I've been away to Cornwall for a week and was hoping the moth trap might yield some better results there than at home of late. However, it proved to be just as disappointing as here. We did have lots of fine weather which meant cold nights of course. Clouded Yellows were by far the most common butterfly around the Lizard and further west too. The most interesting bird sightings were several Choughs at various locations, and a few Balearic Shearwaters past Pendeen. Apart from wildlife I did tick another quoit near Cambourne-pictures below. I believe this monument is also known as the Pendarvis Quoit or the Devil's Frying Pan and is about 6000 years old.

Carwynnen or Giant's Quoit

Carwynnen or Giant's Quoit

Finally got a couple of Lunar Underwings in the trap-the first "new for the year" species this month.

 Lunar Underwing

Lunar Underwing

Still nothing new for the year in the moth trap this month. Had an outing to Dunge today where there was a strong easterly wind blowing for most of the day. There were 2 Black-necked Grebes from the Hanson Hide again and a very tame Grey Heron on the Willow Trail boardwalk. Returning from that hide we found a Great Green Bush-cricket in the middle of the path. I wanted to get a good picture of this species so this was a good find. Round towards the screen hide a Turtle Dove sat posing for a long while on a wire there. This was the first one I have actually seen this year. Unfortunately when I examined the photographs this evening I notice there is blood on the wing. Could it have been shot en route to Dunge? The Glossy Ibis was seen from the screen hide. After lunch we saw 1 Arctic Skua from the fishing boats before before having coffee on the reserve. A Great White Egret was seen from the visitor centre and a pair of mating Clouded Yellow Butterflies were photographed en route to Hooker's pit, where there was another Great White Egret  and a Common Buzzard was seen from the ramp. Again, not a bad day.

 Grey Heron

 Great Green Bush-cricket

 Turtle Dove

 Clouded Yellows

 

I still haven't had any Sallows in the trap yet.The most interesting species over the last few days were my "latest" Chinese Character and my 2nd Oak Hook-tip of the year, which is also only my 4th ever.

Oak Hook-tip

The moth trap continues to disapoint. Off to Dunge today where, after seeing 2 Black-necked Grebes on the ARC pit, a message came through about a Barred Warbler in the trapping area, where we had good views which were a bit distant for photography. This was my first for 9 years and also a Dunge tick. We then saw 2 Black Terns and an Arctic Tern at the patch. After lunch, from the fishing boats, we saw 2 Arctic Skuas harassing the Sandwich Terns. We then resumed at the ARC where the Glossy Ibis was showing and finished on the reserve where a Peregrine flew low near the visitor centre and a GreatWhite Egret was at Dengemarsh. One of our better days!

Barred Warbler

 Glossy Ibis

Peregrine

  

Moths still not very interesting. Made a visit to Dunge yesterday where most of the interest was at the ARC Pit, where the Glossy Ibis spent most of the day. Also seen were 2 Spotted Flycatchers, Spotted Redshank, Ruff, Black-necked Grebe, Egyptian Geese and Sparrowhawk. Pictures all from the ARC area.

Glossy Ibis

 Lawyer's Wig

Migrant Hawkers

Nothing very exiting from the trap in last few days-lots of LYUs. However, this morning I had a new micro for the garden which I'm fairly sure is Monopis crocicapitella. While looking at it in the pot it landed with its hindwing sticking out which was pale grey. It also had a heavily speckled appearance-see photo. We've reached the end of another month. At the end of August I'd recorded 148 macro species which is better than the 135 at this stage last year, but not as good as my best year of  2011 when the number ws 164. However, this year has been my best ever for micros with 103 species at the end of last month, which 6 better than the total for the whole of my previous best micro year.

 Monopis crocicapitella

 Orange Swift