Slow going in clear conditions

Met up with Marc this morning to have a look round Church Norton and the Severals. The high pressure condiitons continue with a south easterly swinging round to a westerly. 81 species HERE with highlights including a Merlin, Hobby, 3 Marsh Harrier, 2 Firecrest, 6 Goldcrest, Whinchat, 3 Stonechat, Spotted Flycather and some good vis-mig including 30 Skylark, 44 Meadow Pipit, a few Yellow and 'alba' Wagtails and counts of 1525 Barn Swallow and 670 House Martin. There were also quite a few warblers around including 17 Chiffchaff and 18 Blackcap. 

A nice selection of birds but still no scarce or rare migrant this autumn.  Apart from the Grey Phalarope recently there actually hasn't been a decent bird to twitch on the Peninsula since the April Woodchat Shrike. Hopefully a pay out is due soon and in the meantime just need to keep knocking.  

Bird of the day (or rather night) was a Tawny Owl calling outside the house at around 2am. My first for the year. Now on 183 locally. 

The moth trap was pretty quiet despite it not dropping to below 14 C. My MV is in for repair at the moment so I'm limping on with the twin actinic which is presumably part of the reason for the low rewards on that front too. Black Rustic was a new for year. 

Firecrest (above and below). A really autumn feel today with crests calling in the bushes, skylarks going overhead, chiffchaffs calling and the odd Song Thrush call. Mid-autumn is here. 

Spotted Fly on West Side

Difficult to capture the amazing spectacle of the hirundine passage and gathering this morning. These House Martins were swarming over the severals for a few minutes.

Long-legged Tabby- the first one in several weeks 

Clancy's Rustic- a few more of these recently. Overall moth migration is very low round here but as mentioned above down to one twic actinic trap at the moment.