Thursday 4th April 2024.
I had the Moth box on overnight and to be honest, after waking up a few times in the night, I could hear the rain falling again and thought that the moth numbers would be very low. But at least there were a few to go through this morning. After breakfast, I took the dogs for a soggy walk around Highland Road Cemetery; but my timing for a dry walk around my local patch was totally off as it ‘bucketed it’ down and if it wasn't for the shelter of one of the larger trees, I would have got a right soaking! Then, of course, as soon as I stepped back indoors, blazing sunshine and a totally blue sky!!!
The Moth Box:
The number of moths present in and around the moth box was better than expected with 8 moths of 4 species present, which included the following:
- 2 Angle Shades
- 1 Double-striped Pug
- 1 White-shouldered House Moth
- 4 Light Brown Apple Moth
OK, nothing new for the year, but it's always good to get some moths here and despite the very wet weather overnight, it wasn’t too bad a haul. I imagine that the Angle Shades were migrant moths from the Continent. I shall have the box on again overnight and hopefully, the weather just might improve a little. One other insect within the box was the Hoverfly, a female Spring Smoothtail (Epistrophe eligans).
Highland Road Cemetery, Southsea:
As mentioned earlier, the weather played its part this morning during my hour here and despite getting a good soaking yet again (getting so fed up with this wet weather!!) I did notch up 18 species of birds here this morning along with a brief sighting of a male Blackcap. I first heard the Blackcap ‘chacking’ along the footpath we were sheltering from the rain and got a brief glimpse of it flitting about one of the small bushes, but it flew off before I could get a photo of the bird. It was then heard again in another bush, but never revealed itself and never to be seen again. A small group of three Black-headed Gulls flew south (not common here) and a lone Great Black-backed Gull headed west; all while I was sheltering from the rain. Sadly, no other migrant birds could be found and I was getting a bit fed up with the rain and so made my way back home.
As we got near the Cemetery Gates, I found a Bloxworth Snout moth on exactly the same wall I found a Double-striped Pug the last time I was here! I shall be checking this wall more often in the future!
The birds seen or heard this morning included the following:
- Herring Gull
- Black-headed Gull
- Great Black-backed Gull
- Carrion Crow
- Magpie
- Greenfinch
- Goldfinch
- Great Tit
- Blue Tit
- Blackbird
- Blackcap (male)
- Wren
- Robin
- Starling
- House Sparrow
- Feral Pigeon
- Wood Pigeon
- Collared Dove
Both Matt and Emma Parkes drove back down to Morden Bog in Dorset early this morning and this time, their luck changed for the better. Gorgeous weather greeted them and it didn't take them too long to find the Great Grey Shrike present (see photo) and they even found a Sand Lizard on the heath. Yesterday, they went to Romsey Abbey to photograph the Peregrines there and so I have put on my blog some of her superb photos from their trip there.
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