Insects Galore

It's been a good week, which started in great form finding my first ever patch Purple Hairstreak!  I noticed there seems to be good numbers of the species about this year, and had my eyes on a few Oak trees on the edge of some woodland in Colyton at the end of Jobble's Lane...

For some reason these caught my eye

And on my first time of checking earlier this week, ten minutes into scanning I picked one up!  I saw it several times over the course of the next five minutes before it flew deeper into the woods - love it when a plan works out!  No pics I'm afraid as no settled views, but such a thrill to see.

I have had three mothing nights this week, starting with a trap at Mum and Dad's on Sunday night.  Early on Monday morning there were 142 macro moths of 42 species for me to look at, with the highlights being...

Scarce Footman - haven't caught many of these at all

Scarce and Common Footman

The Herald - a stunning moth

Black Arches - common but was my first this year so needed a photo!

The next night my moth trap was at Fran's house where 121 macro moths of 32 species were caught, with one clear highlight for me...

Male Drinker - such a beast!

On Tuesday night it was back up to Mum and Dad's again, 104 macro moths of 28 species were waiting for me the following morning and included one of my favourite moths...

Male Four-spotted Footman

And again with a Common Footman

Also among the catch were...

Maybe common but always beautiful - Burnished Brass

Pine Carpet - don't catch loads of these

Small Blood-vein

Phew. And that's the insects done!  No notable birds to mention so will go straight to the lunar activity of the last few days.  The moon has been pretty impressive all week as it is, and here's it rising on Monday night...

Taken during another unsuccessful Quail hunt!

But of course the highlight was the amazing partial lunar eclipse on Tuesday evening...

21:30

22:30. Look at the colour of it!!

Hopefully there will be some more feathered content in my next post...

Missing Moth Migration

I really need to sort out a way that I can moth trap in rain, as over the weekend I missed some really good moth immigration (take a look at the Portland Bird Obs website).

With last night being the first forecasted dry night, I trapped at Mum and Dads. Despite the lack of anything exceptional, it was nice to see some of the mid summer species as I've not done any mothing for over a month!

Out of the 151 moths of 45 species, this Herald took some beating...

Herald

Although for the 'wow factor', Black Arches aren't too shabby...

Male Black Arches

And how about this Scorched Carpet...

Scorched Carpet

Although annual here, Crescent Dart is quite a localised species, so I always like seeing them...

A worn male Crescent Dart

This is small and not that spectacular, but it was nice to trap as I've only caught one before...

Least Carpet

Look out a Shark...

A Shark

And it wasn't quite a blank catch for migrants, thanks to one of these...

Silver Y

I have to say, Honey was a very good and patient girl whilst I was emptying the trap. Although I suspect she would have loved to have been able to chase the moths around the garden!

I will keep this post insect related and mention the wander around Lower Bruckland Ponds with Jess the other day.  It was nice to see Small Red-eyed Damselflies again, with most on the top pond. Lots of males were visible along with a couple of ovipositing pairs.

Male Small Red-eyed Damselfly

And I just had to take a pic of this Common Blue Damselfly munching on its dinner...

Common Blue Damselfly

I don't have any earth shattering bird news, so the few bits of slight interest can wait to the next post.

Mostly About Things With Wings

Well what a few days!

I'll start back with last Friday, when I enjoyed showing Vic Tucker, one of the authors of 'Where to Watch Birds in Devon and Cornwall', around the patch.

The main destination was Black Hole Marsh, but apart from 27 Dunlin, two Ringed Plover and 18 Black-tailed Godwit it was quiet. The weather was stunning, and Vic requested a look around Lower Bruckland Ponds - so that was where we went next.

Before we arrived I jokingly remarked how we could be on for a Lesser Emperor, as a couple had been seen in the country the previous day. Ten minutes into our wander and a stunning male Lesser Emperor flew past us! Amazing!! The second for the patch, I've found them both, and both in exactly the same place - and I mean EXACTLY the same place! I was standing on the same edge of the same pond on 16th July 2006 when a male Lesser Emperor whizzed past.

We only saw it for about 30 seconds, before an Emperor chased it off. Pleasingly though, within the next few hours it was seen another four or five times by others in roughly the same spot. No photos I'm afraid as it moved so quickly!

On the lower couple of ponds, it was nice to see c10 Small Red-eyed Damselflies. The larger ponds don't look suitable at all now due to the lack of surface vegetation, but it's great to see they are hanging on where they can...

My first for a few years - mostly because I haven't tried hard enough!

Rewinding the day back a little, I had a moth trap to go through - and it was crammed full! There were 241 moths of 45 species in the trap. 31 of these moths were Willow Beauties, with Riband Wave, Brimstone, Large Yellow Underwing, Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing and Dark Arches also represented in double figures. The highlights for me were...

Black Arches - a stunning moth

Magpie - common yes, but still a looker!

Marbled Green - caught four of these

The Fern - there were three of these, all resting on adjacent walls

Mullein Wave - a coastal species

So Friday was a successful day! What about Saturday then...

Well Jess and I decided to go west from Seaton, and we ended up here...

Jess and the entrance sign to Bystock Ponds!

The main pond - looking lovely

So, what is it we were looking for...

'in action!'

Well it wouldn't be found here, although we did see this...

A Terrapin!

After a bit more walking, and some useful directions from Chris Townend, we got to here...

That looks more like it!

Nearly, just a little too large....

Bingo! We saw at least five Small Red Damselflies - amazingly a first for me!!!

And on the way back to the car, we saw a couple of these...

Common Lizard

And that brings me to today, and the end of this post.