Our totals for August are:-

The majority of the Meadow Pipits, Lesser Redpolls and House Sparrows have been captured in our own garden.

Goldcrest, captured in Bill's garden

Conditions have been pretty midgy at times, some of the early mornings with hardly a breathe of wind being the worst. Our brilliant bug shirts that we got in Canada last year are working a treat though.

at least these midgies aren't like the mozzies at Delta last year - they are not able to bite through your clothes!

A surprise in the net was this Swallow

This Greenfinch had been feeding on the Rosa rugosa hips

Norma gave me some lettuce plants, hope they grow, i'm trying to keep them as sheltered as possible.

and finally here’s a pic of me in the kitchen, baking again

Busy in the kitchen

The worrying thing about this apron is i didn’t buy it, Ian already had it so i think it must be his

South Uist's single track road

No, the reason for the name change is more due to the injuries i think i must have sustained due to Ian’s driving - i don’t think he’s quite got the hang of the single track roads here on the island yet We’re driving happily along then he spots a car coming towards us. His thought processes seem to go like this - “Mmm what to do, make it to the next passing place or no maybe we’ll use this one right here” I say “aaarrrgh” as the brakes are slammed on!!

It’s been a very busy couple of weeks. We managed our first bit of bird ringing courtesy of our neighbour who has a fabulous garden - sheltered and loads of vegetation. Bill also very kindly lets us use his shed to do our ringing in.

Fabulous day weather-wise. Could almost be a scene from Spain...

Lesser Redpoll

Meadow Pipit

LOTS of Blackbirds around. This is a juvvy bird.

Bill has been in his house for 30 years and there are some great things in his garden. This lichen took my eye.

Lichen growing on a bush in Bill's garden

Our first migrant - a Willow Warbler

We spent the first couple of weeks without furniture but the day finally arrived when the removals lorry was due to arrive. We went down to Lochboisdale to see the ferry come in and make sure the lorry was on there. The usual ferry that plies the Oban to Lochboisdale route, the Clansman, was out of action so the Lord of the Isles is standing in at the moment.

The Calmac ferry Lord of the Isles coming in

The Lord of the Isles docking - and we could just about see the removals lorry

Ready to unload

Yay! We have furniture!!

The furniture van arrived on the Tuesday night, the two removals men, Rob and Darren, parked the lorry on our driveway ready to unload the next day. They were not able to leave the island again until Friday morning so had a little time exploring and i filled them up with a cooked breakfast each morning.

We spent a few days unpacking all those boxes we had carefully packed up. On the Friday we had our first gale. Ian made me laugh as he said at about 10am “i bet it doesn’t get any worse than this does it?”. I just laughed. At that point the wind was only about a steady 30mph - just a little breezy. It worsened as the day went on and at the peak was gusting to force 10.

What little vegetation we have was getting blown about a little.

We had a couple of sessions mothing, the best being an incredible 444 moths of around 30-odd species.

Pebble Prominent was new for us

Pink-barred Sallow

Magpie moth

Haworth's Minor

and as the name suggests, a very beautiful moth:-

Beautiful Golden Y

The sky and the weather are always changing here, the quality of light never ceases to amaze me it’s so clear. Just beautiful.

Late one evening looking from the house, the distant hills you can see are on the Isle of Barra.

This Mute Swan family - 2 adults and 3 young came right to our fence. We think they were trying to find their way from the loch at the back of the house to the loch on the other side of the road. Unfortunately the land is all fenced off, don't know if they made it or not.

Last weekend we helped out with the twice a year goose count. The Greylag Goose population has exploded here and causes all sorts of problems for the local crofters. The geese get into the crops that are grown on the machair and not only eat the crops but also crap in it which then makes it unpalatable for the stock that are fed on it during the winter months. See the Machair Life+ Project website for lots of information on the unique machair habitat and also about the goose problem and what is being done about it.

Most normal people who retire look at getting a comfy old person type vehicle, perhaps a Rover, a smart Mercedes or Audi, but not Ian, his retirement vehicle of choice is the Vauxhall Combo van :-)

With a kitchen now full of all mod cons i was able to do my first batch of baking - for this i chose one of my favourite recipes, one that we ate constantly at Delta Marsh Bird Observatory over the previous 4 years - Cinnamon Bun. Mmmm, yum!!

Cinnamon Buns, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Even though we have very little vegetation in our own garden the ringing hasn’t been too bad at all. There have been plenty of Lesser Redpoll’s coming to feed on the Pampas Grass, no matter how windy or rainy it is. In fact we’ve had not a bad variety of birds in the garden - Reed Bunting, Pied Wagtail, Wheatear and Meadow Pipit. And how many people can say that they can most days see Short-eared Owl and Hen Harrier from their kitchen window. Brilliant!

Lesser Redpoll on the Pampas Grass. We've also put a feeder up in the middle of it so the birds will still have something when the Pampas seed runs out.

Finally this Common Darter dragonfly which we found in Bill’s garden

Common Darter

Ah well, back to the unpacking….

The ferry crossing was about as calm as you could get and there were a few sea birds around: Kittiwake, Fulmar, Gannet, Guillemot, Razorbill and the odd Puffin. We docked on time in Lochmaddy, North Uist and it felt good to be back in the islands again.

We headed to the estate agents and picked up the keys for our new house from Jinny then headed down to South Uist. The house hadn’t been lived in for just over 12 months so the first thing we did was open up all the doors and windows to give it a good airing out. We’ll be living without any furniture for 2 weeks so that’ll give us a chance to get any jobs done and also to do some exploring.

View from the rear of the house

Our first sunset as residents of South Uist

The next day we got down to sorting some of our jobs out, including painting the fence at the front as it had been sandblasted and well weathered, the previous owner told us he hadn’t given it a lick of paint for a couple of years.

Our first full day we headed out for a walk along the nearby beach and were treated to the sight of an otter resting on a rock, occasionally giving himself a good scratch and seemingly going to sleep, he wasn’t at all bothered by us as we sat on the sand dune and watched him. Great stuff!

Later on in the afternoon we had our first visitors, our lovely next door neighbours who brought us a loaf of home-baked bread. Yum!

Domestic chores but Ian looks happy enough

I guess the harsh weather conditions will soon strip the paint from the wood again :-)

Ian wasn’t doing too well as he got a couple of cleg (horsefly) bites - funny how they seem to prefer him to me these days, he tells me it’s because he’s gone soft in his old age He was beginning to think he had some sort of problem with the circulation in his hands as they were all tingly - it took him a little while to realise that as he’d been painting he was brushing his hand in and out of a patch of stinging nettles. His final mishap that day was an encounter with a rat trap. I’d pointed them out to him on the day we arrived but today he decided to pick it up to see whether it was set. Oh dear, yes it was, and decided to unset itself on his fingers! I did advise him that anything like that you should poke with a stick a few times to make sure it wasn’t set - i thought that with him having been a boy scout he’d have known that.

The lounge seems huge with no furniture in it

The airbed is fairly comfortable though

We headed out a few times to do some exploring. Loch Eynort is a very pleasant place.

Loch Eynort

Ian making friends with the locals

As is Howmore

Howmore, looking towards the hills on the east side of South Uist

Ian had heard lots about Stornoway Black Pudding so felt he really ought to try it our for breakfast. He tells me it’s delicious!

Breakfast time at the picnic table

Stornoway Black Pudding - the real thing. I'm sure the purists wouldn't have used quite so much HP sauce though ;-)

We added a bird to our UK list this week as well as we heard that a Pacific Golden Plover had turned up nearby so we eventually went to find it.

We had the moth trap out and had just over 300 moths the first time and an incredible 444 the next time. There were lots of Garden Tigers, Smoky Wainscot, Antler, Goldspot and White-line Darts.

Garden Tiger's coming out thick and fast...

Chevron was new for us

Beautiful Golden Y

True Lover's Knot

White-line Dart

I don’t think the neighbours have quite got the hang of Ian’s sense of humour yet. When N dropped a giant, homegrown, courgette off for us saying “i hope you can do something with this” she looked just a tad taken-aback when Ian said “well i can think of lots of things but we’ll probably just eat it”.

Getting the paintwork done while the kitchen was empty.

I should really have taken a “before” picture with all the old units still in place. Ian says he remembers his dad building the kitchen a very long time ago, probably 40+ years ago.

Mmm, maybe hold the plans the right way up...

Always good with a tool in his hand

Looks level to me anyway...

Very happy with the end result though

A few little finishing off touches, blimey must be my feminine side coming out, scary! :-o

A lot of hard work but worth it. Hope mum enjoys it too.

Kent was interesting - Ian’s brother is also a birder since the year dot and he took me along on a twitch to Dungeness where, after two hours searching we eventually found the White-tailed Lapwing.

Explored Whitstable a little while staying in Kent too

The beach huts fascinated me and i couldn't resist "tiddling" with the shots i took.

How many different colours can you get on a door?

So, a busy couple of weeks was over and time to head back to Shropshire for a few days relaxing with my folks. Moths were good with White Satin Moth and Scalloped Oak both being new for us.

White Satin Moth

Scalloped Oak

We had the good news that the purchase of the house in South Uist has now all gone through - we are no longer homeless!

Before heading north i was keen to go and visit my Uncle Harold who is somewhat unusual in that he lives in a gypsy caravan that he made from scratch, entirely from hand - he has no electricity and no mains water, he cooks on an open fire all through the year. As far as i can remember he has lived this way for at least the last 12 or 13 years. Conditions occasionally get the better of him, like the time during a cold Shropshire January when he woke up and his beard was frozen to his pillow and he said “enough’s enough, i’m off to Australia for a few months”.

You can't drive in to the secluded spot where Uncle Harold lives

Waiting to greet us

Looked a bit different in this shot taken in the winter!

Kettle on for a cuppa

Making tea

Everything inside is also custom made

This photo was taken on a different day

This home-made stool is just great isn't it!

With having no electricity there is of course no TV or radio. Luckily Uncle H can amuse himself by playing flamenco and classical guitar.

Dad’s a bit talented too - he makes walking sticks, this is one of my favourites:-

Walking stick with deer antler handle made by my dad

Mum had obviously been busy in the garden, the flowers were looking amazing and there were bees and hoverflies all over them. Tried my hand at a bit of flower photography.

These lilies were just gorgeous

Fab bright colours

Well, sorry there wasn’t much in the way of birds, moths or other wildlife in this. The next blog post will be from the Isle of south Uist, our new home in the far flung Western Isles…

Surrounded by boxes with the hippos looking on in anticipation

Ian still found time to go running, mostly going early morning before the stifling heat and humidity got going. Didn’t make much difference to his sweatiness though, eugh!

Ian always wants a big hug when he gets back from a run. I tell him NO!!

The day for the removals lorry finally arrived. Everything was ready, although the guys had their work cut out with steps up to the house, then the stairs in the house too. We managed to keep them well supplied with tea, coffee, juice and choccy biccies and Jaffa cakes.

All our belongings disappearing into the lorry to go into storage - we weren't sure at that point when we would see it all again.

Once the house was empty i began wondering whether there was anything i would miss about Hatfield - i haven’t lived here very long and not being a town sort of girl i can’t say that i have really formed any sort of affection for the place. That being said though the neighbours are lovely - Molly and John on one side and Joan and John on the other side - will miss them. I’ve also made quite a few friends while working and socialising in the area - i’ll especially miss the girls at Sinclairs and the folks at HIBT.

There isn’t really any comparison between Hatfield and the Isle of South Uist which will now be our home. So, what will i miss about England:-

My lovely family and friends

One of our family get-togethers

I will definitely miss being able to come back from one of our trips abroad and phoning up the employment agency and getting work within a week - over the last 4 winters i have found really good jobs, no problem at all.

I suppose i will miss trees

The view from the house in Hatfield - bit different from South Uist ;-)

Probably shouldn’t say this but will miss regularly ogling the young man in the house opposite who was invariably walking round indoors totally starkers. Well a girl has to look doesn’t she ;-D  No photo of this one though - darn where is me long lens when i need it…

Things i WON’T miss

My two most hated “down south” experiences have to be the Dartford Crossing and the M25 - if i never see them again it will be way too soon!

Normal day on the M25

I won’t miss crowds and people everywhere.

I won’t miss Christmas being thrust upon me from mid-August onwards

So, we’re all packed up, the house is empty and we’re ready to hand over the keys to the new owners.

Just our fold-up chairs left. A long day and time for a beer or two now

Still have an internet connection so may as well make the most of it...

Ian says goodbye to his house.

So, we’re homeless now as the house in South Uist isn’t ours for another week. We have all our essentials with us: Binoculars, telescopes, ringing gear, moth trap, camera, laptop, fold-up chairs, picnic table, pots and pans. It’s off up to Shropshire for the weekend to see my family, then the hard work begins as we head back south to fit a kitchen for Ian’s mum. Goodbye Hatfield, i don’t suppose i’ll visit you again…

Happily we are still finding time to moth, lots in the trap are now familiar to us - and so speeding up the time it takes us in identifying them. Still, we haven’t had a session yet without a new moth so that is good too.

Had these Peppered Moths - there are two different forms (i remember studying them in the genetics section when i did the Open University Science foundation course). The story goes roughly like this: the white form was the most common and their colouring was good camoflague for them when resting on lichen-covered tree trunks. The industrial revolution came along and the smoke and air pollutants killed off the lichens and covered the trees in soot - the less-common black (carbonaria) form then had the advantage and became the most common. Now, with improvements in environmental standards the black form is becoming less and less common. An example of natural selection in easily explained circumstances.

Peppered Moth (Biston betularia f. carbonaria)

Peppered Moth (Biston betularia, typical form)

While emptying the trap one morning (we take it into the conservatory) a Woodpigeon landed in the garden - it had a ring and we assumed it was one we’d done earlier this year - it had bought it’s youngster with it - didn’t look like it had been out of the nest very long.

Spot the ring...

Maybe she'd brought the youngster to get a ring. Next time maybe :)

This is the usual scene when we are emptying the trap (you can see the packing is going well!)

ID books out, notebook and hand lens to hand and lots of moths in pots

I must say that we’ve caught some stunning moths again this week:-

Blotched Emerald (Comibaena bajularia)

Barred Yellow (Cidaria fulvata)

Snout (Hypena proboscidalis)

We received news of a Blackbird that we had ringed (CT82709) in April 2009 as a second year male (5M). It hadn’t moved very far, just up the road in fact. It had sadly been found dead on the 4th May 2010 and oddly enough the report we received from the BTO said that it had been “found with dead unringed female”. My only thought was that they had perhaps got into someones garage or outhouse and become trapped together when the door was subsequently closed. Sad.

Another moth that comes in two forms is the Riband Wave. We have now caught both forms, as shown below:-

Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) the plain form ab. remutata

Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) the typical form with a band across

Ah well, back to the packing…

It never ceases to amaze me that there is always something new in the trap!

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, it has been so fascinating so see what turns up.

Silver Y (Autographa gamma) a migrant moth which doesn't over-winter

Blood-vein (Timandra comai)

The night of 6th June was mild, with a low of 10′C and the total catch was 72 moths of 33 species - the highlights being 2 species of hawk-moth - just fantastic!

Poplar hawk-moth (Laothoe populi). What a fantastic moth eh?!

Pine Hawk-moth (Hyloicus pinastri)

I think one of the things that has fascinated us the most about some of the moths is their amazing camoflague. Going through the trap one morning i said “who put that piece of stick in there?”. It turned out to be a Pale Prominent, which does look just like a piece of rotting wood.

Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina) - how's that for bizarre!

Today we found this moth hanging underneath the low wall around the patio, again it looked like a random piece of broken stick - the Buff-tip

Buff-tip (Phalera bucephala)

Some moths are just plain beautiful, take a look at this White Ermine - not much in the way of camoflague there is there!

White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda)

and this Light Emerald

Light Emerald (Campaea margaritata)

Hook-tips get their name from the shape of their wings, we’ve caught 2 species so far:-

Pebble Hook-tip (Drepana falcataria)

and

Beautiful Hook-tip (Laspeyria flexula)

Some of the micro moths are also colourful

Eurrhypara hortulata (Small Magpie)

and the Bee Moth

Aphomia sociella (Bee Moth). Sexually dimorphic, this is the female

Aphomia sociella (Bee Moth), male

All the moths we have caught so far have been listed as common or locally common with just the one migrant (the Silver Y) but having only just started mothing this year they have all been new to us. Our best session was in Shropshire where we had over 200 moths in and around the trap of 46 species - we sat from 5am until 11am - 6 hours identifying the many moths that were new to us - we also had a lot of pugs which we didn’t have the time or skill to identify and of course there were also quite a few micros which we had to let go without identifying. Now my parents are firmly under the impression that i’ve gone completely bonkers I tell them it’s my age

Just gone 5am and Ian getting stuck in to the id challenges

This isn’t the first time they have captured a Greenfinch that i’d ringed and i’d also had a number of Greenfinches that they had ringed. There certainly seems to be a bit of a flyway going on over the 6km between mum and dad’s house and CJ’s so i thought i would put together the information i had to see just how many there have been.

Some terminology may be helpful:

Control = A bird wearing a ring that was put on at another site - for most species this is a bird that has moved more than 5km between the site it was ringed and the site it was re-captured.

So to sum up simply - we’ve captured 7 of the Greenfinches they ringed, and they’ve captured 2 of ours.

Just out of interest mum always uses C.J. Wildbirdfoods bird seed!

Greenfinch

I got up at 5am to turn off the trap lamp - immediately found a moth on the top of the trap and grabbed a pot. It wasn’t a moth either of us recognised immediately. Ian spotted another moth - a tiny orange-looking one - i didn’t even see it at first. That was also potted up and we began our trawl through the id books.

Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica)

The moth i’d found wandering around on the top of the trap was a Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica) a moth belonging to the Arctiidae family - sub-family Arctiinae (which includes the tiger and ermine moths).

Underside of the Muslin Moth

The micro moth Ian had found was, we assumed from the book a Horse Chestnut Leaf-miner. This species was only first discovered in Macedonia in 1985 (source: British Moths) and has since spread throughout Europe. The larvae cause damage to Horse Chestnut tree leaves as that is their food plant.

Horse Chestnut Leaf-miner

Inside the trap itself we found only one moth! A Common Pug. We photographed it while it was in the pot as it was pretty lively.

Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)

Ah, well better luck next year but we can’t complain, 3 moths all new to us.

A few nights of wind and rain deterred us but on the 28th we were able to get the trap out again. Only three moths this time a couple of Red Chestnuts and a Clouded Drab.

The final night trapping was the 29th April and although moth numbers weren’t great the variety was. We did have good numbers of flies though - there must have been a hatch of tiny flies because the porch and the trap were just black with gazillions of them. Lots of them seemed to have laid strings of tiny yellow eggs all over our egg boxes.

Red Chestnut (Cerastis rubricosa) - our most commonly caught species.

Glaucous Shears (Papestra biren)

Striped Twin-spot Carpet (Nubula salicata)

Puss Moth (Cerura vinula) - a pair of these found tucked away in a corner under the trap

the only micro we caught, Parsnip Moth (Depressaria pastinacella)

I was quite happy that i only had to ask the county moth recorder, Steve Duffield, for help with id for the micro and the carpet, which i had managed to narrow down to being some kind of carpet.

We didn’t do any mothing during our week on Lewis, the nightime weather was pretty grim - wind and rain. It also didn’t seem fair as our host has an aversion to moths. I remember visiting her one time and she took me to an upstairs room and pointed to a small upturned bowl on the floor. “Can you deal with it?” she asked me. Underneath was a moth which i duly repatriated to the outdoors.