Wednesday 15 October 2014

Another good night

Last night bettered the previous and without any rain. 36 species counted so far but with a micro to look at as well which will almost certainly add another species. Angle Shades in the high twenties again and plenty of Large YU's, Blair's Shoulder-knot, Black Rustic, Common Wainscot and Green-brindled Crescent. First of both Red-line Quaker and Feathered Thorn of the year as well as a November Moth spp to be identified which will be first for year anywhere for me regardless of which species it turns out to be. Quite a number of the species recorded on the previous night were not recorded and the migrants consisted of just a few Diamond-back Moths and another Pearly Underwing. We have a hedgerow of flowering Ivy on one side of our garden which must act like a MacDonalds in the middle of the arable desert and is presumably drawing a lot of these autumn moths in. I have seen Yellow-line Quaker, Beaded Chestnut, Dark Chestnut, Large Yellow Underwing, Square-spot Rustic, Barred Sallow, Blair's Shoulder-knot Green-brindled Crescent, Diamond-back Moth, Eudonia angustea and lots of Angle Shades feeding at the flowers over the last week or so. It's going to hit hard moving to Didcot where the garden has exactly no flowering Ivy and will no longer be an oasis in the middle of a desert, I'd better make the most of my last week here. Still, I won't have to witness so much mass wildlife destruction I hope. Marc Botham, Benson

2 comments:

  1. Convolvulus tonight, then!

    Take some ivy with you - they're probably already waiting with the chain-saw to get rid of it as soon as you're gone...

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  2. haha no chance. I don't think I'll ever catch a Convolvulus Hawk in my garden. Just little migrants for me. Last night was not so good either with only a fraction of the numbers with Angle Shades, for example, down to single figures. Only migrants were a single Diamond-back Moth and two Udea ferrugalis (which I haven't had for a couple of weeks).

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