Wildlife

James Lowen

The Butterfly Conservation stand at Rutland kept me entertained with its accumulation of moth catches from Dorset, Rutland and mid-Wales. They included a number of species new to me, although according to the devilish Martin Fowlie, I am not allowed to even think about ticking any of them. Which is a shame, as their number included Small Mottled Willow, Ni Moth, Convulvous Hawkmoth, Palpita vitrialis, Four-spotted Footman, September Thorn and Magpie. No photos, I'm afraid, as they were inside a plastic box - and the aesthetics deterred me. No such quandary with the first-summer male Red-footed Falcon near Spalding, however. It was a hidden for all but a couple of minutes of the only hour we could afford, but that was just about enough...

I tried to enthuse German with moths. But he kept showing me photos of a Sphinx Moth on his ipod, which rather shut me up. Local moths have been rather quiet, unfortunately. August Thorn and more White-points have been about the best.

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27 Aug 2015 Redfoot before Rutland

Every August now seems to be dominated by the British Birdwatching Fair. I help out friends from Argentina, give lectures (this year about Antarctic Wildlife) and explore wildlife-work opportunities. It's hard work - but rewarding. This year, I achieved a personal best in lecture turnout: 176 people crammed into lecture marquee 1 during my talk. I'll have some of that. My friend and I managed a couple of short pre-Birdfair excursions. The first was to north Norfolk. We started really well at Holt Country Park, seeing two Adder, a dozen Silver-washed Fritillaries (including my first valezina variant) and White Admiral. The day then went rapidly downhill, with nothing at all on Kelling Heath and no all-day-breakfast-bar in Blakeney Harbour. We ended really badly by failing to see the previously tarty Icterine Warbler at Burnham Overy Dunes.