A roving report from Pam

Pam has recently returned from a weeks in Tunisia (it should have been two weeks but the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano delayed the holiday by a week) with her friend Marilyn.

Although she wasn't birding Pam did get a nice picture of a Laughing Dove taken in the hotel.

One of the interesting place they visited was El Djem or the Roman town of Thysdrus, which is home to some of the most impressive Roman remains in Africa. El Djem is famous for its amphitheatre, capable of seating 35,000 spectators. Only Rome's Colosseum (about 45,000 spectators) and the ruined theatre of Capua are larger.

I was fascinated by the pictures of the mosaics that are displayed in the museum. These were used to decorate luxury “villas” of the Roman city of Thysdrus, and are regarded as some of the most awe-inspiring relics of all Roman antiques. I like this stylised Owl, but it is the other birds round it that provide an identification quiz. Send your answers on a postcard (or in the comments below).

There are quite a number of different birds on the piece as well, I can recognise a Heron and I think there's a Bustard and a Partridge but what else?

The Axe man

Today was very wet and very dull, looking at what the seawatchers saw from Reculver and Shellness I should have gone to the bay and had a look at the sea, but instead tried to get my moth records into MapMate, as I've let it slip for the last few days.

I also had a look at the photos I'd taken yesterday of this piece of flint. Phil found it as we were checking the Fields on Saturday and he quickly recognised it as a flint tool, probably used as an Axe.

I'm no expert but the shape has definitely been modified and looking at pictures on the WEB it does look rather like an axe from the Palaeolithic or Mesolithic period. We hope to get expert opinion later, but it could be up 700,000 years old, when the first people settled in Britain.

It's not only moths that turn up in the moth trap. This Shield Bug put in an appearance yesterday. I think it is a Hawthorn Shield Bug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale). The larvae will feed on Oak, Birch, Hazel and Poplar as well as Hawthorn.

One on the moths in the trap yesterday was this Brown-spot Pinion (Agrochola litura). Although national this is a common moth it is the first I've caught here.

The Black Rustic (Aporophyla nigra) is one of the more attractive of the regular Autumn moths, normally arriving in the middle of September, although for some reason I didn't catch any last year so its' good to see it back this week.