Weekend stuff

Get home on Friday from work and it's sunny and quite warm so sit down on one of outside seats, having a bit of a blether with Louise when I notice the Rooks are a bit agitated, mmmm what's that huge bird that they are pursuing across the field? By'eck tis an eagle. Get some details with the bins but it is soon out of view behind the neighbour's as it heads north. Sprint (that's an approximation, unfit 60+ year old sprint that would be more like an ungainly amble), around into the back garden over the gate (that's lying flat) and into the steading yard. There it is, now pursued by various gulls with geese scattering hither and thither. More half decent views as it heads for the moor but enough to get that it's a 2cy White-tailed Eagle - patch tick (and it was in the pan-listing square), nice.

We had a wedding to attend on Saturday and that took most of the day. A brief wander down the track did produce this though.

 Wooly Bear (Garden Tiger cat).

There was the moment at the wedding I went for a walk around outside and walked in with a micro-moth on my shoulder, it escaped in the gents and I had no pots, but I did have the macro camera - but that's a bit weird in the toilet maybe? Chickened out of flash photography in the wee room, it was a bit flighty anyway, so no id, darn.

Sunday had a slow start, the garden is still full of redpolls, a couple of those cold, dark Commons as well as the more normal Meally and Lessers. And I failed to get any half decent pix of any of them.  Moth traps to do (oh yes, I'd purposefully not drunk anything so that I could nip home and put the traps on). Traps were good except for the Tipula rufina that escaped without its photo being taken (included another Red Chestnut).

 Three of these Stenophylax pernistus (no gen det but confusion species do not occur here).

Red Chestnut

First Garden Carpet of the year.

Ophion sp (maybe, other genera are available) I have recorded Ophion parvulus here which does look like this superficially - these are tricky, will try a post on Moth Trap Intruders with some other angles. They parasitise Noctuid moths, quite large beasts. First one of the year.

Eventually we head to Palace and walk the beach first. I'm keen to try and find littoral carabids and whilst Louise was looking for groattie-buckies I was turning stones over at the high tideline. There were lots of this Staphy and they were quite photogenic. I didn't take a specimen though, however, thanks to Kerbtier.de I got cloesish and a post on UK Beetles FB page got a result.

Cafius xantholoma - NFM

There were various other bits and bats on the beach - the cow poo is now crawling, I resisted the temptation to put a large chunk of it in a bag - that would have been a week's work just to ID the Staphs (retirement job).

We headed back along the beach and then up on the cliff in the Marwick direction, it was calm and grey with the sun starting to come through. Sat down once we'd got a bit of height and scanned. These are the days when you know it's ideal for cetaceans but never see them. I have continued to fail to see a live Risso's Dolphin here, they are not uncommon. Anyway, today was a good day and as I scanned with the little scope a large black back with a mighty scythe like fin emerged from the deep. Over the next 40 mins or so we watched this small pod of Orca (perhaps four) apparently fishing just off the Brough of Birsay before they gradually headed round the corner and out of view.

The afternoon was spent finding the first carder bee of the year in the garden and photographing various (most probably unidentifiable) Dipterans.

I'm thinking the few dark hairs make this Bombus pascuorum.