A few moths in grim weather.

Wednesday 20th October 2021.

Rusty-dot Pearl.

Not a great start to the week as I have hurt my back again at work. Yes, it's my fault for  lifting something heavy and twisting my back at the same time. Now I am paying the price for that by taking some time off work to recuperate. The weather certainly is on the move, with blustery showers forecast for the week and temperatures decreasing later this week, however, it has been very mild of late for this time of year and therefore, I put my moth box on overnight to see if I could get a few migrant moths.

4 of the 8 Light Brown Apple Moths together in my moth box. 

A Box Tree Moth found somewhere safe to settle after flying out of my moth box!

Though nothing new for the year, there were a few moths present including a Box Tree Moth that flew out of the box and landed on my chest (see photo). There were 31 moths of 7 species in total. The following moths were present this morning:

• 7 Box Tree Moth
• 1 Rusty-dot Pearl
• 1 Double-striped Pug
• 1 Feathered Ranunculus
• 8 Light Brown Apple Moth
• 11 Common Plume
• 2 Beautiful Plume

This is possibly a Suede Bolete species of Toadstool, which was growing in Highland Road Cemetery last Sunday. I always find Fungi fascinating though very difficult to ID as they look so similar to each other. This individual was about as big as my hand and growing on the grass with nearby Horse Chestnut trees.  

There was very little activity overhead while checking the moths at 8am this morning, with just a Pied Wagtail flying over and a Great Tit calling in a neighbours garden. I would like to thank Christine Whiffen for allowing me to put on a couple of her superb photos of the Sanderlings at Hill Head recently. The Pectoral Sandpiper at Oxey Marshes was still present yesterday, but a quiet day in Hampshire it seems. 

Sanderling at Hill Head. Photos by Christine Whiffen.