RIP Old Friend

The sea was productive this morning. A typical dribble of Gannets was suddenly interrupted by a wave of Kittiwakes arriving from the east. I stopped counting at 166, when I realised they were beginning to gather with Gannets into a sizeable feeding flock. Presumably this was what drew in several Arctic Skuas. Following a few sightings of between one and five birds from 06:50, a tight flock of seven headed W at 07:55, but I've no idea how many there were in total. In 20 years here, I've never seen a flock of seven Arctics. Factor in 5 Med Gulls, 4 Manxies, 3 Sandwich Terns, 2 'commic' Terns and at least two Common Dolphins by 08:00, and it was a very decent seawatch for here. Pete Forrest joined me for a bit, before heading off with a promise to let me know as soon as he found the mega...

At 08:30 Pete did just that!

Spoonbill is certainly a West Bay mega! In a flooded field visible from an inland corner of my West Bay & Eype patch, and a very welcome sight indeed!

And then tragedy struck...

For a few months now, my Nikon P900 has been showing signs that its days were numbered. The fold-out viewing screen was the first organ to shut down, but I mostly used the eye view-finder anyway, so pressed on. As long as the camera could 'see', I was happy. Well, today it went blind. Moments after taking the photo above, the view-finder stopped working. And, as I type, the camera still cannot see. I have tried everything. It still has a beating heart, and a functioning brain, but no eyes. It sees only darkness. I am...there is only one word...distraught.

I was especially hacked off because there were moths to photograph...

 

Friday night, August 11th

A windy, though mild, night. Just 50 moths of 31 species; one new for year and garden.

It didn't take me too long to find my old Panasonic Lumix FZ38. It looked so dated, and ridiculously tiny, but beggars can't be choosers. Thankfully one of the two batteries I have was still okay, and took a decent charge. I never really used its macro function, so the questionable quality of what follows is no surprise...

Oak Hook-tip. New for the garden, but quite common I think.

First Small Square-spot since mid-June.

One last year and, so far, two in 2023.

The nicest example of Metalampra italica so far, but it's pretty obvious that the Panasonic is not going to manage little micro-moths very well.

A new camera is on order, though unfortunately the P900 is no longer manufactured. In the meantime, bird photos might be few and far between.

 

EDIT

I nearly forgot! Two more Blair's Mochas last night. Despite ropiness, photos are obligatory...

Blair's Mocha #17 and #18. I think the colours here are not quite as true to life as I would like, but one of them really was much yellower than the other.