November Moths

Just to prove that it can be worth setting the moth trap in November here are some of the moths that can be caught in early/mid November. Not trapped in the last couple of weeks due to v cold nights but have still seen the odd winter moth about.

A combination of 3 nights trapping in early November saw the following in the trap;

Mottled Umbar- 11
November moth sp- 88*
Merveille du jour- 2
Feathered thorn- 27
Red Green Carpet- 2
Large Wainscot- 10
Yellow lined Quaker- 10
December Moth- 2
Spruce Carpet-1
Chestnut- 1
Beaded Chestnut-1

Not bad at all considering the temperatures

Red Green Carpet ------------- Spruce Carpet

Mottled Umbar ----------------Chestnut

Merveille du jour

Green brindled crescent---------- Red-Line Quaker

December Moth

* The very similar group of November Moths are beyond me, I aggregate them to Nov moth sp, in reality they could be November, pale November or Autumnal moth. They look so similar by the time they have warn that without checking their goolies I cant be sure, I would have thought the top left image could be different to the other two but it could just be the difference between male/female or fresh/warn. Any tips or comments??

Wells

Day off today so managed to escape to the North Coast, I spent the morning at Wells Wood. I managed to get a subspecies tick in the form of Northern Bullfinch, I saw 2 females and a single male briefly. The females were as big as Waxwings and just sat there when all other bullies flew away, I didnt realise the females didnt have the trumpet call so spent too long trying to clionch the call, unsuccessfully of course. I did manage to hear a clear trumpeting from a male as I was leaving, he flew in and out quite quickly but perched calling for long enough to realise some subtle differences. All in all they were all far larger than our Bullfinches with stronger wing bars, more bull necked, male had saw edge to wing bar and a more pink tinge than red, wheras the females were a different hue being a slightly duller colour. They are just the sort of birds I love seeing, they are subtle but obvious when seen well, especially if heard!

While out and about I also managed to find 17 Shore Larks, 11 Waxwings (in off) and at least 3 Meally Redpolls in amongst a very flighty flock of lessers.

After Wells I headed to the Burnham overy car park where I picked up a Rough legged Buzzard hunting, it was distant but showed well enough to be sure of ID, there were also 3 Common Buzzards viewable from here at the same time.

Unfortunately my day was cut short by having to pick Ruth up from work and then go shopping, still I had a successful morning with 3 year ticks and a subspecies tick in 3 hrs!

The Fog

I was planning a trip to the east coast this morning, however it was too foggy to bother wasting the petrol. I decided instead to drive to Strumpshaw, a 3 minute drive from home, very handy indeed!
I arrived to the expected view of fog and not a lot else but decided to sit in the Fen hide and wait to see what happens.
For a day that didnt look too promising I got a few quality species. Bearded tits were evident pinging in the reedbed as well as 7 Marsh Harriers still roosting in one of the cut strips from Fen Hide, it was good to see them interacting with each other while on the ground.

After a kingfisher also put on a short performance on one of the perches, the first good sighting of the day occurred when I noticed ripples in the water, an Otter popped its head up and to my surprise it was being followed by 2 much smaller heads! Brilliant stuff, finally I was watching the bitch and cubs that so many visitors have been reporting lately.

Equally as impressive was the fact that a Bittern decided to finally show well for me in the cut plots, I have seen a lot of Bitterns recently however they have mainly been short flight views. The bird flew in and was feeding for about 20 mins in the open giving really good scope views, photography was a joke due to the mist but I gave it a go anyway, its behind the crow in the photo...and wont win any competitions!

I left the hide quite satisfied and continued round the fen, highlights were decent numbers of winter thrushes, a few Brambling and Redpoll flying over as well as more bearded tits. I checked out one of the reed plots I cut last week and manged to flush 2 Jack snipe, 16 Snipe and 2 Water pipits, a positive bit of habitat creation!

For some reason today had a few hints of spring about it, despite being cold and foggy I have heard Great Tit, Song Thrush, Blackbird and Wren singing. I also noticed a female Marsh Harrier flying around with a reed in its talons, the Black Swans have decided its a fine time to raise their young, I suppose it would be if they were still in Oz.

With the news of an Arctic Redpoll on the North coast I think I'll check out the local redpoll flock and hope for a mealy or two, I wouldn't mind an Arctic but I'll remain realistic for now!

Taiga's

I had to check the salinities at Buckenham and Cantley on Monday. It was one of those wall to wall blue sky days, very little wind and not a bad temperature, in short it was one of those days where you have to remind yourself your at work...the best kind! We had to traverse most of the reserves ditches so it was only a matter of time until we bumped into the goose flock. We were 'advised' that the geese were in a certain location and that we should try not to disturb them for obvious reasons, so in some ways it was lucky that 2 railway people came along the tracks in full high vis and flushed them for us. 140 grey geese got up, typically they flew into the sun so it was tricky to be sure of id's but I'm fairly positive I counted 38 Taiga Bean Geese within the flock of Pinks and White fronts, the shape and size really stands out when silhouetted. I was fairly happy with the sighting (my first taiga's for many years!) however 10 mins later I noticed 10 geese coming in from the North heading straight for me, they cant have seen me until the last minute as they flew pretty much overhead in perfect sunlight, fantastic views! Typically my camera was safely nestled at home so no pics unfortunately, but was good to be able to study them rather than trying to get photos. In total there were 48 Taiga beans, 15+ Whitefronts, 100+ Pinkies, lots of golden plovers, 15+ Ruff, 2 Peregrines as well as all the usual stuff including 2300+ Wigeon, quite a site and sound.

If viewing the geese the best place is from the main footpath from Buckenham, after the fleet check with scope on the other side of the railway. Views can also be obtained from the Cantley village side from Burnt house lane, do not enter the reserve apart from on the footpaths!