A Glorious Day - Part One

Saturday, October 13th 2018

No I am not referring to, today but Wednesday.  Being poetic, the light, driving into Foxglove was bright, hazy, shimmering, misty  and a bit strange.  Rays of sunshine were stretching down onto the heath. 

The 'misty bit' had caught the spider webs across the heather.

A close up of the webs showed that each silken strand had caught tiny droplets of water.  As the sun rose and the temperature rose so all of the webs disappeared.

After early morning photography, it was back to the moth trap.  Due to the weather, it had not been out for a couple of weeks.  There were some lovely moths to identify.   It is thirsty, hungry work identifying moths.

Unfortunately the five Feathered Thorn moths caught did not co-operate and flew off immediately they were released!

A moth that we gave many names to before its final ID was agreed, was Green-brindled Crescent.  You can just see a hint of green on its wings.

Another individual caught was much darker, although it had the same markings.  On closer inspection we noticed the green colour in just two areas across the wings.  We rather liked it striped 'stockings'!

 Some moths are very easy to ID and also easy to remember.  The Red-line Quaker, as its name suggests has a red line on it.

Yellow-line Quaker has a yellow line.  We normally trap more Red-lines than Yellow-lines.

Many moths do not feed, but both of these moths do, feeding from Ivy flowers and overripe berries.  The larva of the Red-line feeds on the catkins and leaves of Willow, whilst the Yellow-line has a much more varied diet including Oak, Poplars, Beech, Hawthorn and possibly Heather, in the north.

Thank you to everyone who helped with a variety of tasks on Wednesday.

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