Community Notes

I did a moth trapping overnight – the first time for quite a while since it has just been too wet and windy. It was quite a good catch but one surprising (alarming) feature was the appearance of five dusky sallows, usually thought of as an 'autumn' moth.

Juliet Johnson sent me this photo of a beautifully coloured caterpillar. It's so fat and bright that it must be in its final instar (stage) before pupating. It's the larva of a mullein moth – not surprising we have those here if you look at all the flowering verbascum on the commons, but this oe was feeding on figwort. Nice find.

Put out my moth trap before the rains came and was amazed to get a dozen Cream-Spot Tigers, a lovely moth but one I usually get in singles. They must all have just emerged. Later we will be getting Garden Tigers too, even more colourful if that' s possible.

A late evening stroll reveals lots of tiny moths fluttering in the grasslands. They are usually known by experts by their scientific name Epiphyas postvittana but it's easier to remember the vernacular 'light-brown apple moth'. Only about a quarter of an inch long they are regarded as something of a pest by fruit growers but their gentle flutterings have a certain charm and mark the transition from day to night.

Silver-Y moths are summer immigrants here and there was a massive arrival on 15 May, over a hundred in our front garden alone and many thousands along the sea walls. Easyy to identy them by the striking 'Y' mark on the wing. Next day they had all dispersed.