Before I write about the smaller flying beasts that interest me, I missed out from Saturday evening's blog post the most notable bird that I've seen all week! Too busy thinking and writing about Wheatears and Sand Martins...
On Saturday I felt a bit rough so we didn't get out and walk the dog until late morning, and we didn't go far from home either. But whilst out the local gulls started making a bit of a ding, nothing too much so I was just expecting a Buzzard to come over - but it was a Marsh Harrier! A nice dark bird (so I presume a second calender year, possibly a female?) which headed purposefully north east over Seaton. About two hours earlier James Mc had a Marsh Harrier fly west at Charmouth, but it clearly doesn't take two hours to get from there to here! I still think it was the same bird though, as a quick chat with him revealed his Harrier was also a very dark individual. Maybe it went west past us then came back, or had spent some time loitering somewhere between the two sites?
To tie up all the bird news in this post, I was a bit disturbed to witness this behaviour on the Estuary yesterday evening. An adult that should know better, trying to impress and get it on with a minor...
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| Adult and first-summer Med Gull |
And now to the moths. Last Wednesday night was the first night this year that I put a moth trap out at Mum and Dad's - wooooo! And although it wasn't exactly busy, I've had quieter 'first sessions of the year' with 8 moths of 4 species (though most not actually in the trap!):
5 Common Quaker
1 Twin-spotted Quaker
1 Early Grey
1 Double-striped Pug
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| The larger Twin-spotted Quaker flanked by Common Quakers |
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