Birding Forecast

 An interesting week ahead with three main themes

1) A deep area of low pressure (the remnants of a tropical storm that didn't make landfall but tracked north over western North Atlantic) south of Greenland heading towards Iceland over next day or two

2) A small depression forming over Newfoundland and heading into low pressure above and the formation of a westerly airflow that affects the Outer Hebrides/West Coast of UK by late in the week

3) The rest of the UK affected by high pressure and varying east to north winds with some rain over next two days and then mainly clear and cold nights

Forecast for next Saturday 18th September

So on that basis I predict

1) The possibility of nearctic vagrants in Iceland/ Western Scotland- early September could hold potential for a mega too (a Cape May Warbler was found on the Azores yesterday- although that was unrelated to any obvious weather- the weather doesn't actually look great for the Azores but always a good chance there if there is any storm activity in the North Atlantic ) 

2) Potential for sea watching in strong westerly airflow on west coast of UK (mainly to north)

3) Potential for slow drift migrants in UK due to light easterly airflow, probably best in rain and cloud (better over next two days)  

4) Low night temperatures will mean moth catches less but easterly conditions earlier this autumn produced migrants so could be some migrants 

Birding Plan

 Apart from heading to the Outer Hebrides/ Northern Isles (which I can't), not too many strong indicators to do anything in particular apart from monitor the situation, stay local and look for drift migrants. No harm in keeping the moth trap going despite the low night temperatures (the catch last night was 50% of what it has been recently) 

The Old Vicarage- racing towards 500

 If I've identified them correctly we've had a few more firsts for the Old Vic over the last day or two which takes us to 484 moth species. Hoping to get to 500 by the end of this year. We had two main targets this year for the Old Vic, to get to 1000 pan-species (done HERE ) and the 500 moth species target.  We've actually had 408 species in 2021 alone.  49 species of over 200 moths today.  

About 4 Chiffchaffs, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 3 Goldcrest and 2 Coal Tit in the garden tit flock at the moment, with the usual Buzzard in the Spruce, a Raven and a group of 6 Mistle Thrush. Had a Yellowhammer go over calling and also Swallows and House Martins circling overhead. Looked like House Martins were moving over yesterday in small groups. 

Webb's Wainscot (above and below)

Large Groundling (awaiting confirmation) 

Dark Sword Grass- some success on the migrant front with this and also a Silver Y and some migrant suspects such as several White-point, Angle Shades, Pale Mottled Willows and a Turnip 

Clifden Nonpariels (above and below) Waited years for our first and now four in last few days. Two today including this tatty one above and a pristine one below. We can identify them as different moths due to the nicks in the wings and state of wear. I must experiment with wine ropes soon as that method is supposed to be better than lights for attracting the Underwing moths. 

Beddington Farmlands- Garganey and Wood Sandpiper

 Another interesting evening session at the farmlands yesterday with Zach. Ebird list HERE with highlights including a juvenile Garganey, a Wood Sandpiper, Greenshank, 18 Green Sandpiper, 4 Common Sandpiper, 23 Snipe, the juvenile Great Crested Grebe, 8 Wigeon, 1 Pintail, 3 Swift and over 800 Ring-necked Parakeets flying to roost. 

Garganey

Greenshank

Snipe

Ring-necked Parakeets

........and back at the Old Vicarage, I've been going all in on trying to catch some more migrant moths following quite a large migrant influx over the south of UK during the last few days. I've had another (or the same) Vagrant Piercer, another Clifden Nonpariel (above), the odd Turnip moth, Silver-Y, a handful of Angle Shades and a few White-points. Also very large numbers of Common Wainscot (200+) and Setaceous Hebrew Characters which may be dispersal related too.  Other inland moth recorders have recorded Beautiful Marbled (in Bucks) , Striped Hawkmoths and the usual Rush Veneers and Diamond-back and on the coast there have been lots of Vestals, Delicates, Scarce Bordered Straws,  Pearly Underwing, Gems, Olive-tree Pearls, the odd Porter's Rustic, Convolvulus Hawkmoth and Diasemiopsis ramburialis. Fingers crossed the recent south west winds blow a few of these inland here.  

Waterstock Mill mothing

Another good mothing session with Henry at Waterstock Mill. A whopping 477 moths of 51 species (interesting to compare the diversity with high summer where 500 moths would get you over 100 species). Highlights including another Vagrant Piercer and lots of nice autumn classics.

Vagrant Piercer, according to the Bucks CMR probably less than six records in Oxon

Sallow

Gold Spot

Rosy Rustic

Great Diving Beetle

 

Vagrant Piercer, The Old Vicarage

 Been hoping for one of these for a while now. A nice surprise finally seeing one in the trap this morning, Vagrant Piercer, Cydia Amplana. Only the 6th record for Bucks. 

51 species and over 200 moths in the trap overall including Black Rustic, Cypress Carpet and a few I'd thought we had seen the last of for this year including Waved Umber and White-backed Marble. The heatwave continues so hopefully more good moths over next couple of days.

I popped over to Otmoor for a few hours this morning. My forecast for this week was pretty good so far with a Little Stint found at Otmoor  over the weekend and a Wryneck found at Oddington yesterday (I spent all day looking for one in the south of the site!). Also a flock of Black Terns at Farmoor. So the forecast was good but my bird finding not so good- all I found was a Spotted Flycatcher in the garden (a good garden migrant) and Spot Flys and a few common migrants at Otmoor.  Certainly a drift migrant theme supported by Whinchats and Spot Flys, Redstarts etc. Also the migrant moth prediction came good with the Vagrant Piercer - at least I found something. 

Highlights at Otmoor today were a 2nd calendar year male Marsh Harrier, 2 Redstart, a Kingfisher, Grasshopper Warbler and Brown and Purple Hairstreaks. 

Clifden Nonpariel and Otmoor Migrants

A really nice day today. The day started with a Clifden Nonpariel (Blue Underwing) in the moth trap and the good vibe kept up all day. Ebird list from Otmoor HERE, highlights included 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 5 Redstart (2 male, 3 female), 6 Whinchat, 1 Mandarin (Oxon tick), an incredible 18 Cattle Egret (including juveniles which are presumably the Blenheim Park fledged young), Oystercatcher, 6 Garganey, 5 Hobby and good numbers of Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Lesser Whitethroats.

Absolute stunner- a first for the garden. 

Cattle Egrets at Otmoor

Juveniles and adult Cattle Egret

Mandarin from the second screen 

Plenty of migrants today including Spotted Flycatcher (above), Redstarts (below), Whinchats (below that) and Chiffchaffs (below that) and other warblers 

Brown Hairstreak (above) and Small Heath (below) . Not that many butterflies about considering the weather today (25 C) but a few Small Whites, Speckled Woods and Ellen saw a Painted Lady too (which has been on the path for the last week or so)  

Stacks of dragonflies today including Migrant Hawker (above) , Common Darters (below), Ruddy Darter, Southern Hawker, Brown Hawker and Emperor. Must have been 500-1000 Common Darters across the site (I counted over 300 over Greenaways alone) and the Red Kites (25+) and Hobby (5+) were feeding on the swarms.  

Muntjac appeared today, as did a Fallow Deer on Morleys, had a Common Lizard cross the path (a dark juvenile). 

The first Brown-spot Pinion of the year. Also 2 Red Underwing today to go with the 'Blue Underwing' . Over 120 Common Wainscots and 90 Setaceous Hebrew Character- so well over 200 moths in the trap and the weather is keeping up with night temperatures holding up so expecting some more excitement over next few days. I decided to stay local rather than go to the coast as Jacob looked a bit frazzled from his first days at school when we picked him up from school on Friday (the school chicken attacked him apparently) but hopefully he settles in after a week or so (he seemed perky enough today so hopefully all good to go next week). 

The first Old Lady for the garden over the weekend

Starvember (me eating nothing but food we've grown) has taken a turn for the better as Holly has refused to let me waste away so has been whipping up some excellent salads and recipes from the garden food- happy days (seriously happy days!) 

1000th Species at the Old Vicarage

We did it! Our first thousand species in the garden, the 1000th species being a Feathered Gothic. We are now on 475 moth species and hope to make the 500 moths as our next target. 

We've been recording here since 2016 and been doing things slowly as we've only moved here as our main residence in the last two months. So hopefully there will be lots more to discover now we are here more. 

Male Feathered Gothic 

86 species of bird, the highlights include Hawfinches in the 2017 invasion, Curlews, Reed Warbler, Golden Plovers going over, breeding Spotted Flycatchers, Tawny Owl and Great Spotted Woodpeckers and picked up a few bits on the Noc-mig including Wigeon, Teal, Common Sandpiper, Oystercatcher and of course the species that no respectful garden list would be missing- that modern classic garden bird - Common Scoter 

Red Kites define this area (the core of the reintroduction program) 

475 moth species so far, highlights have included Pinion-spotted Pug (above), Merveille du Jours (below) and Gem (below that)   

A typical high summer day- Pine, Elephant and Poplar Hawkmoths, Lappet and Buff-tip

Garden Spotted Flycatchers 

Breeding Great Spotted Woodpeckers

Even get the odd Muntjac visiting 

The Old Vic in the autumn (above) and winter (below) 

and in the summer

The mini-farm

The Cottage Garden 

The Garden brook 

Map of the Old Vic

The 1000 species in groups 

Tour of the Garden with Jacob 

MORE BLOG POSTS FROM THE OLD VICARAGE