Moths, Chicks, Wits and Terns - Sightings, 30 June

At this time of year Old Moor surveys some of its most beautiful and intriguing nocturnal creatures, the moths. Moth traps are left working overnight and the contents are examined and then released the next morning. In fact, every Friday morning until the end of August you too can see what has been caught from 10am (more details on our Facebook page).

Here’s the summary of sightings from today…

One of last night’s moth haul is pictured on today’s summary map, an eyed hawk moth (Smerinthus ocellata) but among the others there was this beauty, a swallowtail moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria).

A stunning swallowtail from Nicola S. Thanks Nicola!

Today’s light winds meant the juvenile black-headed gulls tested their wings - sometimes to comical effect. It’s hard to remember just how good at flying those adult gulls are until you see the youngsters having a go. Landings seemed especially difficult to get right today with many settling for undignified belly flops. It’ll be a while yet before this year’s young are confident enough to leave Old Moor!

After the exertions, a young black-headed gull takes a rest

On the Wader Scrape, it was good to see two oystercatcher chicks feeding alongside their parents.

There were also pochard and gadwall broods feeding around the margins of the Wader Scrape and Wath Ings.

But for most visitors, the black-tailed godwits were once again the main attraction. There were an impressive thirty-four of these stately waders today.

The warm weather provided a good set of butterfly sightings today. Mostly around the Wildlife Ponds were: common blue (2), small skipper (6), small tortoiseshell (3), red admiral (2) and painted lady (5) along with brimstone, meadow brown and ringlet.

Dragonfly seen today included: banded demoiselle, azure and common blue damselflies, black-tailed skimmer (4), four-spotted chaser (6+) and broad-bodied chaser (4).

And that’s almost it except for one last image from the day. I was just about to come away from the Wader Scrape when I saw a tern struggling low across the water. Terns are great fliers but this one seemed to be taking its time. The reason soon became clear: it had been fishing and was bringing home a catch that – compared to the bird itself – was a whopper!

Until next time.