Wha'ppen?

Where the hell did the time go? Feels like I've been cheated, short changed or robbed. I've barely posted bugger all this year, and it appears nothing since early June. But, for a change, that's not because there was nothing to post about. But between bouts of activity I've been pretty busy and work and, you know, stuff. I'll have a bit of catch up one way or another, though not chronologically (or indeed following any logic). For a starter, here's a few new for garden moths and one or two highlights that haven't been posted.

Black Arches - new for garden, 29/07/2023

Bordered Straw - 27/07/2023, third garden record

Bordered White - 12/06/2023, the first here since 2002

Box-tree Moth - 30/06/2023, surprisingly the first here since adding it to the VC55 list in 2017

Crescent - 27/07/2023, fifth garden record

Dewick's Plusia - 28/07/2023, a return after adding to garden list last year

Obscure Wainscot - 12/06/2023, another return after adding to garden list last year

Small Elephant Hawk-moth - new for garden, 24/06/2023

Small Rufous - 27/07/2023, fourth garden record

Toadflax Brocade - 19/07/2023, recorded for fourth consecutive year here

Apotomis lineana - new for both garden and me, 09/08/2023

Lesser Treble-bar - new for garden, 15/08/2023

White-point - an overdue new for garden, 20/08/2023

Elf n Safety in the Toon

Not long back from an obligatory visit to one of our plants where I had to sit an IOSH refresher course and exam (elf n safety, legislation, RIDDOR - all that worrying stuff for employers). The plant was our Speciality Packaging site in Fawdon just north of Newcastle, so I made arrangements to drive up on Monday afternoon and stay at the Gosforth Park hotel which gave a good opportunity to meet up with Stewart Sexton (the blogger formerly known as Boulmer Birder) for a pint and a good natter. Really good to meet like-minded people from the blogging community - a few anecdotes and experiences shared, and it's amazing how well you feel you know someone that you've never met before.

The journey home today was much less pleasurable - crappy traffic and roadworks on the A1 and some sort of hold up around Sheffield on the M1. As ever, driving on your todd is made much more bearable with the iPod plugged in and belting out some great tracks. Amongst the selection today were a number of tracks from one of the great ska/reggae revivalists from 79/80 - The Beat (though You Tube posters insist on adding 'English' in the name to appease some yankee no-hopers with the same band name). No apologies for overloading the YouTube clips.










This is great album/film BTW

First thing I saw when arriving home was a micro on the window - Agonopterix heracliana. I've put a trpa out more in hope than expectation.