Mothing - the most insane night of the year!

 Crazy is the only word that comes remotely close to describing the events which unfolded over the course of last night. I had the garden MV trap switched on at around 18.30 hrs under clear skies and a very impressive full(?) moon. So impressive, in fact, that I actually spent some time playing around attempting to get some images, although using a very cheap lens with the resultant drop in image quality.

As 20.00 hrs approached, so the skies darkened and it was obvious that a thunderstorm was approaching from the west as the lightning flashes illuminated the distant horizon. Within half an hour the rain started, intensifying very quickly to a point that I wondered why I'd bothered with the trap. In bed by 22.00 hrs, I was well aware that the rain was still falling although, around 04.00 hrs, I'd got up for a wee, the moon was on show again. And so on to what happened next. I didn't get up until around 08.00 hrs and was greeted by a very dull scene of thick grey clouds and soaking vegetation. Kettle on, out into the garden I went to switch off the trap. BLOODY HELL!! - it was absolutely heaving with moths. Quickly covered up, I went back to make the first coffee of the morning before returning to examine the visitors to the egg trays. It was migrant city, with very few species which I recognise as local residents. Blair's Shoulder-knot and Beaded Chestnut were two exceptions and both new for the year. Photos and captions from here on.

Rusty-dot Pearls - SEVENTY-FOUR counted

Olive-tree Pearl - THIRTEEN present

The Gem - FOUR

Scarce Bordered Straw - TWO including this nice dark example

Rush Veneer - TWO

On the second to last egg tray I finally set eyes upon the moth I'd been after since getting back from Corfu. A Radford's Flame Shoulder, and a really smart example was there on the underside of the tray.

Radford's Flame Shoulder - never has a moth been more welcome.

There were a couple of other bits worthy of mention. A very smart looking Ichneumon sp. and my first Brindled Plume of the year. 

Ichneumon sp. - very impressive

Brindled Plume

It is events like this which make running a garden moth trap such a wonderful adventure, you just never know what'll turn up?

Around and about

Knowing that this coming Friday is my only angling opportunity, until after the West Country wedding excursion, I decided to take a drive across to the flatlands to check out the situation with Black Dyke and some of the side drains. Gin clear water and associated luxuriant weed growth is what I encountered, thus am now convinced that these venues will remain off limits until after a serious period of frosts? So Friday seems likely to involve a return to the RMC, unless I get the heads up about another venue! Whilst I was wandering about it seemed silly not to go that extra mile and check out what was happening on Worth RSPB Res. Fairly quiet would be a fair assessment yet it really is an impressive habitat which has been created and will surely continue to attract good numbers of common wetland species plus the inevitable oddity as well.

Six, of the eleven, Egyptian Geese out on Worth RSPB Res.

I didn't encounter another soul whilst on my wanderings and spent the time pointing the camera at anything of interest that I happened upon. The recent Corfu holiday has certainly impacted upon my mind-set and I am now far more willing to look at a life form as opposed to ignoring the creature involved. 

Wall Brown - not at all common around East Kent these days.

Male Migrant Hawker - numerous around the area but still nice to see.

There were good numbers of common ducks present and I also managed to spot a Great White Egret, my second in two days! I slowly made my way back towards the van seeing a Common Buzzard, a very agitated adult female Peregrine and a smart male Stonechat along the way. 

Back at the bungalow I needed to get my arse into gear and get the grass cut. It had been over a month since I last did it and boy did it show? Mission accomplished in just under an hour, the garden looks a whole lot better for the effort involved. I was doing a bit of "dead-heading" around the garden planters when I stumbled across two Nursery Web Spiders, sunbathing on the solar panel of one of the garden lights. Straight into Corfu mode, the 18 - 55 mm lens with a 20 mm extension tube was fitted to the camera and I grabbed a few images of these very common inverts.

There was a Great Spotted Woodpecker, very briefly, at the garden feeders this afternoon. It certainly wasn't the adult male, yet I didn't get a good enough view to see if it was the original bird or yet another individual. Overnight the moth trap had attracted a few visitors with a very smart Scarce Bordered Straw being the pick of the bunch. Two each of Rusty-dot Pearl and The Delicate were the only other candidates for migrant activity so my wait for a 2024 Radford's Flame Shoulder continues!

Another day?

I have to start this offering by saying what a very pleasant time was spent in the company of my fellow Pike fishers at the first Canterbury/Thanet Region PAC meeting of this new season. As to be expected, the gang were very up-beat about the prospects for the coming winter and long may it continue? The King Ethelbert PH, at Reculver, is where it all happens and the venue lends itself, superbly, to our gatherings. So it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise, therefore, that this morning I took a drive down to the RMC for the first cast of the Pike season.  However, what should also be of no surprise is the fact that I blanked. Heavily coloured water and umpteen Eel indications were as good as it got, from an angling perspective. Thankfully, in my world, there's more to fishing than just catching fish. The dawn was a non-event, the sky just got less dark. It was dull and dank, with a hint of "mizzle" in the air. I did manage to see a few Redwings moving overhead, which ties in nicely with other sites around the East Coast but, it was a Great White Egret (possibly two?) which provided the highlight for the session.

The 2nd time I saw it (?) this morning.
Far better light conditions than the first sighting.

Just after 08.20 hrs, in awfully dank conditions, my first encounter of the morning.

By 10.30 hrs I'd had enough of the Eel action and was headed back towards the van. Back home well before mid-day, I got the kit unloaded from the van before downloading the GWE images onto my laptop. It was whilst I was looking at these images that something caught my attention out in the garden. Bloody hell - the Great Spotted Woodpecker is back! Picking up my binoculars it immediately became clear that this was a different bird - an adult male! Camera quickly in action, I am very pleased with the images I obtained. 

Just like busses - none, then two in quick procession!

So now I'm back at the laptop, surveying the results of the Great Spotted Woodpecker encounter when a bird hovered above the Buddlehia before dropping down on to our neighbour's fence. Grabbing my binoculars it was obviously a Black Redstart. Sadly, gone within seconds and the camera didn't stand a chance.

Garden entertainment

Still haven't managed to get out with the rods, as yet, because things didn't quite go to plan. No big deal, as I am now resigned to the fact that a Pike fishing campaign will be main focus of my efforts in the coming months. However, before this becomes a reality, Bev's son is getting married, next weekend, and the only event which is of relevance at the moment. (Bev's assessment - of course!) So, with this as the background, I have spent much of my time getting the Pike gear sorted out. Lots of new traces have been put together using, both, double and treble hooks (all barbless) specifically for my dead bait presentation. It was whilst sat at my desk (?) - where my laptop is positioned - preparing new traces when I saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker at the peanut feeder. Now whilst this species is recorded annually,  I have never, previously, seen one using the garden feeders.

The MV trap continues to attract a few moths which are worthy of mention, although Radford's Flame Shoulder isn't one of them. Once autumn is here, then the "Sallow" gang appear and, so it has been, The Sallow and Barred Sallow have been taken, on consecutive nights, and I am sure that there won't be too many other new species on the year list before the trap is retired for another year?

The Sallow

Barred Sallow

Return to The Garage Pool

 With Bev and I having made the weekly visit to Tesco it was some time after 13.30 hrs that I decided to have another drive down to Cliffsend to see if I could get some better images of the Black-necked Grebe. As it turned out the grebe had gone and I was, therefore, very thankful that I'd made the effort yesterday. Although I was only on site for a very short while I didn't leave without pointing the camera in the direction of an extremely confiding Little Egret. 

I was back home within ninety minutes and that included me taking a quick wander around King George VI Park - major error given the numbers of dog walkers using the park at that time of day. I ran the moth trap last night purely because I'd been keeping up with what Sandwich Bay Obs and the Folkestone crowd had been reporting all the time we were on Corfu. It would seem that, weather conditions permitting, Radford's Flame Shoulder is a good possibiliy at the moment. Last night, however, didn't provide me with too much to get excited about. Three Delicates, two each of Feathered Ranunculus, Lunar Uderwing & Large Yellow Underwing plus a single Angleshades. Tonight's forecast is much improved on yesterdays, so the trap will be in opperation again, so fingers crossed. All things going to plan I should be back out down the local club "Carp Puddle" tomorrow for few hours?

Back to reality

 It was just before 03.00 hrs, this morning, that I parked the car on our drive for the first time in twenty-three days! Absolutely knackered, Bev and I were tucked up under the duvet within a few minutes because the luggage could wait until later to be sorted out. Yet, as crazy as it might seem, within seven hours of getting home, I had a wander around The Garage Pool, at Pegwell Bay in the hope of spotting the Black-necked Grebe which had been in residence since early October. 

Yes I know it's "twitching" but, I was on my own and didn't see another birder (or togger) during the time I was down there. The light levels weren't particularly conducive for obtaining anything more than record images. I also used the 1.4 X converter with the 100 - 400 mm lens because it spent the majority of its' time actively hunting the far side of the pool. It's certainly been some time since I last set eyes upon this species so, being just down the road, it seemed silly to ignore it?

I've now had time to do a bit of research and it would appear that the Noctuid moth, which I posted yesterday, is nothing other than a Poplar Grey. It is certainly much more contrasting in light and dark patternation than those I see in my garden and isn't a species I associate with Pine covered hillsides or flying in mid-October. 

Pike season is already ten days old and the first Canterbury/Thanet PAC regional meeting takes place on Monday night. Conditions are far too warm, at present, for me to think about getting a dead bait out in the water but, I do need to get the rods dusted down as I've not been fishing since the 5th September! The Morrison's wet fish counter, in Canterbury, needs to be visited in order to procure some Mackerel and Herrings, so that I can get them dyed and flavoured prior to placing them in the freezer awaiting yet another campaign in search of that fish of my dreams.

Day twenty-one - a Noctuid conundrum

Bev and I are sat in the bar area, of the Irene complex, awaiting our airport transfer. So just time, and computer battery life, for me to share an image of a Noctuid moth which I'd potted beside the external light yesterday evening. It's certainly not a species which I recognise, but that's not particularly unusual. A large species of similar proportions to Feathered Ranunculus. I'll have plenty of time to search through my reference material when we get home.

The only other moths attracted were a Vestal and two Rush Veneers. Gatwick here we come!