Lulworth Cove - 10th/11th October 2012

My drinking buddy from Paddock Wood was staying at the Lulworth Cove Inn through his work (a professor at Queen Mary University of London no less!) so it would have been rude of me not to go and meet him for a few beers. We hadn't arranged a time but I thought I might as well make my way down there for about 7. I managed to walk into the bar just as he was ordering his first pint, impeccable timing as always! He bemoaned the lack of a phone signal but mentioned that they had free wi-fi so at least I could keep track of things via Twitter etc.
Being a Hall & Woodhouse pub they had Badger and Fursty Ferret on tap, we started on the Badger (a bit like this govt!) as it was 4% compared to the 4.4% Fursty Ferret. In the event neither beers were particularly well kept which was a shame as I like bottled Fursty Ferret and was looking forward to trying it on draft. After about an hour or so I asked the barman if I could set up my moth trap out back and he acquiesced. Several pints of Badger later along with a couple of Ferret followed by some more Badger we retired for the evening.

I woke up just after first light so went and had a look at the moth trap. I hadn't been able to place it in as open a position as I would have liked due to the forecast heavy rain and consequently there wasn't an awful lot in the trap. Feeling a little disappointed my spirits were raised when I spotted a moth on a nearby plant pot which I didn't recognise. It took me a while to suss out what it was but I eventually id'ed it as a Beautiful Gothic - described as an extremely local moth on the south coast of England between the Isle of Wight and Cornwall.

Beautiful Gothic

After a hearty full English I decided that I would have a little wander around as I could hear a few Chiffchaff and Goldcrests calling. The far corner of the car park had a few sycamores so I headed up there, immediately loads of Chiffs and Goldcrests were moving through so I took up a good position and waited. After a few minutes a Yellow-browed Warbler performed admirably in front of me before disappearing back in towards the garden of the thatched cottage. Good stuff. I hung around for a little while but with no further sign I decided to head up to the other side of the valley.
At the Heritage centre a female Black Redstart shook it's booty up on the roof and at the duckpond a couple of Blackcap takked away. Lulworth Cove really is a beautiful spot and I'm somewhat surprised that there hasn't been much recorded from here over they years so hope to get out here as often as possible.

A couple of Vapourer moth were flying near the duckpond but not much else new was seen thereafter.

Vapourer