August 24th 2009

Last night’s mothing session in the allotments along Alywn Rd, Rugby was very good producing 668 moths of 68 species while both Dave and my traps continue to increase.
Once the traps were cleared down I popped down to the pond but even by 6:15am joggers and cyclists were already flushing the overnight arrival of Yellow Wagtails and Wheatears on a very light south then south east wind which was turning to the south west by the time I left the reservoir.
Kingfisher was in toft shallows on arrival with another two seen later while both toft and farnborough bank had up to 26 Yellow Wagtails and 2 Wheatear though none could be found three hours later thanks to the keep fit brigade. There has been a black Tern passage over the weekend so I was pleased with 2 found off draycote bank and a party of 18 arrived at 8:30am from the east but after a couple of feeding runs they took umbrage to the bullying they were getting from the Lesser Black-backed Gulls and flew off west.
Between the windsurfing area and inlet there was a noticeable increase in duck numbers and among the Mallard there was an immature Garganey and 9 Shoveler. I was in rainbow when a jobs worth checked the shoreline of the inlet and had to be content with watching 2 Ruff fly off west. Other water bird species seen were 46 Mute Swan, female Goosander and 25 Teal. Away from the water then warbler activity was noticeable with a juv Lesser Whitethroat near the picnic benches by the windsurfing area, 2 Whitethroat and 3 Blackcap in the sailing club car park, Garden Warbler and Spotted flycatcher by the outlet and 6 Willow Warblers by the sewage farm. Other sightings included 4 Green Woodpecker, 50 Swallow, 50 House Martin, 20 Sand Martin and 4 Long –tailed Tit.
The most notable insect sighting was a pristine Bordered Beauty found under the guttering of the toilet block in the country park and a very embarrassing attempt at balancing ones self on a fence and stretching to photograph it only resulted in it flying higher in to a nearby tree and loads of laughter from a car load of joggers.

Richard