..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.

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. 

Heat Wave Day Four

The heatwave is now into day four but mercifully there was an easterly breeze today that took the edge off the 33 C high. 

The moth traps were indeed lively again. 123 species of 350+ individual moths with 22 new for years taking the year list to 321 and the all time moth list for the garden on 657.

Unfortunately I had to do a bit of paperwork today but did manage to get out and check for inverts through the day. The heat wave is coming to an end over the next couple of days so been trying to make the most of it.

Not much to report on the bird front, in fact a lot of birds are very quiet and keeping their heads down. The dawn chorus is very brief and very little singing during the day. A Goldcrest in the oaks this morning was the first in several weeks.

A male Yellow-legged Clearwing to VES lure was only the second record for the garden. Also had an Orange-tailed Clearwing come in. This week I've successfully lured in Lunar Hornet, Red-belted, Orange-tailed and Yellow-legged Clearwing but not had any luck with Currant or Six-belted lures- yet. 

Barred Red- only had one or two of these in the past. Certainly some interesting dispersive moths this week but it has been relatively very poor for migrants. A couple of Rush Veneers today were the first for this week and other migrants have included just a few Diamond-backs, the odd Rusty-dot and a single Small Mottled Willow. A few of the Knot-horn species may be migrants as might some of the Large Yellow Underwings and Ermine moths which have appeared in pretty good numbers.

Small Dotted Buff- another unusual garden visit

Burdock Conch

Amber Mompha, Mompha ochracella? Retained for dissection. I dropped a batch of moths off to Mike today so fingers crossed a few surprises in there. 

The garden has been buzzing with insects this week. Latest obs HERE and few picture highlights including Tawny Long-horn Beetle (above) and a few below. Now logged 279 plants and insects (not including leps or dragonflies) for the garden HERE

Spotted Thintail, Meliscaeva auricollis. Loads of hoverflies around including Sun Fly, Marmalade Hoverfly everywhere, Common Dronefly, Migrant Hoverfly, Superb Anthill Hoverfly and  Globetails.

Ichneumon sp. possibly sarcitorius

Broad Centurion Fly 

Possibly Black-clouded Longhorn Beetle. 

A graphic from the Climate Emergency Institute. Plenty of climate alarmists having a field day at the moment with more heat records being broken. According to this source there is also a cold anomaly in the North Atlantic which is contibuting to the development of what various sources are calling a 'heat dome' over Western and Central Europe and the UK. A southerly displaced jet stream is also being suggested by other sources as contributing to blocking the Atlantic airflow. Certainly an interesting weather system and very intense and very much a bit of climate chaos with jet streams, heat domes and cold blobs all at play. There has been some moth migration in the south west and east coast- presumably as a result of the easterly winds so hopefully as the heat dome gives way to a south westerly airflow this weekend we might get some more migrants here. Also been good to test some of our self resilience this week during these condiitons- we managed to keep all the plants and animals alive and well and actually used the heat and plenty of irrigation to promote plenty of plant growth and to provide lots of nectar, cool areas and water for insects and birds. I very much doubt there will ever be a meaningful political solution to the climate crisis (despite lots of attempts from various groups to co-opt the narrative in order to capitalise from it) so learning to adapt to it and play it's advantages (like good numbers of insects!) seems a good appraoch.