August is an odd month I always think, mid summer the kids are off school and this year full on heatwave. Which means that the reptile survey was postponed due to it being so hot the snakes tend to go back underground and wait till its cooler to hunt or they just close down and wait for it to cool down. The birds tend to take cover and seek out the shade, though putting out water trays in the garden helped not just the birds but the bees and wasps butterflies and many other inverts to refresh themselves with a drink.
Jackie and I managed to have twelve trips out though many of them were half days as some were very hot.
Bird wise we managed to add just 4 species to the year list one of them was pretty special. Birding started on the 2nd when, along with Nat our godsons who very kindly drove, we headed off to the Glostershire/Oxfordshire border to a field near Eastleach twitching a Long-tailed Shrike. This was one of two in the country the other being in Fife Scotland. Otherwise there had only been one previous record from Uist in November 2000. The bird we were going to see was officially the 3rd British record as the Fife bird was found first. On arrival the farmer had given permission for birders to park in a field about 500m from where the bird could be found. It didn't take long before we were standing and scoping this stunning bird. Which didn't seem to mind people being around as long as you didn't venture to close which nobody did certainly not while we were there. After watching it for some time I decided to see if I could get a few memory shots of the bird and managed a few ok shots, but the heat haze was awful.
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| Long-tailed Shrike - Eastleach, Glostershire © Nick Hull |
On the 9th Jackie and I popped over to Sunnyside Farm at Ridge as there was a Wood Sandpiper which had been there a couple of days. Interestingly whilst we were waiting patiently for it to show I managed to record it calling somewhere in amongst the rushes. After about half an hour a Green Sandpiper emerged feeding on a wet area of the marsh but the Wood Sandpiper seem to like not to show just call from the cover.
On the 12th we popped out in the garden for the Eclipse and I fiddle around with the camera as I hadn't a clue what the best setting would be, but with a little trail and error managed a couple of reasonable shot. We were just a little late by a minute or two for the perfect half arc.
On the 17th we had a walk at Arne with the grandchildren and had a good visit as whilst walking over Coombe Heath we had an Osprey fly low over us carrying its mullet catch and a distant White-tailed Eagle.
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| Osprey over Coombe Heath Arne RSPB © Nick Hull |
It wasn't until we were having lunch in the cafe garden I picked up the same or another eagle which was much closer carrying prey. It wasn't until I reviewed my photos that I could make out it was carrying a rabbit.
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| White-tailed Eagle over Arne RSPB © Nick Hull |
A visit to Lodmoor on the 19th added Yellow Wagtail to the year list and we had great views of Bearded Tit, Great White Egret, Spoonbill, Little Ringed Plover plus all the many usual species you find there.
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| Yellow Wagtail _ Lodmoor RSPB © Nick Hull |
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| Juvenile male Bearded Tit - Lodmoor © Nick Hull |
Our birding highlights finished on the 22nd when we popped out to the Arable Field on the local patch to see a Whinchat which we only saw at distance along with a family party of Stonechat.
On the butterfly front we didn't add any new species to our year list but of note was the number of Clouded Yellows we have seen. They seem to be everywhere including almost every day seen one or two in the garden. There also seems to be good numbers of the 'Helice' form of Clouded Yellow being seen, in fact I managed a shot of one on our visit to Badbury Rings on the 14th.
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| Clouded Yellow 'helices' form - Badbury Rings © Nick Hull |
Moths in August produced three new species for the garden two micro's and a single macro bringing the garden list to 681 species.
The first was a Pale Seedhead Moth Ptocheuusa paupella which lived up to its name being very small and pale. This is a species that generally prefers damper habitats and flies in June & again in August and September. The larvae feed on seedheads of a number of plants notably Common Fleabane and Golden Samphire.
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| Ptocheuusa paupella - Pale Seedhead Moth - © Nick Hull |
The second micro was a little larger a Wax Moth Galleria mellonella - This is a species that is declining in England the larvae feed on honeycomb in bee hives preferring the old combs. Due to improved methods of bee-keeping means they're becoming rarer.
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| Galleria mellonella - Wax Moth - © Nick Hull |
The third was a Small Ranunculus Hecatera dysodea a moth which in Dorset isn't seen often but has been spreading from the south-east. It feeds on prickly lettuce and seems to be increasing across the county particularly in the Weymouth and Poole Basin areas.
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| Hecatera-dysodea - Small-Ranunculus - © Nick Hull |
As well as recording the moths I also like to try and record what moth recorders call by-catch by this we mean any species that is attracted into the trap ie such as Hornet, Wasp species and beetle etc.
Well back on the 25th May I caught many beetles species in the trap and as I'm not able to key out many on the very small and hard to identifiable species as many require to be gen-det. I pass these on to Tony Allen who kindly identifies them for me and then they are added to the Lytchett Bay species database.
Thanks to Tony who came back to me on the 27th August with the identification of a small weevil Pittosporobius crassus, (formerly Stephanorhynchus crassus) Pittosporum seed-weevil.
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| Pittosporum seed-weevil - Pittosporobius crassus |
It appears they are a New Zealand species. Recorded in Bristol in 2024 with another in Exmouth. More recently in 2026 they have been found in Torbay and Buckfastleigh and all found on Pittosporumm bushes. Incidentally one of which over hangs over a corner of our garden from one of the neighbours. It appears to be the first time they have been recorded in Dorset.
Well September is generally a good month for scarcities as long as the weather is kind.
