VP this morning juv Ruff, 4 Green & 2 Common Sand, Snipe, 2 juv LRP, 18 L Egret, 19 Grey Heron, juv Water Rail, Kingfisher, Mandarin, 130 BHGull, 510 G'lag and 140 CAGO, Canlag, 6 Eg Goose, Yellow Wag over, Redstart, Kestrel etc. Fresh Common Blues out #shropshirebirding #butterfly 🪶 #ukwildlife

Best moth night of the week for diversity was 11th with 170/49 including a smart Catoptria falsella (3rd gdn), Common Lutestring (1st since 2023), Maiden's Blush, Prays fraxinella, 10 Small Mottled Willow, Wax Moth, Sallow Kitten, Sept Thorn etc #teammoth #ukwuldlife

Yesterday's moth trap in the #Shrewsbury gdn had slightly more than today: 224/40 with Obscure Wainscot new for the garden. Also 18 Small Mottled Willow (peak count so far in a mad year for them, only a year since the garden first) Common Wainscot , 82 Large Yellow Underwing #teammoth #ukwildlife

Last night's mothing slightly down in numbers on previous two nights, 203/39 but including nfy Vestal (3rd garden record), Calamatropha paludella (also 3rd) and Orange Swift. Small Mottled Willows down to 8. Bit behind with the mothage. #teammoth #ukwildlife

Other plants at Whixall Moss on Wednesday on the rather crispy moss itself included Cross-leaved Heath (Erica tetralix), Bog Asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum) and Bog Rosemary (Andromeda polifolia). #wildflowerhour #ukwildlife

Whixall Moss on Wednesday with the wildlife group. Angelica (Angelica syvestris) at its best pulling in some insects including several whopping Tachina grossa. Nearby was Bifid Hemp-nettle (Galeopsis bifida). #wildflowerhour #diptera #ukwildlife

VP 0715-0925 w @janettem34.bsky.social Greenshank dropped in, then out, 5+ Green & 3+ Common Sand, 2 juv LRP, 1 Redstart, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, usual Whitethroats, CC, BC, Marsh Tit etc 2 Vestals and a Clouded Yellow seen around the arable. #teammoth #shropshirebirding 🪶 #migrantmoths

Similar to yesterday when 2 j LRP, 3 Green & 2 Common sand, Snipe, 2 Shoveler, 14 Teal, 430 Greylag, 40 Canadas, Kingfisher, Kestrel, different Redstart, 3 Reed Warbler, Nuthatch, Clouded Yellow etc. A better edited Common Gull pic from today and a Whitethroat from y'day. #shropshirebirding 🪶

Nice flush system above Ratlinghope with the wildlife group on Wednesday. 7 Carex species including Flea Sedge (Carex pulicaris) with the fleas ready to ping. #wildflowerhour #ukwildlife

Great rarity today - a twitch! To Glos with @janettem34.bsky.social for the long-staying first-summer Long-tailed Shrike, only the third for Britain. Showed very well at times and was catching what looked like Orthoptera. Missed it catch a vole before we arrived. Heat hazy pics #ukbirding 🪶

The largest and 2nd largest invertebrates of yesterday's wildlife group trip on the edge of the Long Mynd above Ratlinghope. The rather unwelcome but spectacular Signal Crayfish and the very welcome and only a bit less showy Golden-ringed Dragonfly on Jim's chair. #ukwildlife #odonata #crustacean

VP this morning, hides only. Rarity - light drizzle briefly! Influx of Little Egrets (10 incl new juvs), 2+ Green & 3+ Common Sand, 4 Grey Heron, 15 Teal, 11 Egyptian Goose (5 flew in causing much scrapping), Green Woodpecker, Reed Warbler etc. #shropshirebirding 🪶

VP w G a sum plum schinzii Dunlin the highlight, 2 Green & 2 Common sands, 20 BHGull incl a very fresh juv (where from?), 290+ Greylag, Canlag, 9 Egyptian Goose, 5 Teal, 3 Whitethroats, Reed Bunting but hedges and arable quiet. 9 Clouded Yellow, Conops quadrifiasciatus. #shropshirebirding 🪶 #diptera

Tree-lichen Beauty in the garden in Shrewsbury yesterday was an unexpected garden tick, only my 2nd ever and maybe only one previous county record if West Midlands Moths is up to date. A second this morning was just mad (marked differently but the first had been released several 100m away) #teammoth

Volucella fest along the cycle path to Mereside WeBS this morning. 2 V zonaria on Buddleja on the way there, then V inanis and V pellucens on Hogweed on the way back. #diptera #ukwildlife #hovers

VP 2 Green & 1 Common Sand, Marsh Tit on thistles, Redstart, 270 Glag, 9 Egyptian Goose, 3 L Egret, 2 Green Woodp, 2 Reed Warb, Swallows over hay stubble etc. Mereside WeBS - two late Mallard broods of 5 & 3 with 75 ads/fg juv, 2 summering Tufteds, 20 Canadas incl juvs etc. #shropshirebirding #webs

A rare Wednesday wildlife group out-of-county foray to N Herefordshire's Mowley Valley this week, where it was nice to find some Isolepis setacea (Bristle Club-rush) on the new scrapes. #wildflowerhour #wetlandplants

Also at Mowley Valley w the wildlife group, other highlights included yet another Clouded Yellow, a fine little bunch of Lispes (Muscidae) running about & courting on damp mud and the spotty eyed hover Eristalinus sepulchralis. #ukwildlife #mybutterflyyear #diptera @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

Mowley Valley in N Herefordshire yesterday w Wildlife Group. Their new scrapes were good for odonata including Emerald Damselfly new for the site, Common Darter, Emperor, Black-tailed Skimmer, Four-spotted Chaser, Common Blue & Blue-tailed Damselflies. #odonata #dragonfly #ukwildlife

VP this a.m. w G. Birds similar to yesterday incl Common Sand plus Green Sand, Green Woodp, Sand Martin, 15 BHGulls (c6 this year's juvs). We counted 10, possibly 1-2 more, Clouded Yellow around the arable including a helice. At least one f hanging around the Lucerne. #ukwildlife

VP this morning, late summer Greylag flock grown to 190, 9 Egyptian Goose, Mandarin, 6 Teal, L Egret ad, Common Sand, 18 Lapwing, Green Woodp, Kingfisher, L Whitethroat, 4 Whitethroat, Redstart, M Thrush, Nuthatch etc. 1st Prosena siberita of the season. #shropshirebirding #diptera #ukwildlife

Also at Berrow during @dipteristsforum.bsky.social week with @lancefly.bsky.social a notable fly, the very smart Rhagoletis batava, found by eagle eyed Steve Falk earlier in the week perhaps new to Britain! It's on fruiting Sea Buckthorn and actually proved easy to find here. #ukwildlife #Diptera

Fine Dipterists Forum week in Somerset. One highlight on last full day at Berrow was not a fly, in fact the enemy of the fly😅, the dune jumping spider Marpissa nivoyi, nationally scarce, no Somerset records on NBN atlas. Vac sampled by Keith Fowler. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #ukwildlife #spiders

Today with the wildlife group at a farm near Bicton we have been to before and always has some interesting species and a warm welcome. At least 2 Clouded Yellow nfy, loads of Painted Lady, a female Tabanus autumnalis (in a poly tunnel)✅, White-legged Damselflies etc. #ukwildlife #mybutterflyyear

Have been a bit awol here recently but worth mentioning that we did eventually get Red-tipped Clearwing, two in fact, in the garden during the last heatwave on 22 June. Such a great moth family! #teammoth #ukwildlife

VP early morning the juv LRP remained, 1 Green Sand, 1 ad Oystercatcher, fresh juv Black-headed Gull, 7 Egyptian Goose including the pale ad and a juv, 3 Teal, juv Chiffchaffs etc #shropshirebirding #ukwildlife 🪶

V excited yesterday when our small Shrewsbury garden was visited by a White-letter Hairstreak. 1st on the Hemp-agrimony then on @janettem34.bsky.social 's fave rose, Lady of Charlotte! We see Purple H most years (not yet this) but WLH is a full on garden ✅ #gardenwildlife @westmbms-99.bsky.social

VP early morning Green Sand, 2 Little Egret, 2 Egyptian Goose, Barn Owl still out hunting at 0702, fledged juv Whitethroats, 8 Stock Dove, first Gatekeeper of the year, Painted Lady, Red Ads, Essex and Small Skippers etc #shropshirebirding #mybutterflyyear @ukbutterflies.bsky.social

Yesterday's visit to Newtown with @janettem34.bsky.social for my 200th ParkRun and Pryce Jones exhibitions (our main motivations, respectively) produced an unexpected patch of what I take to be Artemisia verlotiorum, Chinese Mugwort, by the R Severn above a shingle bar. #wildflowerhour #ParkRun

A nice bank of acidic grassland on our Wednesday site with the wildlife group at Green Acres Farm, Kemberton with masses of Heath Groundsel (Senecio sylvaticus). In organic for 26 years with very flowery margins too. A few Small Torts and lots of hoverflies, mainly migrant species. #wildflowerhour