Brents arriving at Pagham Harbour

It certainly felt wintery today. I did Church Norton to the first Several and then the Spit in what was quite a chilly east wind. 69 species in about 4 hours HERE. Highlight was mainly the sudden uptick in the arrival of the wintering Brents and other waterfowl and waders (which started yesterday). I estimated about 2450 birds this morning including 300 Brents, 200 Wigeon, 200 Lapwing and 200 Dunlin.

There was still a bit of autumn vis-mig going on with 630 Goldfinch moving into the wind and a few other bits including 2 Redwing and a Fieldfare. There were still half a dozen Chiffs around Church Norton and a Firecrest. 2 Dartford Warblers were along the beach scrub. 

Once again there were 6 Hawfinches over the garden yesterday (this time later at about 10am)  and also a flock of 150 Fieldfare flew west. The Firecrest is still around too. 

The moth trap was surprisingly quite busy last night despite the cooler conditions. Highlight was an Oak Nycteoline (a NFG, garden list now on 399) , a couple of Flame Brocades, a Pearly Underwing (don't get many here), a Gem and the first Merveille du Jour in a few days.

Brents arriving (above and below) 

Dartford Warbler 

Oak Nycteoline- NFG

Still not bored with getting these regularly - Flame Brocades. 

Oak Rustic on Saturday night- the second one here 

Getting 5-6 Large Wainscot every night in recent weeks. This species was always a treat at my previous trapping sites but clearly quite common here

November moth agg. Up to 6-10 a night recently in all different sizes and colours. This pale one was a nice specimen. 

Half Term Week

Didn't get many chances this week to do much birding as it was half term. On Monday and Tuesday we took the boys to visit Aunties and Uncles and I was in London working on Wednesday. I managed to get the moth trap on on Thursday night (after trick and treat) and last night and also got a vis-mig session in the garden on Friday morning. 

Highlights were more Hawfinches over the garden, six yesterday, a Redpoll over this morning, Fieldfare yesterday and some fairly decent vis-mig yesterday too HERE. I can only presume there is a small group of Hawfinches hanging around locally which pass over here in the morning as sometimes they are going west and sometimes east. The Firecrest, Goldcrest and odd Chiffchaff remain in the garden too. The garden bird list is now on 92 HERE. 

The moth trap was pretty uneventful with no new species but still a nice little selection of migrants including 17 Rusty-dot Pearls yesterday (the same night Portland had 200+) and species like Feathered Ranunculus, Clancy's Rustic, Radford's Flame Shoulder, Gem, Silver-Y, Delicates, Rsuh Veneer, Dark Sword Grass, Turnips Scarce Bordered Straw and Crocidosema plebjana. In fact the majority of moths are migrants with just a few other species mainly Black Rustic, November moth agg, Red-line and Yellow-line Quaker, Green-brindled Crescent, Large Wainscot (upto 5-6 a night), Large Yellow Underwing, Blair's and Grey-shoudler Knot, Sallow, Beaded Chestnut, Lunar Underwing, Cypress Carpet, Feathered Thorn, a single Common Marbled Carpet and micros represented by Acleris sparsana, Light Brown Apple Moth, Blastobaasis rebelli and Blastobasis adustella. The garden moth list is now on 398 (June to present). My copies of Butterflies and moths of Sussex by Colin Pratt arrived this week and the 2023 Sussex Bird Report also arrived so I've got some interesting reading to get up to speed on with what's going on round here. 

Things are progressing on the wildlife homestead project. Yesterday Matt and I  prepared the perimeter for planting a mixed Mullberry, Buckthorn and Pear hedge (resistant to Honey Fungus which has appeared en masse in the garden) and today we picked up Holly's caravan which she is going to upcycle into some additional accommadation for Little Oak Lodge. 

Woodpigeons were still moving on Friday morning with nearly 2000 going over. 

Presumed Ashy Button, Acleris sparsana variant- quite a few of these at the moment 

Crocidosema plebjana (above and below)- a few of these lately showing a bit of variation

Found this Common Frog while doing the hedge preperation- now in the Paludarium 

4 Hawfinches going over 

More Hawfinches and Black Redstarts

Weekends are family time so I'm restricted to vis-mig in the morning before the kids get up and popping out during screen time. However it's proven to not be such a bad strategy with highlights this weekend including 8 Hawfinches going over west this morning, Brambling, Siskins, Brent Geese, Golden Plovers, Snipe and some more epic Woodpigeon migration with Firecrest, Goldcrest and Chiffchaff actually in the garden.  Ebird lists from Saturday and Sunday mornings HERE and HERE. Now on 89 bird species for the garden HERE

There was a fall of Black Reds yesterday with 5 at the bill and 3 at Coastguards so I went out on a local twitch in the afternoon and managed to connect with the 3 at the Coastguards. While driving back from Chichester yesterday 2 Egyptian Geese flew over the road at Houton- another Peninsula tick, now on a good starter block 170. 

The moth trap was pretty interesting yesterday morning but the cooler night temperatures last night were less productive. New for gardens this weekend in pics below. 

Adult male and female type Black Redstart near the Selsey Coastguards

Firecrest in the garden- its been around a week or so. Finally saw it. Also one or two Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs too.

Brents over the garden

Dotted Chestnut- new for garden. Garden moth list is now on 398. 

Satellite- new for garden 

Acleris hastiana (above) and Acerlis sparsana (below) - both NFGs.

Pine Carpet (I think) If so another NFG.  011124 update- confirmed by CMR.

Feathered Ranunculus- was pretty good for migrants/suspected migrants yesterday night with 3 Flame Brocades,  6 Dark Sword Grass, 10 Radford's Flame Shoulder, 2 Clancy's Rustic, 1 Blair's Mocha, 3 Turnips, 4 Angle Shades, 5 Scarce Bordered Straw, 6 Delicate, 9 Rusty-dot Pearls, 3 Rush Veneer, single Silver-Y and Diamond-back moth  and additional single Four-spotted Footman and Dark Spectacle last night

Presumably just a dark rather large Diamond-back Moth rather than one of it's rare congeners.  011124 update- confirmed by CMR. 

Two different gelechids- maybe Tomato Leaf Miner, Tuta absoluta (above) and Winter Grounding/Bittersweet moth, Scrobipalpa costella (below). 011124 update - Tuta absoluta is a gen dent job and yes to the Winter Groundling (Thanks Stephen Palmer). 

Flock of six Hawfinch going over . Recordings of other two Hawfinches going west today HERE

A brief snippet of Firecrest sub-song dueting with a Wren

Hawfinch nailed

The plan worked this morning, I put the sound recorder on at dawn and within a few minutes a Hawfinch was flying around calling. Presumably it's a bird hanging around the area now considering I've had it two days in a row at the same time and a flock of 6 the day before at similar time too. 

I then went to Church Norton and did the church, up to the first severals and then the spit. The highlight was two migrating Bearded Tits which I also managed to get a sound recording of with the passive sound recorder which I have on constantly this time of year when out birding.  75 species of about 1500 individuals in about 4 hours. Ebird list HERE. Other highlights included 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 2 Firecrest (at least), 10 Goldcrest and a Tree Pipit. Interestingly I only had a few hundred Woodpigeons but at the Bill (just a kilometer or so away) Andrew and Co they had 15,000! Obviously going over the Peninsula on a more westerly narrow line today. 

The moth trap was interesting last night- 36 species on a cloudy and mild night (didn't drop below 15 C). Highlights included Dusky-lemon Sallow, 3 Gem, 2 Flame Brocade  and also a couple of nice micros which may be gen dents. I've noticed recently that I don't even mention the more or less nightly Scarce Bordered Straws, Olive-tree Pearls, Delicates, Rush Veneers, Rusty-dot Pearls, Clancy's Rustics, Dark Sword Grass and Radford Flame Shoulders. Great to have them as the back drop now instead of the top hopes as seems like a good basis for getting more vagrants.  

Things are looking wintery out in Pagham Harbour- lots of Pintail, Wigeon, Teal and 16 Brents. Also 15 Avocets. 

Red-breasted Mergs 

Dusky-lemon Sallow 

Todays mystery moth for me.  Cosmopolitan ? The lines don't seem right maybe a worn L-album Wainscot or something similar? 011124 update- confirmed as Cosmopolitan by CMR team. 

Flame Brocade and Radford's Flame Shoulder 

Closest I can get to this is Rufous Stilt, Caloptilia rufipennella. 011124 update- confirmed by CMR.

Closest I can get to this is Garden Midget, Phyllonorycter messaniella.  011124 update- confirmed by CMR

Bearded Tit migrating over - distant chip calls, I didn't hear any pinging but saw good views of them too

Hawfinch flying around the garden. Tomorrow's mission is to get a photo!  

Pigs on the Wing over Little Oak Lodge

There's been some interesting visible migration over the garden during the last two mornings. Ebird lists from yesterday HERE and today HERE. Highlights have been Hawfinches! A peninsula mega with a calling flock of 6 going East yesterday and a single calling bird heading in the same direction this morning. Seems like there is a regional influx of them in the UK. Unfortunately typically they were bombing over so fast I couldn't get photos. After two days in a row I'm hoping for another tomorrow so will make sure the sound recorder is on from dawn.  

Also the number of Woodpigeons going over has been spectacular and part of a regional movement with over 100K recorded over Portland yesterday. This morning 4825 going over in about an hour! Unfortunately I had to leave to go to the Dentist but when I returned three hours later they were still moving in smaller numbers.

Also a few Redwings, more Song Thrushes, Mipits, Pied/White Wagtails, Chaffinches and Goldfinches moving. There's at least one Chiffchaff in the hedges, one or two Goldcrests and a Firecrest was calling yesterday morning.  

Woodpigeons (and Stock Doves) on the move (above and below) 

The flocks were peppered with Stock Doves. Not sure on the numbers but  maybe one if every two hundred birds or so. There's at least two in the image above. 

Not too much in the moth trap last night but the first November moth agg (above) and Chestnut (below) for the garden list. Garden list now on 386.  Another two Flame Brocades and a Blair's Mocha last night too in addition to the usual migrants/suspected migrants. 

Mystery moth of the day for me. Maybe a Feathered Ranunculus or another faded Brindled Green which keep catching me out. 251024 update. Yep Colin agrees this is Feathered Ranunculus. 

Seemingly this is what ideal late autumn vis-mig weather looks like for this part of the world, with a light southeast wind (early morning) and clear blue skies on the western flank of a high pressure centred over Europe with south westerlies across the North Sea and westerlies over Scandanavia. 

A second for West Sussex - Echium Leaf-miner, Dialectica scalariella

 

I got confirmation yesterday that I correctly identified Dialectica scalariella from earlier on in the week. 

Colin Pratt, confirmed the identification on irecord and I also got confirmation from Portland Bird Obs. The species colonised Portland last year. Previously the species had colonised Dungeness and there have been several records in Hants and East Sussex  and also east Devon. Thanks Martin Cade! 

The most exciting news was that this was the first for West Sussex according to Colin but when reported on social media another record from last month by Derek Lee emerged so this is the second county record. I'm very pleased with that and Paul is popping over later for my first moth twitch. Also pleased that I recognised it from moth trapping in Bulgaria (helps to get continental migrants on the radar).

A nice little moth! Nice to get my first decent moth find at the new pad/patch. Still need to find a decent bird! 

Storm Ashley

Storm Ashley came through yesterday and seemed to have shaken things up a little bit round here with an increase in moth migrants and a few interesting bird migrants at Church Norton.

The sea was extremely rough yesterday but despite a few Shearwaters in the morning seen by Bart and Co, Andrew and I didn't have much in a couple of hours in the afternoon off Selsey Bill with just a Red-breasted Merganser, a Sandwich Tern and a few Gannets of note. 

This morning it was completely calm. I covered Church Norton to the First Several and the Spit. Ebird list HERE . Highlights included a Turtle Dove sp that flew over the Horse Field, 2 Dartford Warblers, 1 Firecrest and 1 Tree Pipit. 

The moth trap has been very exciting with my first Flame Brocades and a good selection of migrants and a couple of mystery moths that I'm waiting for the id confirmation on. 

Turtle Dove sp. I almost got a sharp photo but this Mallard photo bombed the pic. Presumably a European Turtle Dove (only the second on the peninsula this year) but this time of year would be good to rule out an Oriental. It didn't look particularly large and there have been several other European Turtle Doves over the last month in the UK here and I wouldn't have thought anything odd about it apart from the late date. 

Dartford Warbler- not sure on the age or sex of this. Shirihai and Svensson state that best way to age is on the covert contrast but can't see that in the images I got. First-winter females are the most dull plumage but  adult males are duller in fresh autumn plumage compared to the brighter spring/summer plumage. The white specking on the underparts of this bird is interesting.  

Med and Black-headed Gulls in the surf

Female Red-breasted Merganser

The wintering Whimbrel 

Flame Brocade- only ever seen these at Portland so quite made up to now have them in the garden. Two yesterday. 

Oak Rustic 

Male Gem- two of these

Nettle-tap- two in the trap which was a NFG so maybe migrants or storm dislodged insects. Garden list now on 385 (pending review). 

Mystery moth 1- presumably something obvious but I'm just drawing a blank. Maybe just a grey looking Nutmeg or not very green Brindled Green. Update 231024 Seems to be an agreement that this is indeed a Brindled Green. 

Mystery moth 2. The only thing that rings a bell is Echium Slender, Dialectica scalariella , which I've had in Bulgaria but presumably not that species as not even in the micro moth book. An exciting update to this HERE

Mystery moth 3. Maybe a dark Winter Groundling. I did think of Tuta absulota which is another late autumn gelechid but looks like Winter Groundling. Update- yes confirmed as Winter Groundling (Thanks Stephen Palmer). 

Mystery moth 4. I don't know. Update confirmed as a gelechid but not identifiable to genus or species as too worn. (Thanks Stephen) 

Dartford Warbler and Tree Pipit at Church Norton (and Curlew and Grey Plover in background). Actually still need to double check the pipit to make sure not an OBP as some calls were a bit odd- a bit short and sharp.