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.

50 Shades of Brown

Here's some fairly standard fare from the garden traps at this time of year - mainly brown apart from this one ....

Sycamore

Shuttle-shaped Dart - slightly oddly marked

Ingrailed Clay

Small Square-spot

Brown Rustic

Rustic Shoulder-knot

Agonopterix arenella

White-shouldered House Moth

Scalloped Hazel

From The Garden Trap 16/05/2011

The garden mothing was markedly improved last night, not least due to the aforeposted garden macro tick. Can't explain why the actinic/compact fluorescent outperformed the MV so well, and it was this trap that brought in the Puss Moth. Hopefully the numbers will stay up; soon approaching the time of year when trap reports will be summarised to firsts for the garden/year, biggest counts and other highlights.

Total catch 73 of 37sp.
(125W MV 27 of 19, 80W/11W actinic/compact fluorescent combo 46 of 29)
0017 Common Swift (Hepialus lupulinus) 1 (NFY)
0266 Bucculatrix nigricomella 1
0332a Firethorn Leaf Miner (Phyllonorycter leucographella) 1
0409a Argyresthia trifasciata 5
0647 Brown House Moth (Hofmannophila pseudospretella) 2
0648 White-shouldered House Moth (Endrosis sarcitrella) 3
0822 Scrobipalpa acuminatella 1
0874 Blastobasis lacticolella 1
0883 Mompha raschkiella 1
0892 Mompha subbistrigella 1
0998 Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana) 1
1076 Celypha lacunana 1
1428 Bee Moth (Aphomia sociella) 2
1727 Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata) 1
1764 Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata) 2
1817 Foxglove Pug (Eupithecia pulchellata) 1
1819 Mottled Pug (Eupithecia exiguata) 3
1827 Freyer's Pug (Eupithecia intricata arceuthata) 3
1834 Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata) 1
1837 Grey Pug (Eupithecia subfuscata) 2
1860 Green Pug (Pasiphila rectangulata) 3 (NFY)
1906 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata) 1
1920 Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata) 3
1937 Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) 1 (NFY)
1958 Clouded Silver (Lomographa temerata) 4
1995 Puss Moth (Cerura vinula) 1 (FFG)
2087 Turnip Moth (Agrotis segetum) 2 (NFY)
2089 Heart and Dart (Agrotis exclamationis) 10
2092 Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta) 2
2160 Bright-line Brown-eye (Lacanobia oleracea) 1
2302 Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea) 3 (NFY)
2326 Clouded-bordered Brindle (Apamea crenata) 1
2333 Large Nutmeg (Apamea anceps) 1 (NFY)
2334 Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens) 2
2337x Marbled Minor agg. (Oligia strigilis agg.) 1
2387 Mottled Rustic (Caradrina morpheus) 1 (NFY)
2450 Spectacle (Abrostola tripartita) 2


Here's a not very colourful selection ..

Bee Moth

Green Pug

Willow Beauty

Turnip Moth

Brown Rustic

Large Nutmeg