Bath Birdwatcher

  Portland Obs & Lighthouse (Bath Birdwatcher) At this point last year my total was 136 sightings against 140 this year and was hoping this quarter would bring many more year ticks and with a bit of luck some lifetime ticks or as we call them lifers. July Our 1 st trip of the month was a visit to Chew Valley lake where 49 bird 8 butterfly and 3 moth species were seen the highlights were 2 ticks Spotted Redshank and Kingfisher. Also of note was an Essex Skipper butterfly and a Shaded Broad Bar moth. Next trip was a half day on the 13 th to Newton St Loe taking in the lanes as well as the lakes nothing new was seen but Yellowhammers in the lanes and Little Grebe with chicks was great to see. The highlights of the day was 9 species of butterfly with White Letter Hairstreak a standout and a Scorched Carpet moth a close 2 nd .  Scorched Carpet moth (Bath Birdwatcher) On the 25 th we joined a Bath Nats walk on Lansdown mainly searching for butterflies and 15 species wer...

  Gatekeeper - Bath Birdwatcher David is back from France but Bryan is on holiday, so David suggested we joined the Bath Nat’s field trip to Lansdown. We all met at the Park & Ride car park and when we had all assembled we set off towards the racecourse. This walk was not solely about birds but our first 2 sightings Swallow and Magpie were both birds soon followed by Linnet, Greenfinch and Buzzard to the day’s list, we then found our first butterflies of the day Large White, Gatekeeper, Red Admiral and Comma next our 1 st moth of the day a Nettle Tap.  Nettle Tap - Bath Birdwatcher On the main road by the cottages were many House Martins which had or still are nesting a Pied Wagtail was on the ground by the road. As we continued a flock of 100+ Starlings flew overhead, we then spotted a Silver Y moth, we found several during the walk Common Grass Veneers was another moth we saw in large numbers. A Great Tit was flitting through the trees on the golf course. Next another m...