Well a wet and stormy month and Jackie and I had very little chance to be able to get out birding. I managed some moth trapping at the beginning of the month but then the electric decide to stop working so no moths at the end of the month. Though that doesn't mean I didn't catch any good moths. On two nights I recorded three colour forms of The Gem Nycterosea obstipata this was a first for the garden and another migrant.
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three colour forms of The Gem Nycterosea obstipata
© Nick Hull |
Another migrant though one I've caught almost annually has been Dark Sword-grass.
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| Dark Sword-grass © Nick Hull |
Another moth which I caught which I rarely catch was Blair's Shoulder-knot which is one of those moths that mimic dead wood.
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| Blair's Shoulder-knot © Nick Hull |
During the moth I went out with fellow surveyors on the Purbeck Super Nature Reserve and carried out another Waxcap survey which was just in time as it was just before the the frost and snow which wiped them all out, but we had some interesting finds, nothing rare but it enabled us to gain a little experience in keying them out to get to the correct identification and knowing what to look for next year.
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| Hygrocybe ceracea Butter Waxcap © Nick Hull |
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Gliophorus psittacinus - Parrot Waxcap © Nick Hull
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| Hygrocybe virginea Snowy Waxcap © Nick Hull |
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| Hygrocybe conica - Blackening Waxcap © Nick Hull |
I carried out my usual autumn NocMig (Nocturnal Migration) starting in September through most night to mid November. Besides the usual expected species that migrate in such as Wigeon, Redshank, Curlew, Dunlin etc. The more interesting is the thrush migration which started with the Song Thrush in September with 33 on the night 02/03 October but didn't really get going until night of the 24th/25th October along with the Redwing. Though the Song Thrush peaks mirror Redwing but not in the same numbers, or it might be that they are but they do not call as much and the Redwing. They are certainly flying in mixed flocks at time and maybe over a wide area, but what is certain you only record a small percentage of the birds that fly over and it is not always possible to know which direction they are travelling in but based on early morning vis-mig (Visual Migration) here at Lytchett Bay as a general rule head South to North.
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| NocMig of Redwing (green) & Song Thrush (blue) |
So overall on the birding front we had a very poor month but we ended with a very good sea duck. On the 28th a message of a sighting of a Surf Scoter off Middle Beach at Studland but it was getting late in the day. I phoned a friend Steve Smith to let him know as he lives closer and as it happens he was very close so I asked him to message me if it was still present on his arrival which he duly did. So Jackie and I took the chance and headed off to Middle Beach. On our arrival the bird was still off shore but alittle way out but with the scope we had good views though to see detail was very difficult due to the lowering light.
hopefully this link will work.
