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

Seabird Safaris

Between 2000 and 2012 I went on 12 mini-cruises across the Bay of Biscay to Spain to look for cetaceans and seabirds. For the first five years we went from Plymouth to Santander and then the next five years we did Portsmouth to Bilbao on 'The Pride of Bilbao' which was a much better crossing as it was a day longer and there was time in Santurzi to walk around the hills behind town.

When P&O sold its ageing ferry and gave up the route, Brittany Ferries took it over and operated a triangular route to Santander, leaving from Portsmouth and returning to Plymouth or the other way around. It wasn't a very convenient route so after three years on this route we retired from the Biscay crossings.

They had been one of our annual trips that I looked forward to and over the years had seen a lot. Fin Whales were seen on every trip, with one trip totalling 34. We saw two Orca on the very first trip and over the years also saw Sperm Whale, Cuvier's Beaked Whale and Pilot Whales on multiple crossings along with the occasional Minke Whale.

Dolphins were frequently seen with Common, Bottlenose, Striped and Risso's all recorded along with many Harbour Porpoise.

The variety and number of seabirds changed depending on the date of the crossing: we went between late July and early September and found the last week of August to be the most productive. Five species of shearwater were regularly seen: Cory's, Great, Sooty, Balearic and Manx with two Barolo seen on one crossing.

We've also seen three species of Skua: Great on all crossings, many Arctic and a few Poms. European Storm-Petrel was seen on all bar one trip, Sabine's Gull on many trips and the occasional Grey Phalarope along with various other waders, gulls and terns.

Land birds were seen on most crossings, often landing on the ferry. Wheatears were the commonest along with the occasional Reed and Willow Warblers, Chiffchaff and Yellow and White Wagtails. One year a flock of Crossbills flew over when we were in the middle of Biscay. As they were heading west, the next landfall was America so I doubt they made it unfortunately. Another time a Short-toed Lark flew over and there was the odd Turtle Dove and even an Osprey.

Once docked in Spain you typically had a few hours for a wander around. There wasn't a lot to see in Santander but there was a small town park which was productive when we arrived early morning but not on recent crossings when the ferry docks in the early afternoon as it's usually very hot and the park is full of people. The first year we found a Wryneck in the park and most years there were Pied Flycatchers.

Bilbao arrivals (actually at Santurzi) were much better as we always arrived early morning and took a cab up to the top of the hill (Serantes), had a walk around for an hour or so and slowly walked back down to the harbour. 

The whole hillside was a migrant trap and we would typically see multiple Red-backed Shrikes, Hoopoes, Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Common Redstart and Nightingales. Among the resident birds were Cirl Bunting, Serin, Zitting Cisticola (usually in the fields about halfway down) and various warblers like Melodious and Sardinian.

There's usually a lot of raptors around: Griffon Vultures were seen regularly along with Black Kite, Booted Eagle, Honey Buzzard and one Hen Harrier.

We also tried to identify all the butterflies we could and over the years saw 22 species including Tree Grayling, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Lang's Short-tailed Blue, Berger's Clouded Yellow and Geranium Bronze.

Return in 2025

After a long gap I'd been wanting to go again and when looking into it this year, discovered that Brittany Ferries had bought another ferry and were offering Seabird Safari Mini-cruises from both Portsmouth and Plymouth, returning to the same dock as departure.

So, on August 6th I met up with my friends John & Janet at Paddington for the train down to Plymouth. We elected for this route as the timings were more convenient for us. The train was packed with teens heading to some festival, each one carrying about five times their own bodyweight on their backs while various items were projecting from all angles.

We soon arrived at Plymouth and not long afterwards boarded the ferry and headed to our cabins to get ready for the crossing. As an organised Sea Safari we met in the bar where we should have had a short introductory lecture but the IT gremlins put paid to that so we all headed up to the top deck instead. The Sea Safaris are run by ORCA and they had a number of guides who patrolled the decks looking for cetaceans and pointing them out. They also were able to commandeer half of the top deck and rope it off for us which kept the deck clear of the other passengers.

As we headed south across the Channel we started seeing Manx Shearwaters and at one point there was a huge stream of maybe 500 birds which also included at least ten Greats among them. The occasional Gannet went past and a sole Kittiwake. 

Manx Shearwaters

The first pod of Common Dolphins were soon seen and there were a few Cory's Shearwaters and one Balearic. As I was scoping a Cory's a European Storm-petrel flew past, the only one I saw all trip.

We went down to the restaurant for dinner early evening then went back up on deck for the last hour and a half of daylight, seeing a Northern Bottlenosed Whale, more Common Dolphins and a group of about ten Harbour Porpoise. More Manx went past along with several Gannets, two Shag and a single Bonxie, the only skua we were to see on the whole trip.

Gannets with a few Manxies

Shags

The next morning I was back on deck for sunrise at 6am. In previous years the approach to Santander was one of the most productive areas as there are deep canyons in the southern part of Biscay but this year we saw very little with just one pod of Common Dolphins and no tubenoses. The only bird of note was a Willow Warbler which remained on board until land was in sight.

Approaching Santander

We docked in Santander just before midday and once through passport control strolled down the marina to the park where we had an ice-cream. It was hot outside and there was very little bird activity apart from Sparrows and Pigeons. We did see a Speckled Wood butterfly of the Spanish race which is quite different to the UK ones as it's mostly orange.

Onboard the ferry in sunny Santander

We boarded the ferry for the return crossing and went straight up on deck, scanning the surroundings for raptors but there were none in sight this time. Heading up into the bay was a repeat of this morning's leg and again was fairly unproductive although we did get our first group of Striped Dolphins. Single Cuvier's Beaked Whale and Fin Whale were both seen by the ORCA spotters but I didn't manage to see them.

Sunset

On the last morning we were back on deck at 6am, not far from the French coast. Shearwaters soon started appearing and several groups of Common Dolphins went past. After breakfast we headed into the channel for the final run up into Plymouth. A group of Blue-finned Tuna were actively feeding and a few more shearwaters were seen along with Fulmar and Kittiwake.

We docked at 11am and got a taxi back to the station for our homeward journey. Although it hadn't been as productive as previous years it was a nice break and one I intend repeating.

July birding

July typically sees the true start of autumn migration, especially with waders and this was definitely the case this year. There was also plenty of fine settled weather to look for insects as well.

Rainham Marshes

I've started increasing my visits to Rainham after the midsummer break and went seven times this month. I added two new birds to my London yearlist: a Crossbill heard flying over the woodland and a moulting Ruff that was present most of the month.

Ruff with a Black-headed Gull

Also around on the reserve were five Great Egrets, regularly seen feeding out in Aveley Pools. They appear to be a family party so may have bred in the vicinity.

4 of the 5 Great Egrets

A couple of Green Sands hung around but there was no sign of the hoped for Wood Sand so that'll have to wait for next month. Black-tailed Godwits streamed back in decent numbers, mostly still sporting their summer dress.

Black-tailed Godwits

Dragonflies were regularly seen, taking advantage of the sunny weather. On one particularly day I saw Norfolk Hawker, Lesser Emperor and Southern Migrant Hawker, all recent colonists. I still haven't photo'd the last two so I'll keep trying for those. Butterflies are still a bit thin on the ground, possibly due to the heatwaves we've had drying all the vegetation up. I did manage to see a Clouded Yellow on one visit. As usual, Jersey Tigers were frequently seen.

Jersey Tiger

Dagenham Chase

I put in a lot of effort this month with 18 visits. The Slack continued to dry up during the month despite the odd day of heavy rain and a few days of pumping water into it. Green Sands were present on most days with up to six seen but the best wader on show was a Black-tailed Godwit that remained for the entire day and was my first one on the patch.

Black-tailed Godwit and 2 Moorhen

A Great Egret decided that a stretch of the River Rom was to its liking and remained for a couple of weeks. Although mostly visible from the main road by the entrance to Grenfell Park, it often wandered down the river towards The Chase and could be hard to find.

I spent a lot of time searching the elms and oaks for hairstreaks but couldn't find a single one. Gatekeepers were everywhere and I did manage the odd Common Blue.

Common Blue

I also went round all the ponds and lakes regularly looking for the afore-mentioned London colonists but haven't had any success so far.

female Banded Demoiselle

Beam Parklands

I visited seven times in July. My local patch was in the news mid-month when a wildfire burnt a large section of it and got quite close to some adjacent houses. This is the third year in a row that there's been a fire here and while the grassland has already started to recover following some rain, the gorse bushes took a severe battering and may not recover.

Bird wise it was fairly quiet until the last week of the month when I saw my first Buzzard of the year and, even better, heard my first ever Green Sandpiper on the patch.

I also popped into Barking Riverside and Mayesbrook Park but both sites were fairly quiet. Hopefully things will be busier in August.