Jack Snipe at Staines Moor

An afternoon at the patch produced the hoped for Jack Snipe, with 1 seen well in flight (although you'd never know it from the photo), along with 1 flighty Water Pipit along the Colne, 1 Peregrine over distantly SW, 3 Red Kite over NW, 1 Common Buzzard on the west side that flew off east, 2 Common Snipe, 1 redpoll sp. over S, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1m Stonechat, 1m Reed Bunting, a fantastic flock of 190+ Fieldfare at the north end, 17 Redwing, 4 Pied Wagtail, 1+ Little Grebe on Colne and 1+ Grey Heron. Also, a flock of Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits were along the old railway.

A record shot of today's Jack Snipe

One of three Red Kites over NW today

A few Moroccan reptiles

A belated post showing a few photos of some of the reptiles seen in Morocco back in March. It was a shame we didn't have time to search for more species.

Male Atlas Day Gecko Quedenfeldtia trachyblepharus, Oukaimeden, High Atlas, 10 March 2013 - a Moroccan endemic found only
in the Toubkal Massif and the High Atlas Mountains.

Female Atlas Day Gecko Quedenfeldtia trachyblepharus, Oukaimeden, High Atlas, 10 March 2013

Duméril's Fringe-fingered Lizard Acanthodactylus dumerilii, east of Erg Chebbi, 15 March 2013. This well-marked
individual is presumably a male (compare below).

Duméril's Fringe-fingered Lizard Acanthodactylus dumerilii, east of Erg Chebbi, 15 March 2013

Podarcis sp. cf. Podarcis vaucheri, Oukaimeden, High Atlas, 10 March 2013

Podarcis sp. cf. Podarcis vaucheri, Oukaimeden, High Atlas, 10 March 2013

Spanish Terrapin Mauremys leprosa, Lake Sidi Boughaba National Park, 20 March 2013

Check out the diversity of reptiles and amphibians found in Morocco on the excellent website Morocco Herps.

Great grey dusk

Spent a couple of hours at Thursley Common this afternoon. The Great Grey Shrike showed well near dusk in very gloomy conditions, but I managed a few record shots. Also 54 Fieldfare, 3 Redwing over, 2 Meadow Pipit and a redpoll species over SW were noted, but otherwise things were very quiet.

Great Grey Shrike

A great day at the patch

The 10 November 2013 will go down as an excellent day at the patch, with a third record for Staines Moor followed by a second in quick succession. The first was a Great White Egret that dropped into the Colne for all of three minutes at 12:23 before flying off high west. This is the third record for Staines Moor, following 1 on 6 September 2002 and 1 from 22-24 December 2007.

Great White Egret, Staines Moor - the third record for the patch

Great White Egret, Staines Moor

Great White Egret, Staines Moor

Great White Egret, heading off west over Staines Moor

Great White Egret along the Colne, Staines Moor, briefly before flying high west

Then 18 minutes later, a flock of 7 Whooper Swan flew high over heading east, before appearing to drop down onto King George VI Reservoir. A quick text to Rob Innes resulted in Rob relocating the birds on the south basin of Staines Reservoirs, and fortunately I managed to get there before dusk to see them swimming around (many thanks to Rob Innes for following this up and relocating them). This is the second record for Staines Moor - 1 adult on 11 February 1956 being the only other record.

4 adult and 3 juvenile Whooper Swans high over Staines Moor at 13:48 (what do you mean you can't tell what these are?) - the first
record here since 1956! Fortunately, I had much better views of these birds this evening at Staines Reservoirs. They were also
seen over Lavell's Lake LNR, Berkshire, at 11:27 - pic here.

Other bits seen today include 3 Water Pipit together around the south flood, 11 Common Snipe, 3 (1m, 2f) Stonechat, 4 Common Buzzard over S, and 1 Goldcrest.

Common Buzzard - 4 over south today

1 Small Copper, and three Common Darters (included a pair mating and egg-laying) were also noted on Staines Moor. At Staines Reservoirs in the evening 2 Black-necked Grebe on the south basin and a Curlew flying west were also noted.

Late autumn at Staines Moor

A few hours at Staines Moor today produced 1-2 Water Pipit along the Colne, 5 Common Snipe, 5 Stonechat (2m, 3f), 1 Grey Wagtail, 4+ Pied Wagtail, 16+ Meadow Pipit, 3 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare, 1 Little Egret, 2 Little Grebe, 37+ Black-headed Gull on the Colne, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker and 3 Green Woodpecker.

Some vis mig: a meagre 276 Woodpigeon SSW (an incredible 50,800 were reported over Swanscombe Marsh today), quite a lot of Starling moving W (and another c100 around the cattle), 4 Skylark SSW and 18 Goldfinch. The best bird of the day was a probable Jack Snipe flushed, that I just didn't get enough on.

First of today's male Stonechats

Second male. Oddly, three of the five Dartford Warblers that have turned up at the moor were associating with Stonechats?
I'm keeping my eyes peeled!

Lots of Parasol Mushrooms Macrolepiota procera around at the moment, and Ragged-Robin Lychnis flos-cuculi is still flowering in the wetter areas.

Atlantic Forest moths, REGUA, Brazil: 13 October

Our final day at REGUA. As part of an ongoing study by a small group of us to identify the moth species present at REGUA, I've been keen to photograph more moth species on this trip. So like on most other days over the last week or so, I spent some time this morning at the lodge photographing moths and bugs at the moth wall. In particular I've been hoping for another specimen of the unusual Bombyciid I found in September 2012 to make an appearance.

October is spring in south-east Brazil and usually an excellent time of year for moths. But unfortunately, due to the relatively low temperatures and humidity at REGUA at the moment, the number and variety of moths appearing at the light traps has been rather poor. Just one species of Bombyciid was logged on the whole trip (see below), however, we did find a number of very beautiful and bizarre looking species, including one (as yet unknown) species not previously found at REGUA. Here's a selection from the trapping sessions over this last week or so.

Olceclostera amoria, REGUA, 13 October 2013 - the only Bombyciid to visit the light traps this trip. You can see why this family
has earned the name 'head-standers'.

Pachylioides resumens, REGUA, 13 October 2013. This mid-size Sphingid is distributed throughout the Neotropics and is very
common in southern Brazil and the Serra dos Órgãos region of the Atlantic Forest, where REGUA is located.

Bellatrix Prominent Crinodes bellatrix, REGUA, 9 October 2013 - this amazing Noctuoid mimics a nut (the seed, not a crazy person)

Langsdorfia franckii, REGUA, 9 October 2013 - a member of the Cossidae family

Green-windowed Deadleaf Trygodes musivaria, REGUA, 12 October 2013 - a beautifully patterned Geometrid

Pale-winged Gray Iridopsis ephyraria, REGUA, 5 October 2013 - a rather pug-like Geometrid

Automeris annulata, REGUA, 5 October 2013 - one of the more common Saturniids at the light traps here. The eye-spots
on the hindwings are revealed to ward off predators.

Unidentified Geometrid sp., REGUA, 13 October 2013 - this moth, whatever it is, is new for REGUA

Cosmosoma sp., REGUA, 6 October 2013 - species in this genus of Arctiids are very tricky to identify.

REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 12 October

Nicholas, Rachel, Sue and I spent the morning assessing an area of land adjacent to REGUA in the upper Matumbo Valley that is up for sale. A stunning property situated at about 400 m altitude, acquiring this plot would help us stem the rapid growth of holiday homes appearing in the forest bordering the reserve and preserve some good quality lowland forest, but at the moment funding is unfortunately difficult to come by.

Birds seen during our short visit here include a superb Rufous-thighed Kite hunting cicadas, 1 Sepia-capped Flycatcher, 1f Chestnut-bellied Euphonia, and a few Green-headed Tanagers. On a neighbouring property a group of kids pointed out the male Red-billed Curassow, first seen in this area back in June 2012, calling from the top of a tree, and nearby a very unhappy Black-fronted Grosbeak was calling from a cage in the garden. Thankfully, around REGUA at least, caged birds appear to be becoming less commonplace - perhaps REGUA's values are beginning to rub off?

Male Red-billed Curassow Crax blumenbachii, Matumbo Valley, 12 October 2013 - believed to be the only surviving
offspring from REGUA's reintroduction programme

Also noted today, a Cliff Flycatcher, 2 Fork-tailed Flycatcher, 2 White-rumped Swallow, 1 Grey-breasted Martin, 1 Rufous-capped Motmot, and a large flock of very low Biscutate Swifts with a few White-collared Swifts mixed in were logged in the morning along the dirt road from Casa Pesquisa to the reserve, and in the lodge garden an Argentine black and white Tegu Tupinambis merianae showed well (these appear to be getting a little less shy).

Spent the afternoon chilling with a BBQ and wine on the veranda of Nicholas and Raquel's house with, Rachel, Andy and Cristina of Serra dos Tucanos and their daughter Olivia, Nicholas, Raquel and Thomas Locke, and Sue Healey.