Back at the Old Vic

Been back a few days at the Old Vic and also did the London run yesterday. A Treecreeper was in the garden for a couple of days and there are more Goldcrests around and Skylarks and Mips flying over. The Common Buzzard is still on patrol from the Spruce. There's been a shift in the moth trap to a more autumnal situation. 

Had a quick walk up on Oakley Air field today as just found out there are new paths open again. Just an hour or so walk with the family and there was a Marsh Harrier quartering, a flock of Golden Plover, 5 Stonechat and good numbers of Mips and Skylarks. Will try and keep an eye on the airfield again this autumn- I've had Dotterel, Firecrest and plenty of common migrants up there in the past. Will be a bit tough to get back into UK birding after the last two weeks on the Via Pontica but hopefully we get some more vagrant influxes (we missed arguably the UK's best week of birding ever while in Bulgaria) and not many places can beat the UK for that. 

Nothing says October quite like this little quartet of moths (amongst the Lunar Underwings and Beaded Chestnuts); Merveille du Jour (above), Large Ranunculus, Barred Sallow and Green Brindled Crescent (below in descending order) 

There has been some mega moth migrant activity recently on the south coasts (check out this haul from Steve Nash on October 1st HERE) - the best here was this Vestal, a Rush Veneer and a few Silver-Y 

One of the wild gardens we manage at work