Moth trapping success

After a warm day yesterday and a warm, damp night last night the moth trapping was better than it has been of late. We had 96 moths of 14 species. One of the stars of the morning was this Feathered Thorn, which is on the wing from September to early December, and is quite common throughout Britain.

We also had 2 of these December Moths. This moth sees the winter through as an egg attached to the bark of a twig or trunk. It will hatch out and be a caterpillar around about April to June.

Work today has been finishing off the felling which was started yesterday behind the scrapes. Elizabeth, Colin, Raymond and Andrew all helped to clear up the brash which Sophie and I were creating!

Just at the end of the afternoon we got a call to say that 8 sheep had got into the wet meadows area! The farmer came with his dog to get them and they were duly herded out to rejoin their flock. He has also managed to get the lonely sheep which was trapped at the top of the woodland walk.