Moths and More

Saturday, January 25th 2020

After several weeks, Tuesday night's weather was suitable for the moth traps to be put out. We did not expect too many moths but were pleasantly surprised with 15 moths of three species. However it did take a little while to get back into identifying them!

We initially had names like Pale Beauty, Something Brindled, Pale Brindled until we collected our thoughts and confirmed the ID of this Pale Brindled Beauty.

Early Moth was also caught. The larva of this moth feeds on Blackthorn and Hawthorn. The adult can be seen from January to March.

The Chestnut moth overwinters as an adult and is on the wing from late September to May. It becomes active in mild weather and feeds from Ivy flowers, willow catkins and overripe berries.

Later the Wednesday team headed out around the reserve and found Scarlet Elfcup growing in its usual place but also found some growing in the woodland.

We also recorded an Orange Ladybird, spiders and more fungi. A single Herb Robert flower was able to be added to January's flower list.

Quickly taking a photo of the volunteers examining a lichen on a piece of tree branch, I thought it a good photograph, until I realised that it looked like Chris getting ready to hit Pauline on the head!

This was soon remedied!

Thank you to everyone who helped on Wednesday. Thanks also to the Reserve Managers who put out the moth traps for us.

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