Thursday 20 June 2013

Another quick catch-up

I haven't managed much of anything recently, so just a quick run down. The most surprising has been the regularity of MEDITERANNEAN GULLS on the patch, my Dad, Stephen and I have all seen them myself 3 times with a maximum of 14 Dad twice just a couple of singles and Stephen had 20+ on Sunday morning. They were all adults bar one of Stephens birds. I haven't noticed lots of young birds but BULLFINCHES have started appearing. I have been sitting quietly for a couple of mornings just watching LITTLE OWLS catch worms and listening to the young begging which has been really enjoyable, unfortunately it's only been about 10 mins each morning but I'm happy with that to start the day.
Butterflies are still scarce but a few Dragonflies and Damsels are about with the highlight being a nice DOWNY EMERALD about 10 days ago but they never seem to sit still!!
I have been checking the moths this week and numbers are picking up with species counted each morning ranging from the mid 30's to just over 50 yesterday, highlights here include LIGHT BROCADE, EYED HAWKMOTH, ALDER MOTH, BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN Y, 3 SILVER Y's and SMALL ANGLE SHADES.
Here a couple of recent pics.
Little Owl

Alder Moth

Beautiful Golden Y


21 comments:

Greenie said...

Alan ,
I always hope to find a BGY when I check the day flying Silver Ys .
Was yours trapped and the mounted on the leaf for the shot , or out in the wild ?

Warren Baker said...

Had a few Med Gulls here too Alan, an unusual occurrence here any time of the year, more so in June.

Millhouse Photography said...

Lovely Little Owl, Alan. Like your composition.

Isidro Ortiz said...

Bonita composicion con el Mochuelo.Un abrazo

Phil said...

Only ever managed to photograph a Downy Emerald in flight so far Alan.
Very envious of your Little Owl!

Unknown said...

Un gran trabajo, me encantan estas imágenes
Un gran saludo de un seguidor
Desde Doña Mencia (Córdoba)

Mike H said...

Alan, Paid a visit to the Castle on Wednesday. Large numbers of Beautiful demoiselles around the bridge and fields . BBC BTS Hairy and Large Skipper near small ponds in the fields. At least 6 very racy Downy on Large lake and also an imm Grass Snake. On the small pond in the woods BBC 4 spot Emperor and loads of blue damsels. Sadly no Golden ringed seen where you suggested.Spot fly near the restaurant.

Alan Pavey said...

Hi Greenie, the BGY was trapped and then photographed, I've never found one without it being attracted to the light.

Hi Mike, sounds like you had good numbers of dragons, shame about the Golden Ringed, they are not easy, I usually see them a few times each year but they are certainly not guaranteed.

Tammy said...

What a great gull to see! Love your Little Owl photo...adorable!

ShySongbird said...

Hi Alan, I've seen Med Gulls mentioned quite a lot on blogs lately. Love the Little Owl photo, I hardly ever see them. The Beautiful G Y certainly is rather beautiful.

Helma said...

Hi Alan,

so you could look pretty for a while the little owls that worms were searching. What seemed like great to see. I never see no small owls but the owl butterfly is also :-)
Very nice weekend my friend

Linda said...

A beautiful series of photos!

Unknown said...

Hi Alan, lovely pics there, love the little owl, do you still do walks etc at the castle for birders? Regards phil ( cousin Mandy's other half)

Alan Pavey said...

Hi Phil, nice to hear from you, hope you are all well, yes i do take walks still for anyone interested. The next one is september but if you and Mandy want to come over let me know. I'm pretty busy until mid July but after that i should have a Saturday or Sunday morning free for a stroll :-)
my new e-mail address is alanpavey@yahoo.com

Ana Mínguez Corella said...

Hi Alan.. Adorable litte owl.. Great pictures.. Greetings..

Sam Place said...

Hi, alan I am The Loose Birder and I love little owls. I passed through goudhurst last weekend at around 20:20 and found myself seeing the little owl on the wires along the a262 the first time and just wandered ifyou could give any pointers on where in the area they are and if so where they are nesting. Or any faviourte sitting spots.
The Loose Birder.

Alan Pavey said...

Hi, the best place to wait at Sissinghurst is in the field by the B&B with all the oaks, if you wait by the gate there is a chance you could pick one up from there. Good luck.

Sam Place said...

Thank you.

Sam Place said...

Thank you.

Sam Place said...

Thank you.

Sam Place said...

Thanks for telling me where the owls where. Me and my grandfarther went down there and saw the owl, sadly no pictures but good views of the owl and a great time.
Thanks again.