Paul's Blog - All comments and views are my own,

MOTHS Last night I put the moth trap to use for the last time in the garden before I move back to South Wales, there was little return but a Poplar Hawk Moth was a nice find. Odd specimens included Brimstone Moth with several Burnished Brass moths along with Heart and Dart moths made up most of the small capture. Brimstone Moth Poplar Hawk Moth

News of a Pectoral Sandpiper at WWT Slimbridge yesterday was the decider in what to do this morning, especially with a dodgy weather forecast. This North American/North East Siberia breeding bird is one of the regular "American vagrants" to reach the UK although this is an unusual date. The bird was on the South Lake, there were a few birders in the hide when I arrived but the bird was out of sight, Martin the senior warden popped in to say that the bird was viewable from another hide which led to a mass exodus leaving just myself and two others watching from the South Lake hide. After about 10 mins sure enough the Pec' San' appeared giving great views. The photographs are with my mobile attached to my telescope and I am still trying to get the idea of the dark art of "digi-scoping", when the object is too far away its had to get really crisp photos... There were other birds present including Black tailed Godwits, Redshank, Lapwing, and Ruff. P