Some moths from last night

Clouded Brindle

Light Brocade

Green Carpet

Only my second trapping session of this very cold year, the first a few weeks ago having produced a grand total of three moths. Last night, both traps combined had 21 species, with Bee Moth and Heart and Dart being the commonest moths. Light Brocade and Clouded Brindle were the highlights. I had both in July last year, but both (particularly the former) are quite local species. Last night, my moth guru Brian Stone also recorded Light Brocade in Elton, Cambs, a first record for his garden, I believe.

Breeding Shags

Chough, Cornish Chough

Mandarins at private fishing lakes

Puffin, southern Cornwall

"You have HUGE feet!"

Shags, near The Lizard, Cornwall

Great Northern Diver, off Falmouth

A couple of weekends ago I popped down to Falmouth, Cornwall, and took a pelagic trip out with the excellent Captain Keith Leeves or AK Wildlife Cruises. This glorious diver was one of the top highlights of a very enjoyable trip.

Avocet family (three babies)

Fiercely and rightly defended by the parents.

Dock Bug

There were a few of these on the Water Dock by our garden pond today. I believe they are Dock Bug (Coreus marginatus). Nice looking bugs. They moved with a wavy rocking action, sometimes, like a chamaeleon or a mantis...

White-winged Black Tern at Ferry Meadows

Another great find by Matt Webb

Black-necked Grebe at Ferry Meadows CP

Dibbling Mute Swan

Mistle Thrush with (?) beetle grubs

Little Ringed Plover (digiscoped)

Reed Bunting (male), Nene Washes

Meadow Pipit, Nene Washes

Springo Ringo

Yesterday, I twitched a Ring Ouzel with (the kind and generous lift-offering) John Saunders (who took this photo) near Ailsworth. It was found by Matt Webb on his birthday cycle marathon bird trip and reported initially as a plain female. I've never seen a Ringo with such as poorly marked breast band, and to me it looks like a second-calendar year bird (ie first-winter/summer) rather than a clear female. It is also quite blackish and has nice silvery wings which possibly point to it being a young male rather than a young female. Incidentally, in the original uncropped photo there were 3 Wheatears, and in the field where the ouzel was there were at least 17 Wheatears!

From the Archives... No. 29

Sawfly larvae from 2005

Fiery-crested Firecrest

Found today near Haddon, by Andrew Gardener

Black-necked Grebe, foggy record shots

Flying Water Pipit

One of at least three Water Pipits near the central drove of the Nene Washes RSPB over the weekend. Note how this bird is in a very nice spring plumage, and even though it is a ropey flight shot, you can see the bold white supercilium, the pinkish flush to the unstreaked breast and clean whitish belly and flanks and the unstreaked greyish back and even the two clean wing bars.