The garden birdwatch was the best in a long time HERE with 3 Common Terns, a Little Ringed Plover and a Sandwich Tern going over with Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroat in the bushes. I've had Curlew and Whimbrel going over for the last two evenings so its got a real autumn feel especially with the Chiffchaffs beginning to 'tu-eet' now. There were also 2 Yellowhammers in the field opposite. 39 species in total of over 120 individuals.
I had the four moth traps out again, mainly trying to slip stream an Eastern Bordered Straw as it seems the influx in the Spring (that I missed) has now produced a new generation. Mike had another one in East Wittering a couple of nights ago and they are being seen across the region. Unfortunately I didn't catch one although I did have something fly off the egg trays that looked good but dissappeared without confirming the identification. There were quite a few migrants including 2 Silver-spotted Veneers, a Ni-moth and a Bordered Straw.
Also had some new dissection results from Mike. A few more Coleophora species were confirmed including follicularis, glaucicolella, peribenanderi, caespititiella and spinella. A surprise was Obscure Snout, Anarsia spartiella and also got confirmation of Dichrorampha acuminatana and alpinana plus confirmed Regal Piercer, Pammene regiana. Quite a haul overall with 5 site ticks (now on 695) and 11 year ticks (now on 473). Thanks again Mike for excellent work.
I'll be dropping the next batch off tomorrow from the heatwaves- there must be 100 or so specimens and likely to be some interesting species in there. Looking forward to the results!
Silver-spotted Veneers (above and below). A nice unworn one above but both were in better condition than the first one here last week
Not the Bordered Straw we are looking for
Everywhere is dry, barren and straw coloured in the area apart from our gardens which are still full of insects in our 'oasis'
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