Be Right Back, Just Going to Fair Isle...

Just a quick update on the patch year list front, which finally passed the 400 species milestone with the scarce Oak feeding micro moth, Caloptilia leucapennella, netted from a blossoming hedge last week. The poor weather this past week has rendered any evening trips to Stokes Field completely useless, but a brief visit yesterday added a few new flora/fauna to the challenge list, bringing it up to 409.

400- Caloptilia leucapennella (Micro moth)
401- Tingis ampliata (Hemiptera)
402- Speckled Bush-cricket Leptophyes punctatissima (Orthoptera)
403- St. Mark's Fly Bibio marci (Diptera)
404- Sitona sulcifrons (Coleoptera)
405- Sitona lineatus (Coleoptera)
406- Harpocera thoracica (Hemiptera)
407- Common Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina (Hemiptera)
408- Syndemis musculana (Micro moth)
409- Spanish Bluebell Hyacinthoides hispanica (Plant)

Caloptilia leucapennella...

Syndemis musculana...

Spanish Bluebells- note how the flowers are present on all sides of the stem, keeping the stem relatively straight, unlike in 'English' Bluebells...

Harpocera thoracica (a female)...

Only a very quick one today I'm afraid, as I'm heading off to Shetland this evening for a bit of late-spring hardcore birding; situated at the bird observatory on Fair Isle for a week, before stopping off on the mainland for a couple of days (with Red-necked Phalarope and Storm Petrel in mind), and then heading back on 28th. It's going to be absolutely rubbish. Probably won't be any birds at all, especially not rare ones. In the unlikely event that I do happen to stumble across anything decent, you can bet you're bottom dollar I'm going to be tweeting about it like mad, and I certainly wouldn't suggest following me on twitter @billsbirding for up-to-the-minute bird action. Oh no.

Been planning this trip for ages now, but in true fashion, have saved all the sorting out to the last minute. Just measured my 40x36x20cm camera bag up against the 40x35x18cm hand-luggage requirements of Logan air... FRUSTRATION.

See you on Fair Isle!