Tuesday, September 30, 2025

September birds and moths

In the birding calendar September is in the middle of autumn, most Swifts have left before the month begins and by the end of the month winter birds such as geese begin arriving. The weather has much more of an influence as storms bring in seabirds and easterlies bring in migrants from the continent. This year all that happened in September, and more.

Rainham Marshes

I made ten visits this month including a couple of river-watches when the winds were blowing from the east. They weren't quite strong enough to bring lots of seabirds up the Thames but the 24th was the best. I'd already seen a couple of Sandwich Terns and while I was having lunch and scanning the river I got a phone call to tell me there was a skua on the river. I soon picked it up in flight by the Amazon depot and then it flew across the river and back. I could see it was an Arctic Skua and Dave and Andy also confirmed the ID.

It landed in the middle and spent the next 20 minutes drifting upriver past us and then got up to harass some Herring Gulls before landing again and drifting out of view towards Erith.

Arctic Skua at Rainham

This was my first skua species at Rainham and we'd been talking about skuas earlier so it was a good reward for my efforts. The skua and the tern were both London year ticks.

Waders were still fairly thin on the ground at Rainham apart from Black-tailed Godwits which had increased to a decent sized flock of a couple of hundred but there was no hoped-for Little Stint this month.

Red Kites were regularly seen on the tip and Hobby was present throughout but down to just a singleton in the last week of the month.

Insects have been flying all month with several Clouded Yellows, plenty of Wall Browns and the odd Brown Argus being the most notable.

Clouded Yellow

Dagenham Chase & Beam Valley

I also visited The Chase ten times, mostly trying to catch up with chats/flycatchers. I eventually managed to see an elusive Common Redstart that spent several days hanging around the burnt patch on Fels Field. It was another new bird for the year although I did later hear one at Rainham.

I missed the Whinchats but just about caught up with one of the Stonechats in Fels Field. Otherwise, it's been a quiet autumn at The Chase, not being helped by The Slack being out of action as it dried up in the summer. A few Siskins and Redpolls have flown over, hopefully the vis-mig should pick up in October.

A further eight visits were made to Beam Parklands/Beam Valley CP, some of which were on the way to The Chase. Beam Parklands is still recovering from the large fire in the summer. As yet, I've not found anything of interest at either site this autumn but there's still time.

Brent Reservoir

I've been waiting over two years for a good bird to be found at Brent since I moved and when Ben found a Glossy Ibis - it was Sod's Law that it was during a week long tube strike so I didn't attempt to go on the first day. I did hatch a plan for an alternative route if it stayed another day and with positive news I went the following day.

I took the train from Dagenham Dock to Barking, changed onto the Goblin Line to Gospel Oak and then the North London line to Brondesbury (I really cannot be bothered to learn the new names of the six splits of the Overground). I then got the 32 bus to Staples Corner and cut through East Marsh to the hide, two hours and 20 minutes after leaving home.

After a few minutes searching the ibis suddenly appeared, feeding around Willow Island. I watched it for a while and managed a few distant record shots before leaving for the return journey. As it was a first record for the site, it was also new for my Brent list #211 but I'm going to have to wait a long time at this rate before I can catch up to Leo who's seen the most birds at Brent.

Glossy Ibis, Brent Reservoir

I decided to try a different way home and walked up to Hendon station and luckily just made the Thameslink train which had just arrived. I changed at Farringdon onto the Lizzy line all the way east to Romford where I got a bus home; it ended up being quicker by half an hour. The ibis wasn't seen in the afternoon and presumably went back to the London Wetland Centre where it spent the rest of the month.

Beddington Farmlands

With news of a Grey Phalarope at Beddington, I resorted to TFL's journey planner to plot a route to go on positive news the following morning. So on the 18th I took the tube to Balham via Bank and got a train down to Hackbridge. It was a fairly simple journey considering I was travelling across London. It's just a five minute walk from the station onto the public footpath that runs up the west side of Beddington and a few minutes later I'd reached North Hide.

A couple put me on the Grey Phalarope, it was walking around on the muddy island and was a bit distant but over the course of an hour it eventually came a bit closer.


Grey Phalarope, Beddington Farmlands

It's been a very long time since I've seen any phalarope in London so it was good to catch up with this bird. It had been blown inland by a storm and two more were on Staines Reservoir. I finished the month on 171 species in London on eBird, higher than any of my previous annual totals and with a quarter of the year left, there's still plenty of opportunity to add to this total.

Southend

I made one trip outside of London this month, into deepest, darkest Essex. I met John and Janet at Upminster and we took the train to Southend. After a look around the seafront where I counted 60 Little Egret, probably the most I've seen in the UK. 

We went onto the pier (it opens at 10.15) and walked down to the end. The wind was NE but too light to bring in much in the way of seabirds but we did see a few Gannets and some early Brent Geese flew past, my first of the autumn and probably the earliest I've ever seen them. 

Southend Pier

A couple of Sandwich Terns flew past and several Med Gulls were around the pier. Turnstones lurked around the picnic tables looking for scraps.

Mediterranean Gull

A marauding Turnstone

Mothing

I managed to run the trap on most nights during the month, the number of species declined as the temperature went down. As the month progressed, autumn fliers started to emerge.

Beaded Chestnut

Black Rustic, AKA Goth

Canary-shouldered Thorn

Cypress Pug

Deep-brown Dart

Double-striped Pug

Lesser Yellow Underwing

Lunar Underwing, this was really common in the second half of September

Marbled Fern

A very tatty Old Lady

Olive-tree Pearl, an immigrant

Rose Tabby

Treble Brown Spot


Monday, September 1, 2025

August Birding

This month typically sees the first 'proper' autumn migration with many warblers on the move along with flycatchers, wagtails & pipits and an increase in waders.

Rainham Marshes

I managed only seven visits this month, fewer than I had expected but a couple of heatwaves put paid to more visits. I'd missed Wood Sandpiper a couple of times already this year and this is the best month to see one so I was pleased to find three on Aug 19th on the newly-named Small Aveley Pool. They hung around for the rest of the month with up to five birds seen.

Wood Sandpiper

2 Wood Sands & a Black-tailed Godwit

This pool proved to be a magnet for waders during the second half of August with two Ruff, Green Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover and a flock of Black-tailed Godwits all present.

Two more year birds were seen, a Whinchat on the tip and a family party of five Spotted Flycatchers at the end of the woodland.

Spotted Flycatcher

The 19th ended up being a really good day as not longer after finding the Wood Sands I saw a White Stork circling low over the reserve. It had been seen a couple of days earlier but was seen flying off. I was pretty sure I'd seen it in a field just north of the railway lines while I was on the train to Purfleet.

White Stork

This is the fourth White Stork I've seen at Rainham and it has become an annual visitor to the reserve. This individual was ringed so was probably one of the reintroduced Knepp birds but as they're breeding there now I believe they should all be countable.

Among the various butterflies and dragonflies on site, there were a few Clouded Yellows and an obliging Wall but I still haven't managed to catch up with the Brown Hairstreaks yet.

Wall butterfly

Dagenham Chase & Beam Valley

I visited 13 times but didn't see a great deal. Losing all the water in The Slack has really reduced the attraction of the site this autumn. I spent a lot of time searching the scrubby areas for flycatchers but didn't manage to find any.

I also went to Beam Parklands six times and despite the burnt areas grassing over and looking suitable for migrants, didn't manage to record anything notable.

Other Locations

I managed to visit a few other sites in August: Barking Riverside & Bay (as it's now called on eBird), Becton Creekside, Tylers Common (where a Red-backed Shrike disappeared 20 minutes before I arrived!) and Wanstead Flats (where most of the interesting migrants had left overnight).

Ruddy Darter, Becton

I also had a couple of trips out of London, down to Oare Marshes in Kent to see the regular Bonaparte's Gull and on a Seabird Safari across Biscay for cetaceans and seabirds.

Bonaparte's Gull, Oare

Spoonbill, Oare


Sunday, August 31, 2025

August Moths

I've been meaning to get back into moth-trapping ever since I moved to Dagenham and almost two and a half years later, I finally got around to buying a new trap. Luckily, I'd been saving egg boxes for this very purpose so once it arrived I set it up on the patio and have trapped most nights. For those who know nothing about moth trapping, it's a humane way of recording moths as they're all released afterwards.


I typically spend up to an hour each morning identifying and recording all the moths. I've managed to remember quite a few since I last trapped 15 years ago . Back then I ignored many micros as I didn't have any way of identifying them but with a new field guide and some good apps, it's become a lot easier.

I try and photograph most species and in the two weeks I've been trapping have recorded 67 species.along with a few that can't be identified without dissection or I just haven't managed to get a good enough photo of.

Micros

Box-Tree Moth

The Box-Tree Moth is a recent colonist and can be a pest as the caterpillars eat the leaves of Box; It comes in two colour forms, dark (above) and white with a brown border. I've had both forms in the trap.

Codling Moth

Common Grass-moth

Common Plume Moth

Gold Triangle, trapped on most nights

Light Brown Apple Moth, one of the commonest moths at the moment

Meal Moth

Mint Moth

Mother of Pearl, only trapped the first night

Narrow-winged Grey

Oak Longhorn

Orange Swift, trapped a few times

Rusty-dot Pearl, a regular migrant

Saltmarsh Knot-horn
Tawny-fronted Straw


Macros

Blood-vein

Small Blood-vein

Garden Carpet

Least Carpet

Lime-speck Pug

Wormwood Pug

Satin Wave

Single-dotted Wave

Small Dusty Wave

Yellow Shell

Garden Tiger

The Garden Tiger is a moth I've always wanted to see as it's quite spectacular and it also reminds me of the late Pete Way, the bass player in UFO, who wore an outfit inspired by this moth!

Pete Way (left) in his moth-inspired top


Gypsy Moth, a recent re-colonist

L-album Wainscot

Bright-line Brown-eye

Heart and Club

Heart and Dart, a common moth but only trapped once so the flight season must be over

Shuttle-shaped Dart, one of the commonest moths in my trap this month

Turnip, inedible unlike Baldrick's favourite vegetable

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Large Yellow Underwing, trapped most nights

Straw Underwing

Setaceous Hebrew Character, trapped most nights. Setaceous means hairy which refers to the caterpillar.

White-point, another migrant

Willow Beauty

Clancy's Rustic

Clancy's Rustic was formerly a very rare vagrant with the first UK record being in 2002 but now it's a scarce migrant. I've trapped a few this month.

Flounced Rustic

Mottled Rustic

Square-spot Rustic

Vine's Rustic, another common species trapped most nights

Centre-barred Sallow

Cloaked Minor

Light Emerald

Marbled Beauty

Pale Mottled Willow, currently the commonest moth I'm trapping

Small Mottled Willow, a scarce migrant trapped once

Tree-lichen Beauty, a particularly fresh one




September birds and moths

In the birding calendar September is in the middle of autumn, most Swifts have left before the month begins and by the end of the month wint...