Some really enjoyable birding this morning - autumn is certainly here!
As I arrived at Blackhole Marsh gateway at about 8am, two adult Little Ringed Plovers landed on the near shore - excellent - our first of the 'autumn'. They flew off towards the north west corner of the marsh, so I followed....
I soon relocated them, plus another...and another...and ANOTHER! I was watching FIVE Little Ringed Plovers; three adults and two juveniles! Excellent!!
I didn't have my Nikon with me, but tried to get all five in one frame with my Lumix...it never happened! One was always either too far to the left, or too far to the right! Still, here's some poor pics showing one of each age...
Adult
Cute juvi - I wonder if it was born locally(ish)?
This wasn't the only wader excitement of this morning, also on Blackhole Marsh the first Dunlin of the 'autumn' - a nice summer plumage bird, eight Common Sands and on Stafford Marsh two Green Sands.
From the farm gate a little later, it was great to see this...
See WHAT?!?? I hear you scream!!
Well...... water in Colyford Scrape! It has been bone dry for weeks and weeks and weeks, but this morning it had lots of the wet stuff in it! :-)
And this has had an instant impact, as two adult Greenshank were charging about on it doing their usual 'mental' feeding frenzies! Also two Lapwing and plenty of Redshank.
On the Estuary four Teal were my first for some time.
Several times this morning I've seen two juvenile Peregrines causing havoc in the skies above the river valley, which is great news as I presume these are local stock??
One of the two - distant!
I last had the moth trap out on Saturday night, and caught 105 moths of 32 species. One of these was new for the garden...
Minor Shoulder-knot....yeah not that exciting!!
The rest were: 17 Heart and Dart, 12 Flame, 8 Common Footman, 8 Bright-line Brown-eye, 7 Dark Arches, 5 Buff Arches, 5 Uncertain, 4 Flame Shoulder, 3 Buff Ermine, 3 Coronet, 2 Common Emerald, 2 Pug sp., 2 Willow Beauty, 2 Elephant Hawkmoth, 2 Swallow-tail, 2 Clouded Border, 2 Grey Dagger, 2 Sycamore, 2 Spectacle, 2 Fanfoot and singles of: Riband Wave, Small Emerald, Common Carpet, Phoenix, Eyed Hawkmoth, Peppered Moth, Double Square-spot, Dusky Brocade, Lychnis, Clay and Snout.
Doesn't look like I'll be doing much - if any - mothing this week, so this may actually be a birding blog for a short time!!!
As I arrived at Blackhole Marsh gateway at about 8am, two adult Little Ringed Plovers landed on the near shore - excellent - our first of the 'autumn'. They flew off towards the north west corner of the marsh, so I followed....
I soon relocated them, plus another...and another...and ANOTHER! I was watching FIVE Little Ringed Plovers; three adults and two juveniles! Excellent!!
I didn't have my Nikon with me, but tried to get all five in one frame with my Lumix...it never happened! One was always either too far to the left, or too far to the right! Still, here's some poor pics showing one of each age...
Adult
Cute juvi - I wonder if it was born locally(ish)?This wasn't the only wader excitement of this morning, also on Blackhole Marsh the first Dunlin of the 'autumn' - a nice summer plumage bird, eight Common Sands and on Stafford Marsh two Green Sands.
From the farm gate a little later, it was great to see this...
See WHAT?!?? I hear you scream!!Well...... water in Colyford Scrape! It has been bone dry for weeks and weeks and weeks, but this morning it had lots of the wet stuff in it! :-)
And this has had an instant impact, as two adult Greenshank were charging about on it doing their usual 'mental' feeding frenzies! Also two Lapwing and plenty of Redshank.
On the Estuary four Teal were my first for some time.
Several times this morning I've seen two juvenile Peregrines causing havoc in the skies above the river valley, which is great news as I presume these are local stock??
One of the two - distant!I last had the moth trap out on Saturday night, and caught 105 moths of 32 species. One of these was new for the garden...
Minor Shoulder-knot....yeah not that exciting!!The rest were: 17 Heart and Dart, 12 Flame, 8 Common Footman, 8 Bright-line Brown-eye, 7 Dark Arches, 5 Buff Arches, 5 Uncertain, 4 Flame Shoulder, 3 Buff Ermine, 3 Coronet, 2 Common Emerald, 2 Pug sp., 2 Willow Beauty, 2 Elephant Hawkmoth, 2 Swallow-tail, 2 Clouded Border, 2 Grey Dagger, 2 Sycamore, 2 Spectacle, 2 Fanfoot and singles of: Riband Wave, Small Emerald, Common Carpet, Phoenix, Eyed Hawkmoth, Peppered Moth, Double Square-spot, Dusky Brocade, Lychnis, Clay and Snout.
Doesn't look like I'll be doing much - if any - mothing this week, so this may actually be a birding blog for a short time!!!
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