Doc.B's Nature Blog

It seemed a good move to go birding on Wednesday,clear blue skies,warm Autumnal sunshine,as looking at the radar weather charts yesterday,we needed to be building another Noah’s Ark!!.It was a really grim Welsh day here,total cloud cover,with some light steady rain in the afternoon,but the cold fronts coming in from the Atlantic looked ominous.

Even the birds seemed to know what was afoot!! They were feeding up like mad so just some birding from the balcony on and off yesterday was very rewarding.Another 14 Wood Pigeons floated over,a couple of Common kestrels were looking for lunch,15 Spotless Starling both adult and 1st.winter,10 Black Redstarts incl.that cracking adult male,a lonesome multicolored Feral Pigeon,2 Collared Doves,.6 male and 2 female Blackbirds,a male Blue Rock Thrush,3 Common Chiffchaffs fly catching amongst the lentiscus bushes,a plethora of Blackcaps,13 males and 4 females,6 Sardinian Warblers,1 migrant Robin which has prob.set up its winter territory here already,the pair of Stonechat as usual,plenty of House Sparrows,and in the bay of Casares 4 adult and a 1st winter Northern Gannets constantly diving for fish and a raft of some 46 Great Cormorants.

So last night only set up the 2 Heath moth traps that were sheltered by balcony overhangs,fearing the worst.Got up this morning usual time of 6.00 to find it dry,not a drop of the wet stuff had fallen.However,Portugal caught a real packet,prob why we dipped out.Sod’s law,if I had put the exposed trap out on the inside balcony,it would have gotten flooded out,but it just wasnt worth the risk and what a superb catch I had in the 2 traps.

Moths dont like flying in the wind too much,but even with a little rain they appear quite happy,anyway,when it gets light shall examine the little beauties,get some photos and log all the data in the computer,so watch this space for some interesting close ups.See you all later!1