Days in Life

Moth Quiz 35
A moon which hasn't got a sting in its tail
Lunar Hornet 

Moth Quiz 36
Whoopi's favourite colour paired with a rose shield

Monday, July 20

Suddenly, we discovered the error of not ordering a loaf from Sam this week. Pam made one in the breadmaker - her first time - it's usually my job. A multi grain seeded loaf.

Delicious.

This is the silly number moth season. We had over eighty micros in the traps yesterday, along with 140+ macros  It takes a long time to process them, but we speed up the process by quickly dealing with the commoner species such as the four species of Footman, Scarce being almost as numerous as the Common.

There were so many beetle sp that I tried out my newly downloaded iPhone app 'Seek', which purports to identify every living thing one chooses to point a phone at.  Well, it tried. If the creature is on the move, in the shade or it's a poor photograph, hard luck. It did identify this weevil as being a Pine Weevil.

It accesses your camera's phone to identify, and when its straightforward, e.g. Black Arches, comes up with the answer immediately. I was informed that there was no GPS signal in my area so it didn't know where I was. That was the reason for coming up with an American Great Diving Beetle in place of ours. Lesser Wainscot is not a British moth either. I shall persevere.

A low flying Cessna was an interesting diversion.

We've trapped some very attractive moths in the past week. 

Beautiful Golden Y

Garden Tiger

Black Arches

Blood Vein  and

Buff Arches, a real designer moth.

Another denizen of the trap was Helophilus pendulus, Footballer Hoverfly, named because of its striped body.

I had plenty to admire whilst toiling over a hot trap. Not only a lovely coloured rose, but its perfume wafts over the garden.

A juvenile Goldfinch balanced on a lily leaf to drink, wary of its precarious position.

 It seems increasingly likely that our moth-ing sessions at Natural Surroundings will start again next week. All the safety procedures are being thrashed out at the moment. Unfortunately, the new placement is down a steep slope, which may not be doable for me. We'll see.