Breakfast at SC

Having got in early for the alarm maintenance appointment, the battery message issue seemed to have gone away so I cancelled the call and headed to SC for coffee and the usual breakfast of Avocado, Scrambled Egg and baby tomatoes on sourdough. Yum!

The 'cafe garden' was busy with inverts, multiple V. zonaria, and other small hovers, multiple Phasia hemiptera , a Hummingbird Hawkmoth, various bumblebees and my first Stomorhina lunata of the year. Further around another HHM and plenty of Common Blues but sadly no Silver-washed Fritillaries.

The big patch of Buddleia had probably a dozen HHM and annoyingly several were very photogenic- sadly I'd only gone out with 8x30s and TG7. Definitely wished I'd had the G9i and Oly 90 macro. Still, next time maybe.

The very short informal worn path from carpark to the top meadow had a couple of nice Bee Wolfs which again posed well but no use to the TG7. I think they were a 'site tick'. 

Only birds were heard-only Firecrest, Marsh Tit, Bullfinch and Swallows.

Pulborough Vol Day

A very hot day with all the brooks bone dry and well populated with JCBs, vehicles etc. Some ditches being cleared and islands being landscaped ready for rain, winter wildfowl and next year's ground-nesters. The upshot being..... birdless.

Ian, paying more attention that Pete and I, located a Clouded Yellow helice variety, something I'd not seen before and Redstart Corner was full of Wasp Spiders, mostly female but with one obvious male and the predominant prey - Gatekeepers.

Another Clouded Yellow, Brown Hawker and little else. 

After a pasty in the tea-garden shade we both decided on heading off.

Apparently Spotted Flycatchers were in the usual spot adjacent to the old wooded play/learning area.

No pics.

Where are all the insects?

Today, after the usual  three-monthly blood test, an hour at QECP  was pretty fruitless. Two Firecrest, one or more heard-only Marsh Tits, three Holly Blues and a single red-eyed damselfly species on the pond; just too far away to ID.

Yesterday,  locally, an influx of Red Admirals was joined by a single Clouded Yellow blown across the field from flower to flower and never close enough for a photo; a site tick!

On the pond a couple of blue damsels but without zoom lens nor binoculars they could have been Azure or Common.

Pretty much no other insects either day even on Ragwort, Umbellifers and Hemp Agrimony. A few bumblebees on Thyme.

Only local birds were roosting/preening Little Egret and a fishing Grey Heron.

Moths at home

First moth trap of the summer and only second of the year. Deafening fox noise in the early hours but luckily it/they showed no interest in the trap and most of the mains cable was inside the garage well out of chew range!

The downside of attending moth events elsewhere with lots of individuals of many species is the expectation of such at home only to find that there's little to disturb the ten year average of just 23 moths per catch!

Today's  catch was 33/17 and not too surprising with last night being the coolest and windiest for a long time with even a few spots of rain at 07:00.

Three Jersey Tigers and one Garden Tiger were the most obvious; I was surprised that there weren't any Elephant Hawkmoths.

Cabbage, Turnip, Toadflax Brocade (only the third here), Tree Lichen Beauty, Cydia amplana (2nd) and Cloaked Minor were best-of-the-rest.

No Swift calls so presumably most will have left for the journey south.

Friday - more moths with Ed and Zoe

Arrived, as before, with half an hour for a Harbourside coffee and some time with about ten recently returned Turnstones mostly still tortoiseshell coloured.

A dozen of us enjoyed two traps full of moths. Nothing new but plenty of the usual crowd pleasers. Waiting for the full list in the days to come. A Sawfly, Hemichroa australis was the best of the interlopers.

Dewick's Plusia was new for me and Bordered Straw and Drinker were species I've never caught; Four-spotted Footman is a species I've only had once in the garden trap.

The east side produced a GWE with Little Egret close by and a Sparrowhawk escorted away by twenty or more irate Common Terns. A juvenile Sparrowhawk was calling from the scrub behind walkway pond and a few Willow Warblers were calling. Very quiet for insects but Volucella inanis was NfY and another Leptura quadrifasciata 'jumped ship' just before I could press the shutter and finally, below, a Long-winged Conehead.

On the west side a brief chat with first Mark, then Tony and finally David - with four or five Common Common Sandpipers and one Spotted Redshank plus some very tiny Common Terns chicks. Two of this years Marsh Harriers were distant.

I finally managed some nice views of Norfolk Hawker just to the west of MSH but with only the OMTG7 pictures were out of the question.

Others had a couple of drake Common Scoter offshore.

Local stuff - mostly pretty absent!!

The only things thriving locally are reeds, Achillea (a very drought-resilient plant all over the field) and Orthoptera with many grasshoppers in the longer dried grass. So far I've only had Lesser Marsh but I'm sure other species are there. 'Butterfly Alley' is done for the year and the Ragwort has all gone to seed. A Cetti's in the pond side vegetation and a couple of audible Willow Warblers, a few Swallows, a day-roosting Little Egret and a fishing heron were it for birdlife.

A couple of female Volucella zonaria were on Hemp Agrimony.

Most of the dawn to dusk gull noise is down to Herring Gulls and their offspring but last night's calls felt different and, lo and behold, a medium sized raptor gliding away southwards at 2015 hrs was neither buzzard nor kite and, despite having five pairs of binoculars in the house, none were to hand. Dammit! I guess Marsh Harrier was the likeliest culprit.

Irecord

No birding today nor til Wednesday at the earliest but an email from Irecord today was an acceptance of Hybomitra distinguenda from the unrecorded day at WWT with PW on the first of July.

SHP briefly

Very little insect variety beyond Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers other than these bugs - Mirid (Plagiognathis arbustorum) and Ant Damsel (Himacerus mirmicoides).

Male Stonechat still 'chack-chacking' from same bush as last visit, single Red Kite and a few 'heard-onlys' but otherwise very quiet in the continuing heat. Grass everywhere now is yellowish-white and crispy - oh for some rain!!

A smart Lily along the garden wall.

A pack of two third party batteries arrived today, obviously Chinese, but neatly packaged with both batteries in 'click-lock' plastic containers, a charger taking both batteries and appropriate USB-C lead but surprisingly with both B and C inputs.

Austria comes good!

Off to Chi today to collect the Swaros back from second re-armouring. Almost tempted to put them in the back of a cupboard to prevent another failure. Ten years old next Spring and not sure whether Swaro would go through this a third time. EDIT As well as re-armouring it appears they replaced the eye cups and damaged focussing wheel.

Back home the Heron was surprisingly close and confiding near the library corner. No sound of Reed Warblers for ages so presumably all gone, although a brief Cettis call was the first for a while. 

My first Jersey Tiger Moth of the year flushed off the south-side Hemp Agrimony and perched up in a tree but not long enough for a picture.

Emperors and Southern Hawker Dragonflies were obvious plus three Common Blue butterflies were new here this year. Essex Skippers were very much reduced and little in the way of Ragwort ensured few inverts.

This Vespa germanica was wood-stripping.

The Portsmouth 100 art trail features 45 of these decorated lions with one here, one on the Eastern Rd and the rest available via a downloadable map.

Kevin printed me off a manual for the OM TG7.

A few days ago TH was pretty birdless other than 160 or so Avocets (thanks to IM for the count!) and reasonable numbers of Common Terns, some with young.

Leptura quadrifasciata was the best of the insects. North and South Scrapes are starting to look very dry.

Mid July and still roasting!!

Still no sign of any break in the weather and just too hot for birding and indeed the birds. 

A trip over to Chichester saw Curlew, Med Gull and Little Egret from the car and later at least one noisy young Peregrine on the cathedral.

Later still at home a number of gulls, four species, mostly Meds were hawking overhead - maybe a flying ant day.

Yesterday, Saturday, a walk around the Stansted conservation area produced lots of Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns and Small Skippers with a few of Red Admiral, Comma, Marbled White, Holly Blue and a single Small Copper. A Small Fan-footed Wave was more unusual with just two trapped at No 8 both ten years ago!

Still one or two Downland Villa egg-laying at the bottom of the bridleway path.

A few Marsh Tits and noisy Nuthatches were all invisible as were some noisy young Buzzards. The male Stonechat was very obliging on the roadside bushes and footpath signs; hopefully his noisy presence is indicative of breeding.

Today was first day out with the new camera.

It's going to be hard to adjust to lower quality macro shots after the G9(i) with Oly 60/90mm macro lenses but portability is key here. A cheap JJC lens cover and a semi-soft case arrived soon after and I think the non-Olympus flash diffuser might be the next purchase.

It's certainly better than the camera in my phone although the similar lack of eyepiece will take some getting used to. Not sure but might be better for the occasional digiscope pictures depending on light. Time will tell.

Friday to GWH

A quick trip up the A3 to collect my membership card.

Surprised that all the outdoor seating was gone just ten minutes after opening, but luckily it was cool inside.

Not much on offer today but the pond's loosestrife held a few bees of the same name,  whilst the pond had some feather-gilled newts and a Haematopota cleg.

Volucella zonaria and Cheilosia illustrata were the only notable hoverflies.

Plenty of butterflies, albeit the usual suspects. Strangely, no Painted Ladies today.

'Bonking beetles' have now replaced Swollen-thigheds.

Eriothrix rufomaculata and Common Green Grasshopper

TH revisit; moths

Forgot to check calendar so, arriving for 9a.m. for moth trapping, found no-one present. Then it dawned on me; half an hour early so plenty of time for a coffee!!

Ed and Zoe went through the two traps for myself and seven other visitors. Plenty of moths and good variety with at least one lifer.

Awaiting moth list.

Ed's list came through yesterday (Sunday) with the contents of two traps in two pages of a spreadsheet. Roughly 160/55 with Small Marbled and Acrobasis repandana being new.

(Knot Grass, Plumed Fanfoot, Buff-tip Pebble Hooktip, Small Marbled, Privet Hawkmoth, Small Ranunculus, Poplar Hawkmoth on Ed's Finger!)

Elsewhere on east side just Great White Egret, Little Egret and Grey Heron within yards of each other but little else.

On the scrapes two Spotted Redshanks, one black, but sleepy and too distant without a scope. Also two Green and one Common Sandpipers. Avocets were approaching 100 but with predation from Lesser Black-backed Gulls and an intruding Fox there was little chance of breeding success. The Black-headed Gulls must have been badly hit with only one or two juveniles.

Large numbers of failed/non-breeding Med Gulls are now a feature of late June.

Plenty of noisy Common Terns and three or four Sandwich Terns. No sign of the earlier Roseate but I'm certain I couldn't have found it without a scope.

At Darters Dip MF pointed out a Norfolk Hawker perched up and in the scope. I couldn't find any Willow Emeralds but a brief Water Vole was the first for ages. 

A few hovers sent to FB for recording. (Dasisyrphus albiostratus, Chrysotoxum verralli).

The start of 'bonking beetle' season and the first flurry of Gatekeepers.

A Paracorymbia fulva was irecorded.