Paul Harris

Just an independent holiday with my wife. Went on the Whale watching trip with Futurismo. Car hire absurdly cheap and roads better than England!

Azores is quite stunning. Grackle aside, I've also seen American Wigeon, Spoonbill, 15+ Waxbills, Azorean ssp of Chaffinch, Grey Wag and Large White. Highlights today were 6 Sei Whale and 200 Spotted Dolphin. Lots of Cory's and Azorean Gulls. Several Grass Webworm flushed underfoot yesterday.

It would have been rude not to twitch the Great-tailed Grackle as it's a 15 minute walk from my hotel. Crappy boc shot. The mimicry it was coming out with was incredible. Possibly more exciting was spending my time there with Vincent Legrand! A bit awestruck tbh!

Fantastic views of my adopted home county of Dorset from our plane today. Poole Harbour and Brownsea Island, then Swanage and Durlston, St Aldhelm's Head, the Purbeck cliffs with Lulworth Cove. Then Weymouth, Portland Harbour and Portland with Chesil Beach sweeping away to the NW. Magical.

Must be a good chance I'm sure. When was that?

Cheers Steve!

Silverlake: I'd just gotten out of the car when I noticed a group of Geese whiffling down out of the sky. I idly looked at them and was taken aback to see that one was obviously a Pink-foot. Landed out of view, but I relocated it after a quick march along the N shore. No doubt the Abbotsbury bird.

Steve, I used to be a fairly manic Twitcher. We even went to Thurso for a bloody female Harlequin! Recently, I didn't even go a mile from my house for a Desert Wheatear! I'll sit down soon and work out my garden moth list. I reckon 900 on the cards. I still have no Clearwings here!

I'm honestly not a list person, and am pretty hopeless at record keeping. I do know that my Macro list is 474 (the last being The Druid). I recently tried to do a rough estimate of my entire list, and it was easily 850+. This is 30 years though, although I didn't do micros for years.

My poor effort with the Osprey at Rodden Hive this morning! Also, from yesterday, my 3rd recent Brindled Green, a dark Caloptilia semifascia and a Migrant Hawker from Osmington Mills.

Osprey fishing at Rodden Hive. One unsuccessful dive, now sat on Chesil Beach. Appears unringed. Also Red Kite and Marsh Harrier.

Hi again, this is a different individual, I have quite a few of these on the garden fence. I think the short antennae and the rectangular eyes make this one a Dilta sp? Dilta hibernica most likely I suppose? The earlier one probably the same, but will have to remain unidentified. Thanks for help.

Thanks. I had a feeling you might! I'll see if I can refind....

I just found this large Bristletail on the house wall. ID of these very tricky, but antennae too long for a Southern (Dilta)? Too short for a Sea Bristletail (Petrobius)? But size right. Could it be Cave Bristletail? Antennae length about right? Any thoughts please @ajcann.bsky.social ? Ta

Best from Moonfleet was a Grasshopper Warbler which flushed 3x from the path edge as I walked by. My first Brents of the autumn (32), 30+ Skylark, 20+ Stonechat, 2 Whimbrel.
2nd gen Hypsopygia glaucinalis from the traps plus 3 Clancy's, Pearly Underwing, Barred Sallow and another Feathered Brindle.

Evocative photos Rob. Yet to see a Pallid! 👍

Feathered Brindle from the trap today. Annual here in very small numbers, but I suspect quite a sought after moth if you trap anywhere away from the southern coastal fringe. Also this Vestal sat in the grass by one of the traps. Plus Blair's Mocha, Clancy's Rustic and 3 Diamond-back.

I've yet to graduate to looking at Leaf mines....however, having spotted this absolutely diminutive Nepticulid on the garden Hypericum this evening, I did then look for mines, and found a few. The only Leaf miner on this plant is Fomoria septembrella, and the mines look good. They all count!

Moth traps are hard work at the moment, another Brindled Green and the first Black Rustic of the autumn the only species worthy of a mention.
Brief views of a Woodlark hiding in the grass at Silverlake this morning.

Six of us went to Fair Isle in '94. As well as birding all day, we drank rather a lot of beer. We would try and find birds at Geordie's Cup, just to say it out loud (with accent) at the log every evening. We would of course all be giggling like school children. I think Roger Riddington hated us! 😂

3 Osprey being chased around on Chesil Beach by 3 Red Kite! Not something I ever thought I'd see in Weymouth. Also 2 Marsh Harrier. @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social

Make that 3 Ospreys! All sat on Chesil quite close together.

Also an Osprey now, currently sat on a post on the Chesil.

Rodden Hive: 3 Red Kite flying about together over on Chesil Beach plus a Marsh Harrier.

Had no idea Brett, pretty shocking stats.

I have a small ornamental Birch in the middle of the garden, ideal for looking for inverts at eye level. Found this superb little Parent Bug this morning and an Early Thorn larva last night.
Inland survey work produced a flock of 5 Red Kite over Sydling and 2 Green Sand at Magiston.

Moth traps pretty quiet. Apart from 2 Clancy's Rustic, this Barred Sallow took star billing. One of my absolute favourite autumn moths.
Spent the morning leading a bird tour at Silverlake for Dorchester Bird Club. My highlights were female Redstart and 3 Woodlark. The Redstart was my 1st there.

2/2: Once you take a moth out of the fridge, you have a very short time frame before it starts warming up. It's almost impossible to sort out focus/depth of field in this time. I might sometimes put a micro back in the fridge for a few minutes to calm it down, but not often necessary.

1/2: If you don't mind a quick opinion from me? I've been photographing moths for nearly 30 years now and I almost never put them in the fridge. Especially micros. It's much better to wait and let them settle naturally and then carefully remove the pot. Once settled, they will often sit for ages.

The moth traps very unexciting sadly. Best was this striking form of Brindled Green. Otherwise, I found this Grey Damsel Bug (Himacerus major) on the garden fence last night, a new one for me.