Sunday 7 April 2019

Holidays

First evening of the holiday and for the first time since a brief spell in February the weather for moth trapping. The MV was in the front garden and the 20W actinic at Wee Wood. Unfortunately the sky stayed clear and by 23:30 nothing doing in the garden with the MV so I brought it in but I left the actinic as it's running off an old car battery anyway.


In the distance from the house and close up.

Red Chestnut 1, (thanks Stewart) Hebrew Character 6, Common Quaker 1, and Clouded Drab 2 plus a Scathophaga stercoraria or two and three Clubonia spiders which on size are most likely to be reclusa.

 Clouded Drab - reidentified (thanks Stewart) as Red Chestnut, new for site.

 Common Quaker (top) and Clouded Drab (bottom), I found this CD rather confusing.
Clouded Drab

Clubonia, probably reclusa (distribution and size, 6mm ish).

Scathophaga stercoraria

The torrential rain in the middle of the week had forced two Wood Mice indoors and into the jaws of my snap traps, bit of a shame but when they get in the kitchen they are a real pain.

Wood Mice

Once the moths were sorted we set off for Marwick to walk the hound and look at the seabird cliffs.

 Common Scurvy Grass on the way up to the monument, there were three male Wheatear as well.


Guillemots

Razorbills

The Fulmars were the stars of the show though, inquisitive and aerobatic.



 
Fulmars


3 comments:

Stewart said...

Hi Alastair I hope you dont mind, your top moth is a Red Chestnut not a Clouded Drab...Cheers Stewart

Ali said...

Wheatear would be a decent record for me inland, but I have had one previously. You never know.

Alastair said...

Stewart, just found your comment, no I don't mind at all as that is a species I've not seen before, I also have a feeling it is rarely recorded here. I'd vowed to be a lot more careful with my ids with moths this year, so that was a good start! First real trapping and a very unexpected species, so I guess I can be excused a little. Very many thanks.