alan lewis wildlife stuff

Another box fresh Cosmopolitan from Freshwater Bay @PortlandBirdObs last night, clearly breeding locally as with the Striped Hawks; rather a cold night and only ran an actinic and a lepi-LED to 00:30 but still getting quality moths; also 4 Bordered Straw, 2 P. vitrealis

Purple Marbled at Freshwater Bay @PortlandBirdObs last night - a nice 'purple one'! Left image unmanipulated by AI, but for the image on the RHS I used AI to 'mend' some scale damage on the left wing, cloning from the right wing!

AI does its thing!

Freshwater Bay @PortlandBirdObs last night gave Cosmopolitan (2), Ni (2), Vestal (2), Striped HM (2), Eastern Bordered Straw (1), Scarce BS (2), Bordered Straw (6), Jersey Mocha (1), Small Marbled (1), this would have been remarkable a year ago, but not now @MigrantMothUK

Bordered Straw, Scarce Bordered Straw and Eastern Bordered Straw from Freshwater Bay @PortlandBirdObs last night; the 'new normal' - they really didn't want to line up for a photo - very poorly behaved!

@trapsite @FlyinginFordham Honeysuckle sounds like a possibility?

@FlyinginFordham I think these are the offspring of the initial arrival. Be keen to know what the larva are feeding on....had ova from one of the early ones and couldn't find anything they would accept....tried dandelion, dock, oxeye daisy, marigold, Lettuce and a few other faves!

Another spanking Eastern Bordered Straw from the New Romney traps last night; at least the 17th in the Dungeness area this year

@keelebirder @grok @DxOLabs @Lightroom yep, you just paste the image into AI and say ' remove all branches except the one the bird is perched on' or something like that - be as precise as possible - then the new image appears; easier than masking and cloning out things individually in Lightroom, which takes too long.

@LewisStuff @grok @DxOLabs @Lightroom Incredible, assuming you can keep the original bird image (not AI’ed)

Long-tailed Shrike from last Sunday; original image to left, then a couple of rapid AI removals using @grok - AI had to be told not to change the branch (image 2) but quicker than using @DxOLabs and @Lightroom so not sure what their business model is now!

South Devon - night 25-26/7 - from Portland I headed west with @saturdaycatbird and @markhows and we ran a variety of traps in a strong breeze and rain, not ideal but a single Devonshire Wainscot was in the very last trap as we packed up!

Last few from @PortlandBirdObs on 24/7 - (yet another!) Eastern Bordered Straw, Olive Pearl (my first of the year), Beach green Carpet (isolated outpost here) and Blackthorn Blister Moth (many thanks to MC for this one - a tiny thing!)

Scarce Bordered Straw - 2 of the 3 trapped at Freshwater Bay, Portland on 24/07 to show the incredible variation in this species - my first of the year but which should become more frequent over the autumn @PortlandBirdObs

Cosmopolitan, White-speck and Ni Moth were all quality migrants from @PortlandBirdObs on 25/7/26:

@fred_fearn @grok @DxOLabs @Lightroom Yep, AI is insane; loads of ramifications, some of which are obvious and others which will only become apparent over time; AI slop on X like my minor example here is just the start 😢

@LewisStuff @grok @DxOLabs @Lightroom Amazing. We’ve moved on from ‘no photo, no bird’ to ‘no photo, no problem I’ll create one’.

@trapsite @grok @DxOLabs @Lightroom Haha, nothing- I was just working out when I cancel my subscription to Lightroom and DXO!

@LewisStuff @grok @DxOLabs @Lightroom What's wrong with the original?!

Many-lined @PortlandBirdObs on 25/07/26 - one of the many weekend moth highlights and many thanks to MC for potting this one, my first of the species; patience required for it to settle for pics - next target to trap my own! @saturdaycatbird

Purple Marbled x3 (!) - all in the same trap at Freshwater Bay, Portland and of the same 'non purple' var. so again probably locally bred in this remarkable moth summer: @saturdaycatbird @PortlandBirdObs

Striped Hawkmoths - Freshwater Bay, Portland, night 24-25/7/26 - having only managed to trap my first this year, it was madness when 7 in perfect condition appeared in the traps! With 5 caught elsewhere @PortlandBirdObs on the same might making 12, surely locally bred?

Rosy Underwing, Freshwater Bay, Portland 27/07/26; I saw the resident population further east in Dorset last year but it was exciting when this one appeared on the cliff face and made a break for freedom! Perhaps the third for Portland and likely local disperser:@PortlandBirdObs

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth - These moths can be easily mistaken for a hummingbird. They have transparent wings and they have a long proboscis and feed on nectar. They are important pollinators. Seen at Heather Garden, Fort Tryon #birdcpp @BirdCentralPark #heathergarden

Not the results of trapping in Basingstoke! The Geometrician, Scar Bank Gem and Slender Burnished Brass - all from Mount Kenya back in early May! Any of these would be a red-letter day at home: