Monday 12 October 2009

October 11th 2009

Luckily last nights weather was dry and mild so both Dave and I had good moth catches with Dave managing 19 moths of 12 species including Feathered Thorn and I had 22 moths of 9 species with 3 Red-line Quaker and 9 Blair’s Shoulder-knot.
After a look for owls in the valley we met up with Di and Steve for a walk out to toft bay, Draycote Water this morning in poor light and rain. The duck flock were widely scattered in small groups and I eventually found the Lesser Scaup on the north side up against the bank near the culvert. Light and distance made for poor viewing but once the fishing boats came out the flock ended in toft bay and gave reasonable views. Also present were a day time calling Tawny Owl, 50 Redwing over toft shallows, Rock Pipit on farborough bank near visitors centre and 2 Raven in toft bay.
After breakfast with Steve we took a look at Lawford Heath and there were plenty of larks, pipits, gulls and sparrows but the rain and wind made viewing difficult so moved on to Brandon Marsh where we saw 19 Snipe, the long staying Greenshank and a few Wigeon arriving. Vapourer Moth and Comma butterfly also present when the rain stopped.

By late evening the night sky was clear and crisp so spent a few hours exploring the Milky Way with a good passage of Redwing heard going over.

Richard

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