Skev's BLOG : Pan-species Listing, Moths, Birds, Stuff: Poplar Grey

Showing posts with label Poplar Grey. Show all posts

Saturday, 21 May 2022

Let Me Down

So as some may have picked up from posts on Twitter and Facebook, or my comment on the last post, my planned surgery did not happen. Which was bloody frustrating to say the least, and left me feeling a bit bewildered after having got myself psyched up and ready. I'd spent a couple of hours in the surgery pre-prep area being checked, interrogated and having had a chat with the surgeon - during which he helpfully told me that my pre-op scans had shown that the x3 growths had indeed grown a bit more during the c4wks since the last scans. The op is very high risk, mainly due to excess bleeding, sepsis, possible damage caused by the surgery etc, so they absolutely know I will be in ICU for a couple of days. The op is also a long procedure, at least 8hrs. So to go ahead, the team of surgeons/consultants involved (there are four completing various parts of the surgery within their area of specialism) all need to be available, the theatre needs to be triple-booked for the longer time, and there needs to be a confirmed ICU bed available. They can plan the surgeons and theatre, ICU is completely down to chance and given that the hospital has the only A&E department in Leics. then it is always likely to be busy. So I was left thinking the worst - what if the next date is another six or seven week wait, will that be too late to have the best chance of success ....

Once I'd had something to eat and drink, and pottered in the garden sunshine, I pulled myself together enough to nip out for a brief walk at Croft Hill. Whilst out I remembered that I had a ticket to see Gary Numan that I'd obviously expected to miss and had not been able to pass on. So when I got home I decided to sort myself out, get the moth trap set and bugger off for a beer and some noise. A great gig, and complete contrast to the more sedate and intricate Divine Comedy gig I'd been to the previous weekend.

Anyway, I got a call from the hospital yesterday and have a new date - 15th June. Not as soon as I'd like but at least not as far off as I feared. I'm back to how I was before this debacle and just focussing on the now, including getting back to work after a week out.

The moth trap on Thursday night was fairly busy, but best of the bunch was a not particularly spectacular looking pug ....

Angle-barred Pug (f. fraxinata = Ash Pug)

I nearly overlooked this in the early morning light, but noticed the straight costa, narrow long-winged look and that the weak markings were a bit too uniform to be due to wear. Of course in decent light and with a fully awake mind it's obvious what it is - though I wonder if I've overlooked it in the past. A first for the garden and the first I've seen in VC55, having only seen it previously in Devon.

A few others from the trap ...

Oak Hook-tip

Lime Hawk-moth

Flame Carpet

I pointed the camera at a couple of bits up at Croft Hill too. Back on 12th May whilst unsuccessfully dangling lures I found a handful of first instar larvae on small Aspen saplings. I was sure they were Puss Moth, but had no camera and wasn't going to take a couple to rear knowing I'd be away for a while. So I had another look and very quickly found another handful on the same area of Aspen saplings (there are loads), now in what I think is early third instar. This seems very early, but would mean the eggs were laid in late April and over the last five years at least we've been seeing Puss Moth adults to light from c20th April, so a clear shift in phenology.

There were plenty of Cantharids knocking about too, though only Cantharis rustica got snapped ....

The garden trap last night was not so busy, but the diversity is still picking up.

Rustic Shoulder-knot - a particularly dark individual

Brown Rustic

Poplar Grey

Given the move in surgery date, I'll also be able to go and see The Wonder Stuff in June - but I'll still be missing the Isle of Wight Festival.

Monday, 29 June 2020

Special Brew

What can I say: the weather has turned pants, LCFC are playing with 22 left feet, and apparently the City is a thriving Covid hot-bed. It's enough to make you want to get up and head to the nearest pub on Saturday .... if they open, who knows. 'A pint of lager and a dose of Covid please mate' .... a proper Special Brew. Think I'll stick to the home bar for a while yet.

Seeing as nothing happened at the weekend, here's a few from the last couple of garden trap outings - starting with a garden tick ....

Cydia fagiglandana - 112th Tortrix, 379th micro, 703rd moth for the garden

Plain Golden Y

Peppered Moth

Buff Arches

Leopard Moth - I always think these look like sheep-moth hybrids

Poplar Grey

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Grapholita janthinana

Saturday, 13 July 2019

A Jumbled Post

It's been oddly quiet in some ways, and certainly the garden moth traps don't feel like we're in peak season. Very brown, swathes of Dark Arches etc but not much micro excitement. Anyway, since heading out to Ketton Quarry on 29/06/2019 I've managed to sort out a few beetles from there one way or another that are new for me. I also had a short session at Croft Pastures with Adrian Russell on 03/07/2019 although it turned quite cool so not a lot going on. Otherwise I've been busy at work or knackered/lazy.

So here's a few beetles, of varying quality in both scarcity and photographic effort!

Aulonium trisulcus

By far the best of the lot; Nationally scarce and only the second VC55 record, however it's also one that I had no idea what it was and got the ID from a Facebook group.

Pseudocistela ceramboides

Only four previous VC55 records.

Ampedus cardinalis

Sadly deceased by the time I got around to having a look at it and keying through. Again fairly scarce in VC55 terms, believe only c5 records all from Donnington in 2014.

Summer Chafer

Quite common, and probably one I've seen and ignored before.

We also saw a few Glow-worms whilst mothing.

Heterocerus fenestratus

This is one that landed on the sheet at Croft Pastures.

Also at Croft, we had a merry time avoiding boisterous hunks of bovine for the first 15mins or so ....

The only moth highlight from there really was this ...

Bird's Wing

A while ago I noted my first Baccha elongata in the garden. Noticed another today, and managed to point the camera at it.

Baccha elongata

And here's a couple from the garden MV last night:

Shark

Poplar Grey

I've also had a change of wheels. The Toyota Auris has done me well for over four years, and despite it's smaller size than the previous couple of cars, it did okay taking traps out into the field on a few occasions. I liked the hybrid engine, and it never let me down in any way whatsoever.

So I went for the slightly bigger car in the range with the same engine. The hatchback boot is large and there is more room in it for passenger legs. I also went for a colour that I would normally shy away from. But ... I am seriously doubting if this will get down the rugged track at Ketton Quarry for example, as the bodywork seems lower to the ground somehow. Time will tell .....

Friday, 7 July 2017

Something Green, Something New

Warm, humid, still and overcast conditions last night should of brought an absoloute bonanza to the traps. There were a good few moths, but not exactly bulging at the sides or anywhere near the biggest catch of the year. There was a major highlight for me though, another new for the garden macro tick!

Green Arches

Okay it's not the smartest or freshest individual, but they all count. This is the 316th macro and the 676th species for the garden (as it stands, though there are a few pending confirmation, including a worn plain Argyresthia from last night, which may be A. glabratella).

So given that I've started with a noctuid, I'll use that as the excuse/theme for the page-filler shots .....