Titchfield and moths at home

A bit grey and breezy but dry. From inside Harbourside, and over a coffee, four Eiders were distantly visible. About a hundred Turnstones in the harbour along with the perplexing 1cy Black-headed Gull with ring TJXY - I thought the ring was a mucky blue but couldn't find anything close on CR Birding.

Better luck with two 1cy Med Gulls in close to Meon Shore Hide :- 

1) White EK84 - one of Renaud's but his out of office message indicates a wait of a month for a reply. 

2) Yellow 2205, a Solent bird so a response shouldn't be too long.

Chatted to Mark R, Tony, Ivor, Daz and Ian C.

The Glossy Ibis was on the river when I arrived and still there when I left.

Six Snipe jumped from the newly manicured shore in front of MSH as I opened the window and a little later this obliging Water Rail came out whilst a second called nearby. First attempt at hand-holding the Balance and the TG7 - not great but a record shot.

Three or so Sedge Warblers, one Common Sandpiper and one juvenile Marsh Harrier.

Prior to the above a moth trap produced 50/14 with fifteen Large Yellow Underwings but more surprisingly ten Clancy's Rustics - until today I'd only caught three in three years. Nothing else of note.

One lucky (?) moth-er in west Cornwall, with multiple traps, pulled in 1500(!) Large Yellow Underwings last night. Hellish !!

EDIT PP replied soon after getting back from Spain and the yellow ringed bird was processed on Nap Island as a youngster three months ago and was seen by others at TH yesterday. 

The Ivy Beee nesting bank along the steps up from the promenade was heaving with bees, the most I've  seen since the eradication by a pest controller a few years back. Difficult to do it justice in photos.

(Least Carpet and Clancy's Rustic from home)

More RSPB moths.....

 ... at Pagham. 

Arrived early and had a quick stroll to look over the Ferry Pool but didn't realise there were two Little Stints there but too close-in to be visible from the hide. By the time we'd finished with the moths they'd departed.

A few Blackcaps, one Sparrowhawk, one Greenshank and a couple of distant, calling Whimbrel were all I could find in 15 minutes.

The staff made my coffee and we chatted whilst waiting for other visitors to arrive; Ant obviously thought he'd give this session a miss.

Lots of moths from both Mike's home traps and the RSPB's one but nothing too exciting although Cosmopolitan and Scarce Bordered Straw were both new for me; Delicate may also have been new. Frosted Orange, Plumed Fan-foot and Vestal were best-of-the-rest. Hopefully a full list will be sent out in the not too distant future.

Headed back via SHP for lunch and then home.

Glad I went back for 'seconds'  of the shrike yesterday as it wasn't seen today.

Booked in for local bat walk and another ringing demo, this time at Pagham.

Rather envious of this morning's missed TH ringing session as Short-eared Owl and Honey Buzzard flew over!! I wonder what they caught?

EDIT Scarce Bordered Straw was new last Seprember with Chris at Selborne. Delicate wasn't new but I've not got a record of when I last saw this. Rolled Grass-moth (Pedisia contaminella) was new as was Euchromius ocellea.

EDIT 2 Sadly, the RSPB only listed the moths from that one trap and not Mike's etc.

(Scarce Bordered Straw, Vestal, Angle Shades, Plumed Fan-foot, Orange Swift, Dewick's Plusia)

Thursday and Friday Shrike

Went to collect car from dealership and decided to try to see the Red-backed Shrike at Farlington prior to weekly shop.

Bought a take-away coffee from the very twee Piaggio Ape in the car park. The smallest mobile coffee shop I've ever seen!!

Plenty of people at the shrike which had tucked itself away but it eventually came out and showed well. My first in the UK since the Hayling Oysterbed bird back in 2015.

With only Swaro 12x50s and overcast sky it was tough to pick through the waders. The high tide combined with much lower lake levels than last Saturday meant there were considerably more birds including Grey Plovers and Knot.

An Osprey was perched on North Binness and was seen hovering much nearer the east shore but still very distant.

A nice Wheatear was best-of-the-rest.

Friday out to SC for coffee with the usual audible only birds, Marsh Tit being the best. Still ten or more Hummingbird Hawkmoths.

Back to Farlington for much better views of the shrike with the Balance scope.

Osprey on the same tree as yesterday and still a couple of Curlew Sandpipers amongst the waders which also included a surprise Golden Plover plus much better views of a good number of Knot in better light than yesterday.

And, of course, still lots of Clouded Yellows.

I think the shrike was a site tick, the first here since the Eastern Olivaceous Warbler seven years ago.

On leaving, a Harbour Seal popped up just south of the carpark. 

Following photo courtesy/copyright photographer (Andy?)

Wednesday catch up with Pete

Still desperately dry and little to see other than a distant Green Sandpiper and a Peregrine sat on the ground from the 'Nettleys bend' viewpoint. A Wood Sandpiper eluded us.

Obviously loads of Clouded Yellows still present.

At Hails View very peaceful (and no people) but enlivened by one of the adult eagles flying over and into Rook Wood, followed by a splendid Hobby hawking up and down.

The ivy at the courtyard entrance had lots of Eristalis hoverflies and Ivy Bees but no Hornets.

Nice to catch up with Sally and Miles and some nice visitors.

No photos.

Farlington

A walk with PR's RSPB group didnt quite work out because I arrived early and wanted to get round before lunch. Met up but the size of the group (25 ish) was always going to be too slow so I headed off.

A number of Greenshanks were calling out in the harbour with lots of godwits and Redshanks. It didn't take too long to find two Little Stints, six or more Curlew Sandpipers, twenty or so eclipse plumage Pintails and a few Snipe.

A Kingfisher zipped past.

On the dry northern shore of the lake were plenty of Yellow and Pied Wagtails and the fenceline held three Whinchats and a Wheatear.

Seven Harbour Seals were hauled out in the usual part of the harbour.

The only raptors were three Kestrels and a Sparrowhawk.

Sadly, no Osprey, no Marsh Harrier and not even a Buzzard today!

Around the marsh plenty of noisy but mostly hidden Yellow Wagtails, another Wheatear and a single Common Whitethroat.

The east seawall had lots of Common Blues, more than I've seen this year, and, over the whole walk, many Clouded Yellows (25-30 and probably more). Single Small Copper, a few whites and a couple of Small Heath were the only other butterflies.

Common Darter and a few Migrant Hawkers.

Back at the lake gave better scope  views of one of the Little Stints.

A colour flagged Curlew (Yellow 5E over red left tibia and blue right tibia, BTO metal right leg) is proving hard to pin down in CR birding.

PS A group of Grey Plovers, about seventy strong, appeared out of nowhere and landed out towards the Kendall quay, some still strongly coloured.

Zilch

A week with no birding saw just a few more Hummingbird  Hawkmoths; one at SC in the small buddleia outside the cafe, one in another small buddleia along Lynton Grove and a third doing a brief flypast at the pond.

 No photos, no birds.

Wed/Thu

A brief visit to Cumberland House for the last moth morning of the season. Caught up with Kieran and Christine (who kindly offered me a tea/coffee), the two other guys - sorry forgot their names - and Hannah. A pretty thin catch with everything potted incredibly fast and just Bordered Straw (below) of interest; a species I've never caught. Bycatch of Red-legged Shieldbugs, Acorn Weevils and Harlequin Ladybirds.

Off with KM to Sustainability for lunch and a brief walk with possibly just a single Hummingbird Hawkmoth, a Painted Lady and a few Red Admirals.

Later, a Sparrowhawk was circling over the dental surgery as I arrived. 

Thursday,  after a coffee at SHP, just a couple of Clouded Yellows, Holly Blues a single Small Heath and some noisy young Buzzards.

The conservation path/s now have loose roaming cattle and hence cowpats everywhere. So, with no suitable footwear, I gave up that walk!

Will be interesting to hear Michael's walk-and-talk on Wednesday afternoon.

The barely transparent 'grey' childproof pots are rubbish for photography but I might consider some of the very small insect tubes they used for the weevils and micros etc.