Weekend round-up

A weekend around the Lodge again. Isaac and I did a walk to Mill Lane Marsh and back on Saturday- just a Blackwit and a couple of Teals there (the first in June locally apparantely- thanks Ian!) . 

The moth migration has cooled off steeply but still been getting about 200-250 moths a night of approx 80-90 species. A few new for gardens and year ticks. Now on 542 all time and 383 for the year.

There’s quite a few butterflies in our meadows in this current heatwave including new for year Gatekeepers, Small Skipper , Small copper and Common Blue with the regular Small, Large and Green-viened Whites, Comma, Meadow Browns , Red Admirals and Peacocks . 

Sadly one of our rabbits died this weekend of unknown causes. 

A few picture highlights from the last few days below.

Gold spot- always nice to see

Marbled Bell

Barred Red

Pine Knot-horn

L-album Wainscot- the first ones in the most recent migrant influx

Gem- the second one in recent weeks

Teal on Mill Lane Marsh- the only ones in the local area at the moment. An early sign that autumn is coming soon. 

Still working on the house fascias so got the scaffolding up ready for that 

The clover meadow in the front garden is doing well and the longer sward in the back garden continues to attract meadow invertebrates. In terms of pollinators the meadows are attracting much more than anything we've planted. 

Isaac learning the ropes 

Come and stay at Little Oak Lodge

Holly's AirBnB Hippy-chic Caravan is now up and running with lots of bookings. All are welcome to book. Bring the moth trap and a great place to be based to explore the birds and wildlife of the Selsey Peninsula with short walking distances to Pagham Harbour RSPB and the Medmerry trail to Medmerry RSPB Nature Reserve. 

As it's all new with introductory pricing it's cheap as chips and accepting single night only stays too. 

BOOK HERE

More moth mig- the classic collection and more and some birds

Another night of moth migration, presumably insects which arrived in the south west and now being pushed east. The suite of migrants was the more expected classic migrant moths- Silver-Y, Rusty-dot, Diamond-back, Pearly Underwing, Olive-tree Pearl, White-point, Dark Spectacle, Blair's Mocha and European Corn Borer with a couple of nice scarcities again Small Marbled, Small Mottled Willow, presumably the same Scarce Spindle Ermine as yesterday and the highlight was a Splendid Brocade. So basically pretty good!

I actually got out birding yesterday evening. So no need to change the blog title to Non-stop Mothing yet. I always switch to mainly entomology this time of year. Did a couple of hours at Church Norton and bumped into Andrew. Ebird list HERE. It's been pretty quiet on the birding front locally so I haven't missed too much. A Roseate Tern has been around and the first Balearic Shearwaters were seen off the bill. I've been listening out for Crossbills which are still moving regionally but nothing yet. 

Splendid Brocade- lifer. Only 54 previous records for Sussex HERE

Scarce Spindle Ermine, Yponomeuta irrorella- presumably the same as yesterday. Looks like the 9th record for West Sussex and the 19th for 'Sussex' HERE so pleased with that. The first 'mega' for the year (Less than 10 records is a good criteria for a mega).  

Small Marbled. Only 28 previous Sussex records of these and 14 for West Sussex HERE . Presuming they are all different ones- this is the 3rd I've had here in this recent spell. 

Olive-tree Pearl

Blair's Mocha

Silver-Y- nice to see one after so long

Little Tern at Church Norton . After a late start the colony seems to be doing okay with young seen too.

About 250 Med Gulls in the harbour. Andrew was saying there are probably 1000+ Meds on the Peninsula at the moment which is unusal for this time of year so could be a failed breeding year. Didn't see any juveniles but did have three juvenile Black-headed Gulls. Also plenty of Sandwich Terns and a few Common Terns in the harbour so great to have the breeding terns and gulls back at Church Norton after they deserted the last couple of years. 

Curlew- always present locally and get the odd one or two going over the garden regularly but they don't breed round here which seems a bit odd

First-summer Common Tern.

Moth mig

 About 300 moths last night of approx 78 species with a nice little haul of migrants. As hoped for, the migrants that arrived in the south west and tightly on the local coast recently seem to have now moved inland a bit- seems to be the pattern here, where we get migrants a day or two after the initial arrival. 

22 Elephant Hawkmoths in the trap too! Also single Poplar and Eyed Hawkmoth. 

Garden moth list now on 535 and 363 for the year. 

Bordered Straw (above) and Small Marbled (below)- nice to get some better shots of these two scarce species 

Scarce Spindle Ermine, Yponomeuta irrorella. I photographed this as an unsual ermine this morning and noticed it was a good match for irrorella in Steling et al but it was only when I saw that Steve Nash had one last night and there had been several records in the latest moth migrant wave that I was confident enough it was one after I checked with Steve Nash by sending him this photo. According to the Sussex moth website there's been about 18 previous records in Sussex but waiting to hear from the CMR team for confirmation on status. A lifer. 

Gem

Small Mottled Willow- three of these

Dark Sword Grass- conspicious by it's recent abscence, nice to get one . So total migrants (or suspected migrants) for the night were singles of Bordered Straw, Small Marbled, Dark Sword Grass, Angle Shades, Gem, Nutmeg and 2 Dark Spectacle and 10+ Yponomeuta sp. Very surprisngly not a single Rusty-dot or Diamond-back. 

A pale looking Nutmeg so presumably something from the south/ deserts

Looks like a White Birch Tortrix,  Acleris logiana. Not a migrant but a new for garden

Dark Spruce Knot-horn, Assara terebella- new for garden 

Feeston- getting one or two of these a night. Cracking little moth. 

Oatmeal our Guard Goose is coming along well 

Steady week

It's been a steady few days mostly confined to the Lodge. The weekend heat wave gave way to a south westerly airflow by Monday but there was another brief warm interlude yesterday. As usual most of the regional moth immigration occurred in the south west but there's been a bit of pebble dashing round here. 

Our new phermone lures had instant success with Lunar Hornet Clearwing now on the garden list. Been a few other interesting moths and migrants. Had a Hummingbird Hawkmoth in the conservatory on Monday. Now on 533 for the garden and 357 for the year. 

Lots of young birds in the garden. Most recent Ebird list HERE. There's been a few Sand Martins flying around with the Barn Swallows and Swifts are more regular too reflecting a regional movement of Sand Martins and Swifts that is occurring mainly off east coast by sounds of it. There were 200+ Sand Martins over Breach Pool last night so obviously on the move round here too.

Got a lot of work done in the garden this week. Matt was here yesterday and we started painting the fascia on the house. Got some scaffolding going up today or tomorrow. Slowly ticking off all the summer jobs. Holly's caravan is going well and got regular bookings now and the guests are enjoying the 'petting zoo' - Oatmeal our 'Guard Goose' is growing well.

All good on the mini-farm, harvested more onions and potatoes this week, sowed some carrot seeds and potted on the water melons, planted Nicotiana in the pots after the potatoes, propogated more tomato and strawberry plants from our existing plants. 

Work in London is same old, mainly looking at private maintenance jobs,

Have chipped away at the Dutch Birding paper too. So overall catching up with everything. 

So after a couple of weeks concentrating round here I'm hoping to get back out in the field for some birding tomorrow. 

Lunar Hornet Clearwing- lifer. Well pleased. 

Long-winged Pearl- lifer. 

Looks like a Langmaid's Yellow Underwing

Blackneck

Small Mottled Willow has been the migrant of the moment with up to four last night. As mentioned previously there's not a lot of the more expected migrants- just the odd Silver Y, odd Delicate, small numbers of Diamond-backs and Rush Veneer and no Dark Sword Grass. Also a Dark Spectacle last night. Seems like Sarah and Derek on the coast at Selsey and Bracklesham respectively had a lot of common migrants last night so hopefully they make their way a bit in land- always amazing what difference a short distance makes in migration.  

Nemapogon koenigi attracted to the Lunar Hornet Clearwing lure- a little lifer

Dotted Ermel, Ethmia dodacea

Been quite a few of these 'sobers' in last couple of days. I've collected a few so hopefully Mike will have a look at them. Currently got about 50 moths with Mike awaiting dissection so will be interesting to get the results from that. 

This Large Marsh Horse Fly was a new one for the garden on the 'all other species list' which is now on 159 HERE. 

Happy with our onions

Vid of Lunar Hornet Clearwing 

Small Marbled, Bordered Straw, Migrants and Micros

With temperatures up to around 30 C by day and 18 C by night with a south easterly wind and the Summer Solstice too, this weekend has, as hoped for, been a cracking little moth weekend. 

It wasn't really until last night that the moth migration picked up. Not quite up to the Southwest standards where there has been some very heavy insect immigration, highlights here included a nice Small Marbled (high on the wish list), a Bordered Straw, Small Mottled Willow, Diamond-backs, Rusty-dot and European Corn Borers. There's also been a few nice dispersives and the odd bit attracted to the Pheromones too.

Now on 524 for the Lodge and 342 for the year. 

I've been listening out for Crossbills in the mornings but no luck yet. Amy Robjohns had some moving over Portsmouth yesterday which isn't far away. The Cuckoo was calling again this morning and yesterday I had Curlew and Oystercatcher going over the garden calling too. Suddenly Grey Wagtail has appeared again and going over calling several times a day. I had a Coal tit singing from the neighbours conifer in the week. 

Small Marbled

Bordered Straw- both of the above scarce migrants managed to fly off before I got a proper photo

Small Mottled Willow

Festoon

Gorse Knot-horn, Pempelia genistella - lifer

Double Orange-spot/Orange-spot Piercer, Pammene aurana. Attracted to the Six-belted Cleariwng lure.

Large Saltmarsh Conch, Phalonidia affintana - lifer

Small Grass Veneer by the looks of it - lifer

Portland Ribbon Wave- presumably a local moth but not been many around recently. A surprising lack of Dark Sword Grass in this moth migrant influx and also not many Delicates and also pretty low numbers here of Rusty-dots and Diamond-backs with quite a compartive high proportion of scarce migrants to common migrants e..g I've had 2 Striped Hawkmoths, a Vagrant China-mark, Small Marbled and Bordered Straw and only 2 Rush Venner, 2 Small Mottled Willow and no more than 10 each of Diamond backs and Rusty-dots in the last week or so. Four-spotted Footmans have been prominent with up to six a night.

Highlight of the mini-farm this weekend was picking our onions that we planted over the winter. Quite proud of this one! Also Jacob and I turned out one of the potato tubs and Holly whipped up a nice potato salad. Have replaced the tubs with Nicotiana. Once we've cleared out the winter bed will plant with carrots and salads and hope to get one more crop in this season and will also try and get a second batch of potatoes in.