Peteralfreybirdingnotebook

We set off on our journey north today, heading to the Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands. Our first stop was planned to be Worcester to visit my sister Angela and family. When I put the route into the sat nav I noticed it took us right past the Long-tailed Shrike site so after a bit of bribery we stopped off there. With three impatient travel companions I didn't have long but ...

The 'eternal' hot and dry conditions are presumably taking their toll with only 61 species in the moth trap last night and a Pagham Harbour count today produced little of interest and pretty low numbers with 75 species of approx 1700 indiviudals (although nearly 1000 of them were Med Gulls) 

The heatwave continues with temperatures in the late 20 degrees today. The moth traps were surprisingly very quiet with low numbers of individuals and species. The few migrants included another Bordered Straw, a couple of Vestals, a few Rush Veneers, single Rusty-dot and a few Turnips. Oak Eggar and Garden Tiger was the best of the rest. 
I spent the morning doing a bit of ...

It's back up to nearly 30 C today and across the country even higher temperatures. I've been working in London yesterday and stuck in the office again today but there has been some migrant activity in the moth trap to provide some interest. 
There was also a Willow Warbler, surprisngly singing, in the garden this morning- my first of the autumn. 
Seems like these dry a...

Another Monday and another day in the field. I contemplated going to twitch the Long-tailed Shrike but the thought of five hours in the car put me off. I've already seen 13 Long-tailed Shrikes this year when in Thailand and seen many in Asia before but I do need it for my Western Palearctic list but I still couldn't muster up the energy.  If it's still there on Thursday there's ...