The first frost of winter

Gone pishin'...

A local walk with some warmth still in the sun and virtually no wind found a few insects still on the wing. Several quite fresh Speckled Woods, quite a few Yellow Dung Flies and soldierflies which I assume were Sargus bipunctatus but no late Common Darters nor Red Admirals.

Birdwise a birdtrack list of 34 species in 30 minutes or so saw several species missing- Great Tit, Pied Wagtail and Dunnock - but made up for by the very noisy Water Rail, the first Cettis for a while and, best of all, a Firecrest along 'butterfly alley', my first ever on Portsea Island. Luckily, it came out of thick scrub, enticed by my pishing and gave good views.

Raptors have been a bit thin but a Common Buzzard went west and then came back eastwards but much lower annoying all the gulls and feral doves.

A nice 'first'....

 

This Death's-head Hawkmoth caterpillar was picked up by Ed, brought on over 7 weeks or thereabouts, and then displayed for one day in a container on the TH reception desk - a first for me and, I guess, a few others.

A Pulborough day with 8 raptor species - no eagles but Merlin and a late(ish) Hobby.

At Titchfield a flyover Woodlark and the three Ibises which arrived from the north and conveniently perched up in the dead tree adjacent to the river nicely coloured by strong sunny conditions.

This Green Shieldbug (below) , three Buzzards, a Sparrowhawk, a roosting Little Egret and ones and two of Chiffchaffs still - all local.

Not rare but a highlight

 

A Tuesday visit to Pulborough, rather than the usual Wednesday, was a good choice with AA mentioning a sat-out Nightjar over the previous two days.  Within minutes she stopped me just before buying a coffee with word that the 'Tuesday crew' had it all scoped-up in the conifers at Fattengates. Mostly still but occasionally gaping, shuffling around and wing and tail stretching before settling back down for another nap. This was present all day until dusk but didn't reappear on Wednesday for PW et al. A quick look through notes showed this to be my first Nightjar in seven years -  where does the time go!! Further checking showed the only other daytime perched up Nightjars were in Bulgaria (2010) and at Obedska Bara (1978), then in Yugoslavia but now in Serbia.

Four Cattle Egrets, four Stonechats and two Reed Buntings feeding amongst a mass of Goldfinches and a perched up Kingfisher were the best of the rest An eagle was apparently hiding in the vegetation of its 'usual tree' but invisible to me and everyone else in the hide without a scope. 

Later, at WWT six Cattle Egrets and increasingly noisy and active youngsters in the hidden nests. Another Kingfisher, a brief flyby, and a Great White Egret constantly striding away from a typically irate Mute Swan.

A brief coffee outing Thursday produced a dashing Hobby chasing a passerine south over Hilliers but it seemed to lose interest and slipped off westwards.

And Friday saw pulses of Swallows heading north into the wind as the rain eased with birds over the house,  more over the harbour and even birds over Warblington whilst stopped at the railroad crossing.

Plenty of these Garden Spiders locally along with a few paired migrant Hawkers, a couple of Green Woodpeckers and the first Jay of the autumn. Last Thursday saw the first returning Brent Geese, a tight group of ten, whilst waiting at the Farlington traffic light.

Middle month tedium

The warmer days have seen plenty of Common Darters, many mating or ovipositing and the odd patch of umbellifer has had a fair few Turnip Sawflies. 

A single Great White Egret high over MSH and then soaring higher still and out to the west was a precursor for the six in the meadow loafing and preening with three Glossy Ibises amongst them - all very Mediterranean!!

The Dunlin below was squelching through the mud alongside three or more Common Sandpipers and a few Redshank; Snipe were up to 15+. Sadly, no better waders here nor any decent migrants. 

The ringers must almost be bankrupt with the cost of ringing Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs although the former can me amazingly invisible to us normal birders.

Locally, plenty of Garden Spiders and Nursery Web Spiders plus this Common Damselfly, the tenth species of Odonata of the year at this small spot. Any other species would be 'megas' here.

The last meadow session this year at GWH with Chris and John was certainly well-attended presumably, because as an open day, it was free!! I ducked out half way round to head off for lunch. The Danewort looks good in fruit. Just a few Ivy Bees, Hornets and this Sargus bipunctatus perched up near the pond. A minimum of five, and maybe as many as ten, Ravens were overhead.

What will probably prove to be the last moth trap of the year in increasingly wet conditions  produced the hoped for Lunar Underwing,  a common moth, but only the second here and all others being eight years ago!! This Rusty Dot Pearl adopted the 'Vulcan bomber' pose rather than the the more usual 'Concorde' shape.

This miniscule fly was in the moth trap and barely 3 m.m. long. Despite cooling for a while it set off up the conservatory window making any pictures a challenge!! Apps and FB Diptera expertise came up with Tephritis praecox, a spreading species possibly causing problems for growers of Calendula/Marigold.

Local stuff... and some old stuff

 

These caterpillars on birch amounted to about 20 individuals yesterday and in the fullness of time will turn into Bufftip moths. I checked some other birch in the same area today but couldn't find any more caterpillars. 

The small pond and its surrounding scrub is now a temporary home to Migrant Hawker dragonflies - only two today struggling low down in the very windy conditions.

Curiously, Small Dusty Wave moth (above) is something I've never seen in a trap, only ever settled on fencing or in this case the glass panel near the front door, and not for the first time.

With such a cool and windy night the trap held little, three L-albums being the best and freshest - no migrant Covolvulous nor Small Mottled Willows for me - and just a Rusty Dot Pearl representing immigrants.

Locally, an increase in Tufted Ducks to over a dozen and the first five Shovelers of the autumn included two eclipse drakes.

Whilst trying to switch off flickr emails I realised I still had old pictures on there including these below- these two Wrynecks were much more obliging that Sunday's TH bird!!

Long-billed Dowitcher from Poole Park, LRPs from Blashford and Shore Lark from Cuckmere

An autumn speciality

Yesterday's visit to TH, the first for 10 weeks without access to the west side, was pretty uninspiring with just Kingfisher, some visible Water Rails on the river with several others heard and good numbers of hirundines, mostly Sand Martins.

By teatime it transpired that a Wryneck had been seen by a visitor but posted 6 hours later much to the chagrin of everyone else who was on site!

Luckily, the ever reliable MF was on site early today to refind the bird in the area of the ant hills which previous year's birds have favoured.

The bird showed on and off and, although its definitely a top-ten bird for me, its location between the road and the fence line ensured it would always be distant. Thunder and lightning were over the IOW and Southampton water and a waterspout was briefly off to the east but quickly dissipated. A coffee from the van was welcome and just in time, as the rain arrived and the thunder and lightning moved closer. Luckily, it  didn't come to much although there was torrential rain between Hill Head and the motorway. Back in Pompey it didn't look as if it had rained at all.

This Snipe popped out in front of MSH briefly and it was nice to see a few juvenile Black'wits.

And a few moths from yesterday morning.

A Beautiful Plume, a Garden Tiger egg laying on the fence and a Snout.