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.

Grand Curry

I had a great curry last night in the company of Adrian Russell, Andy Mackay, Keith Tailby and Graham Finch. Ostensibly, this was the now-annual moth recorders curry night, but this is just a vague excuse for a group of aging blokes talking bollocks about everything and nothing whilst enjoying some great food and a couple of Kingfishers. It is many many years since I last visited The Grand Durbar on Melton Road, but I have to say that my meal was excellent, the place was great and the service was spot on. All in all a great night.

Beer

Let's face it, aside from the pleasures of the flesh there's not too much that puts a smile on the face of the average bloke like beer does. Last night saw John 'Camra-man' Hague, Dave 'bottled-lager-boy' Gray, Dave 'make-mine-mild' Mack and myself enjoying the Leicester Beer Festival at the Charotar Patidar Samaj on Bay Street. Not sure how an asian community centre type place came to be the home of this particular festival but it was very good anyway. Although I'm always happy with a pint of something I don't make any claim to be a real ale buff, but I was more than happy to try a few different beers. Time available before the last bus home and work in the morning prevented me from going over the top, but I managed to sample seven beers as follows: 'Fission' from the Atomic Brewery in Rugby - a very nice 3.9 golden ale to start with. 'Rutland Panther' from the Grainstore Brewery in Oakham - an excellent 3.4 dark mild. 'Claridge's Crystal' from Nobby's Brewery in Kettering - a 3.6 light golden ale but a bit too citrussy for my liking. 'Bee Mine' from the St Georges Brewery in Worcester - an okay 4.3 light bitter with a honey twang. 'Beijing Black' from the Potbelly Brewery in Kettering - an excellent 4.4 mild. 'Colorado IPA' from the Red Squirrel Brewery in Hertford - a really good pale and hoppy 5.4 IPA. 'Father Mike's' from the Brunswick Inn Brewery in Derby - best of the night for me, a superb 5.8 dark mild. Food was also on offer, although the recommended 'meatball curry' wasn't to my taste. I'll definitely be putting this festival on the calendar for future years - a really good night with great banter and superb beer, and best of all no (well not too many) wanky chav youths.

Swatlands

Most people would be highly bemused on joining a table just at the point where a hulking bear of a man is graphically explaining his successful mating over the winter. Of course these were mothmen, and the mating reference was to rearing moths for assembling in the coming season. I joined up with Adrian Russell, a shadow of his former self after a unilateral re-hab style approach to health, and Keith Tailby, larger than life and showing no signs of giving two monkeys about it (not unlike myself), at Swatlands curry house in Oadby. Very nice it was too; a couple of pints of Kingfisher, various chicken based starters and curries and a bit of catching up chat. Plans for mothing this year, new sites to work and reminiscing about the good old days when we had dry hot weather in the summer (ie pre 2007). It also gave me chance to acquire Keith's DSLR (350D) since he's upgraded to the all singing and dancing 40D. Don't expect to see stunning results too soon, may take me a while to get to grips with a real camera!

Curry

Managed a night out with The Drunkbirders last night (John Hague, Dave Gray, Mark Reader, Dave Mack and Andy Mackay). Pre-curry beers at the Criterion and Marquis Wellington were sadly too few, but a few pints of Indian lager with the curries at the Taj Mahal went down well. A follow on drink at the Lansdowne was somewhat spoilt by the general clientel and surly bastard staff - won't bother going there again. A good night out with a bit of banter, debate and obligatory piss-taking seeing as Grayboy had dipped White-tailed Eagle (again) during the day.