Saturday 30 May 2009

Another Suffolk Hawkmoth species . . 
An impressive Eyed Hawkmoth today took the Hawkmoth garden species total to 6 this Spring (I have yet to photograph Lime). Other hopeful contenders are the Small Elephant Hawkmoth & the rarer continental migrant Striped Hawkmoth (2 have been trapped on the coast at Bawdsey this weekend!). . . 

Privet Hawkmoth
Suffolk - May 30th 2009

Friday 29 May 2009

May Moths continued . . .
From the top: Rustic Shoulder-knot, Small Angle Shades, Iron Prominent, Elephant Hawkmoth, Alder Moth.



Friday 22 May 2009

Enjoying Moth Photography:
I love the beautiful & very photogenic larger hawkmoths. So far this year we have had Pine, Poplar, Eyed & Elephant Hawkmoths in our Woodbridge garden trap. Here are images of Elephant & Poplar (below) & Pine  (left) taken this morning.

Thursday 21 May 2009

More Moths:
Two more moths I photographed this morning from last nights catch: Burnished Brass (bottom) & Bufftip (top & middle).



21st May 2009 - Suffolk
From the bottom:  1 Red Kite over Sutton, Woodbridge on the 19th May (taken with 105mm macro lens), 1 Pine Hawkmoth trapped in the garden, 1 Swift & a very attractive young Robin chick! Enjoying the last few sunny days in Suffolk before heading up to Shetland!


Sunday 17 May 2009

Melodious Warbler - Landguard - Suffolk.
May 17th 2009. . . .  .


Friday 15 May 2009

Bawdsey, Woodbridge & Landguard - Suffolk
May 15th 2009



Tuesday 12 May 2009

Sunday 1oth May 2009 - Kent 
Black-winged Pratincole . . . . 
Sunday afternoon saw us race down to Reculver, Kent to twitch a stunning Black-winged Praticole. We were lucky to arrive 45 mins before it flew off and enjoyed good scope views as it sat on a bank preening. It jumped into the air at one point and caught a bee before bobbing up & down and heading off further down the coast. An enjoyable & successful afternoon!

Monday 4 May 2009

Lesvos  - April 2009 - The Travelling Naturalist
We have just returned from a superb week in Lesvos where we led our 6th highly successful 'Travelling Naturalist' birding trip from the 23rd April - 30th April. We arrived to good numbers of common Spring migrants & enjoyed an excellent week with over 150 species seen. Highlights included Scop's Owl, hawking Eleanora's Falcons, Levant's Sparrowhawk, Cinereous Bunting, Collared Flycatchers, Ruppell's & Orphean Warblers, Krupers Nuthatch, Isabelline Wheatear, Citrine Wagtails & Little Crakes . . . Thank you to all our guests who joined us on such a memorable Lesvos birding experience! We hope to see you all again soon!   www.naturalist.co.uk