Just 3 moths this morning.

Friday 18th November 2022.

Two Beautiful Plume moths were attracted to the moth box.

I had the moth box overnight and I am starting to wonder if it is really worth putting it on now. Not with the recent extortionate high costs for using electricity, but simply for the lack of moths turning up now. I do know that a lot of people decide to call it a day as Winter approaches, unless they live in the countryside or in and around woodland. The forecast overnight was clear and cloudless and temperatures dropping to well under double-figures. 

This Light Brown Apple Moth made up the rest of the moths.

There was talk of a meteorite shower in the early hours of the morning, but I wasn't prepared to wait until then and so I had a quick look outside in the garden to check the sky - nothing! There was also nothing around the moth box either, but at least 3 Redwing were heard calling as they passed high invisibly overhead. 

This beautiful Barn Owl was photographed over the fields at Southmoor yesterday by Graeme Loader. There has been no sign this week of the Short-eared Owl being reported unfortunately here.

This morning, a check of the moth box produced just the three moths: 2 Beautiful Plume and a Light Brown Apple Moth. I shall have a good think on whether or not to put the moth box in hibernation till March. While checking the moth box, a Wren was heard ‘churring’ near the garden and eventually, the little bird popped into the back of my garden, perched up briefly in my Buddleia tree and had a quick preen, before flying off over the gardens. The House Sparrows are demolishing my sunflower hearts within the feeder and will probably have to be topped up again by Monday!

Fairly quiet in Hampshire today, though a Black Brant (are American / Canadian race of Brent Goose) was on Farlington Marshes today and an unusual claim of a Grasshopper Warbler ‘reeling’ in bushes by the Hayling Oyster Beds, was intriguing. The Black-necked Grebe and a Great Northern Diver were within Langstone Harbour nearby. In West Sussex, a Red-necked Grebe passed Selsey Bill this morning and 2 Little Gulls and a juvenile Arctic Tern were off Medmerry RSPB Reserve.     

Green Woody showing again in the Cemy.

Thursday 17th November 2022.

Most of the trees have all but lost their leaves now including these Lime trees.

After yesterday's deluge of rain, this morning was much brighter and sunnier, though a bit breezy at times with westerly blowing and temperatures a little cooler of late. I didn't have time to go off any distance this morning and so I took a stroll around my local patch, Highland Road Cemetery. There were not too many dog-walkers today and I could actually say that about the birds too, with just 14 species noted this morning.

Above, Common Speedwell growing around some of the graves and below, a clump of Field Mushrooms growing in between the graves on the southern end of the Cemy.

The pick of the bunch was probably the Green Woodpecker that was obviously flushed by a dog-walker, resulting in the bird flying over my head and to a nearby tree near the Mausoleum. A couple of Jays were busy picking off acorns and burying them around the north-east corner by the big Oak Tree, which was quite entertaining. A Goldcrest was seen and heard all too briefly flying from one small tree and into a bush; but apart from that, all was relatively quiet today. There is, however, a notable absence of Collared Doves here. Normally, during the late Autumn and Winter months, there are normally double-figures of these birds here. So where are they? 

Above, there were good numbers of Wood Pigeons as usual within the Cemy and below, the Green Woodpecker put in another appearance today. 

The following birds were heard or seen this morning in the Cemetery:

• Herring Gull
• Feral Pigeon
• Wood Pigeon
• Carrion Crow
• Magpie
• Jay
• Robin
• Wren
• Goldcrest
• Blackbird
• Chaffinch
• Goldfinch
• Starling
• Green Woodpecker

Above, there were still a lot of Common Wasps on the wing and below, both Tapered Drone Fly (right) and the smaller Hoverfly Syrphus ribesii (left) were nectaring on the flowering Ivy.

Other notable sightings this morning included a good number of both Hoverflies and Common Wasps still on the wing, making the most of the late flowering Ivy Plants dotted around the gravestones and bushes. The Hoverfly species Tapered Drone Fly and Syrphus ribesii were noted among the many Common Wasps and House flies. Despite the sunny conditions, there were no butterflies on the wing today, though I did see just the one Bumble bee species on the wing.  

A pair of Jays were busy searching for and burying acorns. 

Flowering plants were few and far between today with just Smooth Sow-thistle, Common Speedwell and Common Groundsel all seen and plenty of Annual Mercury growing throughout the Cemetery. The Honey Fungus looks as though it has passed its best now though I did see a few Field Mushrooms growing in one clump in the southern half of the Cemy.  

This Plane Tree was one of the last to lose its leaves in the Cemetery. 

Some cracking photos.

Wednesday 16th November 2022.

This Short-eared Owl was over Southmoor earlier this week. Photo by Pete Appleton. Southmoor seems to be a good area for this species during the winter months.  

Though I never did any birding today or even put the moth trap on overnight (too wet and windy!!)I thought I would do a quick update on this week's birds around our area and also put some photos that were kindly permitted by Rebecca Hitchcock and Pete Appleton. Many thanks guys. Again, the weather has been rather wet so far with very heavy showers and accompanied by a strong southerly wind to go with it. I did top up the bird feeders and almost immediately swamped by the local House Sparrows and both Blue and Great Tit!

Above, another superb photo of the same Short-eared Owl at Southmoor. Photo by Pete Appleton. Below, a Common Snipe about to join a companion and a pair of Teal at Titchfield Haven. Photo by Rebecca Hitchcock. 

However, there have been a few interesting birds noted of late including an adult Little Gull on the Southsea shoreline and not too far away from Canoe Lake, apparently. A total of 8 Purple Sandpipers are gracing the shoreline in front of Southsea Castle and good numbers of Divers are now being reported at various locations along our coastline. Tuesday was a hellish day with appalling weather and not a great deal was noted, though fellow ‘Lazee Birder’ Andy Friend filmed an adult Yellow-legged Gull on Ibsley Water, Blashford Lakes and the day before, a female Red-crested Pochard was also filmed by him.

Above and below, a male Marsh Harrier quartering over the reedbeds at Titchfield Haven and being hassled by the local Lapwings. Photos by Rebecca Hitchcock.

Blast from the Past: Nearly this time ten years ago, my family and I paid a visit to Portland where I saw a Black Redstart, the Purple Sandpipers and a few seabirds off the Bill. On the 12th of November 2012, I went and ‘twitched’ the female / immature Hooded Merganser off Pagham Harbour’s North Wall. For some strange reason, the immature Hooded Merganser that turned up at Portland in a drainage ditch some time before the Pagham bird was never accepted as a genuine wild bird, despite having no rings or the wings clipped, yet this one at Pagham was accepted as a wild bird!

The female / immature Hooded Merganser off the North Wall, Pagham Harbour.

A few moths this morning.

Monday 14th November 2022.

Two of the five Rusty-dot Pearl moths I had this morning in my garden.

A foggy grim start to the day with heavy cloud overhead and more rain predicted for later this afternoon. It was around 13 degrees first thing this morning, but at least it was dry. Again, not many moths around the moth box today with Rusty-dot Pearls being the most numerous moth with 5 individuals in and around the moth box. The only macro moths were 2 Double-striped Pugs.

Today's moths were the following:

• 2 Double-striped Pug
• 5 Rusty-dot Pearl
• 1 Beautiful Plume
• 1 Light Brown Apple Moth. 

Sadly, nothing much overhead bar a Greenfinch of which I did not see. In Hampshire this morning, a Red-throated Diver was off the Lifeboat Station by the harbour entrance near Sandy Point and 2 Black-necked Grebes were still off the Oyster Beds within Langstone Harbour. One of the ‘Lazee Birders’ went for the Great Grey Shrike at Black Down, but there was no sign of the bird all day.

A moth update!

Sunday 13th November 2022.

A Silver Y moth in my moth box yesterday. 

Moths in November, especially around my garden, are always at a premium, but this recent extremely mild weather is still bringing in a few moths to my garden that I would not have expected for this time of year. I never wrote about the moths in my moth box yesterday due to the superb birding at Black Down yesterday, so, this morning, I shall explain what was present yesterday and this morning. Please stay awake!

A late Vine's Rustic looking a bit worn to say the least.

It was a clear bright start to the morning here in Southsea and I wasn't expecting that many moths to be honest, but there were a few macro moths within the egg trays that got me a little excited. OK, I have seen the same species plenty of times this year, but as winter is approaching, it just seems madness that they are still turning up! Checking the Hants Moths website, all the moths below are recorded in November and a few there are most likely migrant moths too, of which some rarities are still being reported in the UK, including a Boathouse Gem at Dungeness, Kent and a Vagrant China-mark in Worminghall, Buckinghamshire and a l. I did have an unusually marked Light Brown Apple Moth which I wanted to be confirmed and so took a few photos of the moth and put them on the Hants Moths Facebook page and it was concluded it was one. I was hoping for my first Cydia amplana of the year. Never mind.  

A Turnip Moth. Most likely a migrant moth.

The moths present yesterday morning included the following:

• 1 Lesser Yellow Underwing
• 1 Silver Y
• 1 Vine’s Rustic
• 1 Turnip Moth
• 2 Rusty-dot Pearl
• 4 Crocidosema plebejana
• 2 Beautiful Plume
• 1 Common Plume 
• 1 Light Brown Apple Moth

While checking the moth box, a few notable birds were heard flying over including a Grey Wagtail, a couple of Redwing and I was pretty sure that I heard a Brambling go over too. When I got to Andy’s house, all looked very promising for a nice selection of moths within his moth box, but there was not a single moth! And that is now two weeks running!

Above, a Lesser Yellow Underwing and below, the micro moth, Crocidosema plebejana.

This morning, it was looking a bit bleak out there with heavy cloud overhead and it looked as though it had been raining. Thankfully, it was dry when I checked the moth box, but this morning, there was not one macro moth to be seen within the moth box. The best it could throw up was 4 Rusty-dot Pearl, 1 Light Brown Apple Moth and 1 Beautiful Plume.

Above, the unusual looking Light Brown Apple Moth and below, Andy and I faced this fog to find the Great Grey Shrike on Black Down yesterday!

While topping up the bird feeders, the resident Grey Wagtail put on an appearance as it flew low over the rooftops.  A Greenfinch was heard but not seen and as soon as I turned my back to go indoors, the local House Sparrows were on the feeders in a flash! I think I have already mentioned about a lot of sightings in Hampshire yesterday, but checking over some of the reports, one chap had nearly over 20,000 Wood Pigeons through in just two hours early in the morning at Weston, Southampton! Even while I was driving up to Andy’s house along the A3, I saw several huge flocks of Wood Pigeons going over and probably a lot of them are migrant birds from the Continent as per usual at this time of year. No Black Redstarts were reported yesterday by the Bandstand at Southsea, but a pair were at the Daedalus Airfield again and another female type was found at Sandy Point, Hayling Island. 

This magnificent Short-eared Owl was gracing Southmoor late yesterday afternoon. Photo by Graeme Loader.

Late this morning, I was tidying up the garden and noticed our local House Sparrows bathing in my neighbour's gutter which I thought would make a nice photo or two. At least 8 House Sparrows bathed in the guttering at one short spell, before resuming going onto my feeders again. There were other House Sparrows pecking away at the brickwork on another neighbour's house wall, using the bits of brick for roughage I assume to break down the seeds in their stomachs.

Above and below, the House Sparrows enjoying a late morning bath in my neighbour's gutter.

I also discovered an interesting form of fungi (sorry all you birders out there!) that was growing at the back of my garden and on closer inspection, it looks like it is from the family Gomphaceae; but to narrow it down to an actual species, which could possibly be Ramaria stricta, Strict-branch Coral. l I am waiting for the experts on the British Fungi, Toadstools and Mushrooms Facebook page to ID.  

I am just waiting for an accurate ID on this fungi species, but my guess would be Strict-branch Coral.