Moth news: On Tuesday morning I was quite surprised to find 6 moths on or in the trap: 2 Pale Brindled Beauties, 2 Chestnuts, and 2 Common Quakers. On Wednesday, despite -2c overnight, an Early Grey was new for the year.

Pale Brindled Beauty

Just back from a trip to Canada where I was birding in the Calgary area-photos below and more will be appearing on my Flickr site.

Great Grey Owl

 Hawk Owl

 Pine Grosbeak

 Snowy Owl

No more moths to report. Yesterday I paid a late afternoon visit to Seasalter hoping for a Barn Owl. None seen but 1 Short-eared Owl showed well near the Pumping Station again. Today I spent a day at Dunge in very mild and calm weather. We started at the ARC pit which was very quiet with 5 Goldeneye noted. We then tried to find the Black-necked Grebes reported on the New Diggings but couldn't find them. We had better luck at the Fishing Boats where the 1W Glaucous Gull showed well again. The were also good numbers of Auks on the sea including a few Razorbills. Numerous Turnstones were on the beach and a Red-throated Diver was noted. After lunch at Lade we walked from the toilet block to the tideline where there were around 100 Barrel Jellyfish left stranded-the first time I've seen this species. We finished on the Reserve again where the highlights were a Slavonian Grebe from the Dennis hide, 2 Long-eared Owls behind the dipping pond, and a Smew near the Makepeace Hide, from where my friend spotted an adult Caspian Gull bathing. A Great White Egret and 3 Little Egrets were in the Boulderwall farmhouse area.

Glaucous Gull

 Barrel Jellyfish

 Short-eared Owl

Since my last post I've recorded a Light-brown Apple Moth, 2 Hebrew Characters and another Chestnut. Last year I didn't record a single moth before the 6th March.

The Chestnut