Xexan the Younger

Driving home from work this evening, in snow and sleet, it hardly feels like spring is going to be sprung any time soon. The moth trap has resolutely stayed in the shed, the garden is still sodden to the point that traversing it is precarious, and the floodplains around the Rivers Soar and Sence either side of the road near the roundabout at Jubilee Park have been perpetually flooded for a fair while now. The latter I ought to try and get some photos of as some Agency or other have started work there - it almost looks like they were trying to create some sort of channel or culvert to take up some of the excess but their works and base are, ironically, flooded.

Back on the 13th when sieving grasses at Huncote Embankment, I found a couple of early-instar noctiud larvae. I've retained them to try and rear through, and so far one has doubled in size whilst one has stayed about the same. I think they are both the same species, and I think they are Square-spot Rustic. The large one, which is more distincly marked, has some odd-looking damage to the rear end. I would not be surprised if both turned into bundles of parasitic cocoons but we'll see.

Square-spot Rustic = Xestia xanthographa - or 'xexan' as I enter it into MapMate for expediency.

I've been listening to a lot of Yes just lately. Yes, that's right - Yes. They were my Dad's favourite band and I think it must have seeped in; he's not here playing it loudly so I've felt the urge to do so.