Mellow Yellow - Donavan

DREEK is considered a fantastic word, and one picked up during my extensive visits to Bonny Scotland over the years, and fits the bill perfectly as to definition. Related to dark, dank, dismal, windy, wet and darn right appalling weather conditions it was the perfect adjective to describe yesterday's dawn! That light rain which gets you soaked in seconds and a 20 knot wind prevented visiting the traps until later in the day, but once there the returns made for the best night of the season. 372 Macro (larger) Moths of 72 Species were recorded with a couple qualifying as First for the Year.

Best viewed from all angles the tiny and quite bizarre

FESTOON

(tail down)

was first on the list and caught

tail up before being consigned to a pot.

SMALL RUFOUS
others, more of novelty value included

the extremely beautiful

GREEN SILVER-LINES

and representing the usually smaller Micros

BEE MOTH
and from the rest of the Insect World a

SUMMER CHAFER

sometimes refered to as a
European June Beetle
(for the majority who voted OUT, maybe we should find another name?)
only half the size and less frequent than its larger cousin the
May Bug.
Still extremely quiet on the Birding Front we were flicking through
some files of images taken in the past few days and most surprised to see
just how many of our Plant photographs feature those with 'YELLOW' blooms.

This particular species of

FOXTAIL GRASS
is not one of them but in 'full pollen' makes for an attractive picture
don't you think?

 EVENING PRIMROSE

 is more of a 'cultivar' here as once grown as a commercial crop

 but it is well known that our Equestrian Ladies can well do without the poisonous
RAGWORT

 In the Chicken Coup of all places was found

 LADY'S BEDSTRAW

 and just as punctuation from
Mellow Yellow
the most attractive

 MEADOW'S CRANE'S-BILL

 In abundance both

 SMOOTH HAWK'S-BEARD

 and

 TALL MELILOT
with yet another break.

 The juvenile
CANADA GOOSE
(the only one found across the Recording Area this year)
now looking very much like the parent birds and very nearly the same size.

YELLOW BARTSIA
We take the 'long overdue' opportunity here to thank our friend
JOHN GIFFORD
for his assistance with identifications not only on this Post
but throughout the Blog. 

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The Tender Trap - Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert Sinatra

The only printable comment with reference to yesterday is

"Thank Heaven's for the Traps"

(Tender or otherwise) 

Another decent show of Moths and other Insects but that was more or less the limit of the day! 

 SMALL SCALLOP

 DOG'S TOOTH

  MULLEIN WAVE

KENT BLACK ARCHES

 and

 SCALLOPED OAK

were all additions to the Year List, while back-up was provided by

 and an unusually 'pale' representative of the diversely marked

OAK NYCTEOLINE

 A decent cross section of other representatives of the

Insect Kingdom

included

a couple more examples of the variations of

HARLEQUIN LADYBIRD

 which may soon turn into a plague?

 16-SPOT CREAM LADYBIRD

 RED-LEGGED SHIELDBUG

and best of all an addition to the Recording Area List

A member of the extensive genus of

Predatory Aquatic Beetles Ilybius

 ILYBIUS FULIGNOSUS

All else included

 COMMON CENTAURY

 now in full bloom,

 the conundrum which is the 

COOT

'still' sitting on what must surely be infertile eggs? and

 MUSK MALLOW

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Harlequin - Genesis

From the album
NURSERY CRYME 
The news from the Highways and Byways is 'scant' to say the least,
in fact were it not for the Moth Traps and Trail Cameras
there would be an absence of Post today.

 DOUBLE LOBED

 LESSER BROAD-BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWING

 BROAD-BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWING

 TAWNY BARRED-ANGLE

GREEN PUG

of no real significance save for looking good perched on the red brick wall.

HARLEQUIN LADYBIRD
From the Trail Cameras

male (top) and female
STONECHAT

male
STONECHAT

ROBIN
in the early morning light

feeding.

STOCK DOVE

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The Trail of the Lonesome Pine - Laural and Hardy

LONESOME PINE 

Now we are talking, a static anemometer, 8 oktas of cloud cover (full), no precipitation in sight and a dawn temperature of +15°C was surely an indication of a good haul from the Moth Traps. While we have been bleating a bit lately about the Bird Doldrums now was as good a day as we have seen over that last few weeks to cheer things up a bit if only with Insects.

First out of the first trap was the robust

PINE HAWK-MOTH

not an addition to any list but a magnificent specimen for all that.

On the other hand 

 SMALL ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH

certainly was an addition to the Year List, but nor so seen here with a larger cousin

 (SMALL ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH) and ELEPHANT HAWK-MOTH

With 3 traps completed we headed for the next which is close

to the 5th Tee on the Golf Course, where we were distracted by

what at first thought to be a Black-headed Gull flying along our beat.

Closer inspection however proved it to be a

SANDWICH TERN

a little off course maybe? An addition to our Recording Area Bird List

it is also only the 8th Sea Bird to be noted here, all of the others being Gulls.

Along with Dave Foot, we have often commented that this stretch of the

RIVER STOUR

is crying out for a visiting Tern but never thought it would be of this Species!  

 GREY DAGGER

is a 'grey' area as far as Moth catching is concerned as it cannot be

distinguished from its relative

Dark Grey Dagger

except by examination of the genitalia, not a process we are likely to put ourselves through.

 MARBLED WHITE SPOT

was also an addition to the same list.

a 'sound' recording only of this bird which now dominates the
Dawn Chorus and any other Chorus that is going!
And from the Trail cameras only familiar fare but slightly better

images and clips.

STOCK DOVE

COMMON BUZZARD

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