A few moths after the thunderstorm.

Sunday 23rd October 2022.

Feathered Ranunculus.

A thunderstorm and heavy rain at 6am this morning woke me up, but as soon as it passed, I went back to sleep again and woke up at the very healthy time of 9.15am! It's a rarity if I have such a late lay-in and before I cooked breakfast, I went outside to a very sodden garden to check my moth box. In the now bright sunshine, I grabbed my Nikon Bridge Camera (it takes a far better photo than my mobile phone) and grabbed some decent images of the moths.

Above, an Angle Shades and below, one of 10 Light Brown Apple Moths this morning.

A Meal Moth was a real surprise, but avoided me getting a decent photo of it as it disappeared behind my fence panel, but I was more lucky with a Rusty-dot Pearl and the others within the egg trays. Nothing new for the year this time round, but it's always nice to not get a blank! While checking the moth box, I did hear some Siskins flying over, but, as per usual, I could not see them.   

Above, a Large Yellow Underwing and below, a Square-spot Rustic.

The moths present this morning included the following:

• 1 Feathered Ranunculus
• 1 Large Yellow Underwing
• 1 Angle Shades
• 1 Square-spot Rustic
• 1 Rusty-dot Pearl
• 1 Tachystola acroxantha
• 1 Meal Moth
• 10 Light Brown Apple Moth

Above, a Rusty-dot Pearl and below a size comparison with some of the moths. From top to bottom, Angle Shades, Feathered Ranunculus, Square-spot Rustic and Large Yellow Underwing.

I just read on the ‘Lazee Birders’ Whatsapp site that at least 2 Ring Ouzels were still present at Butser Hill in the same place as last Wednesday and also a Brambling there and a lot of Redwing, Blackbird and Song Thrushes. My birding pal, Geoff Farwell, had an amazing day at Farley Mount, near Winchester, yesterday while birding and recorded the following: 3,489 Redwing, 206 Fieldfare, 37 Brambling, 2 Redpoll, 4 Siskins, 70 Goldfinches, 1 Goshawk, 2 Sparrowhawk, 2 Raven, 2 Red Kite, 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Firecrest and 1 Chiffchaff! Incredible!  

A Robin sang in Andy's garden yesterday.

A quick update: I found this Clancy's Rustic when I opened up the Garden Storage box my Moth Box sits on and also a Vine's Rustic taking shelter within there! Nearby, I also flushed a Rush Veneer that quickly settled on one of the plant pots. Just goes to show that anything could be lurking about! Below, this superb Collared Pratincole was filmed at Slimbridge WWT, Gloucestershire today by fellow 'Lazee Birder' James Cutting.