Last Thursday night provided the second opportunity of 2011 to get the moth trap out. It was a perfect night with tempertures as high as 10C, light winds and no rain. And the good weather must have remained throughout the night as the next morning we were delighted to find a total of 10 moths in the trap, including a new species for the site!
The first moth to emerge was a dotted border, followed by three more. This is a variable species, with the forewings showing anything from a dark chocolatey brown colour to almost yellow, but the key is....they will always have the row of small black dots along the trailing edge. Next we had the chestnut (along with another two of these). They are pretty little moths of the Noctuidae family. Two march moths came next. This is a new species for the site and is a common moth, flying in March and April, also with wingless females. They are members of the Geometridae family and are unusual in that they rest with their wings overlapped, unlike other species of Geometrid. When their caterpillars hatch in May they will be feeding on oak and hawthorn.
And the final species of the day and my favourite - the hebrew character. This is one of the first of the 'spring' moths to fly and is on the wing from February until April. They will occur in almost any habitat and are very common throughout the UK, the caterpillars feeding on a variety of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. Moths have brilliant names and this little chap is named after the black markings on the forewings that resemble a letter of the hebrew alphabet!
And some more wildlife news from the last few days -
7 redpoll on Friday (25/02/11) morning by the woodland
a pair of goldeneye on lagoon 5 on Friday
2 buzzard over Phase 2 on Friday
2 cetti's warblers singing on Friday
3 little egrets on lagoon 7 on Tuesday (01/03/11)
2 roe deer on Phase 2 on Tuesday