NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Another grey, dull morning. My check of the garden MV came up with a decent moth, as the migrant tortrix, Cydia amplana (above), was sitting on one of the first egg boxes checked. This is the second garden record, and although a good inland record it was not surprising, as they have been recorded in good numbers down on the coast over the past few days. I was at Canons Farm by 07.00hrs - bad mistake - it was birdless. I haven't known this site to be so poor in the twenty years that I have been running an ornithological ruler over it. Once upon a time I would have stuck at it, but instead I went over to Headley Heath, hoping to at least find a large tit flock in which I might be able to prize some migrants from. It worked, to a fashion. Within 10 minutes I was watching a mixed passerine flock of 120 birds, mostly Blue Tits, but, within it were four Willow Warblers and 12 Chiffchaffs. Over the next three hours the Chiffchaff count rose to 65, but migrants were largely absent. There w...

The garden MV is always interesting during hot weather. In such times moths that are not resident in the area will often turn up in the garden, and last night's representative offering was the wetland-haunting Gold Spot. A smart species (above). Cydia amplana (above) may not be as showy, but I was very pleased to find one in the MV alongside the Gold Spot. It is a migrant (and maybe breeding in England now) but regardless of status was my first anywhere. With the heatwave about to break the hope of further wanderers will, in all likelihood, be reduced.