I had put the moth trap out
again last night and had risen early enough to beat the sparrows. Today I caught forty-plus moth outside the
trap and a total of 203 were trapped covering forty-nine species, which included
four new for the year.
The following were recorded:
Crassa unitella [1]; Brown Hose Moth [1]; Agapeta hamana [1]; Timothy Tortrix
[2]; Light Brown Apple Moth [2]; Lozotaenia forsterana [1]; Red-barred Tortrix
[2]; Cnephasia sp. [2]; Celypha striana [1]; Celypha lacunana [1]; Hedya nubiferana
[1]; Pammene fasciana [2]; Chrysoteuchia culmella [63]; Crambus pascuella [1];
Crambus perlella [1]; Eudonia mercurella [2]; Small Magpie [1]; Common Emerald
[1]; Riband Wave [4]; Large Twin-spot Carpet [1]; Garden Carpet [1]; Foxglove
Pug [1]; Clouded Border [1]; Brimstone Moth [4]; Swallow-tailed Moth [4];
Peppered Moth [5]; Willow Beauty [1]; Mottled Beauty [1]; Privet Hawkmoth [1];
Elephant Hawkmoth [3]; Common Footman [4]; Buff Ermine [2]; Turnip Moth [1];
Heart and Dart [7]; Flame [7]; Large Yellow Underwing [2]; Double Square-spot
[2]; Cabbage Moth [1]; Bright-line Brown-eye [9]; Sycamore [1]; Dagger species
[2]; Marbled Beauty [4]; Dark Arches [20]; Light Arches [1]; Marble Minor
species [2]; Uncertain [19]; Silver Y [1]; Plain Golden Y [1] and Snout [4].
Pammene fasciana
Pammene fasciana
Roger had joined me and we
went through some moths that I believed Roger had not seen, before we departed
to Dave’s. Dave had also put his trap
out last night and I was surprised to learn on arrival that he had only trapped
about sixty as he only lives about four miles away. Like me he had kept a few moths and I had
taken a few micros along that still needed to identified. We spent about forty-five minutes at Dave’s
and one of his moths was new, Swammerdamia caesiella, which is a small micro.
Having identified all but two
of the moths we set off to Fermyn Woods in Northamptonshire where we would
hopefully see Purple Emperor. As we
turned onto the lane leading to the wood we had a Red Kite and then two more
just afterwards. On arrival at the wood it
was still overcast but we did have a couple of White Admirals just after
entering the wood but we probably needed some sunshine to get any
emperors. We continued along the main
path where we heard some birds that were clearly mobbing something and we then
had brief views of a Tawny Owl. As we
came out of Fermyn Woods the sun was trying to break through and we were seeing
plenty of Ringlets and a few Meadow Browns, which was a good sign. We added Red Admiral and several Large
Skippers as we walked on the path leading to both Souther and Lady Wood and on
reaching a fork we saw our first Purple Emperor and also added Comma shortly
afterwards. We eventually saw at least
eight Purple Emperors, with one in particular, providing superb photo
opportunities. As we were walking back
we heard a Crossbill calling, which Roger managed to see and shortly afterwards
we had a Marsh Tit. Dave then noticed a
fritillary coming towards us, which turned out to be a Siler Washed Fritillary
and suddenly there were two together.
After re-entered Fermyn Wood we saw another Purple Emperor and at the
cross roads saw two White-letter Hairstreaks, one of which allowed good views
through the bins. On getting back to the
car we had lunch and a very welcome break after what had been about a four mile
roundtrip.
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
Purple Emperor
Red Admiral
After lunch we decided to go
to Rutland Water as Roger needed to be home early and the other options didn’t
seem quite as viable.
At Rutland Water we went
straight to the Egleton car park and spent a short time in the centre but all
we could find on lagoon one of note was three Little Egrets and a single Common
Tern.
From sandpiper hide on lagoon
four we had four Oystercatcher, two Ringed Plover and a Yellow-legged Gull and
the two Shelduck were still escorting their five young. A Buzzard and a Red Kite were also seen to
the north.
We moved on to shoveler hide
on lagoon three were we saw a single Snipe and three Green Sandpipers but very
little else and so we returned to the car park and set off for home.
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