Not a great day weather-wise, but this need not stop the quest for wildlife. Running a moth trap in the garden helps as you never know what you might catch. This time it was two species that I rarely catch, although neither is at all rare locally. They were a female fox moth.
female fox moth
The males can often be seen careering wildly about over heathland in the daytime as they search out females. The females, on the other hand, fly at night, this one laid a number of eggs in the trap which I will put onto bramble in the garden.
And a female common heath.
female common heath
Another moth that can often be seen flying by day over heathland and also one that, like the fox moth, shows strong sexual dimorphism, i.e. the sexes do not look very alike.
Also in the garden I noticed that my hazel was being eaten, lots of the leaves had been stripped and it did not take long to find the culprits, a group of hazel sawfly larvae. when they feel threatened they curl their tails up over their heads as you can see here.
hazel sawfly larvae
Still playing catch-up, but getting closer…….
Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve 