Pottering about

Have spent the last couple of days getting all the week's admin done and pottering around the garden pruning the tomatoes and peppers, weeding, watering and mowing in a path for Holly's airbnb becuase Matt's van has broken down and he hasn't been for several weeks so the garden is overwild at the moment.

Temperatures are holding up to the mid 20s during the day so there's a few butterflies and insects about and there's also been up to three Hummingbird Hawkmoths on the Lavenders and Brambles.  

The moth trap has been steady but down to about 80 species of 150-200 individuals. Up to 8 Small Mottled Willows last night but migration hasn't been anything to shout about. Now on 375 for the year.

A few more pan-species additions HERE. 

Not much exciting happening. Looking forward to a family trip to Scotland in a few weeks time and hoping to get another summer holiday trip in too. 

A poor man's Lesser Spot- juv Great Spot

Adult female and juv Blackbird. This family, a Robin and the garden sparrows are getting braver with the moth raids while I'm processing the trap in the morning. I try and get out to the traps before 5am so the birds don't eat them and then try and transfer them into a holding container ready for release in the evening.  However I'm having increasing incoming from this lot diving into the boxes at my feet as I'm trying to process and if a Hawkmoth makes a go for freedom the sparrows and blackbirds chase them in flight. It's turning into a morning battleground ritual.  

Obsidentify says this is 100% Small Skipper but the left antennae tip looks very dark. Small or Essex, nice to see in the garden. A couple around. 

Quite a few Gatekeepers around too. Also Meadow Browns, Small Whites, Peacock, Painted Lady, Comma and Red Admiral around. Seems like our habitats are working okay especially with the 3 Hummingbird Hawkmoths darting around too

Female Ghost moth- don't get many of these 

Canary-grass Miner, Elachista maculicerusella. A lifer I think. 

Another smart Roseate Marble

Emergency path for this weekend's visitors. The back garden is almost inaccessible. Matt should be coming next week to get things back under control. 

Mega Nursery

I attempted to do a harbour count today so started off on the rising tide at East Side, then Breach Pool, then I did Mill lane and Ferry and then over to Church Norton for the falling tide. I made it 69 species of nearly 4000 birds HERE. I didn't do Pagham Lagoon, the Spit, Halseys or the beach so quite a few more birds around than this estimate. However this is a significant increase in the last estimates of individual numbers because I met Gail from the RSPB who confirmed the latest official number of breeding gulls and terns in the colony which is about 65% higher than I estimated from the limited viewing from the benches. There are an incredible 700 pairs of Sandwich Tern, 800 pairs of Black-headed Gulls and 106 pairs of Mediterranean Gulls (seem a lot less than earlier in the summer) with lots of fledged Sandwich Terns and Black-headed Gulls but I couldn't see any juvenile Med Gulls yet.

What with the Little Grebe chicks and Gadwall young on Mill Lane and all the young birds on Ferrry including over 30 young Avocets, 3 Little Ringed Plover chicks, 2 Oytercatcher chicks and 5 Shelduck chicks there are literally young birds everywhere- its been an incredibly successful breeding season. 

The moth trap was much quieter, as expected, in the more normal weather conditions but still had a few new for years. 

Little Ring chick

Adult Little Ring with chick Avocets that are already much bigger than it

Black-headed Gull - fresh fledgling

Sandwich Terns- plenty of juveniles flying around 

Juvenile Pied Wagtail- a family party on Ferry

Adult Little Tern- the first juveniles have fledged (via Gail) 

Black-tailed Godwits. There were pretty good numbers of non-breeding (some post breeding?) waders in the high tide roosts with 55 Grey Plover, 5 Lapwing, 3 Whimbrel, 35 Curlew, 9 Barwits, at least 40 Blackwits, 35 Redshank, 3 Knot, 9 Turnstone, 3 Dunlin, 1 Ringed Plover and also had my first Common Sandpiper for the autumn

Common Seals- apparantely Selsey means Seal Bay from the old english Sel Sey. Good to know they have persisted into modernity- there are always a few in the harbour. 

Hummingbird Hawkmoth on the garden lavender

Plum Fruit Moth, Grapholita funebrana- attracted to the MOL lure- NFY

Grey Oak Knot-horn, Acrobasis consociella- a NFY. Now on 373 for the garden year. 

..and breathe

A return to normal conditions today with an Atlantic airflow and cooler conditions. The night temperatures held up well last night but tonight are forecasted to drop to around 16 C. 

There were still a lot but less moths in the trap this morning with 102 species of approx 250-300 moths. There seemed to be a few more migrants with the first Small Marbled for the year, 7 Small Mottled Willows, Silver-Y and a few Rusty-dots and Diamond-backs. There's also been a Hummingbird Hawkmoth feeding on the Lavenders with all the Honey Bees. A few moth year ticks so now on 366 for the year (update following some more dissection results now on 370 for the year with Tawny Marbled Minor, Common Thistle Miner, Scrobipalpa acuminatella, Thistle Case-bearer, Coleophora peribenanderi and Bryotropha terrella and domestica confirmed). 

Looks like our Blackbirds are on their second brood with several young birds around, the House Sparrows nesting in the apartment blocks appear to have fledged and there's a Grey Wagtail flying around regularly. Had a couple of Sand Martins flying around with the Barn Swallows and Swifts and there's still Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroat about but not a lot of singing going on.

Small Marbled

Male Giant Water Veneer

I put the Red-belted Clearwing lure out again in the hope of getting a Red-tipped but just had a few more Red-belteds.

Sallow Kitten

White-barred Knot-horn- quite a few of these recently, possibly migrants

Plain Wave? CMR says just a Riband Wave. Presumably worn. 

Bordered Marble, Endothenia marginana candidate- retained for microscope

Small Emerald

A few other micros from this week, some retained for Mike's microscope. Small Brindled Tortrix, Gypsonoma minuta (above) and a Larch Bud Moth candidate? (below)

Yellow-oak Case-bearer candidate

Golden-W

Dichrorampha sp. 

Good to see the House Sparrows nesting in these boxes this year

Heatwave day six

Things are set to become a bit cooler tomorrow but the forecast has now changed to where the heat wave conditions will resume later this week - if this keeps up it will be challenging to keep everything alive here.

Anyway the great insect conditions continue and also looks like things have picked up a bit on the migrant front. Temperatures up to 25 C but back down to the low 20 mark tomorrow. There were 111 species of about 300+ moths this morning which is reduction from about 150 species from earlier on in the week. Seems like prolonged heat conditions begin to have diminishing returns? 

It's been a great week- after being a long way behind last year's moth tally for the same time, we've now more or less caught up thanks to the weather. 

Spent the day around the Lodge in between two performances of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat that Jacob was in at St Peter's. A great show. 

Marbled Grass Moth, Catoptria verellus- according to the Sussex Moth Group website only 10 previous county records. A new for garden, now on 670. Other potential migrant species included Four-spotted Footman, a few Rusty-dots, Diamond-backs, Rush Veneer and Silver Y and two Small Mottled Willow

Small Rivulet-a NFY, now on 358 for the year, so 16 new ones last night

Chamomile Straw

Oak Nycteoline- not a common moth round here and everyone is uniquely patterned

Plenty of Festoons recently- always a pleasure to see

Jacob helped out this morning processing the traps including the 5 Privet Hawkmoths

The juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker is still around

Did a bit more invert and plant recording today. Red-spotted Plant Bug (above) were feeding on the Ox-eye Daises. Now logged 308 species on the I-Nat garden project HERE

The back garden meadow is coming along well with Ox-eye daisy, Wild Carrot and Black Knapweed all beginning to become established. There were about 5-6 Meadow Browns this morning, Essex Skipper, Comma, a few Small Whites and a couple of Gatekeepers along the edges with Red Admiral about. An Emperor dragonfly was flying around and a Common Darter emerged from the pond. 

Heatwave Day Five

Not as oppressive today with a high of around 26 C and a switch to a more refreshing westerly wind. 

3 Avocets flew over the garden this morning followed by another two more distant birds, presumably birds from Ferry beginning to disperse as the young fledge/ the pool dries out. 36 species overall this morning while doing the moths HERE.

It was another bumper moth night with 10 potential garden ticks and over 20 year ticks. Now on 342 for the year and 667 overall subject to validation. 128 species this morning of around 450-500 moths. Also lots of beetles and by-catch. 

After the school run I had a visit to North Wall and East Side and on the way back checked out Mill Lane and Ferry. 68 bird species of over 500 individuals HERE. There were a couple of Spotted Redshanks and a Wood Sandpiper on Breach Pool yesterday but no sign this morning. Clearly a few bits are on the move. 

Black-tailed Godwits on Breach Pool. About 70+ birds around North Wall. Also about 50 Grey Plovers in the high tide roost. 

Teal- the first returning birds in the last week or so

Male Blackbird enjoying the sun

Essex Skipper- a few of these around today. Also on my route today 30+ Meadow Brown, 15+ Marbled White (below), Speckled Wood, Red Admiral, Peacock, a few Painted Lady, Gatekeeper and Large, Small and Green-viened White

Pied Grey

Minor Shoulder-knot

Acrocercops brogniardella

Shaded Pug

Striped Hawkmoth- a bit of a tattered one- the first this year

Lesser Stag Beetle (above) and this interesting looking fly, possibly Flecked Snout HERE, were part of the by-catch in the moth trap today. A few more potential species, awaiting validation, takes the I-nat project to 290 species HERE

A few shots of Little Oak Lodge in the heatwave (above and below) showing the growth rates this week of the meadows and mini-farm. Looks like only one more day left now before a return to more typical June temperatures and conditions so making the most of every minute while the insect bonanza lasts.