Birds, Leps, Observations & Generalities - the images and ramblings of Mark Skevington. Sometimes.

Friday 16 April 2010

Dire Here

Ran the traps last night - yet another cool and breezy night with little return. Total catch was a mere 21 of 4sp (125W MV 16 of 4, 80W actinic 5 of 2):

0663 Diurnea fagella 1
2187 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi) 7
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 8
2243 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) 5

In fact, by far the highlight of my emptying session this morning was a smart male Blackcap in the garden.

Early Grey in an arty-stylie

Tonight after dinner, I took a leisurely and relaxing walk down the lane. The sun was already fading when I left out but still plenty of singing going on - sadly it was predominantly coming from numerous Red-legged Partridges. I was extremely pleased though to see and hear a couple of Yellowhammers. One of the regular Little Owls was sat out surveying the scene, whilst a Common Buzzard watched over the same area frm a much higher perch.

On the way back, I saw my first bats of the year - upto five Pipistrelle of one frequency or another were hawking around ash and sallow. By then it was pretty dusky and starting to feel decidedly cool.



Running moth traps on nights with little moonlight can be pretty good. Except when the sky around it is crystal clear and the temperature is dropping like a stone.


I decided to listen to the logical part of my tired brain which insisted that running the moth traps tonight would be a waste of time.

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