Wednesday 17 July 2013

A day in Leicestershire & Rutland - July 13, 2013


I had the trap out again last night and was joined by Dave at 07:00 to empty it.  We started at 07:00 and it was 10:40 when we finished and there was over 400 moths trapped.  These were mainly Chrysoteuchia culmella, with over 200 but there was still a good number of species with over fifty identified.

The following were trapped: Brown House-moth [1]; Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix [3]; Timothy Tortrix [2]; Clepsis consimilana [1]; Aleimma loeflingiana [1]; Marble Orchard Tortrix [1]; Red-barred Tortrix [2]; Ancylis achatana [3]; Codling Moth [1]; Chrysoteuchia culmella [201]; Crambus pascuella [10]; Crambus perlella [3]; Scoparia pyralella [1]; Small Magpie [3]; Dioryctria abietella [1]; Phycitodes binaevella [1]; Buff Arches [1]; Common Emerald [2]; Riband Wave [13]; Garden Carpet [1]; Foxglove Pug [1]; Brimstone Moth [3]; Swallow-tailed Moth [7]; Peppered Moth [5]; Willow Beauty [7]; Clouded Silver [2]; Light Emerald [1]; White Satin Moth [2]; Common Footman [6]; Heart and Dart [13]; Flame [1]; Large Yellow Underwing [1]; Double Square-spot [1]; Dot Moth [2]; Bright-line Brown-eye [2]; Common Wainscot [1]; The Miller [1]; Dagger sp. [2]; Marbled Beauty [7]; Small Angle Shades [1]; Dark Arches [50]; Large Nutmeg [1]; Marbled Minor sp. [2]; Middle-barred Minor [1]; Uncertain [31]; Silver Y [1]; Plain Golden Y [1]; Spectacle [2]; Blackneck [1] and Snout [2].


Marbled Orchard Tortrix


Ancylis achatana


Dioyctria abietella


Buff Arches


White Satin Moth


Small Angle Shades


Blackneck

We eventually set off for Ketton Quarry, seeing a single Buzzard near King’s Norton, and on arrival it was already very warm.  Initially we parked at the top of the road and walked the short distance to where there had been twenty odd spikes of Bee Orchid last year but all we could find this year was two.  There was also a good number of butterflies on the wing and we had seen Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Small Skipper.


Bee Orchid


Common Centaury


Yellow-wort

After some lunch we entered the small quarry and found more Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Small Skipper but the highlight was a Dark Green Fritillary.  This was a new butterfly for me and to find one in the counties was excellent.  Having watched the fritillary for quite some time, mainly in flight, it was chased by a second similar looking butterfly that could also have been a second fritillary but more likely a Comma.

We walked along the ride to the west of the car park as a Monarch had been seen on Thursday this week.  There was no sign of the Monarch but we did have a further brief view of the Dark Green Fritillary and saw plenty more Marbled White, Meadow Brown and Ringlet and also added Large White, Brimstone, Common Blue, Small Heath and Large Skipper and there was also several Six-spot Burnet on the wing.

Returning to the small quarry but there was no sign of the fritillary but we did have a Comma as we left.


Six-spot Burnet


Dark Green Fritillary

The last couple of hours were spent at Rutland Water where we went to the north arm before going to Egleton and walking to shoveler hide on lagoon three.  There were two Oystercatcher, nine Little Ringed Plover and twelve Little Egrets in the north arm and from shoveler hide we saw a Ruff, a Snipe, ten Black-tailed Godwits, three Curlew, a Common Sandpiper and five Green Sandpipers.

Finally we called at sandpiper hide on lagoon four where we saw a Ringed Plover, two Little Gulls, a Curlew, seven Yellow-legged Gulls and a few Common Terns.

Insect wise we had seen numerous Meadow Browns, a few Ringlets, Speckled Wood and Small Skipper and a single Small Tortoiseshell.

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