Dan Brown

Our 21 day recce to Guyana is complete & boy what a country with sooo many wildlife highlights. Walk away Guianan Cock-of-the-Rocks, 10+ Giant River Otter encounters, 2 Goliath Bird-eating Spiders, some incredible Giant Amazonian Water Lily blooming inc pollinating chafers to name but 4 highlights

😂🤣 its a pretty standard mix but I think it has more to do with the place and trees. Aspens are naturally sap-rich and seem to be attractive to moths combined with being in an area of low natural sugars it makes the additional sugar mix irresistible. I also think the area has very good insect pops

Thanks for tag Tim and hi Tom. Defo worth taking the trap but you might have more luck sugaring. I’ve had up to 1000 moths at sugar at this time of year on nights where temps hang at 1-2oC or even lower. Scottish moths are hardcore!

💪💪 I knew it!

WOW! That’s immense. I’ve seen a fair few this autumn in the Med plus Scorcerer and I’d LOVE to catch one in the UK- top work

Reckon it’s the same you had in Jan 24? It’s behaviour with the other duck made it feel like a new arrival. I suspect this bit of coast has a reasonable turn over of birds given the near annual status on Islay but with clearly different birds. I’m sure some, like the Rhuna bird is a returner tho

Nope think that would be my 6th. @saloplarus.bsky.social and I had an awesome bird at the back of a skein of Barnacles arriving onto Islay one October. It ditched at the mouth of the estuary and left the Barnies to land on the salt marsh. Others in Lincs, Gwynedd, Western Isles, 2x Islay

Just when I thought it was all over a quick swing by Ormsary on the Argyll coast produced this absolutely stunning drake Surf Scoter close inshore with Eider & Goosander. You just never know.
#UkBirding

A magic week on Islay comes to an end in the morning. The Buff-breasted Sand reappeared today and gave brilliant views. The monumental arrival of Barnacle Geese continues and an Otter performed in front of the lounge window this evening. This place is just magic #UkBirding #BirdMigration

More great days on Islay. The Glossy Ibis that I stumbled across at the same site as the last two, 3wks ago appears to be a different bird. Storm Amy put on a show, Gannets leaving Loch Gruinart with Barnacles arriving en masse today, Leach’s Petrel, Grey Phal & Pec Sand all rounded off a good day

Yep I completely agree. Masses of habitat and very few people looking. As you know the estuaries are huge and so many flooded fields. This week is going to be pretty passive birding for me but hoping for something else 🤞🤞🤞long billed Dow would do me fine.

A great first day on Islay finding Buff-breasted Sand and as we watched a Pec circled over calling, clearly fresh in. Add in a plethora of raptors Barnacles, Arctic Tern & Long-t ducks, some weird Agarics, Chough, Otter, Bottlenose Dolphins & you have a good haul. It’s good to be back here

That is classic. The education system has failed big style somewhere along the way!

Fab day on Royal Deeside with our Deeside Nature festival discovering a pair of Nuthatch feeding young (rarity here) then what we believe is Silky Gallows Spider hanging its Wood Ant prey at Mar Lodge, Lesser Twayblades in full bloom, WT eagle and some fab views rounded off a superb day.

Yesterday was the first day of our Deeside Nature Festival and it proved to be awesome! Events included a Black grouse safari, bumblebee talk, moth and wild sound evening, guided woodland walk, birding for beginners and more. Loads more happening over the next three days too #DeesideNatureFestival

Thrift & Large Red-belted Clearwings in Aberdeenshire (VC92) this last few days, the former a couple of weeks early on the wing and great to see. #TeamMoth #MothsMatter

No sooner than I’d read the @britishwildlife.bsky.social article on Pot Beetles than I stumble across these beauties; Four-spotted Pot Beetle larvae (Clytra quadripunctata) in a Scottish Wood Ant nest down the glen. Thanks for article Brit wildlife & an insight into their fascinating life histories

Cracker of a day around home in Crathie, Cairngorms with Hen Harrier over the garden (garden tick) plus Gos (Osprey and Peregrine yesterday), daytime Tawny, Pearl Bordered Frits & Narrow Bordered Bee Hawks & first Red Mason Bee for Deeside I believe. Now listening to Woodcock roading #SpringBliss

The only anomaly I can see for C.hastulatum are the strikingly pointed black abdominal segment patterning and the two blue eyes (segment 7?)

Calling all European #Odanata experts. I found this Coenagrion yesterday in a mountain spring pool which looks remarkably similar to hastulatum however it’s in Armenia and miles from the known range. Eyes are green based, spear head mark plus separates side stripe. Comments welcome 🙏

This tour has been producing sooo many great birds and mammals. Yesterday we visited the stunning Noravank monastery in Armenia and enjoyed both Eastern & Western Rock Nuthatches feeding on ants in front us, at one point being side by side! Bears and Wolves have been stealing the show tho…

Of all the things I was hoping to find today in Georgia today, a Bateleur was not one of them! This juv drifted in from Azerbaijan and over David Gareja before returning that way. First for Azerbaijan and 3rd for Georgia!

With snow clearing over the Caucasus we were treated to a lovely bit of raptor migration with Eastern Imperial, Steppe and Booted Eagles past together with Honey & Steppe Buzzards, Black Kites & a local Lammergeier. A good opportunity to test your raptor silhouettes #Raptors #WildDiscoverytour

Stumbled across this stunning #orchid, the range restricted Steveniella satyriodes growing under Beech in the foothills of the Caucasus alongside Toothwort. Dingy skippers were out in force alongside Wood Whites - a very pleasant lunch stop on our tour.

First full day in the Caucasus on our Georgia & Armenia tour & a clean sweep of all target species plus some bonuses. Great numbers of Güldenstädt’s Redstarts, but Great Rosefinch are proving challenging for all this year so fab to get 3 today.

A famous French entomologist considered the ‘Prince of Entomologists’ by one student.

Latreille’s Latin, a great moth with a fab name and one I saw for the first time recently thanks to @davegrundy.bsky.social whilst guiding our Andalucia tour. The camouflage against this Cistus is just superb esp the fake lichen bits! Fingers crossed one appears in my UK trap in future #MothsMatter

Back home after 3 weeks & 3 tours of southern Spain and boy have they been successful. Multiple Iberian Lynx sightings, just under 200 species of bird, awesome reptiles & amphibs and the most phenomenal floral displays you could imagine. Really can’t wait to run a tour there again next year!

Nice to find 6 Cornifrons ulceratalis on a short walk yesterday afternoon on the hills above Punta del Acebuche south of Algerciras. This African migrant out numbered Rush Veneer and Painted Lady! #MigrantLepidoptera #TeamMoth #MothsMatter