Autumn Kicks Off Early At Spurn

August 20, 2023

Easterly winds with rain forecast had me watching in anticipation throughout this week.

A trickle of drift migrants on Thursday followed by a more significant arrival on Friday got the juices going. A couple of pied flycatchers on Friday night for me, whilst very welcome where somewhat disappointing.

However no-one could have predicted what would unfold during the first hour of light on Saturday morning.

I started on the beach at the warren but with little to photograph in the first half hour other than distant terns and the odd gull, as well as two very distant arctic skua, I soon had itchy feet.

I heard a message on the radio that mentioned Cory’s Shearwater. I scanned out to sea and couldn’t see anything that resembled a shearwater. Having gone back up to the seawatching area it soon became apparrent that the shearwater had been on the Humber and quite close!

I watched a black tern fly east out of the Humber thinking what might have been if i’d not have gone onto the beach.

Cory’s Shearwater are a rare bird in Yorkshire at the best of times and most are seen distantly off-shore. To get one in the Humber was unprecedented.

It get better-the shearwater had tracked west along the Humber and a running commentary was played out over the radio by various birders between the gate and Sammy’s Point. It had turned around and was heading back. First past Sammy;s, then the Crown and Anchor and then the gate. It did this 3 times each getting a bit closer, before eventually cutting out to sea over Kilnsea then heading north. What an exhilarating hour that was!

The light was fantastic and with high tide around 9am it made for perfect photographic conditions. Common waders were very obliging as they flew along the tideline looking for somewhere to roost.

A showy red-backed shrike was a nice addition to the day as well as more pied flycatchers, a spotted flycatcher and a redstart. I looked for both Icterine Warbler and Wryneck but saw neither.

Sunday was much quieter but a trip on to Kilnsea Wetlands produced more waders including wood, curlew, common and green sandpipers. A few ruff were around as well as greenshank. A great white egret posed nicely in the early morning sun.

A drive back to check the moth trap and then we were away mid morning.

What a fantastic weekend!

Spurn-A Quick Visit

July 30, 2023

I had the briefest of stopovers at Spurn this weekend.

I arrived on Friday evening and the first thing that struck me was the amount of hirundines (swallows and martins) flying around. Great numbers of mainly swallows were ducking and diving catching insects at mainly low level.

A barn owl was hunting in the last of the light directly in front of the caravan.

I put out the moth trap and it was obvious that there were pleanty around. The next morning it was full!That will be the subject of another blog post.

I had a wander along the beach at dawn. great to see all the terns congregating on the beach about a quarter of a mile in front of me. I didnt go any further to avoid unnecessary disturbance.

the highlight was a fly-through arctic skua as well as a few waders passing up and down the shoreline.

from a rarity perspective a cracking Pacific Golden Plover was found off the gate in the morning. It stayed very distant so no stunning photos.

Wader numbers building up nicely so looking good for the next few weeks.

Pacific Golden Plover (Centre) with Golden Plover

Much Ado About Mothing

July 02, 2023

I have been interested in the natural world all of my life and have had a particular fascination with butterflies. They are of course very easy to see and if you go to the right places, there are still good numbers around.

Moths on the other hand present more of a challenge. I remember when I was very young my best friend at the time and I spent many a night outside with a torch and a net out mothing. We caught very little save for the odd silver Y moth, whilst our primitive identification books suggested we could catch all sorts.

Nearly 50 years later I was given a moth trap as a birthday present by my wife. I started using it in the garden and had some early success. The thing is when you have only had very little experience of moths, anything however common is of interest.

As a young lad I used to marvel at the colours of the hawk moths and whilst some are quite common, the reality for me is that I have only ever seen a single poplar hawk moth (and a few hummingbird hawk moths) in 50 years of being out in the wild.

I have also seen the odd day flying moth as I have been wandering around but never paid any great interest.

The moth trap is quite basic with a single bulb above a box with sloping internal flaps with a gap between. In the box I put some egg crates, switch it on and leave it on all night.

My first couple of outings brought modest results from the garden, but still lots of moths I’d never seen before The Lychnis, Green Pug, Clouded Silver and Setaceous Hebrew Character to name but a few.

I have been recommended an app called Obsidentify which has been really useful as well as a great book which has also helped improve my woeful identification skills.My usual process to follow is firstly check the outside of the trap- some of my best moths have been sat on the outside of the trap. Then check each egg crate for anything unusual-as time has passed I have become familiar with common regulars so my attention is immediately diverted to something I’ve not seen before.

I have been keeping a log so the name and quantity of each species is recorded. Anything I can’t identify gets a photo taken on my phone. Finally those that are co-operative enough to have their photo taken are gently taken from the trap and put on to a more aesthetically pleasing perch (in the form of flowers or twigs) usually using a soft paintbrush.

I have also taken the trap to Kilnsea and ran it from the caravan with some degree of success.

The thing I like about the trap most are the diversity of species and some of them look stunning with a few sitting nicely for a photo before flying off.

The other interesting thing about moths is some of the intriguing names that clearly go back to bygone times. The Druid, The Sorcerer, Vines Rustic, Obscure Wainscott-the list is endless. Learning about the identification is equally as good as looking at the catch.

A couple of weeks ago I was checking the trap in the garden and noticed that there were a few unusual ones including an unremarkable brown specimen. Thinking no more of it I took a few photos on the phone to run it through Obsidentify later. I noticed that it flew out of the trap and landed in the grass and I took a couple more photos.

Later in the day I tried to identify this brown moth through the app and it came up as a Rannoch Looper. Again thinking no more of it I put it down to another one to add to the list. It was only when I looked up Rannoch Looper on the Yorkshire Moths website that things got more interesting. The website said that there were only two previous records for Yorkshire and one of those was in 1894! I put it out on Twitter for a second opinion and sure enough the Identification was confirmed. As it happened there was a small influx in Yorkshire that day but nonetheless I had a 3rd for Yorkshire in my back garden!

I must admit I’m more interested in the brighter coloured ones than the rare ones at present. So far i have had common emerald, light emerald, swallowtail, brimstone, barred yellow, peppered moth, lime, poplar, small and elephant hawk moths and a whole host of less colourful but equally interesting moths.

Given that we prepared our garden specifically for butterflies this year, it has been pretty dire, however the numbers and diversity of the moths visiting the garden has more than made up for the disappointing lack of butterflies.

Most moth species have a particular flight period, this also helps with identification as you can rule out a type caught in May if what you suspect it might be only flies in August and September for example.

The species list for garden is already well over 50 with plenty of time to go.

If anyone with a broad interest in wildlife hasn’t tried mothing I’d strongly recommend it, especially during the quiet period over summer when birding slows down.

You’d be better off mothing rather than doing nothing.