Leper

The title reflects the lepidopteran content, and the social distancing context! Today I headed out for what is now a bi-weekly big shop, and the experience was no better than last time. I have no idea what level of herd immunity we're at, but I can testify that we are at rampantly high levels of herd idiocy. People should be avoiding each other like they've visibly got something that you'd absolutley not want to have. Like Leprosy. I was in no rush, and took my time waiting for people to move. Many were similarly pleasant and considerate, many others were complete wankers.

I had the synergetic/actinic trap out last night, and it was as pants as I thought it would be. There was still one NFY species though, but not a nice colourful one.

Rustic Shoulder-knot

Later this afternoon I headed out for another walk down the disued railway line. It was damper underfoot after the rainy week, but not wet as such. The sun was in and out, but it was warm and a pleasant enough distaction. Again it was just about devoid of other people - one old lady departing when I arrived. I took a sweep net this time, potted a few bits and pointed the camera at a few others. I'll come back to the camera.

The hawthorn blossom was again my target, but beetle activity was still low with no big showy longhorns. More larvae showered down though, including one I've not seen before ....

Early Moth - not as sharp as I would like

Feathered Thorn

Green-brindled Crescent - head capsule about to pop off

.... plus lots of the same species as last weekend, like this Dotted Border/Scarce Umber

A few butterflies were active, though only settled when the sun went behind cloud ....

Red Admiral

Orange-tip

Speckled Wood

I mentioned last year that my Nikon P600 camera was starting to play up a bit and that I'd probably replace it. Lots of stuff got in the way after that, and I wasn't using it quite as much as I would have liked anyway. Today though the camera has driven me around the bend. The mode select wheel at the top is fine on some of the setting, but on others the camera keeps flipping between modes. Sometimes when viewing the images it refuses to zoom in to view, and then crashes back to shoot mode. And other times it just freezes and I have to disconnect the battery to get it back. Today it completely went for a wank and after refusing to turn on, eventually came beck to life having completely reset itself to factory settings. Otherwise I couldn't be happier with the camera - the image quality is fine (any really duff images are down to me rather than the camera), and I have had it a fair while now (5.5 years). But enough is enough, and I've ordered a replacement. Not quite a direct replacement, but near enough - the Nikon Coolpix P950. It will essentially be the same, except bigger and heavier with an even longer 83x optical zoom. It should arrive early next week, and no doubt I'll then have to work out what step-down ring I need to attach the raynox lenses.