Yesterday was a nice clear sunny early autumnal day, so we had an early crossing on to Holy Island, beating the tourists across the causeway before getting cut off by the tide. This is how to experience the island at its best. It seems to go very quiet even though there were still a good few visitors, there is no traffic sound.
We walked the Chare Ends, to the Excavations and back via the Straight Lonnen.
Unfortunately birds were very thin on the ground, but we did manage a fleeting glimpse of a
Barred Warbler as it up ended into some tall willows. ( It was also seen by a visitor from Scarboro and by Mike Carr later on). A few Willow Warblers and a Wheatear were the only other migrants seen.
While wandering the dunes checking sallows we found these -
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| Grey Dagger |
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| Buff-Tip |
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| Fox Moth |
There were over a thousand Buff Tip moth cats on one bush in webs. They had stripped some branches bare. They varied from very first instars to pre-pupating finger sized monsters.
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| Grass of Parnassus |
There were swathes of Grass of Parnassus in flower in the damp flatter areas. A Common Hawker sounded like a wind blown bag of crisps as it tried to get free from some marram grass. We gently helped it up and on its way.
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| Common Hawker |
8 comments:
Hi Stewart,
Re the Gull on my blog. I'm pleased that you suggested a Yellow Legged Gull. I was told to lookout for them by a birder friend, and have been taking shots of gulls as they go over, I thought the one on my blog yesterday could be a candidate, and thought someone would put me right if it was one :-) Lets what others say, cheers mate. I always look in to your blog, so keep it going :-)
Hi, my name is Emma from the United States. I am doing a science research project on moths. I found your blog by looking through images of moth traps on yahoo images and found Emma Anderson's blog from 2009 and lead me to your blog.
Having said this, I am looking for an economical moth trap or how to make one. As your are an avid moth investigator, I would like your input on my project: Which color light attracts moths more to a trap?
I would appreciate your hypothesis based on your moth trapping experience. Please send any correspondence to my mother's e-mail noted below my name.
Sincerely,
Emma R-C.
adrienneconde@hotmail.com
Hi Stewart,
Just had the Yellow Legged Gull confirmed, gave you a mention on my blog tonight :-)
Hello again Stewart,
Re the wifes holiday - she absolutely loved it up there! Lived on fresh fish all week :-)
A totally different pace of life altogether, much nicer.
She got to see Puffins and Seals, which was on her must see list :-)
By The way Stuart, Deans is back in blogging land at http://naturefromthegarden.blogspot.co.uk/
I was interested to see the Fox Moth Stewart as I found lots of them on the island two or three years ago. Must have been October as that is the only time I seem to get up there. Some friends picked them up for a better look and I later read that they can cause very severe skin reactions. Someone mentioned on a website that they had a reaction for several days/weeks. Cheers.
I've handled them lots and never had a problem. Maybe its an allergy thing?
Beautiful photographs, unusual images of the nature. I am greeting
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