Saturday 10th October turned-out to be a typical “Spurn Day”, but we had to wait until the afternoon before the birds got interesting. We decided to walk out to the point first of all, a glorious morning and a seven mile slog there and back for a spooked Roe Deer, a Red Admiral, a stunning little […]
September 25th – October 3rd 2015 – Another autumn week on Unst, Shetland, staying at our usual croft at Northdale. What a great location to spend a week looking for rare birds. This year was not what I would call a classic week, yet there were still some good birds about, especially on the mainland.
Another garden trap with low numbers and species count and the 8th trap of the year. Conditions were good early on but turned cool and damp later. Species list in no particular order – Angle Shades 1; Large Yellow Underwing 31; Lunar Underwing 2; Lesser Yellow Underwing 3; Common Wainscot 1; Common Marbled Carpet 1;
Garden Trap number 7 and a disappointment. Conditions were perfect on the evening of the 12th but overnight temperature dropped and then heavy rain set in. Result was basically a trap full of “Underwings”. Trap results in no particular order – Large Yellow Underwing 27; Lesser Yellow Underwing 5; Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 1 female; Brimstone
Saturday 12th September and I spent the whole day walking round Spurn and Kilnsea area. Not a bad day with small numbers of Pied Flycatcher, Common Redstart, Whinchat and Wheatear. A single Short-eared Owl and a Yellow-browed Warbler certainly helped to brighten up the day. The Yellow-browed Warbler was one of my earliest autumn records.
This weekend is National Moth Night, covering evenings of the 10th,11th & 12th September. So to mark the weekend this was top be my 6th garden moth trapping session of the year. Few surprises but there was one, a Red Underwing, a garden tick. Not in the trap however, I noticed it on the side
The weekend weather indicated opportunities for potential sea bird passage down the east cost. Saturday 5th September and there was a strong North Westerly wind blowing as we arrived at Filey Brigg, on the Yorkshire Coast. After a precarious trek down to the Hide, and I mean precarious, I began my first proper sea watch for
Once again my wife and I spent a week on the south coast of Dorset. We stopped in a static caravan near Swanage and spent our time exploring our favourite spots at Studland and Durlston. One or two amazing sights were the large numbers of Swallows and House Martins on several days. Numbers in excess of
