Hardly mothtastic at Base Camp but...

The Safari has been enviously reading about triple figure overnight moth catches of dozens of species all over social media these last few weeks but unfortunately our own moth trap has produced meagre returns both in terms of nightly numbers and of species involved. That's not to say that we haven't had some fun and are always eager to peer in to the trap each morning just in case there's something different in there - - preferably not wasps!

Here's a trundle through some of the moths we've caught - mostly those that have stayed still long enough for us to get a pic of as it's normally already very warm by the time we're able to get to open the trap and there's always a few escapees, probably the most exciting and/or most colourful ones ie Brimstone moth - they just won't keep still!

Brimstone from a couple of years back

The following are all from this month and in no particular order

Acleris forsskaleana

Acrobasis advenella - New for the garden

Blastobasis adustella

Celypha striana

Clay

Currant Pug - New for the garden

Dark Arches - a rather pale individual and worn too

Dot moth

Dotted Clay

Heart & Dart - self explanatory some of these names aren't they!

Large Yellow Underwing

Marbled Beauty

Marbled Minor

Mouse moth

Pammene fasciana

Poplar Grey

Poplar Grey doing what they do best, can you spot him?

Red Barred Tortrix - New for the garden

Riband Wave

A couple of Rustics - or are they???

Scalloped Oak

Small Magpie

Uncertain - Yes that's it's name - - see Rustics above

Our thanks for the trickier identifications go to Sean on Twitter at @mothIDUK he must have the patience of a saint as every morning his feed is jam packed with enquiries from novice moth-ers like ourselves. He really is a font of all moth knowledge and if ever there's a Twitter award he should get it. He's what social media was invented for and should be all about - none of that advertising, spam and bot nonsense.

In other news we've missed a few Bottlenose Dolphins along the coast - we just don't seem to be able to connect with them and the other day we were at a rainy (the first rain for weeks!!!!!!! Grrrrr) Leighton Moss with CR when news broke of a Risso's Dolphin off our former regular watch point at a time when had we not retired we'd have been peering over the wall at the sea. We had hoped to go to the private reserve a little further north but the rain meant we needed at least some cover which is lacking there. The Risso's Dolphin was the second record in less than a year after a decade of no sightings and perhaps begs the question is it the same individual returning this summer after last summer and will it come back around the same time next summer? The species is an infrequent visitor to Liverpool Bay preferring the deeper water of the western parts of the Irish Sea and off the peninsulas of the Welsh coast.

Our visit to Leighton Moss was rain affected and we were a little unlucky with our leaving and arrivinf at certain hides - you should have been here five minutes ago the Otter caught a massive fish and later we were told you should have stayed a bit longer there were three Marsh Harriers up together...dohhh some days the gods are against you but there's always something to see.Summer plumaged Black Tailed Godwits are always a joy

We got a much better shot of a Snipe for our Year List Photo Challenge which still stands at 147 as no more new species were added on this visit.

A Water Rail showed well close by at the Causeway but was always obscured by either a close to us or a close to it reed leaf when the camera fired and we got no pics with its face in a proper clear view.

An adult Water Rail with a tiny black chick was out on the mud on the far side of the pool but too far away for a decent pic unfortunately.

Much closer and of real interest was a Carrion Crow which had picked up a live Eel, we assume (and you should never assume anything) that the Eel was swimming close to the surface among the rocks at the water's edge and the crow had grabbed it, there were no other birds nearby that could have caught and then dropped it.

A Cormorant was also fishing for Eels.

While we waited for the Otters, Ospreys and Bitterns not to show we were entertained by a family of Pied Wagtails flitting around feasting on the innumerable flies and a post hopping Black Headed Gull.

We didn't spend long at the saltmarshes as the pools had dried up and there were only a few juvenile Black Headed Gulls loafing a around - don't think we've ever seen it so dry or so quiet down there.

Young Black Headed Gulls are very bonny birds and all slightly different as they go through their moults at slightly different speeds/times

So a slightly disappointing day out on safari after 'enduring' weeks of glorious weather, the camera was racked up to ISO Stupid for the first time in months!

The following morning dawned hot and sunny - Bl**dy typical!!! - so we took Monty out early to the Rock Gardens before the sun got too hot for him and hopefully before the masses of  blood sucking Cleggs were on the wing - no chance, good job we had our 50% DEET with us just in case.

There was no sign of any White Letter Hairstreaks around their favourite tree but we did see a good many other butterflies; probably in excess of 75 Meadow Browns and likewise 25+ Gatekeepers

with a supporting cast of 'loads' of Small and Large Whites, but no Green Veined Whites that others elsewhere in the country are seeing in good numbers, a few skippers all of those we could get on to and ID were Large Skippers,

a Small Copper,

a female Common Blue

We tried to get a pic of the upperside to show it was a female but Monty was being a nightmare and kept poking his nose in to the grass too close to it and it kerpt flying off, and a Speckled Wood.

Where to next? We've got a moth and bat night coming up later in the week and the moth trap will be back on at Base Camp as soon as this welcome rain gives over. 

In the meantime let us know who's fluttering around the lights in your outback

Skies full of geese

The Safari took the trail north over the border last week. As is usual for our longer journeys we kept a tally of the raptors we saw, it wasn't the best of days for raptors to be on the wing and that was reflected in the numbers seen, Buzzards 3 (of which we missed one) versus Kestrels 1. Dead things amounted to just one Fox (apart from a few Woodpigeons and numerous Pheasants recently released to be shot). Is there no wildlife left in the north of England, surely we'd expect more than that to end up squished along a 150 mile route?

A comfort stop for Monty by the river in Dumfries town centre had us missing an opportunity to get a snap of a Goosander although it would have had to have been a phone-pic as the cameras were packed well down in the back of the car. Three Red Admirals basking on a tree trunk enjoying the warm sunshine was nice to see, we disturbed a fourth from the grass as we walked Monty too.

Arriving at our cottage once unpacked it was time for a quick scan of the calm sea with the binoculars, a Harbour Porpoise was seen almost straight away not far offshore, great stuff!

Sunday 

Our first early morning Monty walk along the beach gave us a small number of Siskins at the top of a pine tree in a neighbouring garden, no chance of any pics for our Photo Challenge in the semi-dark at that time of the morning.

Then it was off for an hour or so before breakfast to the RSPB reserve Mersehead, a wetland and saltmarsh reserve of big skies on the narrow plain twixt the mountains and the sea.

The hedges along the path to the first hide were alive with birds, with every step there was a whirring of wings as the birds moved along the hedge in front of us before doubling back to a favoured spot on the far side of the thick bushes. There were Reed Buntings and Robins galore, Song Thrushes, Greenfinches, Dunnocks, Wrens, Linnets and a Chiffchaff. every foot along the grassy edge to the path, on both sides, had the imprint of a Badger's snout where they had been grubbing up worms overnight. It's a shame the same can't be said for all the other local hedgerows. Red from the multitude of berries was the dominant colour rather than the white of the shattered and splintered twigs and branches left behind by the farmers' flails on the other hedges leaving little food or shelter in this windswept landscape.

Surely it can't take much of a change for farmers across the land to produce hedges full of food like this

Linnets

We heard Goldcrests deep in the hedges, Skylark, Rooks (which seem to rarely get a mention by the Safari these days) and Carrion Crows on the recently cut field and a Buzzard on a post.

Rook (left) and Carrion Crow (right)

Rook

Along the short woodland walk to the next hide a scurry in the grass down by our feet was either a shrew or a vole, it was lost in the undergrowth before we'd got any more than 'mammal' on it! Red Campion was still in flower and shafts of light coming through thee every dwindling canopy illuminated an area of Hawthorn leaves where a cluster of hoverflies were indulging in a mating ritual a bit like Strictly Come Dancing on an invertebrate scale.

Pink Footed Geese called as they flew overhead and on the wetland in the distance there was a flock of Grey Lag Geese and a few Canada Geese

Pink Footed Geese high up and possibly just fresh in from Iceland

But where were the site's speciality the Barnacle Geese? Oh here they are...among the very first arrivals of the autumn!

Coming in from the north over the mountains, their dog-like yapping calls soon filled the air...marvelous! Barnacle Geese (177, YBC #153)
Back along the hedgerow with only minutes to spare before having to return to Temporary Base Camp we noted Yellowhammers, Tree Sparrows and lots of Chaffinches, Robins and Blackbirds.

There were even House Sparrows in the hedge and around the barns and farmhouse, it was like stepping back to an earlier time in our youth when there was still 'bioabundance' in our countryside.

Insects were represented by Red Admirals feeding on Ivy flowers, no Ivy Bees up this far north yet but we were told they've reached the Fylde so that'll be one to look out for next week.

On the short drive back we saw a Jay and a Bullfinch fly across the road in front of us.
The tide was coming in as we arrived flushing Meadow Pipits of the beach and a couple of Ravens were passing overhead.

As we scanned the sea there were no Harbour Porpoises but there was a Red Throated Diver sheltering in the little bay in the lee of the rocks. It might have recently 'overlanded' from the east coast as it spent well over an hour just sitting preening and shaking itself down.

Further out on the sea there wasn't anything more than three Great Crested Grebes and more and more flights of Barnacle Geese overhead. A walk along the beach a little later saw Monty's nose finding a Harbour Porpoise vertebra.

Apologies for the out of focusness and/or camera shake

Where to next? We'll tell you about the rest of the week tomorrow.
In the meantime let us know who's just arrived in your outback.