September began very wet and the first chance I had to get out was on the 5th to do a reptile survey with Terry. Whilst walking through some gorse he almost stepped on a Wryneck which lifted off the ground and perched 2m in front of us before flying into gorse to our left. We went to grill the gorse and we had another brief view as it perched on top before flying off across the heath and disappeared from sight. I went back next day with Jackie to see if we could find it but with no luck. So we checked out the fields along Soldiers Road and Hartland Moor, where we found Yellow Wagtails and Wheatear opposite the Stud and had Whitethroat and Redstart in the gorse on the heath further along.
 |
| Wryneck from my archive © Nick Hull |
On the 8th Jackie and I met friends down from London and after lunch at the Halfway Inn went for a walk at Coombe Heath at Arne and was treated to views of an Osprey and a Hobby.
 |
| Osprey over Arne © Nick Hull |
After our walk at Arne we arrived home and had afternoon coffee and were generally relaxing and I must have snoozed a little when I was woken by my phone giving me an alert and a WhatsApp message saying five Glossy Ibis had just flown in to Lytchett Fields, so Jackie and I quickly grabbed bins and camera and out the door as quickly as we could. We were almost there when another message said they were now in the bay off of the Rock Lea VP. A couple minuted later we were watching the five Glossy Ibis feeding in the evening sunlight out in the bay.
 |
| Glossy Ibis - Lytchett Bay © Nick Hull |
Next day they were still present and they spent time on the Sherford Pools field and later moved to Lytchett Pools field and were much closer to view and I was able to get some fairly ok shots of them whilst they fed. These were a patch tick for Jackie and myself as we had missed previous birds.
 |
| Glossy Ibis © Nick Hull |
 |
| Glossy Ibis © Nick Hull |
The rest of the month was pretty uneventful seeing all the regular species. It wasn't until the end of the month we visited Pennington in Hampshire when we added a couple of good autumn migrants with Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper though the views were cut short because of two Peregrines harassing the waders and they all flew off towards Lymington.
 |
| Little Stint with Dunlin © Nick Hull |
The only other highlight in September was a butterfly which I personally do not see that regularly these days but over the month had seen them at Swineham, Slepe, Stoborough and had my first on the Lytchett patch for several years that is Wall Brown.
 |
| Wall Brown Lasiommata megera butterfly Swineham Point © Nick Hull |
The only new moth this month wasn't in the trap but resting on a leaf beside the trap, this was a rather nice Sallow.
 |
| The Sallow Xanthia icteritia - © Nick Hull |
On the 30th Jackie noticed a fungus growing in the front wildlife garden and asked me what it was and taking a look at it was a little surprised to see three Butter Waxcap Hygrocybe ceracea. It was a surprise because on my Waxcap id course last autumn I was told they only grow on unimproved ground but it's a great addition to the Lytchett list.
 |
| Butter Waxcap Hygrocybe ceracea © Nick Hull |
That's it for our September highlights hopefully October will bring a rarity or two.
