I don’t know what stage of life you are at but I can remember passing through various times, when phone calls brought similar types of news from different friends. First they got engaged, then wedding dates were planed and carried through, later came the birth announcements (yes I am old enough that it usually happened that way around!) followed by further births and occasionally sad news of pregnancies that didn’t end happily. But now it is different, for one things emails or text messages are now the norm, but the sad part is that the news is often far from happy.
One such occasion recently told us first of the illness of our friend Barbara who suffered with Motor neuron disease and just a few weeks ago news of her death. We have known Barbara for over thirty years and we watched her children grow along with out own. Barbara and her husband Bruce moved away from Hertfordshire shortly before we did, they moved to Scotland and we have been fortunate to visit them there. This is Barbara with Bruce and also with me at Grey mare’s tail during our visit in 2014.
So to Scotland again we headed and on Friday morning we decided to re visit the Grey mare’s tail, fortunately nothing had changed. The river is still flowing, the falls are still falling and the birds are still flying!
We saw ravens flying high above the falls, wheatear and pied wagtails around the river. We enjoyed our walk but the time soon came to leave and head back to get ready for the service to celebrate her life.
We were pleased to have been there and apart from the service where we met with old friends and enjoyed our stay in Moffatt a lovely town, filled with individual shops and eating places, I don’t think I saw any chain stores at all which certainly adds to the character of the place. We stayed in a nice B & B opposite the bowling green with a somewhat better view than our room in Penrith!
Due to my back which was making sleeping and moving very painful we decided to head straight home on Saturday morning and to be honest I was pleased to get home. One bit of excitement on the journey was a brief glimpse of what I am 99% certain was a Bee-eater high on a wire as we drove along the A1M, sadly we couldn’t stop! Thank goodness we saw one earlier in the year or it would have been VERY frustrating indeed.
Back to mothing last night, first time for a while and we added a few for the year. Good to see two nut-tree tussock and a rather smart Lesser broad-banded yellow underwing.
So as well as saying farewell to a good friend we say farewell to July! It has been our quietest, least productive month but we have still had a good time! Birds have been very quiet and we have in fact only added one this month, Spoonbill. Moths and butterflies have been more obliging, thank goodness!
So here are the statistics:
Birds 237, Butterflies 21, Moths 181 macro 42 micro, Dragon/damselflies 12, other insects 22, mammals 20 (n0 change), retiles still to sort out. So for now we have a total of 535
Here come the lists!
Bird List to end of July * denotes life tick
- Mute Swan
- Bewick Swan
- Whooper Swan
- Pink-footed Goose
- White-fronted Goose
- Greylag Goose
- Canada Goose
- Barnacle Goose
- Brent Goose
- Egyptian Goose
- Common Shelduck
- Muscovy duck
- Mandarin Duck
- Eurasian Wigeon
- Gadwall
- Eurasian Teal
- Mallard
- Pintail
- Garganey
- Shoveler
- Red-crested Pochard
- Common Pochard
- Ferruginous Duck *
- Tufted duck
- Greater Scaup
- Common Eider
- Long-tailed Duck
- Common Scoter
- Velvet Scoter
- Goldeneye
- Smew
- Hooded merganser *
- Red-breasted Merganser
- Red Grouse
- Black Grouse
- Goosander
- Red-legged Partridge
- Grey Partridge
- Common Pheasant
- Golden Pheasant
- Little Grebe
- Great Crested Grebe
- Red-necked Grebe *
- Slavonian Grebe
- Black-necked Grebe
- Fulmar
- Manx Shearwater
- Gannet
- Cormorant
- Shag
- Bittern
- Little Egret
- Great Egret
- Grey Heron
- White Stork
- Glossy Ibis
- Spoonbill
- Red Kite
- White-tailed Eagle
- Marsh Harrier
- Hen Harrier
- Pallid Harrier *
- Goshawk *
- Eurasian Sparrowhawk
- Common Buzzard
- Rough-legged Buzzard
- Golden Eagle
- Osprey
- Kestrel
- Merlin
- Hobby
- Peregrine Falcon
- Water Rail
- Corn Crake
- Moorhen
- Coot
- Common Crane
- Great bustard *
- Oystercatcher
- Black-winged Stilt
- Pied Avocet
- Stone-curlew
- Little ringed Plover
- Ringed Plover
- Dotterel
- European Golden Plover
- Grey Plover
- Lapwing
- Great Knot*
- Knot
- Sanderling
- Little Stint
- Temminck’s Stint
- Curlew Sandpiper
- Purple Sandpiper
- Dunlin
- Broad-billed Sandpiper *
- Ruff
- Jack Snipe
- Common Snipe
- Long-billed Dowitcher *
- Woodcock
- Black-tailed Godwit
- Bar-tailed Godwit
- Whimbrel
- Curlew
- Spotted Redshank
- Common Redshank
- Common Greenshank
- Lesser Yellowlegs
- Wood Sandpiper
- Common Sandpiper
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Grey Phalarope
- Mediterranean Gull
- Little Gull
- Black-headed Gull
- Common Gull
- Lesser Black-backed Gull
- Herring Gull
- Iceland Gull
- Glaucous Gull *
- Great Black-backed Gull
- Kittiwake
- Caspian Tern *
- Sandwich Tern
- Common Tern
- Arctic Tern
- Common Guillemot
- Razorbill
- Black Guillemot
- Puffin
- Rock Pigeon
- Stock Pigeon
- Wood Pigeon
- Collared Dove
- Turtle Dove
- Rose-ringed Parakeet *
- Cuckoo
- Barn Owl
- Tawny Owl
- Short-eared Owl
- Common Swift
- Common Kingfisher
- European Bee-eater *
- Hoopoe
- Green Woodpecker
- Great Spotted Woodpecker
- Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
- Wood Lark
- Sky Lark
- Shore Lark (horned lark)
- Sand Martin
- Swallow
- Red-rumped Swallow *
- House Martin
- Tree Pipit
- Meadow Pipit
- Rock Pipit
- Water Pipit
- Yellow Wagtail (Grey-headed)
- Grey Wagtail
- Pied Wagtail
- Dipper
- Wren
- Dunnock
- Robin
- Common Nightingale *
- Bluethroat*
- Black Redstart
- Common Redstart
- Whinchat
- Stonechat
- Wheatear
- Ring Ouzel
- Blackbird
- Fieldfare
- Song Thrush
- Redwing
- Mistle Thrush
- Cetti’s Warbler
- Grasshopper Warbler
- Sedge Warbler
- Eurasian Reed Warbler
- Great Reed Warbler*
- Dartford Warbler
- Lesser Whitethroat
- Whitethroat
- Blackcap
- Wood Warbler
- Common Chiffchaff
- Willow Warbler
- Goldcrest
- Firecrest
- Spotted Flycatcher
- Red-breasted Flycatcher
- Pied Flycatcher
- Bearded Tit
- Long-tailed Tit
- Marsh Tit
- Willow Tit
- Crested Tit *
- Coal Tit
- Blue Tit
- Great Tit
- Nuthatch
- Treecreeper
- Penduline tit *
- Great Grey Shrike
- Jay
- Magpie
- Jackdaw
- Rook
- Crow
- Hooded Crow
- Common Raven
- Starling
- House Sparrow
- Tree Sparrow
- Chaffinch
- Brambling
- Serin *
- Greenfinch
- Goldfinch
- Siskin
- Linnet
- Twite
- Lesser Redpoll
- Mealy Redpoll
- Bullfinch
- Hawfinch
- Lapland Longspur
- Snow Bunting
- Yellowhammer
- Cirl Bunting
- Reed Bunting
- Corn Bunting
Butterflies to end of July
Red admiral
Brimstone
Peacock
Small tortoiseshell
Speckled wood
Green-vein white
Orange tip
Small white
Holly blue
Small copper
Small heath
Dark green fritillary
Common blue
Small pearl-bordered fritillary
Green hairstreak
Painted lady
Ringlet
Large skipper
Large white
Gatekeeper
Small skipper
Moths (macro) alphabetised
Angle shades
Barred straw
Barred yellow
Beautiful golden Y
Beautiful hook-tip
Blackneck
Blood-vein
Bordered beauty
Bordered pug
Bright-line brown-eye
Brimstone
Brindled beauty
Brindled pug
Brown rustic
Brown-line bright-eye
Buff arches
Buff ermine
Buff tip
Burnished brass
Cabbage moth
Canary-shouldered thorn
Chinese character
Cinnabar
Clay
Clouded border
Clouded drab
Clouded silver
Clouded-bordered brindle
Common carpet
Common emerald
Common footman
Common pug
Common Quaker
Common rustic
Common swift
Common wave
Common wainscot
Coronet
Coxcomb prominent
Currant pug
Dark arches
Dark spinach
Dark/grey dagger
Dingy footman
Dot moth
Dotted chestnut
Double square spot
Double-striped pug
Drinker
Dun-bar
Dusky brocade
Dusky sallow
Early grey
Early moth
Early thorn
Early toothed-stripe
Elephant hawkmoth
Emperor moth
Engrailed
Eyed hawkmoth
Fan-foot
Flame shoulder
Four-dotted footman
Foxglove pug
Frosted green
Garden carpet
Garden tiger
Ghost moth
Great prominent
Green carpet
Green pug
Green silver-lines
Grey pine carpet
Heart and club
Heart and dart
Hebrew character
Herald
Hummingbird hawkmoth
Iron prominent
July highflyer
Large nutmeg
Large yellow underwing
Least black arches
Least carpet
Leopard moth
Lesser cream wave
Lesser broad-bordered yellow underwing
Lesser yellow underwing
Light arches
Light brocade
Light emerald
Lilac beauty
Lime hawkmoth
Lobster moth
Lychnis
Map-winged swift
Marbled brown
Marbled brown
Marbled minor
March moth
Mottled beauty
Mottled pug
Mottled rustic
Mottled umber
Mouse moth
Muslin
Nut-tree tussock
Oak beauty
Orange footman
Pale brindle beauty
Pale mottled willow
Pale prominent
Pale tussock
Pale-shouldered brocade
Peach blossom
Peppered moth
Pine hawkmoth
Plain golden Y
Poplar grey
Poplar hawkmoth
Powdered Quaker
Purple bar
Red twin-spot carpet
Riband wave
Rosy footman
Ruby tiger
Rustic shoulder-knot
Scalloped oak
Scarce footman
Scorched wing
Setaceous Hebrew character
Shears
Short-cloaked moth
Shoulder stripe
Shoulder-striped wainscot
Shuttle-shaped dart
Silver Y
Silver-ground carpet
Single-dotted wave
Slender brindle
Small angle shades
Small blood-vein
Small brindled beauty
Small dusty wave
Small fan-foot
Small fan-footed wave
Small Quaker
Small rivulet
Small square-spot
Small yellow wave
Smoky wainscot
Snout
Spectacle
Spinach
Spruce carpet
Straw dot
Streamer
Swallow prominent
Swallow-tailed moth
The flame
Treble bar
Treble lines
Triple-spotted pug
Uncertain
V moth
Vapourer
Varied coronet
Vine’s rustic
Waved umber
White ermine
White satin moth
White-point
Winter moth
Yellow shell
Yellow-tail
Micro moths to end of July 2016
- Barred marble (Celypha striana)
- Beautiful china-mark ( Nymphula nitdulata )
- Bee moth ( Aphomia sociella)
- Bird-cherry ermine ( Yponomeuta evonymella )
- Brown china-mark ( Elophila nymphaeata)
- Brown house moth (Hofmannophila pseudospretella)
- Chequered grass veneer ( Catopria falsella )
- Common drill ( Dichrorampha petiverella )
- Common grey (Scoparia ambiguallis)
- Common marble ( Celypha lacunana )
- Common plume ( Emmelina monodactyla)
- Cyclamen tortrix ( Clepsis spectrana )
- Dawn flat-body (Semioscopis steinkellneriana)
- Diamond- back moth (Plutella xylostella)
- Double striped tabby ( Hypsopygia glaucinalis )
- Elder pearl (Anania coronate)
- Fenland pearl (Anania perlucidalis)
- Garden grass-veneer (Chrysoteuchia culmella)
- Garden pebble (Evergestis forficalis)
- Garden rose tortrix ( Acleris variegana )
- Gold triangle ( Hypsopygia costalis )
- Grass-veneer (Crambus pascuella)
- Large fruit-tree tortrix ( Archips podana)
- Large Ivy Tortrix (Lozotaenia forsterana)
- Large tabby ( Aglossa pinguinalis)
- Little grey (Eudonia lacustrara)
- London dowd ( Blastobasis lacticolella)
- Many plumed moth (Aluctia hexadactyla)
- Marbled orchard tortrix (Hedya nubiferana)
- Mother of pearl ( Pleuroptya ruralis )
- Privet tortrix (Clepsis consimilana)
- Red-barred tortrix ( Ditula angustiorana )
- Rough-winged conch (Phtheochroa rugosana)
- Rose tabby ( Endotricha flammealis )
- Small grey ( Eudonia mercurella )
- Small magpie (Anania hortulata)
- Sulphur Tubic ( Esperia sulphurella)
- Triple-blotched bell (Notocelia trimaculana)
- White shouldered house moth ( Endrosis sarcitrella)
- White-headed Ermel (Paraswammerdamia alibicapitella)
- Yellow-faced bell (Notocella cynosbatella)
- Yellow-spot tortrix (Pseudargyotoza conwagana) Dragon fliesGolden banded dragonfly
Keeled skimmer
Migrant hawker
Black-winged skimmer
Scarce chaser
Common darter
Broad-bodied chaser
Damselflies
Azure damselfly
Large red damselfly
Small red damselfly
Blue-tailed damselfly
Banded demoiselle
Insects and other bits and bobs!
- Wasp
- Ladybird 7 spot
- Ladybird harlequin
- Lacewing green
- Lacewing brown
- Bloody nosed beetle
- Bumble bee
- Honey bee
- Snail
- Slug
- Wood ants
- Mining bees
- Froghopper
- Hawthorn shield bug
- two banded longhorn beetle
- Poplar leaf beetle
- Wolf spider
- Green dock beetle
- Green leafhopper
- Bee fly
- Green sawfly
- Dark bush-cricket
Mammal list
- Rabbit.
- Stoat
- Hare
- Grey squirrel
- Common seal
- Roe deer
- Red deer
- Muntjak deer
- Sperm whale
- Grey seal
- Otter
- Weasel
- Bank vole
- Fallow deer
- Red squirrel
- Pine marten
- Beaver
- Daubenton’s bat
- Common pipistrelle
- Water vole
Tomorrow I hope to see a doctor and get some help with my back, if as I expect the answer is wait for it to get better at least I may get some pain relief. We really need to get on with things in August as July was a slack month, today an excellent bird has flown in to Minsmere, a Western Purple Swamphen! Now to be honest I have never heard of that let alone seen one!!! I hope it stays a while and we can add that, sounds cool I reckon! Wish me luck for August please and thank you for sticking with us.
