Since my last post moth numbers have continued to build with Cypress Carpet, Flame Carpet, Foxglove Pug and Privet Hawk-moth all new for the year. My 2nd Stag Beetle of the year turned up inside the moth tap this morning.

Stag Beetle

 Privet Hawk-moth

 Cypress Carpet

Spent a day at Dungeness on Thursday. The best birds of the day were Black terns with 3 at the patch and 7 on the reserve, where there was a good selection of waders including a Curlew Sandpiper, a few Sanderling, Dunlin, Turnstone, and Ringed Plovers. Four Little Gulls were also present and Southern Marsh Orchids were noted on the RSPB reserve. The moth trap has been improving this week with my 2nd ever Orange Footman this morning and a number of new records for the year including: Light Brocade, Light Emerald, Vine's Rustic, Small Waved Umber, Small Square Spot and Pale Tussock.

Little Gull

 Black Terns

 Reed Warbler

Southern Marsh Orchids

I recently returned from a Birding holiday in the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia. Since my return there have a been a few new moth records for the year: Buttoned Snout, The Lychnis and my 3rd ever Puss Moth, the first for 8 years. I shall be putting a few more pictures from the holiday on my Flickr site in due course.

 Puss Moth

 Demoiselle Crane (Georgia)

 Kruper's Nuthatch (Georgia)

 Wallcreeper (Georgia)

Since my last post the warm weather has produced another 2 new species for my garden list: Lunar Marbled Brown and a tiny micro: Dyseriocrania subpurpurella. On Sunday afternoon at Grove Ferry/Stodmarsh a drake Garganey showed well from the ramp, and from the Marsh Hide a Hobby was seen and after a wait the Jack Snipe came out into the open.

Lunar Marbled Brown

Dyseriocrania subpurpurella

 Jack Snipe

Another day and another new species for the garden: Powdered Quaker. Waved Umber and V-Pug were new for the year.

Powdered Quaker

 V-pug

The fine weather has meant the moth trap has livened up somewhat with 56 moths of 17 species this morning. Best was a rather worn Pine Beauty which was new for the garden, bringing the garden list to 603. Also Acleris cristana was only my 2nd record, with Buttoned Snout, and Scorched Carpet being new for the year. Yesterday morning I was down at Seasalter looking for Emperor Moths when I was lucky enough to see a Black Kite fly west towards Oare Marshes where it was see a few minutes later. I only managed a distant photo.

 Pine Beauty

The Streamer

 Black Kite

Yesterday a male and female Brindled Beauty were the first garden records for 13 years, and this morning a rather worn Oak Nycteolene was new for the year.

 

 Brindled Beauty (m)

 Oak Nycteolene