Autumn Has Begun And Another Mega Moth Night!

I was up early yesterday morning, I covered over the moth traps, and then - as promised - went out birding!!!!

With the southerly wind I gave the sea some effort, with watches 06:00 - 07:15 and then 08:00 - 08:40.

The highlight was a Bonxie which flew west at 06:25. This spring was totally hopeless for the skuas on patch, and I think this Great Skua may be the first of the year!? If not, it is certainly
the first for the 'autumn'.

Equally notable was a surprising SIX Med Gulls west, all first-summer birds. A pair shortly followed by a single at about 06:15, then three at 08:20. (A very brief look over the sea mid morning today showed another single first-summer west).

Other scribbles in my note book for this watch included: 57 Gannets, 21 Manx Shearwaters, 5 Common Scoters, 13 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Kittiwakes, 3 auk sp. and a Little Egret. Here's a few Gannet shots to just break this part of the post up a bit...

It was nice to point my Lumix at birds again! I thought the top photo turned out well considering the distance it was taken at!!

A look up the river between my sea watches showed four Blackwits and six juvenile Black-headed Gulls. Stafford Marsh showed my first two returning Green Sands and Blackhole Marsh had my first returning two Common Sands on it....

Later there were seven of these on the river - they have returned early!

Then I came home to take a look at the selection of moths I had captured over the previous night! I didn't think there was going to be as many as the previous night, but there was! I had an astonishing 414 moths of 70 species!!!

This included five new species for the garden...

A stonking Grey Arches! One VERY smart moth!

There were two of these; Double Line

Two of these; Lackey Moth

Two of these small things; Marbled White Spot

And finally one Dusky Brocade

The rest of the haul looked just like this (and it included some more notable moths): 86 Heart and Dart, 30 Flame, 29 Heart and Club, 21 Elephant Hawkmoth, 21 Bright-line Brown-eye, 19 Buff Arches, 17 Minor sp., 16 Uncertain, 12 Flame Shoulder, 12 Grey Dagger, 12 Dark Arches, 10 Fanfoot, 9 Sycamore, 8 Willow Beauty, 8 Pug sp., 5 Clouded Silver, 5 Buff Ermine, 5 Coronet, 4 Common Marbled Carpet, 4 Poplar Hawkmoth, 4 Peppered Moth, 3 Common Carpet, 3 Eyed Hawkmoth, 3 Buff-tip, 3 Double Square-spot, 3 Spectacle, 2 Figure of Eighty, 2 Peach Blossom, 2 Brimstone, 2 Common Footman, 2 Ingrailed Clay, 2 Clouded Brindle, 2 Small Fanfoot and singles of: Lobster Moth, Common Emerald, Blood-vein, Barred Yellow, Wood Carpet, Sandy Carpet, Grey Pine Carpet, Green Carpet, Carpet sp. (very worn and faded), Green Pug, Brussels Lace, Swallow-tail, Light Emerald, Common White Wave, Orange Moth, Sharp-angled Peacock, Clouded Border, Pale Tussock, Crescent Dart, Light Arches, Poplar Grey, Lychnis, Mottled Rustic, Clay, Common Wainscot, L-album Wainscot, Treble Lines, Burnished Brass, Silver Y, Beautiful Hook-tip and Snout.

So it is clear there are good numbers of moths about at the moment, but just where are all the immigrants!? Just ONE Silver Y!!!! We need some more southerlies!!!!

I'll end with a few more photos, including some of the south coast specialities I caught...

Three of the 28 Hawkmoths, one each of Elephant, Eyed and Poplar

Crescent Dart - one of the south coast goodies that visits my garden

L-album Wainscot - another south coast goodie that visits my garden!

Wood Carpet - one of those species you have to get your 'eye in' with... my third ever