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.

A rare tern to the left of me, another to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with Moths...

...but not really stuck at all, because it was an absolute joy to dust off one my moth traps a couple of nights ago.  I have Fran to thank for that, whose interest in learning what moths were/are using her garden was all the encouragement I needed!

One Skinner trap was run all night on the evening of 25th/26th,  and although I was distinctly rusty it was great going through the egg boxes again.  I didn't have time to give the micros, pugs and minors a proper look, but the rest of the macros were made up of 184 moths of 32 species.  A very respectable catch and a credit to Frans back garden!  

My highlight was the Lime Hawkmoth, I've only caught a couple of these in Seaton in the past...

Lime Hawkmoth

And an L-album Wainscot was nice to see, a south coast special... 

L-album Wainscot

Was great just seeing some of the common ones again too...

Elephant Hawkmoth and Scalloped Hook-tip

Moths aren't the only insects causing me recent glee... the huge invasion of Painted Ladies is just incredible!  Not seen numbers like this for years...

Painted Lady upper view

Painted Lady underside

I have been birding quite a bit lately, with the main aim of finding a patch Quail.  Not had any luck yet but I did stumble upon a churring Nightjar at a new site a couple of night's ago which is great news, and the fields between Axmouth and Rousdon seem to be home to more Yellowhammers than ever!

Male Yellowhammer

I will not give up with the Quail hunt though, this year has to be our year!

Juv Yellow-legged Gull, Insects And An Anniversary

There's a bit of everything in this blog post, so I hope you see something that interests you!

I'll start with not everyones favourite, but one of mine - my first juvenile Yellow-legged Gull of the year.  Large gull numbers have been low so far this July on the Axe, with the Exe having had Yellow-legs since the 1st of the month.  I had my first juvenile large gulls on the Estuary on Saturday, but frustratingly they were both Herring Gulls. Yesterday though I had a feeling the damp and dreary conditions would produce the goods, and it did...

What a beaut!  As you can see it was distant (425 metres to be precise!), but it was such a strikingly pale bird that this really didn't matter when it came to the identification.  I'd say this is probably as pale as they come and many are darker (see THIS BIRD Tim Worfolk had yesterday on the Exe), but I really love the ones like this, they are almost Great Black-backed like. In early July juv Herring Gulls are at their darkest, so a bird this pale needs closer inspection.  But it's not just the paleness that makes this a Yellow-legged, notice the dark eye mask, hefty size, long wings, plain dark tertials with white tips and the overall dark chocolate brown colour to the mantle/scapular feathers (usually more grey-brown or grey in Herring). This latter feature isn't often spoken about but I find it very useful, although juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls can be the same colour so beware!

In other bird news I bumped into some more Crossbills last Thursday with Richard Phillips, a nice flock of ten at Trinity Hill.  And this morning I gave Black Hole Marsh a quick look over, plenty of birds but nothing special; 450+ Black-headed Gull, 34 Little Egret, nine Lapwing, six Common Sandpiper, three Dunlin, three Kingfisher and two Teal.

Now for insects, and I had an excellent catch of 244 moths of 54 species last Friday. There was a lovely variety, and some excellent numbers including an impressive 33 Elephant Hawkmoths!  Only one immigrant though, but it was quite a rare one...

Clancy's Rustic - my fourth here but all the previous have been during the month of October.

 Some of the other notables included...

Scallop Shell

Brown-tail

L-album Wainscot

Privet Hawkmoth - don't catch many of these here.

With my wedding ring on full show in the above photo, I must just mention that unbelievably it is already our one year wedding anniversary! Can't believe how quick that's gone, I do hope life slows down a bit so I can savour it some more. I mean crikey I'm 30 later this year...

Back to insects, and here's a couple more pics to complete this post...

Mating Large Red Damselflies

One of five Glow Worms Bun managed to track down on patch last week, I saw this one on Friday night.

Migrant Moths

I've seen a few migrant moths this week, presumably thanks to the warmer weather and the death of that horrible northerly wind.

First up was at work, with a Silver Y resting on a metal shipping container earlier this week...

Then came this Bordered Straw in the moth trap at Mum and Dad's on Wednesday morning. Usually quite an irregular migrant, but there seems to be an influx of them going on at the moment...

In the same moth trap was a much finer moth though, a first for the garden and a much rarer migrant species. This stunning Striped Hawkmoth...

I trapped again last night, and amazingly caught a second Striped Hawkmoth!  And how do I know it wasn't the same one? Well I gave the first to Karen who released it in Sidmouth, and it had some wear to the tips of its wings having spent a day in a pot. So two in two nights...

The eighth species of Hawkmoth for the garden, I just love 'em!

Both nights of trapping produced decent hauls of moths, with 104 moths of 35 species on Tuesday night and 118 moths of 42 species on Wednesday night.  As well as a couple more Silver Y's, I've mentioned the migrant species, but it was nice to see some of the locals again too...

Eyed Hawkmoth

Scorched Wing

Green Silver-lines

Figure of Eighty - so well named!

L-album Wainscot - a local speciality

Ruddy Carpet - another local speciality

Purple Bar

Alder Moth

Whilst on the insect theme, I had a look along the upper reaches of the Axe Estuary mid week.  Couldn't find any Scarce Chasers, but it was nice to see plenty of White-legged Damelflies...

And Banded Demoiselles...