I started off catching and
identifying moths outside the trap before examining and identifying the
contents. There were 168 moths in total
covering forty species, five which were new for the year that included two new
lifers.
The following were recorded:
Bird-cherry Ermine [1]; Diamond-back Moth [1]; Brown House Moth [1];
Autostichidae species [1]; Blastobasis adustella [19]; Clepsis consimilana [1];
Light Brown Apple Moth [3]; Red-barred Tortrix [4]; Celypha striana [4];
Eucosma canmpoliliana [1]; Cydia splendana [1]; Chrysoteuchia culmella [28];
Crambus pascuella [1]; Crambus perlella [1]; Agriphila straminella [11];
Pyrausta aurata [2]; Anania coronate [1]; Mother of Pearl [1]; Riband Wave [5];
Common Carpet [2]; Willow Beauty [2]; Poplar Hawkmoth [1]; Elephant Hawkmoth
[1]; Dingy Footman [1]; Heart and Dart [6]; Large Yellow Underwing [2]; Lesser
Yellow Underwing [6]; Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing [1]; Bright-line
Brown-eye [3]; Caly [1]; Smoky Wainscot [1]; Dagger species [1]; Marbled Beauty
[6]; Dark Arches [26]; Double Lobed [1]; Common Rustic Group [12]; Small Dotted
Buff [1]; Uncertain [4]; Silver Y [1] and Specatcle [2].
Autostichidae species
Eucosma canmpoliliana
Double Lobed
Roger had joined me at about
07:30 and we examined a few moths I had kept that I thought might be new for
him. When we had finished we went to Dave’s
who had also had his trap out and kept some back for us to see. Once we had finished we set off for a day out
in the field and headed for Eyebrook Reservoir.
After a rather quite drive to
the reservoir we arrived at the southern end at 08:45. There were at least ten Tree Sparrows in the
nearby cereal field and Roger found a Lesser Whitethroat in the hedge alongside
the track to the fishing lodge.
We stopped at the first of the
two corals where we had at least eight Yellow Wagtails but other than a few Cormorants
there was little else. There was no sign
of any Little Owls toady in the Old Oak and the only wader we located at the
inlet was a single Common Sandpiper. We
did see the feral Barnacle Goose in the vicinity of flocks of Greylag and
Canada Geese. During the visit we had
seen a Red Kite, Buzzard and six Common Terns.
We went to the north arm at
Rutland Water next where we found an Oystercatcher, three Dunlin and three
Greenshanks and a single Shelduck. As it
was beginning to turn warmer we decided to head off to Bloody Oaks Quarry,
which is a Leicestershire & Rutland Wildlife Trust reserve between
Empingham and the A1.
Bloody Oaks is quite a small
reserve that can be quite good for butterflies and last year a small population
of Chalk Hill Blue had been found. As we
walked along the main path in the reserve we saw several Peacocks and Meadow
Browns. David and Roger stopped to try
and catch a moth and I had continued on a little further and I located a blue
butterfly which I was saw was a Chalk Hill Blue but it was flying around a
lot. I notified Dave and Roger and
before they arrived it settled but closed its wings straight away. As I tried to get a closer look it took to
flight again but we eventually tied it down and confirmed my initial
identification. We continued to work the
area and eventually saw a good range of butterflies and a few moths.
Pyrausta purpuralis
Chalk Hill Blue
Shaded Braod-bar
Marbled White
Meadow Grasshopper
As it was approaching
lunchtime and the wind had increased we decided to go back to Rutland
Water. We parked up in the car park and
after some lunch Roger and I went to lagoon four, whist Dave went off to Lax
Hill hoping for Purple Hairstreak.
There had been a summer
plumaged Knot on lagoon four and it was still present near island ten when we
arrived. There was also a single Common
Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover on island ten. There was no sign of the Mediterranean Gull
today but there were at least ten Yellow-legged Gulls present on the lagoon. As we were scanning around I heard a Common
Sandpiper calling and was sure it wasn’t the one on island ten and few minutes
later I located a second on the exposed area leading to island eight. A Green Sandpiper then appeared on island ten
and there were now two Common Sandpipers also.
I checked for the one that had been towards island nine and it was still
present and so there were now three Common Sandpipers. I then noticed more waders on the end of
island four and on checking them they were four more Common Sandpipers and
there was also five Ringed Plovers hiding amongst the rocks. There was a good number of Common Terns on
the spit leading to island nine and on I counted 106, many of which were
juveniles and they have clearly had a good breeding season.
We moved on to shoveler hide
on lagoon three where we found a summer Black-tailed Godwit, a Curlew, three
Green Sandpiper and two Greenshanks. The
wildfowl were still increasing but we couldn’t find anything of note amongst
them and we eventually made our way back to the centre.
Green Sandpiper on lagoon three
Green Sandpiper on lagoon three
Common Tern over lagoon four
Common Tern over lagoon four
Dave was already back when we
arrived but although he had seen plenty of butterflies he hadn’t had any luck
with the hairstreaks. As we scanned
lagoon one I found a couple of Dunlin on the long island but there was little
else and so we called it a day.
During our visits to Rutland Water
we had also seen twenty-two Little Egrets, a Buzzard, two Ospreys and a couple
of Oystercatchers.
Holly Blue in the Egleton car park
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