Have you noticed how many butterflies are about at the moment? The good weather may be bad news for the local farmers , but our butterfly and moth population seems to be relishing the sunshine Every weekend we seem to come back from our stroll round the island edges to look up yet another creature, or flower, we cannot identify!So our most recent find then turned into a bit of one-upmanship, between my boss Chris and I. Having found a large clump of tiny caterpillars intertwined on the seawall grass, which necessitated a bit of homework, we discovered we had found Ground Lackeys ( malacosoma castrensis) a Red data book moth (i.e. occurs in less them 15 UK 10km squares.) which happens to like saltmarsh. My excited report on Monday morning resulted in my find being trumped by Chris's report of seeing over 200 'larval tents' on the saltmarsh - something we just had to then go and see for ourselves and to photograph for you to see as well - I'm sure you'll agree it was quite a sight, almost an invasion!
The Ground Lackey is a very local species of moth in the British Isles, restricted to parts of the south-eastern coastal counties.The moths fly in July and August, but are only infrequently encountered, usually by light-trapping. The colourful larvae are more showy, sometimes basking in the sunshine. They feed on a range of saltmarsh plants such as sea wormwood (Artemisia maritima) and sea-lavender (Limonium vulgare).They are fascinating creatures living in silken tents and can survive inundation by the occassional high tide – just the sort of species that will benefit from the Wild Coast Project.
If little brown moths and caterpillars aren't enough to lure you down to the wild isle this week - how about some more colourful species? Recent RSPB visitors, big enough and old enough to know better, have morphed into laddish butterfly-chasers in their attempts to capture great photos to take back to the office. For the records these have included green-veined White, Orange-tip, lots of Common Blue ,Brown Argus, Peacock, lots of Small Heath plus my favourite, the spectacular, cream-spotted tiger moth which even laid its eggs on one visitor's trouser leg! Can you beat that for a Love Nature moment?
I've gone wild on Wallasea!