False Hope

I haven't been up Beer Head for weeks - but this morning's total cloud cover and lack of wind lured me up there after covering over my moth trap...

Literally the first bird I saw when I got out of my car was this...

Wheatear!

Now this filled me with hope that the whole of Beer Head was going to be dripping with late spring migrants and that this Beer Head visit was going to be one fantastic idea...... or not.

All that went into the notebook besides the Wheatear were a few passing Swifts, Swallows and House Martins, one Willow Warbler and three singing (so probably breeding) Whitethroats.

The only other birding I've done today was an early afternoon look along the Estuary and over Black Hole and Colyford Marshes. All I saw were five Dunlin, two Teal and....well actually - that was it of interest!

So back to my moth trap, and this morning I had 35 moths of 18 species...

3 Buff-tip
1 Cream Wave
1 Brown Silver-line
1 Brimstone
2 Muslin Moth
1 White Ermine
1 Eyed Hawkmoth
1 Poplar Hawkmoth
2 Flame Shoulder
1 Large Yellow Underwing
7 Heart and Dart
1 Shuttle-shaped Dart
1 Common Quaker
4 Vine's Rustic
1 Setaceous Hebrew Character
1 Lychnis
5 Treble Lines
1 Nut-tree Tussock

Eyed Hawkmoth

The first of many hundreds (if not thousands) of Large Yellow Underwing that I will catch this year!