Birds, Leps, Observations & Generalities - the images and ramblings of Mark Skevington. Sometimes.

Saturday 6 March 2010

Inauspicious

Enjoyed a very tasty curry and a couple of Kingfishers at Swatlands last night with fellow VC55 mothers Adrian Russell, Andy Mackay, Keith Tailby and Graham Finch. A really good evening with plenty of discussion and banter, some of it even related to moth recording ......

Before heading out to the curry house, I'd put the 80W actinic out again - surely something would turn up in the balmy 6°C with cloud cover? As I left the curry house and drove home, I saw the in-car thermometer had dropped to 3.5°C and my expectations had dropped. Nevertheless, at least some success when going through far more egg trays than are necessary at this time of year - a massive 2 moths of 2 species!

Chestnut - slightly knackered, but then it did overwinter

Agonopterix heracliana - even by the standard within this group, this is a dull moth!

Despite carefully checking several specimens each year, I have yet to see the almost identical Agonopterix ciliella.

5 comments:

Bennyboymothman said...

2 Moths is alot more than some people are getting at the moment, particularly in the North-east of the country!
I find Chestnut's really hard to photograph as they are very shiny and reflective.

Stewart said...

Ben's right there Mark, I wish I had caught that haul...Garden Moth Survey indeed... :(

Skev said...

Ben - yes there are a few species that always seem to be a pain in the arse with reflective scales. Dark Chestnut is one of the worst.

Stewart - yes, I almost ran out of pots last night ......

Anonymous said...

Didn`t have you down as a Kingfisher eater, Mark. Were they nice ;-)

Skev said...

Very nice Dean, if a bit fishy. There's nothing that doesn't taste good after being smothered in spices and baked for an hour in a tandoor ;-)