July 19th 2008

Not had a chance to get out today so the only thing of note I have seen today were four young Bullfinches on the garden feeder. I managed to trap a few good moth species last night which was pretty amazing considering at one stage the trap was threatening to float away, new for the year were Chinese Character, Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, and Miller. Some of my better photos were of

Antler Moth

Miller

Brimstone Moth
Checked the internet on how the bay of Biscay was doing and the last trip out had Fin Whale 19, Sperm Whale 1 (probable), Minke Whale 2, Northern Bottlenose Whale 4, Cuvier's Beaked Whale 9, Long-Finned Pilot Whale 49, Bottlenose Dolphin 146, Risso's Dolphin 2, Pygmy Killer Whale / Melon-Headed Whale 15, Common Dolphin 1241, Striped Dolphin 437, Harbour Porpoise 3,
Cory's Shearwater 31, Little Shearwater 1, European Storm-Petrel 7, Sabine's Gull 1, so with three weeks to go things are starting to hot up for our trip.
Took the opportunity to check on my bird list for the year and now stands at 150 species seen at Draycote and 174 for the patch which is just two short of the total I had for last year. Weather looks reasonable for tomorrow so me and Dave plan a real bash at the valley and then on to the woods for butterflys.

Richard