Smart Gulls and a A First for Devon

In the seven weeks we've been back in East Devon I have checked the Axe Estuary gulls on maybe 10 occasions and am already up to five Caspian Gulls. Two today, the first time I've seen two at once. The first was a whopper...

First-winter Caspian Gull. The closest it came before heading off down the river.

Nice view of the tail and upperwing. Greater, median and lesser coverts all showing signs of moult, with 2nd-generation feathers evident in each.

Initial views were like this. Quite distant, but that strikingly white head was like a beacon.

Always looked big, facially like Great Black-backed Gull at times. No doubt a male.

Very pale underwing. Not a critical feature, but always nice to see.

After maybe half an hour of enjoying that hulking beast, a quick scan of newly-arrived gulls on the water revealed this one...

2w Caspian Gull (right) with 1w and 3w Herring Gulls.

Initial binocular views misled me into thinking this was another 1w bird, but clearly it is not. Even so, its moult seems less advanced than I would have expected. Though I've seen only a handful of 2w Casps, they have all had more grey feathers than this one. A couple of other things about this bird: no sign of any p10 mirrors, and rather dark inner primaries. Not vital, but p10 mirrors would have been nice. And all the other second-winters I've seen have had noticeably paler inner primaries. Not this bird...

No p10 mirror on this side. Nor the other, as far as I could make out.

The inner webs of the inner primaries do look a bit paler (more noticeable on left-hand wing) but it's certainly not extensive or obvious.

Compare the above with this 2w Casp on the Axe almost exactly a year ago...

4/11/2024. Obvious pale panel created by broad, pale inner webs of inner primaries.

Anyway, today's bird did make me wonder what a Casp x LBBG might look like, but I am definitely not going to pursue that thought any further than this sentence. Some more pics...

Really I should have been using my time to comb likely spots for stripy warblers, but a flock of gulls is hard to resist and far more likely to cough up something decent.*

In other news...

The Axminster Moth List is up to 20 species now, with these recent additions...

Barred Sallow

Feathered Thorn

Diamond-back Moth

The latter is a common migrant of course. We had another Olive-tree Pearl too, which for me is a much, much less common migrant...

Olive-tree Pearl

Finally, the suspected Obscure Mompha (Mompha jurassicella) which featured in the previous post is indeed an Obscure Mompha. I emailed pics to the Devon Moth Recorder and asked for his thoughts. I was expecting a reply along the lines of:

'Yes, it certainly could be M. jurassicella, but what with the confusion species and the photographic dodginess...blah, blah...dissection of the specimen would be essential to confirm.'

But what I in fact got was:

'The first two photos do indeed show jurassicella new to Devon - excellent.'

That's an unequivocal thumbs-up then. New to Devon. Wow! What an utterly bizarre start to Devon mothing.

There it is, the dowdy little speck of joy: Obscure Mompha Mompha jurasicella - the first for Devon.

* Bonus points if you spotted the lurking Med Gull in some of the earlier photos.

A Full Set of Blair's

Back in June 2022 I fired up a moth trap for the very first time. It was an experiment really. A little dabble...

I had no idea.

Prior to our move to Axminster I packed the trap away and tallied up the garden list. Including aggregates, 603 is a tidy figure I reckon. There are some real gems among that lot, probably due to our proximity to some nice, varied habitat, and of course, the English Channel. However, on September 22nd the Dorset moth experiment came to an end.

We are now in Devon, and a few miles further from the coast, on an estate of very new houses with miniscule gardens and bright, all-night street lights. I suspected that the moth potential would likely be very poor, and had absolutely no intention of unpacking the trap until some time next year...

Our house is nine years old, and came with a cheap, generic porch light in dire need of replacement. So, I thought, why not install something with enough room to house a 20W actinic lamp? You never know, perhaps the odd moth might be attracted to it.

That very first night produced four moths to the porch light: three Common Marbled Carpets and an Oak Longhorn (Carcina quercana). The Axminster Moth List had begun.

Though, actually it had begun a bit earlier...

Three days after moving in I found a tiny moth indoors and took a couple of dodgy photos. It looked good for Obscure Mompha (Mompha jurassicella) but the Devon Moths website suggests that this species has never been recorded in Devon. It is also Nationally Scarce A, so I dismissed it. And then on October 19th I found another, also indoors...

Taken with the phone camera, this looks bang-on for Obscure Mompha.

There are two similar species - which themselves are basically indistinguishable without surgery - but Obscure Mompha is supposedly doable from photos, being much less strongly marked than the other two. All I can say is that these pics match very closely those I have researched online. Anyway, on Ocober 29th I found yet another, also in the house. Needless to say, all the inevitable sleuthing got me into moth mode.

And so, out came the trap...

Tuesday night last week, it was. A quick check before bed, and absolutely nothing to see. I was convinced it would be empty come Wednesday morning. On the contrary, there were six moths in it, and another around the corner by the porch light: White-point and Rusty-dot Pearl were possible migrants, and were accompanied by two Vine's Rustics and singles of Large Yellow Underwing, Green-brindled Crescent and Merveille du Jour. The latter two are classic autumn moths, but I had previously caught only four and two respectively in Bridport. An auspicious first outing for the trap.

No trap the following night, but a pristine Merveille du Jour to the porch light!

Green-brindled Crescent

The first Merveille du Jour - a bit worn.

The second Merveille du Jour. Rather bright!

Since then the trap has been out several times. Just the one blank, on a very wet and windy Tuesday night. But last night made up for it, with 10 moths of nine species. Three were nice migrants...

Olive-tree Pearl Palpita vitrealis. As far as I can tell, we had just four in Bridport (one in 2022 and three last autumn) so this is a classy moth to catch so soon.

Rusty-dot Pearl Udea ferrugalis - a common migrant, but still nice to catch.

Vestal. We caught a dozen or so in Bridport, though none last year.

Also...

Another Green-brindled Crescent

A nicely-marked November Moth agg.

Red-green Carpet

And a couple from previous traps...

This Silver Y was another species for the 'possible migrant' list...

...as was this nice White-point.

Finally, the reason for the title of this post...

Sitting on the wall above the kitchen door this morning was a new moth for me. Not rare or anything, but a species that we simply didn't encounter in Bridport...

Blair's Shoulder-knot

Doctor Kenneth Gloyne Blair modestly gave his name to three moth species. In 1945 there was a wainscot. He named it Blair's Wainscot. The following year, a mocha. 'Thanks, I'll have that one too,' said the good doctor: Blair's Mocha. Finally, in 1951, a shoulder-knot. 'You know what? I'll have that one as well. Me. Doctor Blair. Blair's Shoulder-knot we'll call it. Ta.'

And I can claim to be one of what is almost certainly a very, very small number of moth recorders to have caught all three in his garden...

Blair's Wainscot - Bridport, 22/10/2022

Blair's Mocha, Bridport - one of millions.

Thank you, Doctor Blair, for your nice moths.

The Start of an Era

This morning's Seaton Birdwatching Tram was the last of the year, but my last, full stop. A few minutes before arriving back at base, Brian the duty inspector climbed aboard at Riverside Halt and made a brief announcement to that effect. His kind words in the midst of a sharp shower garnered a ripple of polite applause, and brought the end to an era. My days of gainful employment are now 100% done.

Obviously, the end of one era is the start of another, though to be honest I have no firm plans. Mind you, walking back to my car I dropped in at the fishmongers and enquired about sardine availability. So I guess there might be some pike fishing on the agenda...

Anyway, prior to this morning's jaunt I stopped off opposite the tram sheds to give a group of 30-40 large gulls the once-over, and was surprised to spot this among them...

1st-winter Caspian Gull with Great Black-backed Gulls.

I say 'surprised' but that's not really true. Things have reached the point where I almost expect to find a Casp at the moment, and am slightly disappointed when I don't. If I have interpreted Steve's calculations correctly, this is probably the 31st Axe Casp of 2025. With a previous peak annual total of six (2023) and just 38 since the first in 2007, 31 Caspian Gulls in a single year is ridiculous. And there are still two months to go. I think it is safe to say that something has happened! And perhaps the taxon's ever-burgeoning population just across the North Sea is part of that 'something'. Breeding in Britain must surely be imminent.

I posted a photo of today's bird on BlueSky and someone commented that it gave them 'Yellow-legged Gull vibes'. It doesn't do that for me, but the comment nevertheless touched on something I've been wondering about.

As the Casp population has grown and spread rapidly westwards across Europe, with many now breeding along the Dutch coast, I highly doubt that its genetic purity has survived even slightly unscathed. In mixed colonies of Caspian, Herring and Yellow-legged Gulls, intra-specific fidelity is not necessarily a thing, and hybrids, back-crosses and the rest must be legion. It strikes me that most of the Casps we see these days are not what you would call 'classic' birds, and I suspect this is why. Today's bird is typical.

Still, I am more than happy to take any number of less-than-perfect Casps. They are still a lot of fun...

Nice comparison with 1cy GBBG (left) and Herring Gull.

I've managed very little birding since the previous post, but a morning visit to Beer Head tapped into a decent movement of Woodpigeons, if not much else. Unfortunately the flight line was mostly inland from the Head itself, so most of the accompanying finches, pipits etc went unidentified.

Just a few of many thousands of Woodpigeons that headed W last weekend

At least his little party of Stock Doves was close enough for the camera.

In other news, despite plans to the contrary an irresistible urge had me digging out the moth trap from the box where I had stowed it pre-move, and figuring out how to rig it up in our miniscule garden. We have bright street lights here, and a quick, mothless look before bed convinced me there would be nothing in it come the morning. But daylight revealed seven moths: White Point and Rusty-dot Pearl (both migrants), two Vine's Rustics, a Large Yellow Underwing, and singles of Merveille du Jour and Green-brindled Crescent. The latter two were scarce gems in our Bridport garden, with just two and four respectively in three autumns of trapping. The Green-brindled Crescent wasn't actually in the trap but around the corner, a few inches from the 20W actinic porch light. I thought this might be coincidence, and that the trap had actually drawn it in, but the following night (no trap) produced a different Merveille du Jour to the porch light. So it definitely works!

Green-brindled Crescent

Merveille du Jour to 20W actinic porch light!

Of Gulls and Crests Mainly

In any normal year, finding a single Caspian Gull would warrant a full, gloaty post all of its own. But this is not a normal year. Steve has nicely summarized the current local scenario on his blog here, but in a nutshell: Caspian Gull has gone from Axe scarcity-bordering-on-rarity (38 birds in 18 years since the first in 2007) to dross (28 birds so far in 2025) in one fell swoop. Sunday's dismal weather produced an astonishing six Casps for Steve (Dawlish Warren also had six that day) and on Monday morning he found another. I wasn't able to get involved on Sunday, but managed a quick look after Steve on Monday morning and a slower one around 4pm. Each visit produced a Caspian Gull...

1w Caspian Gull - the afternoon bird...

...and again.

The morning bird. Also a first-winter, and wearing a green ring (T|P) from a Dutch project. Initially picked up on the water, I guessed a new arrival, but it was the same bird Steve had seen a little earlier.

Green T|P on the mud. Ringing details awaited...

The afternoon visit also produced a nice, sub-adult Yellow-legged Gull (4th-winter?) which got me wondering whether YLG is actually the scarcer taxon right now...

Presumed 4w Yellow-legged Gull on the left.

It is very nice living close to the Axe again. In ten years as a West Dorset resident I saw just five Caspian Gulls in the county, so currently I have a slight kid-in-a-sweetshop feeling whenever I pass the river and see a conveniently viewable gathering of gulls on display.

Prior to recent gullage there was a protracted spell of high-pressure weather, and many Chiffchaffs, including 60+ up Beer Head one morning last week. There were also 3 Firecrests, 2 Goldcrests and 4 Blackcaps on that occasion, which is pretty darn decent for Beer Head. And late one afternoon I came across another couple of Firecrests in the car park trees at Black Hole Marsh.

Flavour of the month. It's been a really good autumn for Chiffs.

Chiff again.

The only photo-opp that a Beer Head Firecrest gave me. All was beautifully framed, crisp and sharp...but the moment I pressed the shutter my subject leaped from the twigs to the fence, neatly spoiling the composition and putting itself very slightly out of focus. Sigh...

One of the Black Hole Marsh Firecrests. Just. I like this shot.

Same bird. I hadn't noticed that it was ringed. I wonder where?

I started with a gull, so I'll finish with one too. Prior to the latest Casp glut, one of the smartest gulls I saw last week was this rather swish juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull...

Long, lean, and looking very fresh - juv LBBG on the left.