Ooh, You Little Beauty...

The trap is out again tonight.

This surprises me. I really had no intention of trapping until next year. Apart from practical difficulties imposed by the lack of an outside power supply and nowhere to process a catch, I simply had no desire to make a start until winter had been and gone. And I saw little potential in our new home's location, so didn't think I would be missing much.

But...

J-u-u-u-st out of curiosity I popped a 20W actinic bulb into our porch light to find out if any moths did visit the neighbourhood, naively believing I could take a detached interest if anything actually turned up. Detached, my foot.

Just over a fortnight ago, out went the trap.

Numerically-speaking our 40W actinic bucket trap has always produced far smaller catches than social media suggests most other moth folk tend to get, though I do realise many may be operating MV or multiple traps. Even so, our trap has done well in terms of both variety and quality; in West Dorset there were many exciting moths. But here we are now in East Devon. Would it be any good? Well, we are at least twice as far from the sea, so migrant potential must be somewhat diminished surely?

Since first deploying the trap I have recorded a measly 60 moths of 25 species. However, of that total, 18 moths of nine species have been migrants, and that strikes me as pretty decent. Most have been common, or at least regular migrants. Until this morning...

Last night's weather was mostly dire, with persistent, sometimes heavy rain. Even so, a few moths were evidently abroad. There was a December Moth on the wall, two Rusty-dot Pearls around the trap, and I found our first Angle Shades and Turnip Moth lurking nearby...

Angle Shades

Turnip Moth

Along with the Rusty-dot Pearls, both the above are likely migrants, so I was hopeful there might be some more in the trap this morning...

In the event everything was very wet, and I wasn't hopeful. Several soggy egg trays and one Rusty-dot Pearl later, the trap was seemingly empty. But right at the bottom of the bucket, clinging to the side wall, was this...

Banded Sable Spoladea recurvalis

I met this species just over a year ago, when I kicked one out of the grass at Cogden. At the time I recognised it from photos on Bluesky but couldn't recall the name, though I did know it was a scarce migrant. So this morning I knew exactly what I was dealing with!

'Ooh, you little beauty,' was the involuntary utterance as I gingerly engulfed it with a pot.

How scarce? In Devon there have been 17 records up to the end of 2024. To put this in context, there are more than twice as many Devon records of Crimson Speckled! So. Jammy, or what?!

Just 60 moths so far. One a first for Devon, another a scarce migrant with less than 20 county records. Pretty happy with that!

Anyway, a few more recent moths...

Merveille du Jour. Our third, which is already one more than we managed in Bridport.

Rusty-dot Pearl. Seven so far.

Vine's Rustic. Six so far.

Last night's December Moth, our fifth.

This December Moth was near the porch light, and for some reason adopted this pose for the whole day.

Thursday night's weather was horrendous, and I didn't bother with the trap. Even so, this Vestal was pulled in by the porch light. Our second.

Vestal magnet.

Banded Sable pot-shot first thing. Just in case this was all I got.

Finally, a list of our 18 migrants...

Banded Sable 1

Olive-tree Pearl 2

Vestal 2

Angle Shades 1

Diamond-back Moth 1

Rusty-dot Pearl 7

Silver Y 1

Turnip Moth 1

White-point 2 

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!