Thursday, August 20, 2009

19th August,2009.

Yet another day of rain and mist, but with the dreaded midges emerging en masse too due to the mild conditions.

Spent the whole day sorting out BTO matters, arrangements for the upcoming survey of Grey lag Geese and collecting a moth trap for a neighbour. The trap was provided by Butterfly Conservation some time ago and left with the Islay Natural History Trust for easy transfer. A couple of identification guides are also available to make life easier! Whilst its use might only result in some of the commoner species being recorded it will extend our knowledge of the distribution of moths on Islay which is grossly under-recorded . It links to the mains electricity supply so there's no fiddling around with car batteries and the like!

Can recommend the film " Vantage Point". It deals with a supposed modern day assassination attempt of a US President. It's violent, and not a very comfortable film to watch , but it employs some intriguing flashback sequences, presenting a different theme and perspective on each occasion for the same time period until the final uninterrupted "run" to the end.

Numbers of Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Goldfinch and Reed Bunting have been visiting the feeders. Based on adult males and numbers I guess up to five families of Siskin have been in attendance with all the squabbles that entails. An apt opportunity for identifying the differences between the juveniles of all the different species given they're just outside the window.

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