In the Field Mondays

I'm trying to get every Monday off to spend in the field. This morning after doing the moths (and garden vis-mig- 10 Teal over the garden was a garden tick) I headed out and checked  out Mill Lane Marsh and then Ferry before heading over to Church Norton. I walked round the back towards Bluebell Woods and then back along the Severals, over to the Spit and then back past the Benches and through the Church yard. The wind was light from the northeast and it was nice and sunny so a really nice walk with 80 species in total (HERE), highlights including an immature White-tailed Eagle, a juvenile Red Kite (a peninsula tick), juv Marsh Harrier, Peregrine, a Golden Plover over, 2 Whinchat, 1 Wheatear and 83 Wigeon and 26 Pintail in the harbour. There was a trickle of passerine vis-mig with a few Mips, Yellow Wags and hirundines going over. 

About 200-250 of 52 in the moth trap last night- a few highlights below and also Scarce Bordered Straw, Olive-tree Pearl, Rusty-dot Pearl, Dark Sword Grass, Silver-Y, another Clancy's Rustic, 2 Delicate and also Portland Ribbon Waves. Most of the catch was Large Yellow Underwing (about 150 or so). 

White-tailed Eagle (above and below)- the rows of markings on the upperwing coverts indicates a juvenile bird although the quality of the photo isn't great. It's either a juv or a second calender year bird (but looks more like a juv- an old young bird should show more white in the underwing and underparts). 

Juvenile Red Kite- an easy one to age with all those white markings on the underparts and fresh plumage

Wigeon and Pintail- numbers building in the harbour. Others counted 200 Wigeon in the harbour. 

A decent solid white line along the costa and thorax leading edge of this Radford's. No mistaking ones like this

Green Brindled Crescent- an NFG.

Notch-winged Tortix, Acleris emargana- NFG

Small Dingy Tubic, Borkhausenia fuscescens- NFG. Garden moth list now 368. 

Black-banded Masonor, Blastobasis rebeli- the freshest one I've had of these. Smart little moth

Home Weekend

Managed to get to Church Norton on Saturday morning and briefly Sunday evening, highlight was my first Firecrest of the autumn, but otherwise spent most of the weekend at home. There seemed to be a few bits and bobs about on the Peninsula reported, the highlight being a much anticipated Wryneck by the Horse Field (the usual spot for them round here). 

'Supervising the boys' while they play in the garden is now a proxy for vis-migging and I had a pretty good session this  morning with a steady stream of migrants flying into the gentle westerly headwind. An Osprey right over the garden was the highlight, with about 8 Common Buzzard, 2 Sparrowhawk and 1 juv Hobby seemingly moving through too. From dawn there was a steady passage of 'alba' wagtails with 67 logged (presumably departing a staging post roost) and 15 Yellow Wagtails, 5 Tree Pipits and 11 Meadow Pipits went over too with a steady stream of hirundines (about 30 or so an hour, Swallows, Sand and House Martins). A Snipe also went through (heading east) and it was accompanied by another small wader which I didn't manage to id, it actually looked like a stint. 

The moth trap was pretty lively last night as the night temperatures pick up. There is a blocking high pressure forecast for this coming week with improving night temperatures and a north easterly airflow so it will be interesting what effect that has on the moths and birds after a cold week. Highlights in the trap last night included 3 Clancy's Rustic, 5 L-album Wainscot, 1 Delicate and the autumn's first Sallow and Lunar Underwing. A Large Wainscot on Thursday night was a new for garden in a very small catch of moths as temperatures plunged to near the frost point. 

Got a bit more done on the garden with the herb garden set up. 

Osprey (above and below)- a nice garden tick. The dark (unbarred) secondaries and the thick dark subterminal tail band suggests this is an adult bird and the markings on the white forewing suggests an adult female. Seems to be some moult in the wing with a growing p8 which supports an older bird too. Looks like the same bird that was over the harbour earlier in the day, presumably flying from Pagham to Chichester Harbour Photo here- similar growing p8, three rows of spots on underwing coverts, two spots on tips of primary covets etc. 

Buzzard going over

Juvenile Sparrowhawk- looked like the Buzzards and Sparrowhawks were migrating over

A nice fresh juvenile Whimbrel at Norton

Clancy's Rustic- a NFG, three of these last night amongst a nice little selection of migrants. Garden moth list now on 364. 

Large Wainscot

Lunar Underwing- it has begun. The first of far too many. Apparently these tend to appear when ivy starts flowering see here from Upper Thames Moths. Also interesting to see the report on migrants in that area (my old trapping grounds) following the mass migration on the south and later east coasts earlier in the month. 

The herb garden underway- constructed from some extra sleepers we had and some old breeze blocks

Work Winds

It's north westerlies this  week which is about the safest time in the autumn (if based in the south UK) to get on with collecting tokens from the matrix. The night temperatures have dropped to 6 C so I'm not even bothering putting the moth lights out every night. 

I did a bit of birding around the garden today- a steady stream of hirundines moving over (about 150 in an hour) and there was a Reed Warbler, two or three Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Willow Warbler in the lane and garden. There's still a few Yellow Wagtails going over and 3 Mipits flew over too. So despite the north westerlies the migrants are still pushing through (there's been a few chats and other migrants across the Peninsula too). Someone has let the Red-legged Partridges out too as I've been hearing them calling over the last few days from nearby fields. 

So while there's been less than ideal winds it's been a good opportunity to catch up with work and get on with stuff around the new house and garden. This week I've ordered the 200 hedgerow trees for the garden boundary (a mix of Hawthorn, Wild Cherry, Wild Plum, Blackthorn and Rowan for the back and Privet and Dog Rose for the front) and Matt and I completed filling up the raised beds with top soil yesterday. Might plant up some autumn Spinach and Garlic as not much else to plant this time of year. Jimmy is back later to extend the useable space in the loft and fit a loft ladder and Skinners are coming later on today to erect a shed next to the garden office. Holly's finished painting the garden office and I've more or less moved all the books and mini zoo in now too.

I'm still trying to order the pond liner for the wildlife pond in Bulgaria but no joy so far- was planning on a working week there in early October but not sure what's happening now. 

It was a pretty quiet week at work in London so I got a chance to catch up with some birding writing- finished editing a couple of articles for Dutch Birding and also done a first round of commenting on the draft of an exciting new book about American vagrants in the WP.

Looking forward to some more exciting birding weather- southerlies are returning on Saturday which could get moth migration going again but can't see much on the horizon of disruptive conditions for birds but as always you never know.

Before it got too cold there were still a few moth migrants on Sunday night (a nice little selection in about 175 moths of 41 species)- unfortunately I didn't pick up any Small Mottled Willows that I was hoping might find their way here from the east coast.

This well marked Vestal was only the second one I've had here 

A nice bit of variation in Scarce Bordered Straws (above and below) 

Pink-barred Sallow was an NFG- garden list now on 360

The Garden Office finished

Got the nature book library set up inside the office and the mini zoo

Isaac helping out 

The completed raised beds

and by the end of the day the new shed had been constructed too 

Steady little weekend

The easterly airflow that caused a major fall of birds and moths on the east coast (and a smaller fall locally) switched to a light southerly here by Saturday morning. A juvenile Sabine's Gull was off the Bill HERE at around 7am for 20 mins but by the time I got there it had already drifted off. A bit of a big local dip as it's a species that only occurs once or twice a decade here. There was a bit of vis mig over the bill with 16 Tree Pipit and 18 Yellow Wagtail in the short time I was there and there were also 5 Black Terns and a dark phase Arctic Skua feeding off shore in the feeding flock off Hillfield Road.

In the afternoon I checked Ferry Pool, a couple of Spotted Redshanks there and then had another go at looking for the Sabine's Gull off Hillfield Road. Just a Wheatear there. It was more or the less the same species at Mill Lane Marsh as the previous day, the highlight being the really nice juvenile Barwit feeding with the juv Blackwits again. A Hobby flew over the marsh. 

Back home I had a quick check of the lane, once again the bulk of the hirundines on the peninsula seem to be in the fields between here and Medmerry with about 300-400 hawking over the fields. A Tree Pipit flew out of the oaks in the morning there when I was doing the moths.

The weather was similar this morning, a light southerly and cloudy skies.  I had a look round Church Norton. Migrants/highlights HERE included the Red-backed Shrike again, 9 Pintail over, 15 Wigeon flushed by an Osprey that was hunting in the harbour, a Spot Fly in the church and pretty good numbers of warblers including 15+ Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warbler, 8 Blackcap, 5 Whitethroat and 3 Goldcrests. A Meadow Pipit overhead was my first of the autumn and a Black Tern flew over ahead of a rain shower. 

All the moth migrant action seems to be occurring on the East coast at the moment with unprecedented numbers of Small Mottled Willows (200-300 at single sites) and a couple of Many-lines and Silver-spotted Veneers in the north east.  Overall pretty quiet here, a Blackneck was the latest addition to the garden list (now on 359) and there's been a few regular migrants species with up to 5 Delicates, a couple of Radfords, a few Portland Ribbon Waves and single Dark Spectacle, Four-spotted Footman and L-album Wainscot in addition to the more expected (in small numbers) Rush Veneers, Rusty-dot Pearls, Silver-Ys, the odd Diamond-back, Dark Sword Grass, Angle Shades and White-points.

The most prominent lepidoptera migrant recently are Red Admirals- hundreds are moving through Kent and round here there are small numbers more or less everywhere e.g. 15-20 this morning at Church Norton, 3-4 in the garden and about 10-15 along Selsey high street this afternoon. Also had a Painted Lady feeding with Red Ads on Buddleia in the high street.  

 

Adult male Red-backed Shrike 

Pintail over

Wheatear at the Bill (finally got the classic shot of one on the bill house roofs)

Willow Warbler- being well outnumbered by Chiffchaffs now

Black Tern off the Bill- about 7-8 in the area this weekend 

Juvenile Barwit and Juvenile Blackwit

The smartest Blair's Mocha I've had 

A nice fresh Radford's Flame Shoulder 

Getting up to 8-9 Portland Ribbon Waves on several nights recently. I noticed on the Portland blog that we seem to have more round here than they do at Portland which is interesting. 

Feathered Gothic- up to five a night recently 

Blackneck 

Red Admirals (above and below)- more or less everywhere at the moment including landing on cars and gathering around Buddleias and flowering garden plants 

.....and meanwhile inside the house in the mini-zoo our Asian Fawn Tarantula has been sitting out in the open recently for the first time in two years- we can go literally months without seeing this. 

Red-backed Shrike, Pagham Harbour

As the weather was looking promising for today I did all my work yesterday so that I could spend all day in the field today. A great little day.

I started off at Ferry Pool where 7 Barnacle Geese (or hybrids as there has been a group of Barnacle x Cackling geese around from Arundel WWT) flew over at first light and 2 juvenile Ruffs were just visible in the poor light. It then started raining heavily so I joined Andrew & Co at the Bill for a seawatch (from the van), not much moving but plenty of Sandwich Terns around and 3 Common Scoter were off shore. Then it was over to Church Norton where Andrew found a first-winter Pied Flycatcher and I had my first Goldcrest of the autumn and soon after news broke of a Red-backed Shrike that had been found nearby at the Horsefield. 

Surprisingly the shrike was a stonking adult male rather than an expected young bird and it showed really well in what had now become a constant light rain.

I then checked out Mill Lane Marsh (highlights were 2 Greenshank, 3 Shoveler, 8 juvenile Blackwits and a juvenile Barwit) and then met up with Holly for lunch.

In the afternoon I went back to Ferry at high tide where 115 Redshank, 2 Spotted Redshanks and 12 Knot were roosting and then back to Church Norton. Large numbers of Med Gulls were concentrating in the fields and on the sea- 350 was a conservative estimate. The Red-backed Shrike was still there and there were 3 Wheatears on the broken concrete and about 250 House Martins flying around the Severals and Bluebell Woods hunted by a Hobby and later a Sparrowhawk. There were also two Swifts about. 

I met up with Andrew again and on the way back we had an Osprey fly west along the beach- a nice end to a cracking little day. Ebird list HERE (morning highlights) and HERE (full pm log). 

Adult male Red-backed Shrike 

First-winter Pied Flycatcher

Juvenile Barwit

Knot on Ferry Pool- not a frequent visitor to the pool 

Juvenile Blackwit and Adult Spotted Redshank

Med Gulls 

Osprey