A Summary Of The Last Week

Well I didn't leave you waiting quite so long for this blog post!

Jess and I have had a week off, and during the week we enjoyed some nice trips out, like...

Bath - the first time I've been here...

Stunning place!

Dartmoor...

Most of these photos were taken around Dartmeet, except for Venford Reservoir at the top

And several trips to Black Hole Marsh...

A 'must visit' for any holidayers in my opinion!

Each visit to Black Hole Marsh showed the cracking juv Spotted Redshank (stunningly depicted here), and average numbers of the more usual wader species (for example Friday showed 24 Blackwits, 17 Dunlin, six Snipe, five Green Sands and a Ringed Plover). Teal numbers increased as the week went on, with a surprise Tufted Duck also present on Friday...

A very distant and underwhelming Tuftie in the rain

A mid afternoon wander over Beer Head on Thursday is also just about worth mentioning, as singles of Yellow Wag and Whitethroat were noted. Sadly not the Wryneck I was hoping for though.

After my Hoary Footman success of Sunday night, I put the moth trap out again on Tuesday evening. When I woke up Wednesday it felt pretty chilly out, so I knew the trap wasn't going to be fully loaded - I was right! Amazingly though I managed another first for the garden - two in a week! This was a very overdue and predictable one though...

Canary-shouldered Thorn

I was back to work today, and typically Beer was almost sinking under the weight of grounded migrants this morning!