Sunday 9 November 2008

Delicate Moth

After a few days when I didn't run any moth traps I tried for a couple of nights, before giving up in the gale force wind tonight.

Delicate (Mythimna vitellina)

I had very few moths, four to be precise, but two of them were migrants, a Delicate, a nice name for a subtly marked insect. This was the fourth of the year and the latest date I've ever caught one. Even in 2006, an amazing year for migrants, when I caught 72 Delicates, the last was on Oct 27th, although in 2005 one made it to Oct 31st.

Dark Sword-grass (Agrotis ipsilon)

I've had a few more Dark Sword-grasses this year but again this is the first time I've caught one in November.

Goldfinches continue to dominate the Finch movements and in the evening groups arrive at Bockhill Farm Wood, presumably to go to roost. In the picture above the bottom right-hand bird is a Lesser Redpoll, that for some reason looks as if it has a very dark head, the camera can lie!

In the garden the arrival of migrant finches is seen by the activity on the feeders. A sudden influx of Goldfinches, that today did well to cling on to my battered feeders. The Goldfinches continues to choose Sunflower seed bits before anything else, I gave up on Nyger seeds as they never got touched.

For the first time I'm trying Millet, and Chaffinches seem to choose it. The feeder with it in hadn't been used much until the last week, but now most of the time one or more Chaffinches are feeding on it.

Greenfinches will feed om most seeds, but sunflowers and Peanuts seem the favourites.

This one sat outside my study, looking like the weather, miserable, at least it seems to have a down cast expression to me.

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