Finch behaviour - I don't know what I'm talking about

A juvenile Chiffchaff was in the garden at first light this morning and a Grey Heron, heading west flew over the house. Looks promising for the odd bird but a slight hitch, I've got to go to work.
Didn't bother with the trap last night due to the weather but I was brought a moth that was found on a  neighbour's door this morning. He insisted it wasn't the usual yellow underwing which was confirmed as soon as I saw it as it was a Grey Chi. This species is a northern moth that prefers moorland and rough hills. It has a habit of resting on walls and occurs in August/September so wasn't too surprising but it was the first I've seen this year.

Grey Chi

The problem with keeping a Blog is that as soon as you make a statement such as the field has been ploughed up and the finch flock has gone, is that you are proved that you don't know what you're talking about! The field has been ploughed undoubtedly and there's only a thin strip of weedy arable land right by the hedge which is not 'set-a-side' but just that the plough couldn't reach. So it makes sense that the birds must have gone. Then today, as I walk past, 136 Linnet, 34 Greenfinch and 27 Common Starling were flushed from it. So they haven't  left after all.

No stubble but not even a close shave

A really horrid day with a strong SE wind this morning and heavy showers, no chance of any early morning birding and with the wind last night if I had put my trap out it wouldn't have been there this morning.  The wind had lessened considerably and the rain stopped by the time I got back home from work.

I only had time for a very quick look about late afternoon. A walk to the stubble field and found it was gone, its all been ploughed now. Strange how the finch flock disappeared days before - how on earth did they know? An immature female Sparrowhawk didn't know as it twice flashed past but there were no small birds about for it to flush. By the side of Waldridge Lane I saw a Stonechat, this time a juvenile male, unlike the adult I have seen a few times about 400 meters away recently. So nothing even close to a migrant. With everything being very damp including myself from soggy vegetation, I headed back. This weather had produced quite a few migrants at the coast but I would have been very lucky if it had sent anything this far inland so early.. tomorrow maybe.

A couple of Field Grasshoppers were waiting on the front door path when I came back, presumably the lawn is too soggy for them too.

Under the patio table

As usual I released the moths I trapped on Friday in the garden last night. The vast majority fly out of the garden and probably feed elsewhere. It's unusual for any of them to be hanging around the following day. Today however, what I suspect was the same male Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing was hiding under the patio table, as was a female which I had not caught the other night. Maybe he was impressed with what's on offer in the garden and brought his girlfriend along for a meal.

Broad-bodied Yellow Underwing - male

Broad-bodied Yellow Underwing - female

This species, unlike the majority of moths, show marked differences in colouration depending on sex. The males are generally shades of dark brown,  where as the females are an orangey-buff.

 No sign of any finches again in the stubble, where have they got to? A SE wind but very cloudy and cool and there's not one butterfly in the garden. Half a dozen Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus flitting around the flowers together with a lone Carder Bumblebee is the best I could muster..
Now 12 Golden Plover at Chester Moor where there's still a family party of Swallow and a calling Chiffchaff that burst into song for a minute or so in the hedge along the road leading into the village.  On the quiet walk back I hear a faint 'scaip' call and looked up to see a Common Snipe flying overhead, heading towards the fell.

Carpets & Cormorant

 With it being a mild night last night I was quite hopeful for a good moth catch this morning, and it wasn't too bad. A total of 57 moths of 29 species was quite adequate considering the time of the year. The best being 4 species of Carpet - Flame, Garden, Common Marbled and Dark Marbled, plus Canary-shouldered & Dusky Thorns, 4 species of Yellow Underwing again, another Hedge Rustic  and my first Frosted Orange of the year.

Flame Carpet

Garden Carpet

Frosted Orange

There were no House Martins over the house this morning but there were at least 50, together with 5-6 Swallow over Daisy Hill but I did see a Cormorant flying over, presumably heading back down to the riverside park area of the Wear where the numbers have been increasing every year for a while now. A couple of Common Darter dragonflies were the only other thing of note with there being few butterflies on the wing today, despite it being rather warm, either over the fell or in the garden. In fact the buddlejas only had 3 Small White and 1 Wall all day.

Went through my books later to try and name a parasitic wasp that was in the trap this morning and I had potted up.  I did manage to identify it as an Ichneumon wasp of the genus Ophion but not to the exact species

Ichneumon wasp of the genus Ophion

Passing Chester Moor, my first Golden Plover of the winter were seen when two flew over the road and landed in one of the usual fields by Beaney Lane where they are usually present every year.

In the dark

Didn't have time this morning to count the finches. A tidy up in the garden flushed a few moths in the way of single Large & Lesser Yellow Underwing, a micro moth Udea lutealis  and a Small White butterfly. This tea-time 2 House Martin and 3 Common Swift were over the house,  the first of either for a while so they were probably not [very] local birds.

Udea lutealis 

I followed up Steve Evan's correspondence of a possible fire on the fell this morning by taking a little walk this evening. It was already getting towards dusk as  the moth trap had come on and a Pipistrelle bat flew over the Hermitage Woods. Before long I could see the smoke, a noticeable column,  but no flames and it must be contained as there was only a small area of burnt heather & gorse.  

White flowers stand out much more in this half-light, the Yarrow now at their peak being particularly prominent. I might not have noticed in daylight but some other white flowers caught my eye. In fact they were Harebell but this patch with about a dozen flowers were white instead of the usual blue like all the others around. Too dark for a photo, I'll try and get one tomorrow. 

The police helicopter flew over and had a look at the fire or it was checking out a report of a strange man with binoculars on the fell. I wouldn't have been surprised it was the latter, as I don't know who got a bigger shock a few minutes earlier.  As I went down the hill I 'flushed' an elderly lady in the middle of the bottom hedge who was, I believe picking blackberries, even though it was nearly dark. 

You see some unusual  sights on the fell. 

Fell Finch Fluctuations

A Wall butterfly was seen roosting in a corner of the outside window first thing and the Grey Squirrel was again by the farmhouse carrying something quite large in it's mouth. I'm not sure what it was but it may have been a chick. Anyway there were 2 Magpies going mad at it, chattering away and mobbing it.  All 3 disappeared over the paddock fence.

Stopping at the stubble field and all the birds were on the telegraph wires where there were well over 200 birds perched up. However the Greenfinch count had gone back down to 64 birds. The majority were Linnet, presumably from a bit further a field and there were now 136 of them, together with 13 Common Starling. 

Things that go bump in the night

I checked the moth trap just after midnight and there was well over 20 moths of about a dozen species already inside or buzzing around. Half an hour later I'm in bed, the light is off when there's a thump against the window. I looked out through the window but nothing to be seen. No sign of any life in the street, only a couple of Tawny Owls 'kwicking' and hooting loudly, they must be very close.  I climbed back in bed and reported nothing to be seen. 'What if someone is in the garden then?'  I was asked so no doubt about it I was going to have to get up again. Unlocked the door and ventured out, the Owls had stopped calling and went to check the garden. It was light because the trap was on but certainly nothing obvious so went to look for evidence by the window. I stopped in my tracks as I spotted a young Tawny Owl still with a few traces of down sitting stunned under the window. I walked over to pick it up but it flew off obviously unharmed. As soon as it was airborne the 'kvicking' started again for a minute or so  but that was the last I saw or heard of the owls.
A couple of questions I suppose -
One - very late for a fledged Tawny still with a little bit of down surely, even if the pair managed a 2nd brood?
Two - How come it came to hit the window when there was no light on?
I suppose I can have a guess at the latter in that it was after a moth which it chased or saw on the window.

Quite an exciting night.

I was up not that many hours later emptying the trap which wasn't too bad at all and it certainly had an autumnal and rustic element. 44 moths of 21 species including my first Small Autumnal Moth, Hedge Rustic, and Northern Deep-brown Dart of the year and only my second ever Autumnal Rustic for the garden.

Small Autumnal Moth

Autumnal Rustic

A Canary-shouldered Thorn and late Fan-footed Wave and Willow Beauty were also present overall making it an excellent night all round.

Canary-shouldered Thorn

There were a couple of Common Wasps in the trap too but unlike several other moth-trappers, I haven't been too bothered with them this year. Some years they can be a real pain in the  *** (though usually the back of my hand), but not this year.

One of two Common Wasps in the trap

Counted the Greenfinch flock in the stubble as I passed later, 96, so still rising. A ton tomorrow?