Flitwick Moor - Beds Moth Group

Had a great night out with the Beds moth group last Friday night. We even did a spot of batting recording both common and Soprano pipistrelle - great stuff!

We recorded 13 Macro and 3 micro species in the evening with temperatures dropping to about 5 Degrees C.

Here are some pics:

Lunar Marbled Brown (star moth for me!)

SatelliteNut tree tussockEngrailedFrosted GreenBridled PugTwin Spot QuakerEriocrania subpurpurella:up to down/left to right: Chestnut, Common Quaker, Hebew Character, Small Quaker:
We also attracted this Ophion wasp:
Dan

Garden Birds

I threw a bit of seed on the lawn, got under some camo netting and armed with my camera and an old pillow waited patiently.

The usualy flighty garden birds came down and didn't mind me being there;

A project to continue to try and get a few of the other garden visitors such as reed bunting. I'm also going to try and make a set so all the photos aren't the same like above!

Dan

Barcelona bits and bobs

Although I wasn't there to bird I still managed to see 37 species from within the City in 4 days.

House Sparrows were very common as with everywhere I seem to go on Holiday:Whilst walking around the parks hummingbird hawk moths were fairly common but only one gave me a brief window to take a rubbish photo:Siskin and Serin where pleantiful in the parks:I only saw one lizard:Sardinian Warblers were calling everwhere there was a bit of scrub but they never really came out into the open, hence this mess:Yellow legged Gulls were very common as expected but I did get a glimpse of a black headed gull in one park...exciting stuff ey?
White wags frequented most open areas but they were very flighty:Star bird was an EXTREMELY confiding purple gallinule at the aquarium:
Dan

Barce Parakeets!

There were 2 species of 'wild' parakeets that were fairly common in Barcelona.

Monk Parakeets were the more common of the two:and I saw a few of our familiar ring-necked:they seem more wild in another country somehow, despite being just as feral out there!

Dan

I love Alpine Swifts!

I have just returned from a long weekend in Barcelona, which is a fantastic city! Kept one eye on the buildings and one on the wildlife...

Wildlife highlights included the tens of Alpine Swifts that we could see from our 9th floor room looking over las Ramblas - Great Stuff!!...
I didn't get the photo I really wanted but having Alpine and common swifts screaming through the street below you whilst there are Cattle Egrets and Yellow Legged gulls flying above was awesome!

Portland cont.

It was rather quiet on Portland, but myself and the guys made the most of it with other activities!

I think a visit a month later next year (and this year!) is in order...

A few pics anyway:

Black Redstart:Jackdaw:Rock Pipit:
and here is the Pallied swift Ed and I twitched before going there....
and YES, we missing the lesser kez! :-(

happy birding,

Dan

Fulmars

The Fulmars performed well at Portland, even if nothing else did...









Dan