On Not Standing Still...

'Everything changes; nothing stands still' said somebody once. And boy, is that true in the world of birds and moths! I am old enough to remember when we had two species of redpoll: plain, simple Redpoll, plus Arctic Redpoll. Then one day the experts decided there were actually three species. Name-wise they kept Arctic Redpoll, and called the other two Lesser Redpoll and Common Redpoll. Finally, as mentioned in the previous post, science has taken another stride forward in knowledge and understanding, and decided that there was in fact only one species of redpoll all the time. I would like to think it will be called Lumpy Redpoll.

Not for nothing are these endearing little finches known collectively as the redpoll complex. And I do find it thought-provoking how a rather variable bird can so effectively blur what constitutes fact. Back in 1975 or whatever: the redpoll complex is derived from two full species. Fact. Several years later: three species. Fact. And today: er... one species...and yes, it was always one species. We were wrong, but have definitely got it right now. Fact. But yes, okay, different fact from other recent facts.

Anyway, enough of that little soapbox, and on to moths...

Published 2023, acquired by me a few months ago.

In the world of moths there is constant flux. Two trivial examples from last night's efforts...

Cloaked Carpet. A bit worn, but there is still a hint of mossy green around the shoulders.

Until some time this morning I was under the impression that the status of this smart moth was 'Nationally Scarce B'. It certainly was last summer. But no longer. Now it is 'Common'. Wow! Good news for Cloaked Carpet of course, but I had to deflate my puffed-out chest a bit. Rarity value well and truly battered. Still, a second for the garden after one last June, and great to see.

Willow Maze-miner Phyllocnistis saligna, or so I thought...

After crowing on Bluesky about our garden being a county hotspot for the species - 12 records involving 20+ individuals over three seasons, compared with just nine other records on the Dorset Living Record map - I discovered this on the Dorset Moths website:

!!Determination by Genitalia Examination (gen. det.) Required!!

I am pretty sure that this was not the case last year. Evidently another species potentially occuring here is so similar that P. saligna cannot safely be identified without dismantling. I think my reign as Willow Maze-miner king might be over.

So, those are just two small examples of how change is constant in the mothy realm. The range of a species might expand or contract, leading to a change in status. And a species' distinctiveness in the field might be compromised by the realisation that a visually similar species has just reared its annoying head.

And I can imagine someone provocatively pointing out that names might change too! The book pictured above is full of new names. English ones. Hundreds of them. I might add that the Dorset Living Record distribution maps are searchable by entering the first letter of a moth's name and then scrolling down the list until you find it. And not the scientific name either. No, the English name. In fact, it appears to be impossible to search said maps using scientific names! And all the new English names feature on the Dorset Moths website. I wondered if this had anything to do with the fact that Messrs Sterling and Parsons are based in the county, but found that some other county websites have done likewise.

And the garden moth list changes too, expanding incrementally but determinedly, like my waist. Surprisingly, last night there were three new ones...

Hawthorn Berry Moth Blastobactra hellerella - pretty common apparently

A rather worn Slender Brindle

Oak Marble Eudemis profundana - currently only one other dot in the Bridport area

And a couple of regular customers in absolutely mint condition...

Red Twin-spot Carpet

Lime-speck Pug

Talking of pugs...

As much for me as anyone else, I made this composite image featuring three quite similar 'brown' pugs that have visited recently...

As far as I can tell from the Living Record maps, our garden does really well for many pugs. And thankfully they are all really distinctive and easy to ID.

Posterity

A sobering thought occurred to me recently: next year I will have clocked up a decade in Bridport. A whole decade of on/off birding in West Dorset. And what have I got to show for it? Well, quite a lot actually...

And so it was that I decided to compile a West Dorset Birds post, which is currently a work in progress. The intention is to document for posterity what I consider the birdy highlights of my time here. Why? Good question. A couple of reasons came easily to mind. Firstly, it would be a great post to curl up with when the weather - or the birding - was especially dismal. So yes, entirely a selfish reason. However, I wondered whether it might also serve as encouragement to birders whose outings usually involve popular locations to maybe venture off the well-worn paths and seek out some off-piste thrills instead. There are many birdy rewards to be had away from the popular hotspots. So yes, entirely a presumptuously patronising reason.

Anyway, I've had a lot of fun birding my local area, and I hope it shows.

The whole process got me thinking about what I might consider my favourite bird of the West Dorset years. There are a few candidates, but this one is certainly on the shortlist...

What I particularly like about this one is its irony. In October 2021 it was a new bird for Dorset - albeit a subspecies - a Common Redpoll of the so-called Greenland type, Acanthis flammea rostrata, but very soon it will simply be a Redpoll. To be fair, list-wise it was 'worth' very little at the time anyway - unless your list included subspecies - but presently it really will have zero 'value'. But what great fun it was! The detective work involved in its identification played a big part in that fun of course, but the location, the memorably fierce weather, and the bird's endearing tameness all contributed to a hugely satisfying experience. And revisiting the relevant blog posts (here and here) and photos - and video - brings it all back. Wonderful stuff.

Yes, I am looking forward to putting together my West Dorset Birds memory package.

West Dorset Birds

Birds of quality wot I have recorded locally. This post is a work in progress, and will be added to as I find the time. Once completed it will probably wind up on this blog as a separate page.

The inclusion - or otherwise - of a species will mainly be down to what I think of as local 'quality' rather than its county status, or some other logical metric. In other words, entirely subjective!

Pink-footed Goose

A Dorset rarity; not annual.

2019 - October 12th. West Bay, one in the field behind Rise Restaurant at dusk. Found by Nick Senior a couple of days earlier.

2020 - October 9th. One flew W with Canada Geese at East Bexington. Almost certainly the same bird had previously been on the Axe Estuary at Seaton from September 28th until October 8th, when it turned up at two locations in the Chard area, Somerset. Following its fly-by at East Bex, what was presumably the same individual reappeared on the Axe Estuary.

2022 - September 17th. One recorded on nocmig around 01:55; almost certainly the same bird had been at Abbotsbury Swannery the previous day.

Pink-footed Goose with Canadas, almost getting away, East Bexington 9/10/2020

Pink-footed Goose spectrogram, Bridport 17/9/2022

Whooper Swan

Scarce in Dorset.

2020 - October 5th. Two flew W at Cogden; picked up earlier past West Bex by Mike Morse. Probably the same two had previously been at Abbotsbury Swannery.

Whooper Swans, Cogden 5/10/2020

Garganey

Aside from the West Bexington Mere, I cannot think of many likely spots to find a settled Garganey hereabouts. A spring seawatch is always going to be a good bet though.

2019 - April 15th. Flock of nine E during a seawatch at Burton Bradstock, including five drakes; photographed a little later by Joe Stockwell off Chesil.

2023 - August 19th. One on Brit Estuary, West Bay; juv or female.

Screenshot of Joe's triumphant tweet, 15/4/2019

Garganey (juv or female) with Mallard, Brit Estuary, West Bay 19/8/2023

Lesser Scaup

Rare. This one was Dorset's fifth.

2022 - January 14th. First-winter female on Big Pond, West Bex, found by Mike Morse and Alan Barrett. Previously at Abbotsbury Swannery, it turned up there again at the end of January and stayed into March.

First-winter female Lesser Scaup, Big Pond, West Bex 14/1/2022

Eider

A scarce bird in this part of Lyme Bay; usually encountered during spring seawatches.

2020 - March 21st. Single drake E during afternoon seawatch from Burton Bradstock.

2020 - December. A drake Eider took up residence at Lyme Regis for a few years, and I finally made the effort to see it during a brief stay there in December 2020. A youngster when it arrived, by now it was in immaculate adult plumage.

2021 - March 26th. Four on the sea briefly off Cogden Beach - three drakes (two adults) and a female - later seen from other seawatching points east of there.

2022 - April 11th. Flock of 15 (11 drakes) E past West Bay. Photographed by Mike Morse as they went past West Bex.

2022 - April 12th. A female on the sea off West Bay.

2023 - March 13th. Pair flew E past West Bay.

15 Eiders past West Bex 11/4/2022 (photo © Mike Morse)

Immaculate drake Eider, Lyme Regis Harbour 7/12/2020

Female Eider in the rain, West Bay 12/4/2022

Velvet Scoter

Scarce locally; thus far only encountered on seawatches. April 10th/11th seems a good time to try.

2016 - April 11th. Two E past Burton Bradstock during an excellent movement of Common Scoters (235 E in 2.5 hrs); both as singles in a flock of Commons (four and 28 respectively).

2022 - April 11th. Nine E past West Bay; flock of seven, plus two together.

2022 - October 31st. Two E past West Bay. Result of a 'heads-up' WhatsApp message from Ian McLean, who had seen them at Seaton.

2023 - April 10th. Single female E past West Bay.

Two Velvet Scoters, West Bay 31/10/2022

Two Velvet Scoters, West Bay 11/4/2022

Long-tailed Duck

Definitely a very scarce bird in Lyme Bay.

2021 - March 26th. Female/immature W past Cogden Beach at 07:40 with three Common Scoters, initially identified as a 'probable'. Approximately 35 minutes later it flew past seawatchers at Seaton, where its ID was nailed. Nice example of digital comms in action.

Quail

Very scarce locally. I have yet to see one, but have sound-recorded the species twice as nocmig and once in the field.

2020 - July 11th. Bridport; nocmig record at 03:05.

2022 - May 28th. One in song at Cogden during the evening.

2022 - July 14th. Bridport; nocmig record at 03:35.

Quail, nocmig spectrogram 14/7/2022

Above video of singing Quail at Cogden 28/5/2022

Nightjar

No local breeders that I am aware of, so Nightjar probably rates as an infrequent passage migrant. Despite never having clapped eyes on one locally, three nocmig records suggest the species probably occurs more regularly than I might imagine.

2020 - April 24th. Bridport; nocmig record at 21:29. Also heard live, much to my surprise!

2020 - May 17th. Bridport; nocmig record at 22:41.

2022 - May 15th. Bridport; nocmig record at 23:43.

Nightjar, nocmig spectrogram 24/4/2020.

And this is what it sounded like...

Above 'spectrovid' of nocmig Nightjar recorded 24/4/2020.

Stone-curlew

A Dorset rarity, so three records (including two nocmig) is pretty good going.

2020 - April 22nd. Bridport; nocmig record at 01:13.

2021 - April 22nd. Cogden; one on the beach and adjacent fields for about an hour early morning, before heading N over coastal ridge.

2021 - April 24th. Bridport; nocmig record at 00:54

Stone-curlew, Cogden 22/4/2021. Not the 'best' photo but certainly the most evocative, with West Dorset's Golden Cap in the background.

Stone-curlew, Cogden 22/4/2021

Above 'spectrovid' of nocmig Stone-curlew recorded at 01:13 on 22/4/2020

Avocet

Scarce locally. With limited wader habitat here, a seawatch fly-by is as likely a scenario as any. Except nocmig maybe.

2022 - March 24th. Bridport; nocmig record at 20:52

2022 - April 14th. Bridport; nocmig record at 22:28

2023 - May 3rd. West Bay; one E at 06:35, landed several times on the sea.

Little Ringed Plover

Regular locally, but I've only seen two. However, seven nocmig records indicates that a number pass through each year. Sightings only listed...

2021 - April 2nd. West Bexington; one on the Mere.

2022 - August 3rd. West Bexington; one on Big Pond.

Little Ringed Plover, West Bexington Mere 2/4/2021

Little Ringed Plover juv, West Bexington Big Pond 3/8/2022

In the Vernacular

When I saw my first Cirl Bunting in 1978 - at West Wycombe in Bucks - the UK population was in serious decline. By 1990 there were just 100 or so pairs remaining, all in South Devon. Conservation efforts turned the tide at this point, but more than a decade later it was still necessary to travel west of the River Exe to guarantee seeing one, and the species' gradual recovery has always seemed painfully slow. Yes, certainly its range was expanding, but it never felt likely that I would encounter Cirl Bunting close to home in Seaton, East Devon any time soon, and even less so here in Bridport, West Dorset. And then, on 1st January 2021, I took this ropey photo at West Bexington...

Female Cirl Bunting, West Bexington, 1st Jan 2021

Unbeknown to me, Mike Morse had seen and photographed the same bird earlier in the day. And our suspicions were correct; it was a female Cirl Bunting. Since then the species has become an increasingly familiar sight locally, with breeding proven last summer. Along with a successful pair on Portland, they were the first Cirl Buntings to breed in Dorset for more than 50 years.

And this week, successful breeding has been proven once again. Great news! Full details will be forthcoming later in the year...

The local Cirls can be amazingly elusive, but in the spring I had a jammy encounter with this male as it quietly fed on tiny grass seeds...

Male Cirl Bunting

Those are photographs I would never have predicted taking locally. What a treat to have this species close by.

 

In other news...

Shortly after embarking on my mothing apprenticeship I had a little vent on here about my struggles to get to grips with scientific names. All moths are blessed with them of course, but most so-called micro-moths are also typically known by them. I realise that many branches of natural history deal almost exclusively in scientific names, and anyone wishing to dip a toe will simply have to get on with it. Still, I would not be surprised to learn that some folk find it all too daunting, and so don't even try. Ironically, with micro-moths someone did attempt to make it all a bit more accessible by giving them vernacular names too. However, despite some limited take-up (for example, Nick Asher's Common Micro-moths of Berkshire includes them) there appeared to be strong aversion to their universal adoption.

Enter Phil Sterling and Mark Parsons, writers of the Field Guide to the Micro-moths of Great Britain and Ireland. In the excellent second edition there is a section in the introduction entitled 'Vernacular names'. There we read...

Vernacular names...appear to be welcomed and despised in equal measure!...For the second edition we decided to review vernacular names, with a view to including a revised list that we hope will be more widely accepted, changing those names that seemed inappropriate...We hope that these vernaculars will encourage new interest in micro-moths among people who are put off by scientific names...

What a refreshing attitude.

True, perseverence has given me a sketchy familiarity with the scientific names of many micros, but it hasn't changed my view that insisting on their use is a bit blinkered, and off-putting for the non-specialist. I must admit though, until recently I found it difficult to rationalise this view in a way that came across as something more reasoned than stubborn resistance.

Enter the grandchildren. Like any good grandparent, I am trying to interest my granddaughters in the natural world. Moths have already played a part, and both girls are fascinated by them...

Elephant Hawk-moth gets reverential admiration.

Elephant, hawk and moth are all words which even a four or five-year-old can grasp; Deilephila elpenor, not so much. So yes, I am glad we call it Elephant Hawk-moth. How about this next one?

Ypsolopha sequella

This attractive little micro-moth is very distinctive and easy to recognise. However, not for one second would I consider encouraging my granddaughter to call it Ypsolopha sequella - and no, sweetheart, that begins with a 'Y', not an 'I' - because the vernacular fits like a glove...

Pied Rabbit Moth

The vernacular even gives you the opportunity to teach the meaning of a new word perhaps - pied.

Personally I am now comfortable using either name, but have never bothered to investigate the etymological roots of 'ypsolopha' and 'sequella'. So, to me they are just meaningless words that when combined become the scientific name of a striking micro-moth. And I could say something similar about almost all the scientific names in my mothy lexicon.

Yes, I hope the vernaculars gain traction. They deserve to.