Fulvous Whistling Duck

Spent the day on the Humber beginning with Alkborough Flats where we had this Fulvous Whistling Duck which of course will be an escapee from somewhere.  Other birds of note were 3 Little Egrets, 6 Ruff, 4 Green Sandpipers, 25 Dunlin and about 40 Avocets.  Around Read's Island were a further 700 Avocets, 1 Knot and 1 Bar-Tailed Godwit.  All in all a very quiet day.

Mulberry Tree and Indian Bean Tree

The trees in Normanby Park continue to give an excellent display  with  the Mulberry Tree fruiting and the Indian Bean Tree flowering at the moment - neither being native, the Mulberry is Chinese/Japanese origin and the Indian Bean Tree originates from the gulf of America but very welcome none the less.  The first set of images are the Indian Bean Tree, the second being the Mulberry.

Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner

I'm sad to say that I think the Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner has come to Normanby Park - I took these images this morning and compared them to the following images found at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Horsechestnut.pdf/$FILE/Horsechestnut.pdf - see what you think. The only doubt in my mind is that we haven't had any of these moths in our moth trap or so I think - I'll scrutinise more carefully though the next time we have the light on.

Swallow and Pale Prominents & Small Blood Vein

Not so many moths in the trap last night but it was a much cooler night than of late - however we are still turning up new garden ticks.  Over the last few weeks the most common moths by far have been Ruby Tigers and Poplar Hawkmoths - on Wednesday morning we had 26 Ruby Tigers.

Small Blood-vein

Swallow Prominent - compare with Lesser Swallow Prominent in previous post

Pale Prominent

Who knows! insects attracted to the moth light each night but no time to id them.

White Satin Moth, Miller, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Pebble Hook-Tip, Birdswing,

Back after a short break to blogger due to one old laptop driving me to distraction and one new laptop with no software!  Finally managed to install Photoshop so now able to share our recent moth nights - probably the best we have had with numerous Poplar and Elephant Hawk Moths plus a few new garden ticks as shown below.  We have also attended a fantastic one day moth identification course run by Dr David Chesmore - during the day we took the photo below of a Psychidae which we found at Far Ings reserve - I can't even begin to explain what it is so google it!

White Satin Moth

Birdswing

Psychidae

Drinker Caterpillar

Pebble Hook-Tip

Lesser-Swallow Prominent

Miller

Forest Shield Bug attracted to the moth light

White Satin Moth

White Tailed Plover at Dungeness

Couldn't believe it when this afternoon the mega of last month once again came on the pager for Dungeness in Kent - yes the White Tailed Plover landed at 3.00pm this afternoon via Liverpool, Holland and Slimbridge, Gloucestershire. Only a four and half hour trip down so ........

ok only joking would we miss the world cup final for a bird(yes shouts Wayne) - these pics were taken by my brother  http://theshadoxhurstgarden.blogspot.com/  who lives just a stones throw away from Dungeness!

The Olive, Grey Poplar, July High Flyer,Broad Boarded Yellow Underwing

I know these are poor shots but it's blowing a gale today so hard to get anything out of the trap - lots of nice moths again last night with two new garden ticks - The Olive and we think a July High Flyer

The Olive

Grey Poplar

July Higher Flyer?

Broad Boarded Yellow Underwing

Large Yellow Underwing

Birds Wing, Miller, Swallow-Tailed Moths

 Two new moths in the trap this morning - a Bird's Wing and a Miller - looking at distribution maps for the Bird's Wing we were lucky to get it - also lots of the usual including Elephant and Poplar Hawk Moths, Burnished Brass, Dark Arches and our favorite the Buff Tip. A great summer for the trap this year in as much as we have had no rain for ages so we can leave the light on over night and process in the mornings - tonight is going to be another warm muggy one so hopefully tomorrow will bring another new garden tick.

Bird's Wing

Miller

Swallow-Tailed Moth

Hummingbird Hawk-moth

The first visit of the summer to the garden from a Hummingbird Hawk-moth - two days behind my Mother's Scunthorpe garden visit.

Spotted Flycatcher update

I think I have been tricked by my pair of Flycatchers - they have conned me into thinking they were sitting on eggs when quite clear they have hatched and have done very well.  The evidence being that this morning both birds were feeding one very lonesome  large chick (still in the box) - I can only assume that other chicks have already fledged although no sign of any around the nest site. I shall probably return this evening to try to ascertain how many fledglings this pair have produced.

Buff Tip, Coxcomb Prominent, Dot Moths

Dot Moth - I think!

Buff-Tip

Coxcomb Prominent? 

Buff Tip head on

Alkborough Flat's Black Tailed Godwits

A snippet of Black Tailed Godwit video from Alkborough

As the video shows, .Godwits are very rarely still which makes them very difficult to photograph so remember this when viewing the photos above!

Poplar HawkMoth & Large Green Emerald

A couple from the trap last night

Poplar Hawk Moth

Large Green Emerald

Elephant Hawk Moth

Burnished Brass

Elephant Hawk Moth