Light Crimson Underwing

The cherry on the cake of this latest heatwave appeared today in the form of a Light Crimson Underwing- a long awaited and exciting lifer. A red data species. 

Very happy indeed.

Moth Mig

The heatwave continues and there has been a noticeable increase in the number of migrant moths. Isaac woke me up again so I was out in the garden at 430am again, early enough to police the garden birds raiding the moth traps. 

The traps were heaving again but today I focused on just checking them carefully for anything unusual rather than attempt to log all the species and count the individuals (I have some good baseline data for this heatwave from the last few days). 

As it was Saturday the rest of the day was spent doing family stuff round the garden and then a visit to Bognor for arcades and lunch and in the afternoon I had to catch up on some sleep for an hour or two. 

Ni-moth. I had the lure out but it avoided that and all the traps and I actually found it during the day on the garden office door. Similarly, I found a Blair's Mocha in the house office when I opened the window for some air. Both NFYs. Other migrants today included Small Marbled (below), a record 63 Small Mottled Willows, 6 Silver-Ys, 5 Dark Sword Grass, 3 Rusty-dots, 8 Rush Veneer, Vestal, Diamond-back. Acrobasis tumidana and Dewick's Plusia. There's also still 3 Hummingbird Hawkmoths around the lavenders and still good numbers of Yponomeuta (presumed Willow Ermine) which may also be migrants. 

Small Marbled

Horse Chestnut was a lifer. 

Dewick's Plusia

Double Kidney- a garden tick I think. Now on 681 moths and together with the 21 species of butterflies we have now passed the 700 mark for moths and butterflies. After quite a few NFYs today now on 432 for the year

Small Rufous

Pea moth, Cydia nigricana

Heatwave scenes at Little Oak Lodge

I've been constantly irrigating all the garden to try and maintain an 'oasis' here which seems to be doing the trick. The main surprise is the seemingly good population of Short-tailed Field Voles in the meadow in the back garden which I keep seeing dash across the mown paths. 

One thousand moths in one night

I was up at 430am and woke to scenes of carnage on the garden office porch. There had clearly been an arrival of a swarm of Yponomeuta sp. I counted at least 450 on the garden office not including any in the traps. I had three traps out again, there were approx 150 moths in the twin-actinic, 200 in the MV and another 100 or so in the Lepiled with another 50 to 100 or so individuals scattered around- that's about 1000 moths. I logged 142 species, so not the highest in one night but certainly the highest number of individuals. To add to the surreality of the scene, Bart appeared at about 445am with the veg box, I was surprised to see any living soul up and about, so he had a look at the insect swarm covering the garden office too, wished me good luck counting that lot and was on his way. 

Spent the rest of the day sadly doing admin and also getting the finishing touches done to the next two Dutch Birding papers we are currently working on- one about the Paddyfield Pipit we found in Oman and the other paper a 20 year review of Corvo. Seems a bit of a waste of the weather being indoors but when I have popped out to have a quick look round the garden it seems too hot for most things and not much buzzing around and hardly any birds. Also sent the new copy of Thee Bryans book in for review on apple publishing. So at least been productive.  

A couple of smart Mochas were firsts for the year. Now on 426 for the garden year. 

Sulphur Pearl- only had one or two of these before here

Most of the Yponomeuta had grey in the tornal region and dorsal area suggesting they were Willow Ermines (above) or were more plain suggesting a second species (below) but I logged them all as Yponomeuta sp. Update. Just noticed on the Portland blog that they had 550 Willow Ermine a couple of nights ago which ties in with round here. Also here I had about 35 Small Mottled Willow, 5 Silver-Y, a Rusty-dot, Four-spotted Footman and a few Rush Veneers. 

Saltern Ear- another NFY.

Pale Seedhead Moth, Ptocheuusa paupella- a little garden tick/lifer

This is possibly Rosy Straw, Cochylis roseana- have retained for critical examination

Honeysuckle Grey, Athrips Mouffetella- NFY

Yponomeuta swarm scenes 

The Third Wave

The temperature is up to around 28 C today and set to rise to around 30 C over the next few days marking the third heat wave this year (I missed the first one that caused the epic insect migration including record numbers of Eastern Bordered Straws). This one is more of a slow build rather than a sudden wave as it's been high pressure and warm for a couple of weeks. 

Have spent the last couple of days round the lodge doing paperwork and garden work. Highlight was a Little Ringed Plover flying around calling yesterday morning- a garden tick. This evening it was flying around again, with a Common Tern going over calling and a flock of 25+ Sand Martin going over in the late evening too. A few Med Gulls were circling, catching flying ants which had a big flight this evening.

Unfortunately no sign of any significant moth migration round here during this heat wave. There have been over 50 Small Mottled Willows recently but these are probably a generation of adults from earlier migrants as not associated with other migrants.  128 species last night of a few hundred individuals so a nice selection. 

Matt is in today doing the meadows, its been several weeks since his last visit due to various reasons and things got a bit too wild so good to get things under control again.

Have literally been in the garden all day from about 4.15 am, got loads done including planting up the new lavenders in the border of the car park, all the mowing down, strimming, watering, some weeding, a bit of work on the garlic (almost ready to dig up and start curing ) and regular recording. A few photo highlights below.  

Sallow Clearwing was a lifer. Attracted to lure recently aquired from ALS. Also got Dusky Clearwing lure but no luck yet. Now on 676 for the garden. I think Sallow Clearwing is a new species for the Selsey Peninsula as no records shown HERE. 

Red-tipped Clearwing has been attracted to the Dusky lure. Not sure how many as kept letting them go after 10 mins or so considering the heat today. Maybe just kept re-catching the same one

Drinker was one of the other moth highlights- a NFY. Now 413 for the year. 

Dog's Tooth- a bit of local speciality.

Lots of Common Rustic agg at the moment which seemingly each one being uniquely patterned. This was one of the more extreme variants.

Despite it being early July, been getting a few autumn moths including Six-striped Rustic (above), Square-spot Rustics and Canary-shouldered Thorn.

Variable Tortrix, Acleris hastiana (according to obsidentify)

Green-viened White. Lots of butterflies enjoying our meadows, hedges and butterfly borders at the moment with Green-viened, Small and Large Whites, Red Admiral, Peacocks, Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers, Brown Argus, Common Blues, Small Coppers, Small/Essex Skipper, Commas and the odd Painted Lady. Also had Speckled Wood in the front garden and a Marbled White flew through. 

Common Blue

Small Copper- at least three of these in the meadow

Essex Skipper- a few of these in the meadow 

There are hundreds of insects on the Wild carrot and Lovage. This Javelin wasp was striking. Mostly Red Soldier and Thick-thighed Beetles but lots of solitary bees, sawflies and true flies too. 339 pan speices recorded now HERE. 

Seek reckons this is a Lesser Marsh Grasshopper. The id apps have also identified Meadow Grasshopper and there are also Roesel Bush Crickets around

Finally got the front and side garden lawn mowed. I think the trick with these wildlife gardens is to have a mix of gently manicured areas and wild areas with mown paths and a few defining lines. Need more colour which will work on next year. 

The tomato teepee is doing okay but taking a lot of watering to keep it going

The back garden meadow is buzzing with insects and also a few Short-tailed Field Voles calling (actually saw one today run across the path to get the identification)

Had four moth traps out last night, from left to right, the actinic Heath trap, the Lepiled, the MV Robinson and the twin-actinic Robinson. I had them spaced out around the garden but brought here for processing. 

In the two years we've been here it's been great seeing all the hedges, meadows, borders and garden wildlife population growing. Meanwhile these two wildlings are also growing well- Isaac trying out his new school uniform with a taster session of 'big school' with his brother.

Roseates reappear

Monday's are supposed to be all day in the field days but TBH I couldn't muster up much will considering it's pretty much the summer doldrums out there. So after the moths I did a bit in the garden and after the school run popped out and checked Ferry, the Tramway and Mill Lane. 8 Little Ringed Plovers on Ferry were the highlight (4 adults, a juvenile and the three chicks), with the 5 Shelduck chicks, the Oystercatcher chick and still a few Avocet chicks too. Three Teal on Mill Lane was the best thing there. On the way back I went through Yeoman's field which was full of butterflies.

After lunch I waited for the high tide and then went to Church Norton and checked out the colony and the mudflats down to the middle reedbed. Roseate Terns were constantly on view amongst the Sandwich Terns on the mud with at least two together and probably a third bird seen a distant from the first two that went out to sea. There were thousands of terns and hundreds of young terns and gull with my first juvenile Med Gull for the autumn too. The wader numbers were up again, with nearly 40 Dunlin now but the heat haze was pretty bad. 

70 species in total of over 3000 individuals HERE. 

Adult Roseate Terns (above and below)

The Oystercatcher chick on Ferry is growing well although sadly seems to have lost it's sibling

Seems like it's mainly Med Gulls on Tern island now. I've only one juvenile Med so presumably the young fledge later than the Sandwich Terns and Black-headed Gulls

Gatekeepers were everywhere today, well over 100 on my route. Also lots of Small/Essex Skipper, Meadow Browns, a few Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Peacock, three Small Copper, Holly Blue, Speckled Wood, Small Whites, Green-viened White, the odd Large White and a single Brown Argus.

Female Migrant Hawker. A few of these around, also Blue Emperor, Broad-bodied Chaser and Common Blue Damselfly.

Buff Arches was the best in the moth trap. A NFY. Now on 396 for the year.

Black-banded Masoner, Blastobasis rebeli- the first this year

Coastal Buff, Agonopterix yeatiana

Obsidentify reckons this is Slender Rufous Tortrix, Lathronympha strigana? Doesn't look red enough for me. I've kept it for critical examination.