Grasshopper Warbler - Middleton Lakes RSPB

Another excellent day at Middleton Lakes RSPB getting more excellent views of the Grasshopper Warbler and even more showy today, so beautiful :)
Also so today we had are first Banded Demoiselle of the year a stunning Male and lot's of Orange Tip Butterflies about :) Also lovely views of Wheatear a year tick for us and nice to have amazing views.

On the 26th of April we had nice views of Whinchat distant but nice to watch them settled on the fence line lovely little birds and a year tick for us :) 

Middleton Lakes RSPB - Green-winged Teal

A very wanted lifer for me today at Middleton Lakes Green-winged Teal a bird I had always wanted to see, I love birds that look similar that I know have to study to see the difference and at first glimpse as always i'm like it just looks like a Teal but then Dave pointed out the difference and in the end it did stand out but was made easier by the fact there wasn't any other Teals but the Green-winged does stand out with the presence of a vertical white bar on the side of the breast :) 

Green-winged Teal

Also today we had stunning views of the Grasshopper Warbler I have fallen in love with these birds could listen to there singing all day, there so beautiful and usually being very hard to see in the reeds, we were very lucky to have such a showy one :) 
Also nice view of Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet and some nice summer Migrants Common Whitethoat, Lesser Whitethroat and Reed Warbler :) 

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit

Common Whitethroat

Grasshopper Warbler

Grasshopper Warbler

     

Local birding

Trittiford has been dead over the past month but still nice the Coots, Great Crested Grebes all on there nests and as I write this 27/05/17 the Great Crested Grebes now have two chics :)
The Geese and Mallards have all had chics too.
There has been no sign of the Mandarin Duck for a few weeks now, and the Little Egret numbers have gone down as expected they would of gone of to breed now, but there still has been a few spotted at Old Mill pond and around Trittiford also a few Swallows now about :)

Bullfinch

Bullfinch

Had a nice walk round Shirley park on the 15th of April with House Sparrows going in and out of there nests with food for there young, and also as soon as you enter the park all you can here is the beautiful Willow Warblers love that sound :)

Willow Warbler - Shirley Park

House Sparrow - Shirley Park

On the 14th of April Dave went to check Seeswood Pool I decided to give it a miss my last words were ring me if you get a Ring Ouzel joking lol. He had only been gone 20 mints when I got the phone call babe I have a Ring Ouzel lol I couldn't believe it, I headed up there but it had flown off I did get a quick glimpse in flight but I was just happy for Dave he has put so much time and effort into Seeswood it is nice for him to get some reward for that hard work he also had a Redstart the other day too which was also brill :)

Moths 2017 Feb- April

It has been a great start to the year with some lovely moths are first Macro of the year was Pale Brindled Beauty at the end of Feb and Oak Beauty at the start of March.
My first lifer of the year came on the 12th March a lovely Small Quaker and then the night after a lifer for Me and Dave Grey Shoulder-knot stunning moth and one Dave had always wanted :)
Quite a few Common Quakers too which was nice so much bigger than Small Quaker and differently marked.
Another Lifer for me on the 17th of March Early Grey one I had been hoping for and also a Clouded Drab only my second ever one and my last one being very worn so was over the moon to get another one, we also ended up getting another one a few days later we have also had quite a few Small Quakers in March and also in March and start of April we had lot's more Early Grey moths about 10 altogether and 10+ Hebrew Characters and Two Early Thorns in April.
On the 9th of April another lifer Lunar Marbled Brown beautiful moth and one I was puzzled by had to search in my moth book lol was a first for Dave's garden and we had a Lesser Swallow Prominent only my second ever one my last one was on a moth night last year so this one was even better to get it in Dave's garden :)
We had are first Flame Shoulder of the year on 11th of April.
What a cracking year so far and it's only April I can't wait to see what's to come in the following months this is why I love mothing so much you just never know what you might get it's just so exciting :)

Pale Brindled Beauty

Oak Beauty

Small Quaker 

Common Quaker

Grey Shoulder-knot 

Clouded Drab

Early Grey

Early Thorn

Hebrew Character

Clouded Drab

Lunar Marbled Brown

Lunar Marbled Brown

Lesser Swallow Prominent

Lesser Swallow Prominent

Emperor Moth - Cannock Chase

We had a great day at Cannock Chase with the Emperor Moth Lure we had never used a lure before so didn't know what to expect but it worked a beauty we had only been there ten mints before we had one fly to us and we hadn't even got the lure out of my bag then lol
We ended up with 20+ stunning males, out of this world and a lifer for both of us and has become my fav moth never seen anything so beautiful :)