29th November

Waved Umber

December Moth

Winter Moth

Low pressure over the south-west keeping temperatures up to an unseasonal high of 14 degrees over night. A front went through before dusk on 28th after that it remained cloudy and dry. In the morning strong SSW winds with some light rain.

Mothing last night produced Dark Sword-grass, Plutella xylostella, Large Yellow Underwing, 7 Silver Y and 7 Udea ferrugalis. Also a Waved Umber, December Moth, 7 Winter Moth, Cypress Carpet and Angle Shades.

No sea birds recorded in a brief sea watch early morning but 280 Dunlin and 3 Grey Plover went through.

27th November

Common Gull

Strong over night winds initially SSW changing to Westerly by morning. Winds died down quite considerably between 8:30am and 9:30am. At Sand Point a Great Northern Diver flew down channel close in as I was arriving at the Point. Heading down channel: 95 Dunlin, 55 Shelduck, 7 Common Gull, 20 Black-headed Gull and 25 Curlew. Also of note a Skua sp harassing a Gull mid channel and a female type Merlin in/off the sea from the North-west flew straight through. Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls moving in all directions but didn't give the impression of migrating so not counted.
Mothing not over quite yet. An hours trapping on Brean Down last night yielded Silver Y and Feathered Thorn. A migrant in December could still be on the cards.

26th November

Windy conditions today from the successive Atlantic lows. The associating fronts generally quite weak as they reach the south-west. This morning at Brean a Short-eared Owl on the Axe Estuary was my first patch record since May 2008. Also on the Axe 60 Curlew, a unusually high count of 10 Cormorant, 13 Wigeon and 80 Teal.
A mass departure of birds since last Sunday left the Down virtually birdless, just a couple of Blackbirds and a Robin left. By the farm a Blackcap and Chiffchaff heard and a female Black Redstart in the Cove made up the passerine highlights. Checking a couple of stubble fields on the way back produced good numbers of Pied Wagtails and smaller numbers of Meadow Pipits. One field held 240 Lapwing.

25th November

Last nights temperatures remained in double figures with a strong SSW wind and little cloud. I trapped at Brean giving up after an hour having had little results. A Dark Sword-grass was the only migrant along with Dotted Chestnut, Mottled Umber and Angle Shades. An early morning visit to Axe Estuary produced 240 Oystercatcher, 200 Dunlin, 60 Teal and 10 Wigeon.

New moth for Weston

Acleris sparsana

An Atlantic low pressure system to the north starting to dominate over yesterdays high with mid level layer cloud building and winds picking up to 13mph SSW. Temperatures set to stay in double figures for the rest of the day and night.

There was virtually no vismig at all this morning and would have been none at all had it not been for 3 Curlew down channel at Sand Point. Very few birds on the ground. A Goldcrest, Bullfinch and Chiffchaff were the only migrants.

A micro caught on 21st that I forgot about until yesterday turned out to be Weston's first Acleris sparsana. There is a lot of Beech in Weston Woods suggesting this species is quite likely to have been overlooked.

23rd November

Yesterday the frontal system started to break up as high pressure began to build bringing brighter conditions and a colder night dipping to 5 degrees. I didn't run the trap last night but the previous night a Mottled Umber caught was a garden first.

Birdwise 3 Purple Sandpipers were at Anchor Head at lunch time yesterday (G.Pudney).

21st November

A weather front hanging over the UK is bringing heavy cloud and some light rain at times along with reduced visibility from low light levels. Temperatures hanging around 11 degrees and light easterly winds. A quick visit to the Axe Estuary on the rising tide produced good numbers of Dunlin but variety was down on yesterday with only a Turnstone of note. This species remains a rarity in Weston despite being common in all surrounding coastal sites.