Bystock

Beautiful Yellow Underwing

 

A great night trapping at Bystock with members of the Devon Wildlife Trust last night, accompanied by the magical sounds of Nightjars and Tawny Owls. Nick, Bob and I all ran our traps, wrapping things up around 1am. Many thanks to Derek and Edric for making the event happen. The species list included at least 49 macros - Lackey, Drinker, Peach Blossom, Buff Arches, Common Lutestring (2), Grass Emerald (2), Large Emerald, Common Emerald, Small Emerald, Small Fan-footed Wave, Riband Wave, Lead/July Belle, Common Carpet, July Highflyer, Scallop Shell (2), Slender Pug, V-Pug, Green Pug, Brussels Lace, Clouded Border, Horse Chestnut (2), Brimstone, Early Thorn, Swallow-tailed Moth, Peppered Moth, Mottled Beauty, Buff-tip, Brown-tail (2), Rosy Footman, Dingy Footman, Scarce Footman, Buff Footman, Four-spotted Footman (2), Kent Black Arches (3), Flame Shoulder, Large Yellow Underwing, True Lover's Knot, Square-spot Rustic, Beautiful Yellow Underwing, Grey Arches, Clay, Smoky Wainscot, Grey/Dark Dagger, Small Angle Shades, Dark Arches, Ear Moth, Marbled White-spot, Silver Y and Fan-foot. Ear Moth was the most abundant species with the vast majority choosing Nick's trap, which was positioned near the edge of the meadow. I had just 3 in mine.
Micro species included Bee Moth, Small Magpie, Mother of Pearl, European Corn-borer, Tabby Knot-horn, Yellow Satin Veneer,  Pearl Grass Veneer, Diamond-back Moth, Heather Knot-horn and several species that still need identifying.

Heather Knot-horn - Pempelia palumbella

Tabby or Ash-bark Knot-horn - Euzophera pinguis

Grey Arches

Small Angle Shades

Pearl Grass Veneer - Catoptria pinella

Large Emerald

Marbled White-spot

Kent Black Arches - one of three trapped

Micro sp

Presumed Scoparia ambigualis or ancipitella

Common Lutestring

Mottled Beauty

Grass Emerald

Scallop Shell

 Red-barred Tortrix -   Ditula angustiorana

Horse Chestnut

 

Lackey

Moths in Hedges

Dwarf Cream Wave

 

I had a leisurely search for moths and butterflies along Gore Lane this afternoon. I was surprised to find a Purple Hairstreak - my first on Orcombe and frustrated by not being able to photograph a Small Scallop - a moth I've not seen since we lived in Rockbeare. Other moths found included Red Twin-spot Carpet, Ruddy Carpet, Common Carpet, Garden Carpet, Wood Carpet, Galium Carpet, Yellow Shell, Single-dotted Wave, Small Magpie, Snout, Diamond-back Moth, Yellow satin Veneer and Nettle-tap.

I didn't run the trap last night and birding has been distinctly unremarkable, if you don't count Mediterranean Gulls that seemed to be everywhere I looked today.

Galium Carpet

Small Fan-footed Wave

Diamond-back Moth - one of several seen - all very dark cf all the pale ones earlier in the summer.

Yellow Satin Veneer - Crambus perlella

Wood Carpet

Striped Wainscot, Currant Pug and Yellow Wag

Mediterranean Gull

 

My first Yellow Wagtail of the autumn flew north along the seafront first thing this morning. About 20 Common Scoters were distantly offshore and on the beach there were adult and juvenile Mediterranean Gulls with another couple juveniles out in the bay. Two Little Egrets arrived 'in-off' as did 7 Swallows. Off Mudbank there were 11 Mediterranean Gulls (including 5 juveniles), 90+ Sandwich Terns, 13 Mallards and 3 Redshank.

The mothing was excellent last night. I've been dying to see Striped Wainscot (I've got a thing about the Wainscots) so I was over the moon to find one hiding in the egg boxes. It's a subtly beautiful moth but my photos don't do it justice. The rest of the large catch included Barred Red, Bordered Beauty, Leopard Moth, Phoenix, Herald, Four-spotted Footman and Ochreous Pearl - another new one for me. Immigrants were represented by 2 Silver Y, 2 Diamond-back Moth, 1 Rusty Dot Pearl and 3 European Corn-borer, though I suppose any of the aforementioned species could actually be locally bred. It's always very difficult to be sure with moths.

To top off a wonderful morning Nick came over and casually handed me a pristine Currant Pug - yet another long-awaited first and macro species number 450 on the 'photographed' list.

 

Striped Wainscot

 

 

Superficially similar to Smoky Wainscot but actually quite different, with delicate shades of pastel pink and straw yellow. The wings are dusted with tiny black scales and the wing shape is more rounded - a lovely moth.

 

Leopard Moth

Tortrix sp - Edit - Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix - thank you Martin!

Barred Red

European Corn-borer

Oegoconia sp?

Ochreous Pearl - Anania crocealis

Female Four-spotted Footman

Marbled Bell - Eucosma campoliliana

 

Herald

 

Currant Pug - thanks Nick!

Brent and Juv Med

 

Dark-bellied Brent Goose - Mudbank. This bird has been hanging around for a few days now. A terrible photo but it's a bit of a novelty capturing an image of this species in July.

 

The hot weather has coincided with the start of the summer holidays but it makes birding ten times harder. Not only is it uncomfortably hot but the seafront is heaving with tourists and locals and the glare on the water makes looking at the estuary a difficult task. That said, I did just about manage to grill the gull flock off Mudbank and pick out my first juvenile Mediterranean Gull of the summer. A couple of older birds were also in the flock but I didn't even attempt any photographs. The Dark-bellied Brent Goose is still off Mudbank and 8 Mallards herald the start of the annual late summer duck build-up.

I was a little disappointed with last night's moths. Conditions were great but the only new species was a tiny Tortrix that has so far confounded my identification attempts. It was good to see only my second ever Gold Triangle and several species made their first appearance of the summer. The only immigrants were 5 or 6 Diamond-backs and a couple Rusty Dot Pearls. Several Silver Ys were disturbed from the grass on Bystock Common but there were none in the trap!

 

Gold Triangle - this is only the second one I've ever seen. In the pot it adopted its full resting posture with its wings stretched out. A very smart little moth.

Grey Knot-horn - Acrobasis advenella ? I'm struggling with these.

My first Ruby Tiger of the summer.

Plume Moth sp. Nick trapped this moth along with a slightly slimmer, paler-looking Common Plume. Is it just Common Plume or something else?

Nut-tree Tussock - one of three trapped and the first I've seen this summer.

Tortrix sp - it's very frustrating not to be able to put a name to this smart little micro. It's totally unfamiliar to me so certainly 'new'.
Edit - after an extensive search online I finally found a match - Cock's-head Bell - Zeiraphera isertana

Acorn Piercer - Pammene fasciana

Coleophora sp

Cloaked Minor

 

 

Elm Button - Acleris kochiella

 

Orchid sp - Bystock - Southern Marsh??

 

Six-spot Burnet and Cinnabar Moth larvae on Ragwort - Bystock.