Goosanders

 

3 Goosander arrive some time after 6am,  heading towards the Warren.

 

After a terrible night's sleep I was awake at 4am and downstairs marking coursework. Not a great start to the day. At 5am I nipped down to Maer Rocks and sat on a bench so that I could scan the bay. My fourth yellow-legged gull in four days flew in and mooched around on one of the sandbars, but it was always too distant for decent photos. Scope views however showed it to be  typically long-winged,  big and thuggish. There was a light but steady passage of black-headed gulls heading towards the river and with them, 4 mediterranean gulls - 2 adults and 2 juveniles. A pale phase arctic skua appeared to be doing laps of the bay and my first grey wagtail of the summer went over, along with 5 curlew. Tern numbers seem low again with just a handful of sandwich terns providing targets for the skua. The best birds however zoomed over just as I was thinking of getting back to get ready for work - 3 redhead goosanders. July is fast becoming the month to see this species in Exmouth. Last year I had a flock of 10 on July 12th.

 

Distant juv YLG over buoy 6. Pretty distinctive, even at range.

 

 

Pig Farm YLG

I've again been bitten by the yellow-legged gull bug! I had my 2nd of the summer yesterday, off Exmouth seafront, and my third today flying over Hayes Barton Pig Farm. I reckon this bird will get up on Blackhill Quarry later. I checked the quarry before the pig farm but the only bird of note was a common sandpiper.

Off Maer Rocks, first thing this morning, were 2 lingering arctic skuas, 6 common scoter and 3 manx shearwater.

Late yesterday evening, off Mudbank, I logged 4 mediterranean gulls - 3 adults and a pristine juvenile.

Last Night's Moths

Meal Moth - a 'micro' that rests with its abdomen curled up. The larvae feed on stored grain.

 

When I've got a bit more time in the mornings I'll properly record numbers of species trapped like I always used to. For now however it's a case of going through the trap quickly before work and potting the species that I want to photograph or photographing them as they rest near the trap. Last night produced a variety of species and good numbers that included, from memory, Buff-tip, Poplar Hawk, about a dozen Elephant Hawks, 3 White Satin, 4 Buff Arches, 1 Silver Y, 1 Dark Sword-grass, 1 Rosy Footman, 2 Angle Shades, 2 Common Footman, 1 Grey Pug, 1 Least Carpet, 2 Clouded Silver, 1 Meal Moth, 1 White Plume, 1 Bee Moth, 1 Light Arches, 1 Scalloped Oak, 1+ Minor Agg, 1+ Willow Beauty, a few Bright-line Brown-eye, 1 Clay, 1 Spectacle, 1 Snout, 1 Fan-foot, several Common Emerald, Small Magpie, Heart and Dart, Heart and Club, Riband Wave and Dark Arches, 1 Small Dusty Wave, 2 Common Wave, Large Yellow Underwing, 1 Swallow-tailed Moth, several Uncertain, 1 Smoky Wainscot, 1 L-album Wainscot, 2 Peppered Moth and at least 1 Pale Mottled Willow.

 

Poplar Hawkmoth - always a joy to see.

Elephant Hawkmoth

Angle Shades - one of two trapped last night.

Grey or Dark Dagger - the two are only safely separable by examining the genitalia.

Smoky Wainscot

Least Carpet - probably the best of last night's catch. I'm not sure of the status of this moth in Devon at the moment. When I trapped my first, nine years ago, it was considered a bit of a scarcity but moth populations can change so rapidly it might be a lot more common now. Anybody know?

Dark Sword-grass - only two immigrant species last night - this and a Silver Y

White Plume Moth - 'Dulux' white and feathery! The caterpillars feed on bindweed - something we've got plenty of out the back.

Peppered Moth

YLG

Good to kick-start the yellow-legged gull season with this smart juvenile in Blackhill Quarry this evening. A pay-off for having to walk our nutty hound. I was pipped to the post this year by Lee Collins who had Devon's first juv of the summer at the Warren yesterday morning. Last year my earliest was one on July 1st but the beach is crap for gulls (both large and small) at the moment so I'll probably pay more attention to the quarry, where there have been loafing flocks of herring gulls the last few weeks. Typical in every respect but perhaps a bit small so presumably a female. Probably Spanish too.

Moth ID Help Please!

I think I got this one wrong yesterday. I thought it was Tawny Shears but I reckon it's actually Beautiful Brocade. Either way it's a new species for me. I'm much rustier than I thought though so would appreciate some confirmation on this one. Can anyone help?

Two New Moths!

Swallow-tailed Moth - large, spectacular and rather common.

The trap was stacked full of moths last night. I caught two brand new species for me - White Satin and Tawny Shears, though both are probably 'tart's ticks' in the moth world. I used to trap in Rockbeare, a very rural area out near Exeter Airport, so there are probably a few more coastal/estuarine species to see here in Exmouth. Fingers crossed! The catch included double figures of Elephant Hawkmoth and a couple old favourites - Cream-bordered Green Pea and Small Angle Shades. There was just one obvious immigrant - a Silver Y.

On the bird front, I spent over an hour looking off Maer Rocks from 5am this morning. Sightings included 8+ common tern, c10+ sandwich tern, 5 mediterranean gull, including my first juvenile this summer, 1 swift, 1 distant skua sp (almost certainly arctic), 2 curlew, 1 redshank, 3 common sandpiper and 3 manx shearwater. Good to see some wader movement.

Cream-bordered Green Pea - one of my favourite little moths.

White Satin - a brand new moth for me!

Tawny Shears - another new one and like many moths, subtly beautiful.

Light Arches

Pebble Hook-tip

Buff-tip

Small Angle Shades

Clay

Small Seraphim

Minor Agg

More Common Moths

Poplar Grey

 

Still feeling very rusty with the old moths. Please let me know if I've misidentified any - I'm well out of practice. As far as birds go, just 3 mediterranean gulls off the Imperial this morning. Yesterday a siskin flew over our road  as I walked to work, and there was 1 little tern, 2 common tern, 1 manx shearwater  and 14 common scoter off Maer rocks first thing. 

 

 

Common Emerald

Scalloped Oak

Fanfoot

Heart and Club

Clouded Border

Lime-speck Pug

Uncertain

Peach Blossom

Minor Agg

Straw Dot

Bright-line Brown-eye

 

Brown Silver-line

Sharp-angled Peacock