Lucky Sweep

Last week, after my disappointing visit to Countesthorpe Meadows, I also nipped to Croft Hill to grab some foodplant provisions for boxed larvae I'm trying to rear. Whilst there I swished my sweep net for a couple of minutes, and one thing that ended up in the net was a clearly live and very black moth pupa. It looked likely to be a tortrix based on size but obviously it was always going to be a mystery until it emerged. Well on Monday it did .....

Ptycholoma lecheana

I don't know what it is with this species, but the scales seem to fall off if you just look at them. The markings seem entirely pointless given that they are often bald after a very short time. This was clearly fresh and had never flown before I had to pot it and keep it fridged overnight, and it's not like the pot was big enough for it to have a good fly around!

Here's one from the last time I ran the garden trap on Sunday night.

Blastobasis lacticolella

The trap has been off since then, partly due to less than ideal weather but mainly due to me needing to focus on getting to work in the mornings this week! Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow night, as we're away on Friday when the conditions may well be perfect .....

In the meantime I've got plenty to do. First and foremost I need to get my section for the Leics. & Rutland Ornithological Society Report fnished, and secondly I'm now helping out with verification on Naturespot which links directly into iRecord. I'm expecting to get back into a few afterwork hours in the field etc from next week.