Author: galtrym

Missing out on Beluga was one of the few disappointments of our 2016 trip to Alaska.  We never expected to see one in Britain, but this afternoon we dashed off to Gravesend to see the whale that has taken up residence in the Thames. After a couple of hours we were having a Moby Dick afternoon, with a fruitless search for a white whale, but eventually it showed itself.  We got some decent views, but it was never properly cooperative, although we eventually got some pictures (it is a whale, honest – not a lump of polystyrene).  More of a surprise was a Manx Shearwater flying up and down the Thames.

We got better views than this, but getting the camera on it was difficult

Manx Shearwater

Ortolan Bunting has been a bogey bird for some years.  I’ve never been near one in the UK and I’ve unknowingly driven past them in Spain and Greece, only to be told later that I had missed one.

This week has seen an influx into the south coast, but typically they have been flyover birds or birds that vanished immediately, so couldn’t be twitched.  An afternoon in the right habitat on Friday produced nothing at all, so I was beginning to despair again.  On Saturday morning, though, a bird had stayed overnight and was hanging around near Portsmouth, so off we went.

It was still there when we arrived, but was an example of why the birds are so difficult: despite the fact that we knew where it was to within a few feet in a field with short cover, it remained invisible until it was flushed, whereupon it perched up on a hawthorn and showed well.  Bogey bird no more!

A trip to Sidlesham today gave us a Little Stint, and a selection of white birds: Little Egret, Spoonbill and a flock of 11 Cattle Egrets.

At home we had a new moth for the garden, a Boxworm, an introduced species that is becoming the scourge of box hedges.

Boxworm

Oak Hook-tip

Migrant Hawker

Cattle Egrets, with one little Egret mixed in

11 Cattle Egrets and one Little Egret

Spoonbill

After a quiet couple of weeks, autumn happened yesterday, with Whinchat, Spotted Flycatcher and Redstart in the field behind us.  All too distant to photograph, but a couple of Lesser Whitethroats in the garden were a bit more cooperative.  Out and about today we saw our first Wasp Spiders on Thorney Island.

Lesser Whitethroat

Wasp Spider

The long weekend had a trip over to Beachy Head on Saturday for the Melodious Warbler that has been there for a few days, followed by a complete washout on Sunday and a trip to Dungeness today.

Star birds were a number of Black Terns, including one American Black Tern.

A Melodious Warbler finally gives itself up… distantly

Black Tern (European)

Black Tern (European)

Black Tern (European)

Black Tern (American)

Black Tern (American)

Great Green Bush Cricket

It’s been slow in the moth trap of late, but yesterday gave us a wonderful Clifden Nonpareil, rather smaller than last year’s monster, but a stunner nonetheless.  Here’s a few more mothy highlights from recent weeks.

Garden Tiger

Scorched Carpet, a new moth for the house

Sallow Kitten

Iron Prominent

Clifden Nonpareil

It’s autumn already.  We seem to have been the only place in Sussex this weekend without a Pied Flycatcher, but a look in the garden this morning gave us something nearly as good, in the form of a migrating Reed Warbler visiting the pond. We have heard them singing before on spring passage, but this is the first we have seen in the garden.

No wildlife today, but some panoramas from yesterday’s walk from home around Cissbury, Chanctonbury and Lancing Rings, a total of 17.5 miles.  Highlights, other, than superb views, included an incredible number of Wall butterflies on Steep Down, as well as at least 30 Corn Buntings there (presumably a post-breeding gathering) and the biggest rarity: RAIN!

It was quite entertaining to watch either side of the downs getting heavily rained on while I only had a few spots throughout the afternoon.

Chanctonbury (peeking out behind the left of the gorse) and Lancing (the distant wood just right of the very small bush by the right-hand path) Rings from the trig point on Cissbury Ring

Chanctonbury (far left), Lancing to the left of the gap to the sea and Cissbury Rings from the path below Cissbury

Lancing and Cissbury Rings from Chanctonbury

Lancing (far left), Cissbury (right of centre) and Chanctonbury (about 3/4 right) from Steep Down

Cissbury and Chanctonbury (peeking through the cloud of dust from the combine harvester) from Lancing Ring

It’s always a bit quiet bird-wise in June and July, but this weekend has seen a return to birding, with a Red-backed Shrike, handily placed for our lunch appointment and today a walk around Pagham Harbour.  In truth, this was more walk than birding, but we did get a nice red Curlew Sandpiper  and a few other waders.  They were too far away for decent pictures, though.  On the home front, the moth numbers are rising.

Swallow Prominent

Peach Blossom

Ethmia quadrillella, a rarity in Sussex

Directions to the Shrike: turn rght at the Dragonfly sculpture

Red-backed Shrike

A blast from the past

This handsome chap will turn into a grey Sycamore moth

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit, still in summer plumage

Spotted Redshank

Our garden is home to a few species of Bush-cricket and over the last week we have added another in the form of Roesel’s Bush-cricket, which has taken to climbing on our doors and windows.

Also at home, the latest moth trap yielded an Oak Nycteoline, not the first we have had, but the first that has hung around long enough to be photographed.  Meanwhile on the Downs the Dark-green Fritilaries are out.

Roesel’s Bush-cricket

Roesel’s Bush-cricket

Oak Nycteoline

Dark-green Fritillary

Dark-green Fritillary