September 26th-27th

Misty is the best way to describe the last two mornings, certainly making things more challenging. Yesterday we checked through the moths and found 1 year tick in the form of an L-Album Wainscot, which means we are well into the 340's for the year, Brick was new for me this year although Steve had one on Sunday morning, Lunar Underwings are still numbering in the 100's.

L-Album Wainscot

For the walk yesterday the highlight was finding 3 WHINCHAT, they keep coming and very welcome they are too. The other notable action yesterday was a more than steady trickle of HOUSE MARTINS, 200 or more in an hour is, as usual, a conservative estimate with maybe 40-50 SWALLOWS for good measure. CHIFFCHAFF and BLACKCAP, are still here and will be around for a bit longer yet other warblers are now going to be few and far between here though, but hopefully I might pick up a late one here and there. A SPARROWHAWK flew lazily into one the silver birches but didn't hang around for a photo shoot and a small flock of SISKIN this time graced the end of my walk rather than the beginning.

Another  Whinchat (with a cryptic blur in the background!)

Today was much the same, maybe a tad mistier, there were no new moths in the traps though I saw my first Dusky Lemon Sallow of the year and we had 3 of the unusual looking, Angle Shades.

Angle Shades

Angle Shades

The birds were much as yesterday, although I couldn't see far enough to know if the Whinchat were around but Dad reported 1 Whinchat and a Stonechat on his walk this morning as the mist lifted. A short excursion into the wood allowed me to catch up with a few GOLDCREST and MARSH TIT and out in the fields it sounded like the YELLOWHAMMER flock was still at a reasonable number. I could hear plenty of MEADOW PIPITS and only a couple of HOUSE MARTINS, hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to see a bit further, even though there is something about misty mornings that give the whole place a different atmosphere.