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A nice surprise by the pond yesterday when we discovered the first Migrant Hawker for the garden.

A nice surprise this evening when a Sedge Warbler turned up in our garden pond.  It’s the second we’ve had this autumn.  I was able to sneak up on it and get a picture, but the pond’s a bit busy, so there was no chance of getting it unobscured, and the light had already gone, so it’s a bit noisy.

We had a bit of a warbler frenzy at that point, with a Willow Warbler, Chiffchaffs, Lesser Whitethroat and Blackcap pinging around the bushes near the house for half an hour.

A better picture of our Clifden Nonpareil, a real stunner.

An eventful weekend, with a spectacular end.  We had a quick check for migrants at home on Saturday morning: two spotted Flycatchers the stars of the show, but our first Lesser Whitethroats of the autumn were good to see, and then off for what turned out to be a butterfly day.  Some Queen of Spain Fritillaries at Peacehaven gave some nice views an then at Beachy Head some more common butterflies behaved well.

On Sunday, either the same two or two new Spotted Flycatchers posed together, but the year’s first Sedge Warbler hid in the pond vegetation to avoid the camera.  Then off to Cuckmere to twitch the Baird’s Sandpiper that had just been found.  A much-wanted British lifer bites the dust.  Back home, we emptied out a truly pathetic moth trap: very few moths and nothing interesting, until our first Clifden Nonpareil opened its wings.  Massive and magnificent!  It’s not often an insect upstages a special bird, but the Nonpareil truly lives up to its name.

Speckled Bush Cricket

Spotted Flycatcher

Common Whitethroat

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Small Copper

Chalkhill Blue

Common Blue

Spotted Flycatcher

Bailrd’s Sandpiper

Clifden Nonpareil

It was all a bit distant at Farlington Marshes this afternoon, although the birds were good, with Pectoral Sandpiper, Peregrine chasing down a Grey Plover (just missed) and a distant perched Osprey.  Much nearer were the Common Darters in the pond this morning.

Common Darters engaged in egg-laying

Wheatear

Osprey

A bank holiday: do we tidy up the garden or go birdwatching?  Well fortunately we can do both, because August Bank Holiday traditionally turns up migrants at home.  Today was no exception, with a couple of Spotted Flycatchers feeding from the wires over the field next to us.  We also had a Dark Bush Cricket that needed rescuing from the large amount of hedge trimmings.

Earlier on in the week a Latticed Heath added itself to the house list.  It’s not very heathy around here, so this was presumably a migrant.

Latticed Heath, another new moth for the house list

Dark Bush Cricket

Spotted Flycatcher

Free of the athletics, we got a chance to see a bit of wildlife this weekend, starting with a trip to a friend’s in Worthing to see the Convolvulus Hawkmoth that she had.  (It would have been ours if it had flown a mile further north.)

A  juvenile cuckoo in midweek avoided the camera, so it was left to Volucella zonaria, a large hoverfly, mimicking a Hornet to provide a bit of garden interest.

Pagham Harbour today yielded a Cattle Egret, but not the hoped-for Spoonbill, although a Whimbrel did at least stay put for long enough.

Convolvulus Hawmoth

Not really cooperating

Volucella zonaria, a large Hornet-mimic hoverfly

Whimbrel

Common Darter looking down on us

Brown Argus

Our last visit to the World Championships was the last for Usain Bolt and Mo Farah too.  If you had told us that Mo wouldn’t win and that Bolt would pull up after 10 m we’d have thought that it was going to be a massive disappointment.  Far from it.   The British silver in the women’s 4×100 relay picked us up immediately after Mo’s disappointment, and Bolt’s injury was missed in the excitement and jubilation of a British gold, so we had a fantastic night.  It’s a shame to see the greatest of them all go out so cruelly, though – a great champion and a great character.

Once more with feeling: our third visit to the World Championships

The Irish Guards announce the start of the Javelin Final (we were in amongst the coaches)

Sally Pearson after a surprise victory in the 100 m hurdles

The king and the heir apparent: Mo couldn’t beat Edris in his final championship race

Public property

Reflections on retirement and “only” getting a silver

Just when things were getting flat, the women’s sprint relay did us proud

Desiree Henry cadges a flag

Dina Asher-Smith

Once more with feeling: Usain Bolt warms up for his final race.

Down and out: a cruel end to a stunning career.

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Chijindu Ujah, Adam Gemili and Danny Talbot win an amazing gold

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake

Another evening at the World Championships, near the women’s pole vault, which was excellent.  On Monday we went round the excellent Pink Floyd exhibition and then we actually found a new bird for the year.

A great athlete and the only one all night to remember that the bulk of the crowd was looking at his back at the medal ceremony.

Holly Bradshaw on a third attempt:

Up…

And…

Over!

Two world champions, one a pole vaulter, one a shot putter – which is which?

A stained glass version of a famous album cover

Hey! Teacher!

Learning to Fly

The figures from the Division Bell

A bird at last! Just a Ring-necked Parakeet coming to a feeder in Hyde Park

It’s been quiet birdwise of late, but things have started moving a bit recently, so obviously we’re doing something else for the  next two weeks.  Our first visit to the World Athletics Championships was excellent (better than the photos).