Mothing and ringing aren't complimentary

Much excitement last night at Druridge, well there was if you like your moths.

NWT organised a moth trapping night with Tom Tams and his trailer set-up, there was also a crowd of batty people doing some bat survey work.

Tom's trailer, complete with lamp and tablecloth

The moth people were out before dark with the sweep nets, I retreated tot he top of the big dune to look for owls. On Thursday night I had an hour at Druridge before dark looking for owls, I had had no success until Bob Dack arrived and almost immediately picked up on a long-eared owl, quartering the silage field beyond the Budge fields. We watched it for 20 minutes or so, a species I didn't see last year.

No luck with LEO's last night, but I did have a tawny owl calling very close, I've not heard tawny at Druridge for many years. Tawny owl is a species I am happy to year-tick on call only, like quail.

The batty people recorded noctule and pipistrelle, they aslo saw and recorded long-eared bat, which would've been a new bat for me at Druridge - I was busy looking for long-eared owls!

Once it was dark, Tom got the mercury-vapour bulb going on his trailer and the moths started to flock to it, they also had a few traps scattered about.

Excitement as the moths come in

my kind of moth - small elephant hawkmoth

fox moth laying egss on a pot-lid. I transported the moth and eggs to the grass to let er continue in peace.

This hedgehog put in a brief appearance.

 It was after 1am when we left, so the plans to ring at Druridge this morning were scuppered, it was too windy by the time we got up. With hindsight, we should have put the nets up before dark and stopped down there, hindsight is a marvellous thing.

127 long-eared owl
128 tawny owl 

It's Autumn - Official

One swallow doesn't make a summer - so goes the old proverb.

A handful of passage waders doesn't maketh the Autumn (Ipin, 2010)

and neither does the fact that breeding swifts have departed my street to return to Africa

but, a wheatear back at Druridge, that's it, it's definitely Autumn, no doubt whatsoever!

wheatear at Druridge - autumn is here

It felt like Autumn last night at Druridge too, cold and damp by dusk when I arrived at Druridge to look through the gull roost on the beach which is now building up nicely at low tide. Out in front of Druridge there were about 1500 gulls, 75% of these were common and the other 25% black-headed's with a few lesser-black-backed and herring about and a single med gull.

Also on the beach were 30 common tern, 8 arctic, 2 roseate and 12 sandwich. 8 curlew and 2 whimbrel.

Just north of the patch, at Chibburn mouth there were another 2000+ gulls at dusk. tonight they were mainly concentrated just north of the burn at Hemscotthill.

When I left Druridge last night, I drove to the north end to turn around and check for owls and bumped into Tom Tams and Tim Sexton, setting up for a mothing session. So i stayed to watch - great fun, we caught 45ish species in two hours. The most numerous were shaded broad-bar, white-line dart, six-striped rustic ans smoky wainscot. there were quite a few drinkers about too, but my favourite was just about last moth of the night - pebble hook tip.

The rest of the weekend was spent preparing our new ringing site at Ellington - Don't worry! we're not giving up on Druridge, this is a reserve site for when:

a) There are too many charvas at Druridge, camping, burning our poles or crapping in the rides.
b) The wind is out the West - impossible to ring at Druridge in westerlies
c) The winter - no birds at Druridge in winter whereas this site could hold thrushes and finches I reckon.

Ride 1 - for 100ft of net alongside an old hawthorn hedge

the other bonus is it is at the end of my street, it is a former bit of colliery spoil, reclaimed and planted with trees, there are a few old oaks and ash in one corner. This splendid speckled wood was there on Sunday.