Mint.

 

For a change a post about a moth. And what a moth it is too. This is the Merveille du Jour Griposia aprilina, with two individuals posted above, the top one being slightly fresher and darker than the bottom. 

When flipping through the field guide, the bright sharp cool mint green and black patterning jumps off the page, making you filled with desire. I remember catching my first in 2009. I couldnt believe it. What a panic to pot it up as it flew around the light on an October night. Since then I have caught it on 34 occasions, mainly singletons but occasionally up to 4 at a time.

It is specifically an moth of cooler autumn nights and tends to associate around oak trees of which we have a young one in the garden.

This year I am very pleased to meet with Merv, as these are my first since the 11th Oct 19. Two blank years in succession is unprecentented here though 2016 was also a miss. The best year here was 11 caught in 2018.

I'm not sure if some autumn species are cyclical as I've also checked Frosted Orange and Flounced Chestnut for garden stats. In 2010 I had 93 and 39 respectively but in 2022 I have 2 and 0 !   Lets hope things improve next year...

The smell of decay...

While autumn does its stuff to the plant life around the garden, the small of dampness fills the air. Its a sweet 'soily' smell and it feels cool. A Red Admiral is still flitting around this afternoon and a huge female Sparrowhawk flew in then ran around the garden under the shrubs before flying off emmpty handed.

This Merveille du Jour is my third of the season and always brightens the day...

There you are!

After my frustrating miss with the Yellow-browed Warbler next to the garden, things have improved on the patch. That was a week past Tuesday. Since then I've been a bit too pre-occupied with other things to get blogging so this is a short catch up.

Friday 2nd October....
The first white frosts of autumn here, on the car windscreen and on grass shaded by pines at RAF Boulmer radar base this morning. The only bird of note was a Peregrine that flew low over the road uplit by the evening sun.

Saturday 3rd October....
A trip to the smoke to see Ian Fisher's photography exhibition and very good it was too...
Back home 22 Barnacle Geese flew N and nicely on to the patch list.

Sunday 4th October....
Birding with John around Craster where there was little to show for it, then Warkworth with the highlight being 3 Crossbills N. Back home at lunchtime either Tuesday's or another Yellow-browed Warbler appeared in the rowan along our drive. I hovered around the garden for the next three hours trying to get a photo without success. At least I saw the bird about 5x well but just too quick to get an image.

The ever elusive Yellow-browed Warbler in the garden.

Monday 5th October....
Yellow-browed Warbler still in the garden. Heard calling as I left for work...At work in Ashington 30+ Redwings and 1 Brambling flew W overhead.

Tuesday 6th October....
A day off to look for migrants. Heavy rain all day and 100% overcast ensure a couple of good soakings for yours truly.
Still, up at Craster, 3 Yellow-browed Warblers in rapid succession was good, but other birds were scarce - 2 Blackcap, 4 Chiffchaff, 1 Woodcock, 15+ Redwings, 20+ Song Thrush, 6+ Goldcrests. I missed out on 5 Ring Ouzels here later.
At home, the Yellow-browed Warbler was still in the garden with 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Blackcap and a Brambling heard calling.

Thursday 8th October...
I gave a talk about my notebooks to the Northumberland and Tyneside Bird Club at Gosforth. It seemed to go down well and I really enjoyed it.

Thats us up to date then. This weekend has been quite busy with family commitments so no real birding. Its a bit frustrating as there seemed to be a lot of good birds around the county today with 2 Little Bunting, 7 Yellow-browed Warblers and a Barred Warbler at Bamburgh, Great Grey Shrike on Holy Island, Firecrests at St Mary's Island and Tynemouth etc.
A few dog walks around our village had 1 Blackcap, sev Goldcrests and the usual suspects viz migging S.

The mothing has been interesting this weekend with a  nice selection of autumn goodies -

Red Sword-grass

Large Wainscot

Merveille du Jour

This week looks a bit interesting weather-wise, so I'll need to check my work calendar tomorrow for another day off....

142. Yellow-browed Warbler.
143. Barnacle Goose.

A death's head update amongst others...

Tonight we excavated the Death's Head Hawk-moth pupa from the soil after going to ground two weeks ago. Its about 65 mm long and if all goes well should emerge into the much sought after adult in a couple of weeks time. Watch this space...

Last night in the moth trap were a couple of year ticks -

A bevvy of beauties - Merveille du Jour x 2

Pandemis cinnamomeana a male note the white face and antennae.