Patching, It's More Than a Hobby

Today the patch was, to put it simply, good. No, I jest not, it was genuinely good.
 A morning visit around 9am, had nothing out of  the ordinary, save the first Cygnet of the year. While walking through the old pitch and putt however, I heard a call I'd long awaited in the park, and looking up - as I'd clearly forgotten to do for so many springs and autumns previously- there it was, a Swallow! Patch lifer... I know, how!?  It's simply incredible it took so long. Still, all the more rewarding after a couple of years of looking.
 A little gleeful after the Swallow, and wanting to see if there were any more Cygnets, we headed back in the afternoon. Alas no sign of Cygnets, nor the female Swan, so they most likely were hidden on the island.
 Heading home after photographing some Geese and their Goslings, I picked up on a small falcon bombing past the boating lake.  Hobby! I grabbed a few record shots before it flew off distantly to the West.  Wow.  Another patch lifer, and a great one at that!  I must say, I was pretty ecstatic, an incredible day on the patch. There's something I never though I'd say!

Irish Moths

Although so far you may not have realised, but my trip to Ireland was not completely dedicated to twitching the Long-Billed Dowitcher.  No, I did do other things, although little other birding.  So -surprise surprise- moths again.

 Moths and butterflies (more the former) were a big focus of my trip, and I mean a very big focus. It's pretty much all I did. By day I'd look for butterflies and by night, moths. Setting a bright light to point at a sheet at night makes a beacon which moths seem unable to resist. I spent many a night in this way, looking for something to be drawn in other than July High-flyers, sometimes this went quite late into the morning...  On occasion it did work, some nights it would be teeming with moths, others,  not so, with just a few the whole night.  It really did vary a lot.  I'm not quite sure the total, but I estimate around fifty species of moth came, though you can easily be sure that was never in one night.  It really wasn't the best time of year to moth, the numbers of Summer moths were dwindling, and Autumn moths had properly started to arrive yet, still, I coped with Early Thorns, Pink-Barred Sallows, Lesser-Swallow Prominent, Barred Chestnut...  Such hardship.

The makeshift 'trap' did a better job than I had expected, it didn't get me my longed-for Elephant Hawkmoth, but enough Carpets for a mansion.

Worth the disrupted sleep pattern..

Bring on the Autumn Moths!