, Northumberland and Yorkshire seeing a number of different species this month. Many thanks to Paul Cashmore for his images.

Emerald Damselfly

Keeled Skimmer

Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly

Southern Damselfly

Large Heath

Silver-studded Blue

Moths in July

Still 6 nights to till the end of the month but with this prolonged warm spell its fast becoming a record month with 9000 moths of over 270 species trapped so far between Dave's and my traps averaging just under 400 moths per night.. At least 9 species new for Dave and 6 for me. With so many to choose from I have picked 

just a few of the hundreds of pictures Bob has taken.

Muslin Moth

Peach Blossom

                                      

White plume Moth

Black-neck

Large Twin-spot Carpet

Leopard Moth

Lilac Beauty

Scarlet Tiger

Yellow Shell

Clouded Border

Steaming in July

Pretty quiet on the steam front till BR Britannia Class 7MT 4-6-2 no 70013 Oliver Cromwell and SR Light Pacific 4-6-2 no 34067 Tangmere and their support coaches were hauled by unknown class 66 on Thursday 26^th which passed through Cathiron heading north for Crewe two minutes ahead of schedule.
Oliver Cromwell is due to return on Monday 29^th stopping at Rugby between 15:49 and 16:17 pm.

 

Tangmere

Oliver Cromwell

Amazingly there were over a 1000 Large White Butterflies flitting about when we walked to the footbridge.

Bob saw Great Western Railway Class 2884 2-8-0 No 3802 on the Llangollen Railway while holidaying in Wales recently.