Radford's Flame Shoulder

I had drafted another post out to be my next, titled 'Beware of Hackers' (many of you am sure will be able to guess the content of this one!) but something far more exciting has come up...

I put the moth trap out late last night, it was well past sunset when I realised despite the drizzle the conditions were actually pretty moth-friendly with little wind and reasonably mild temperatures. This proved a good move as I was rewarded this morning with a new species for the garden and for me; Radford's Flame Shoulder!  

Described as a rare immigrant to the south coast, it's one I have been keeping my eye out for for years.  Any late Flame Shoulder is worth looking closely at as Radford's Flame Shoulder is generally found in the UK after the flight period for Flame Shoulder is over - although am sure some are overlooked during (or at least towards the end of) the Flame Shoulder flight period.  Anyway, when I saw a Flame Shoulder resting at the bottom of my trap this morning I potted it immediately.  After I'd gone through the rest of the trap I came back to it for a closer look, and it was ticking many of the boxes for Radford's.  As it is quite a tricky species to ID I asked for confirmation from the fantastic @MothIDUK on Twitter, and am pleased to say this was rapidly given :-)

The key ID features I noted were;

• Black streaks extending beyond kidney mark (almost producing a 'shear')
• Kidney and oval marks smaller than in FS 
• Dull brown ground colour 
• Sharp contrast between purple thorax and white patagia
• Clear white hindwing.

I have to be honest and say it didn't look that long-winged to me, but then again I've not seen a Flame Shoulder for maybe three weeks now so a direct comparison may well have given me a different conclusion.

Am ashamed to say the reason why the photos are so poor is because whilst trying to get a photo of its hindwing, I completely fluffed re-potting it and much to my despair it flew off high to a nearby tree! I would have taken far more photos were it not for this :-(

The full catch total ended up at 83 macro moths of 20 species - not at all bad for October.  A single Delicate and L-album Wainscot were the macro sub-highlights, along with fairly late individuals of Cypress Pug, Willow Beauty and Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing.  Lunar Underwings made up the bulk of the catch, with 25 in all.

Seeing as I've not done a moth post for a while, despite the fact I have done quite a bit of mothing, here's a few other moth pics that I've taken over the last few weeks.  I've not caught any other goodies but there are some really smart moths on the wing at this time of year, and here's three of the most vibrant;

Sallow

Centre-barred Sallow

Barred Sallows

I still haven't caught the two big immigrant moths that I'm after (The big Hawk and the one with blue underwings!) but have been getting a steady trickle of Silver Y's along with two Delicates.  Although I mostly steer clear of micros, I have noted plenty of Rusty-dot Pearls and a few Rush Veneers in recent weeks.

Delicate

This autumn there have been unusually high numbers of L-album Wainscots on the wing.  This is a species I catch every year but normally only in very small numbers.  One morning last week there were six in the trap, and I know several other sites are reporting much higher than usual counts...

L-album Wainscot - a real favourite of mine

And another - such a beautifully marked moth, especially considering it's a Wainscot!

I'll end this post with some (real) bird news. Clive did well to turn up a Spotted Crake on Black Hole Marsh late this afternoon, although sadly I couldn't react to the news.  Our fifth in recent years I believe, but seeing as there aren't many in the country this year it's extra good value.  I've not been here for most of today, but did have a nice little surprise whilst filling up with fuel at the Tower Services this morning. It didn't take me long to pin down a sharp sounding crest in the bushes on the edge of the neighbouring chalet park - and as I thought it was my first Firecrest of the autumn. Always a delight.

Being Left Behind...

We (not just the patch, but Devon as a whole - in fact to a certain extent the south west!) have been left behind by the rest of the UK. The east coast has seen yet another superb influx of migrants, scarcities and rarities but very few have reached us.   I thought the Lower Bruckland Yellow-browed Warblers a fortnight ago were going to be the start of a cracking spell of birding for us - but that wasn't the case.

Although I haven't had much time to go birding, I've forced myself to look along the Estuary and river valley at least once a day. And every couple of days I've given either Beer Head, Axe Cliff or the marshes a good look.  The highlight of what should be one of the best times of year has been...a Brent Goose!  Yes - that's how bad and frustrating it's been.

The cold northerly winds that closed last week shouted Whooper Swan or grey goose to me. Annoyingly the Whooper Swans decided to fly back north a little to the west of us (yes you guessed it - Dawlish Warren had three on Friday morning) and the goose wasn't a grey one, but as I've already mentioned a Brent. I thought the 90 Canada Geese would attract something but I was hoping for something a bit better.  Wildfowl are clearly on the move at the moment, a few days ago I had three Shoveler fly past at sea, and this morning a lovely juv Pintail was on Lower Bruckland Ponds.

Black-headed and Common Gull numbers are also increasing, with two Med Gulls (a first and second-winter) on Saturday morning and an adult this morning.  Waders have been trickling though with a few Ruff still about (apparently five this morning), 15 Dunlin and a lingering Greenshank.

Vis mig hasn't been spectacular but there's been some ok days with good numbers of the expected species passing over. Have had several Reed Buntings, Grey Wags and Siskins go through, and my first Redpoll of the autumn with two over Black Hole on 6th Oct.  Considering the number of Redwings in the UK I'm amazed to say I've not actually seen one!  I've heard a few going over in the night but a day time bird has so far eluded me.

Because I've seen no decent birds I've taken no photos of birds. Well that's except for a Swallow I spied this morning - I'm starting to note down any hirundines I see now as they are getting few and far between. If I didn't tell you I took this photo this morning, it could easily be a late March pic of the first returning male Swallow...

You better get going mate!

I was pleased to get the moth trap out a few times before the weather turned cooler. One of the nights isn't worth talking about, but the other - 8th Oct - certainly is!  In the trap the next morning were 69 moths of 19 species. This included plenty of immigrants, such as...

Two Vestals, only caught one before in the garden ever!

My third Clancy's Rustic

A Delicate

And my highest ever count of Dark Sword Grass, four.

And that's that. I'm afraid this long awaited blog post wasn't worth waiting for. Hopefully things will get better soon...

 

New Moth For The Garden

Well I promised more regular blog posts, but that was presuming I'd be seeing some birds - it is mid September after all! Truth is I haven't really seen anything of note since my last post, a second winter Med Gull on the Estuary yesterday being the best. Wader numbers seem to be pretty consistent too at the moment with 30ish each of Ringos and Dunlin, and no biggie yet. We have got to get a Pec at least surely!

Thankfully though, a moth has saved the post (just!). A couple of nights ago, there wasn't much in my trap - just 51 moths of 10 species. Four of them were immigrants though, with three being Silver Y's. The fourth was this rather battered Delicate, thanks to Peter Vernon for confirming my ID...

Yes I would have preferred a Convolvulus Hawkmoth too - but a new species for the garden is a new species for the garden! :-)