PM Pied Fly

It felt just like the old days this afternoon, when I used to go birding a lot. A slow, easy plod around the eastern side of of West Bex. Conditions were hot and sunny, slightly mitigated by a cool offshore breeze, and I hoped for little more than a Willow Warbler or two. However, I got none. Terrific weather for butterflies though...

Clouded Yellow was plentiful, and I saw 10+ without even trying.

Ditto Painted Lady, mainly near the coast path.

Always good to see a Small Copper. The little 'tail' in the hindwing stands out nicely in this pic.

My first Brown Argus of the year.

Migrant birds were at an absolute premium, and I heard not a single 'hoo-weet' from the hedgerows. The best I could muster were 2 Wheatears at the back of the beach, and 40+ Med Gulls on it. The heat-haze made photography a non-starter. Well, almost...

Wheatear, through a gap in the heat-haze.

I was almost back at the car when I got a brief (i.e. one second) view of a Pied Flycatcher along Labour-in-Vain Lane. Darting instantly from its open perch to some thick foliage, I got nothing else but an occasional flicking movement in the leafage, and eventually not even that. After a few minutes I moved on, and had very nearly got my keys out when I surprised myself by deciding to go back and give it some more time. 'Okay. What's to lose?' I thought, and retraced my steps...

Yep, definitely worth the bother. Pied Fly.

So, that was nice! My first Pied Flycatcher of the year, and a great little performance to boot. It cost me about 15 minutes.

Shortly after this, a Hobby dashed west, and a smart Lesser Whitethroat popped out of a hedge for me. I am glad I loitered.

Prior to this afternoon's birding I was trying hard to get a decent pic of one of the smartest little micro-moths I've yet seen. We've caught one previously, but on that occasion I failed to do better than a rubbish pot-shot. Unfortunately I didn't do a great deal better today...

Hopefully this shot conveys the size of it, or lack of...

Despite being photographed through the wall of a plastic pot, this is about the best I managed. Those black-bordered body stripes are gleaming silver. It is an outrageous little thing!

Phyllonorycter platani appears to be quite scarce in Dorset. Its food plant is London Plane, so perhaps that is a limiting factor? However, we happen to have an impressive London Plane tree on the green across from our bungalow. Winner!

We bagged another classy little micro a couple of nights ago...

Our second one of these. At 3.5mm, easy to miss!

Some of the micros we are getting appear to be quite scarce in Dorset, but is it more likely that they are simply under-recorded? Anyway, here's another recent one...

We've had this once before too.

New moths include one of those where you have to see bits that are normally not visible, in order to confirm the identity. Svensson's Copper Underwing requires a good view of the underside of the spread hind-wing in order to separate it from the regular Copper Underwing. Tricky. I've been practicing on Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings, checking them to see if any are Langmaid's Yellow Underwing. Not so far. Trying this lark on a fully-awake moth is a mug's game. It's like trying to grip a greased almond! I don't want to damage these beautiful creatures, so I only bother trying it when they've been in the fridge a while. Then I can be quick and gentle, and hopefully see what I want to see. And this morning I saw the underside of a Svensson's Copper Underwing's underwing. Nice.

Some recent new ones...

Unfortunately this Bordered Beauty looks like it's had a lucky escape from a bat.

Micros are growing on me. Pre moth-fever, I wouldn't have given this a second glance.

Another one with lovely markings.

So, August has arrived with a bang. Pied Flycatcher has stirred the slumbering birder, and now I have two things demanding that I rise at stupid o'clock, instead of just one...