Marooned

Got myself marooned on Mousa for the afternoon, not for the massive fall that had occurred (2 Willow Warblers !), but to increase the Mousa moth list. As this currently stands on 5, I was fairly confident of adding a few more, so with the aid of a net managed to add 4 more - Blastobasis lacticocella, Eana osseana, Bactra lancealana and an unidentified tortrix thing (which is currently living in a pot in my fridge). Back at home a Willow Warbler was in the garden chasing moths until about 11pm.


Mousa Broch.

Bonxie.

Willow Warblers.
2G, 2B.

Too Good - When I was a little kid, one of the highlights of the day was the TV programme 'Rainbow', I can't remember it being this funny or rude though ! (see here). "If you haven't got any balls, ask a friend can you play with his " - priceless !!!

Too Bad - The Willow Warbler in the garden was taken by a neighbours cat just after 11pm, flew all the way across the north sea, found a bit of sanctuary in my garden only to be killed by the little bastard ! It may be time to invest in an air rifle !

Dross.

South-easterly winds for a couple of days have produced absolutely nothing at Scatness, and the usual summer dross remains. 79 Wheatears on the 9th was a bit unusual and a couple of returning Wigeon on the 8th is noteworthy (I suppose). A Magpie in the moth trap on the 5th was my first August record.


Wheatear.

Arctic Skua.

Wigeon.

Magpie.

Twin-spotted Carpet.

Autumn

Autumn seems to have finally started, most noticeably (and not surprisingly) with waders, with fairly decent numbers of Dunlin, Turnstone and Sanderling moving through the patch plus the occasional Knot and Whimbrel. An unexpected addition to the year-list today was a Reed Warbler skulking away in the Sub-alp garden. A Confused was trapped at the end of July.


Sanderling.

Dunlin.

Kittiwake.

Knot.

Turnstone.

Confused.

Mother of Pearl

Just moths - a Mother of Pearl in the trap on the night of the 28th was a garden tick, other recent moths include a Common/Lesser Common Rustic and another Small Dotted Buff last night and a few Eana Penziana.


Mother of Pearl.

Common/Lesser Common Rustic.

Eana Penziana.

It's about time.

After checking all the beaches on a daily basis for the last few weeks and seeing sod all, it was about time that some waders did the descent thing and came through Scatness. Starting off at Scord Beach it just looked like another day of nothing with just 2 Dunlin and a Sanderling, Sanblister Beach was little better with 5 Sanderling, the final beach, Moast, was much better - 86 Sanderling, 53 Dunlin and 2 Knot - let's hope that the seaweed on the beach remains and maybe attract the odd rarity or two. The only other thing of note was a few hundred Arctic Terns in West Voe.


Dunlin (with Sanderling).

Sanderlings.

Arctic Terns.

Cico Buff.

Highlights of the last week or so include a Small Dotted Buff trapped on the 25th (approx the 10th record for Shetland) and a Micro sp on the 24th that looks like it's going to need to bent away for I.D. The first Northern Rustics of the autumn are starting to appear, as are White-line Darts.

Small Dotted Buff

Northern Rustic

Micro sp.

2G2B -

Too Good - If you are bored of scanning through the same old stuff day after day, with very little reward, and long to find that overdue patch rarity, don't worry - just Argos it (see here).

Too Bad - The BP 'damage limitation' machine is now in overdrive, with TV adverts and poster campaigns as well as bringing in a new, American, CEO - Bob Dudley (pity that this isn't the same Mr Dudley !)

I'm not sure about the poster campaign !

Neon Tiger

An absolutely amazing night for moths last night with 497 in the trap, including an impresive 358 Agriphila Straminella, but the most impressive was a Garden Tiger and was only the 13th record for Shetland. 2 Aethes Smeathmanniana were the 12th and 13th for Shetland, a Middle-barred Minor was a good moth for the garden and a Celypha Lacunana was a garden tick.

Garden Tiger (if you can't be impressed with this beast, then something is wrong with your head !).

Aethes Smeathmanniana.

Celypha Lacunana.

Middle-barred Minor.

Arctic Swarm

A walk around the patch this morning was most pleasant in the glorious sunshine and, although there wasn't much about in the way of return passage (45 Dunlin and a couple of Swallows), it was nice to see that the Arctic Tern colony was at least partially successful. A scan through the birds from a few hundred metres away showed at least 18 fairly well grown chicks wandering around (I'm pretty sure that a 'walk through' would reveal many more) and all the adults are now so defensive that any Gull, Skua or even Sheep gets absolutely battered if they go anywhere near them.

Arctic Terns.

Arctic Skua.

Dazed and Confused

In the moth trap last night was this little puzzler - on first views seemed to be The Confused, but on closer inspection it has to be the 'obscura' form of Dusky Brocade (a photo of Confused appears here, note the much straighter leading edge to the forewings).
On the bird front a House Martin was knocking around Scatness for most of the day.

2G, 2B.

Just a Too Good this time - this website defies description and is bloody hilarious - http://henriraben.page.tl/ - enjoy !

The Only One

The unidentified moth from the night of the 12th (here) has now been identified as a Brown Rustic - the first and only record for Shetland ! Other than that stunning news, the only other things of note were a couple of Diamond Backs in the trap (proving that the southerly winds are having some effect), a newly fledged Pied Wagtail in the garden and a fly-over Bar-tailed Godwit.


Pied Wagtail.

Diamond Back.

Mystery

A few mystery moths in the trap over the last few days (as well as lots that were identifiable !).


This one was trapped on the 12/13th July and kinda falls between Small Square Spot and Square Spot Rustic, I am tempted to go for the latter even though it may be about 2 weeks earlier than when I normally start to trap Square Spot Rustics, the lack of a 'double line' near to the base of the forewings seems to eliminate Small Square Spot.


This one seems to be a Dusky Brocade, although it is 2-3mm smaller than others that have been trapped and a little bit lighter in colouration.


This one , also trapped on 12th/13th, is a complete mystery, the only thing that comes close is some kind of very weird looking Ingrailed Clay - reckon this one needs to be sent off for analysis.

Magpie Moth - trapped on the night of 13th/14th, this is the 9th Magpie that I've trapped this year (none at all last year).

Sunset over Quendale Bay sometime over the weekend.