Buff-bastard Sandpiper, and a few moths

I didn't post last night as, quite frankly, all you'd have got would have been an (even more) endless stream of bitter expletives. I'd had a shite day at work which all spiralled downwards after a telephone shouting match conversation with an irate Belgian. All through the frustrating day, the first-for-VC55 Buff-breasted Sandpiper was happily feeding and strutting around lagoon 4 at Rutland Water. I eventually got away from work, fulfilled a bit of Dad's Taxi duties and headed off to RW in the early evening. I arrived at c19:05, and would have been heading along the path to Plover Hide (after being steered there by another birder on site, and this also being the last info I'd received a couple of hours earlier) as the Buff-breasted decided to fuck right off for no apparent reason whist being watched from Dunlin Hide. Big fat hairy bollocks.

Whilst I enjoyed watching five Sanderlings, a Grey Plover, several Dunlin, Ringed Plovers, LRPs, Oystercatchers, Lapwings, Common Terns and other stuff, I was well pissed off. A day later though, and being the eternal optimist, I am confident that another Buff-breasted will turn up in my county-birding lifetime. Lagoon 4 is certainly starting to shape up as a superb passage wader site.

I couldn't even muster any enthusiasm last night for posting my garden mothing results as to be honest they were too rubbish to bother. However the catch this morning was slightly better so here's the detail.

17/05/2010 : Total catch 5 of 4sp. (125W MV 5 of 4, 80W actinic feck all)
1776 Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria) 1 [first for year]
1834 Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata) 1
2092 Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta) 2
2102 Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta) 1


18/05/2010 : Total catch 17 of 13sp. (125W MV 13 of 12, 80W actinic 4 of 3)
0608 Elachista rufocinerea 1
0998 Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) 1
1524 Emmelina monodactyla 1
1724 Red Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe spadicearia) 1
1728 Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata) 3
1819 Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata) 1 [first for year]
1834 Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata) 3
1958 Clouded Silver (Lomographa temerata) 1 [first for year]
2063 Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica) 1
2160 Bright-line Brown-eye (Lacanobia oleracea) 1
2190 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica) 1
2284 Grey Dagger (Acronicta psi) 1 [first for year]
2334 Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens) 1

Garden Carpet

Mottled Pug

Clouded Silver

Grey Dagger (bits checked)

Perhaps the most heartening thing I've seen is this:

Cloud cover at dusk - should be moths in the morning!