The Sound Approach meeting at Beddington Farmlands

Pete Alfrey and I met up with Paul Morton from The Sound Approach for a short walk around Beddington Farmlands. I've recently built a new website for Beddington Farmlands, to build support for the creation of a nature reserve on this important London site for natural history. Conservation organisations, bird groups, local businesses and other groups have declared support for the reserve, and The Sound Approach are also keen to support us.

Passage migrants noted today included 2 Whinchat on the mound, 6 House Martin W (there was a large number moving this morning before our visit) and 5 Barn Swallow W. 1 Pintail dropped on the Northern Lake which also held 4 Pochard and 2 Eurasian Wigeon, and c50 Northern Shoveler moving between the Northern and Southern Lakes. Also noted were 1+ Peregrine, 8 Northern Lapwing and c28 Grey Heron.

Check out the Beddington Farmlands website. You can also follow us on Flickr and Twitter and like us on Facebook.

A few more moths

With temperatures still low at night, there's few moths about. However, I managed to see a Poplar Kitten Furcula bifida, a Knot Grass Acronicta rumicis and a Green Carpet Colostygia pectinataria that Pete caught at Beddington Farmlands (well, actually at his flat, The Obs).

Poplar Kitten Furcula bifida, Beddington Farmlands, 27 May 2013 - a first for Beddington, and what a beauty!

Poplar Kitten Furcula bifida, Beddington Farmlands, 27 May 2013

Check out Pete's pics here.

The world's largest moth trap!

During my teens I was just as interested in butterflies and moths as I was birds. One memorable experience was finding my first Red Underwing Catocala nupta on my paper round and my friend Sam Woods, who did a paper round nearby, actually twitching it! My interest in Lepidoptera waned as I became more fascinated with birds, but my trip last month to Brazil's Atlantic Forest has reignited my interest, and I found myself spending just as much time mothing and butterflying (??) as I did birding.

My good friend Peter Alfrey has also become interested in flying things with scaly wings. Last night Rachel and I went for a meal at his flat, dubbed the Obs, which overlooks his local patch, Beddington Farmlands - one of London's best birding sites. I want to buy a moth trap and wanted some advice, but what I found is that Pete, being Pete, had taken things to another level!

In true Lepidoptera fashion, Pete's two bedroom flat has undergone a complete metamorphosis! Where once there was a bedroom, there is now the world's largest moth trap! Gone is the bed, and instead there is a moth trap, a net, shelves full of sampling containers, a pooter, a holding tank for photographing moths, books, cameras and a laptop and microscope. Even though Pete lives in a flat, attracting moths is easy - place the moth trap on the window sill, open the window, close the door, and what you have is an en suite walk-in moth trap! Situated right on the very edge of Beddington Farmlands, moths from miles around make an, ahem, mothline, towards Pete's flat!

Moths caught during the evening include 1 The Shark Cucullia umbratica, 1 The Clay Mythimna ferrago, 1 Silver Y Autographa gamma, a few Heart & Club Agrotis clavis, a Rustic spp. possibly The Rustic Hoplodrina blanda, 1 Riband Wave Idaea aversata and lots of Common Footman Eilema lurideola.

For more about mothing at the Obs and Beddington Farmlands see Pete's blog.

The Shark Cucullia umbratica

The Clay Mythimna ferrago

Riband Wave Idaea aversata

Heart & Club Agrotis clavis

The Rustic Hoplodrina blanda?

All this has got me even more fired up for mothing, although I am slightly concerned about Pete. He now sleeps on the sofa, no longer has a fridge, and is starting to bear an uncanny resemblance to Dr. Emmett Brown - see the pic below then watch this.

Great Scott!! I do believe this moth is a shark!

Admiring The Shark, which is actually a moth

Beddington Farmlands

Met up with Pete Alfrey today to sort through the gulls at Beddington Farmlands. We had a few interesting birds including a possible 2nd cycle Yellow-legged Gull and some very bleached 2nd cycle Herring Gulls, but no hoped-for Caspian. Migrants were thin on the ground, but a singing male Firecrest showed well (record shot below) and 8+ Sand Martin and 1+ Chiffchaff were seen and 2 Blackcaps heard. 3 Common Snipe, 36 Shoveler, 22 Tufted Duck, 15 Teal and a few Tree Sparrows completed the tally. Beddington has changed a lot since my last visit and Pete is working tirelessly with the Beddington Farm Bird Group to develop the site into a major urban nature reserve. To find out more see the Beddington Farmlands website or visit Pete's blog.