Down By The Riverside - Big Bill Broonsy

An item of catch-up first today as the subject has been doing the rounds. Regular readers may remember these photographs of a Plume Moth published on Saturday captioned "with strange 'upright' stance". Over the week-end the images have caused something of a minor stir as, I am told, only 3 of this type of Moth (Agdistis) occurring in the British Isles take this 'posture'. It was for this reason alone that it was placed in a pot and later photographed with further reading stating, according to Moths of Dorset, there have only ever been 56 records, of what might well be a Saltmarsh Plume, going back to 1889. The County Micro Moth Recorder Mike Jeffes has been alerted to this, so I await his findings.

Putative SALTMARSH PLUME MOTH

Agdistis bennetii

Now seriously in the grip of the subject, I predict there will be a lot more to follow in days to come and what better day to start than right now. With so many power points all around the property, we are spoilt for choice as to which habitat the trap should be sited on any particular night. Last night it was placed on a bank of the River Stour, close to the waters edge, and while my thoughts were directed to 'Wainscots', My friend Paul Harris had a far better suggestion. The Butterbur confines itself to a food plant of the same name, and rarely strays far from it, which grows in such locations, so during the last hour of 'sensible daylight' I made a determined search for the plant. No success but what did catch the eye were

MARSH WOUNDWORT and

ARROWHEAD (what a surprise name?)

Overnight, once again conditions were ideal with almost complete
cloud cover throughout, little wind and a balmy feel. It can be
immediately that there was no sign of the Butterbur (early days)
but what was found among the 'egg trays' was magical.

It would seem there is a deal of scarcity in Dorset about

DARK-BARRED TWIN-SPOT CARPET

but we have been catching them with some regularity, with

another 2 today.

On the other hand

DOUBLE-STRIPED PUG*

is more common but this was the first to be proven on the farm.

BORDERED PUG

All of the above were confined to the top face of the first tray

but what a surprise when turning it over!!

There, for my first time,

was a huge great Moth, bigger than a 2 pence coin, and on the face of it 'all Black'. My memory from perusing the Field Guide over many years proved to be accurate as on the next tray was another. Trying to contain the excitement and prioritise at the same time, pot, camera, Field Guide etc, I decided to commit this second to the lens. Feeling as though the Premium Bond had 'come up' twice, the

third and forth were removed from the next 2 trays.

There were no more until the 8th and very last tray which held an unbelievable 2 more. All very flighty, there was never a chance of 'clicking' all of them in the same frame but I stood there thinking to myself "wait a lifetime for one then, like the proverbial No9 bus, c6 turn up.

OLD LADY*

DARK ARCHES

was followed by this 'fine little fella'

BEAUTIFUL YELLOW UNDERWING*

another Moth never seen before.

These beautiful (as the name suggests) and brightly coloured tiny

Moths are very 'tight winged' so the only sign of Yellow Underwing

could only be seen, in part, from below.

A species that has surely been overlooked as the regularly caught

and very similar

 TRUE LOVER'S KNOT

The fourth and final addition to the Property List was the

CABBAGE MOTH*

which neatly brought the total to 160.

COMMON WAINSCOT

closed the day before we dashed over to 

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL

for more Things on the Wing!

DASSAULT FALCON 7X

Then most unexpectedly

EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON

took to the air behind the Falcon.

Not in the Moth Trap but none the less interesting another variant

HARLEQUIN LADYBIRD

a MICRO MOTH

and an Arachnid thought to be

TETRAGNATHA EXTENSA (male)
which some authorities call
COMMON STRETCH-SPIDER 
 Bitter Suite - Marillion

A spider wanders aimlessly within the warmth of a shadow
Not the regal creature of border caves
But the poor, misguided, direction less familiar
Of some obscure Scottish poet

The mist crawls from the canal like some primordial phantom of romance
To curl, under a cascade of neon pollen
While I sit tied to the phone like an expectant father
Your carnation will rot in a vase

THANKS go to John Gifford and Paul Harris for help in these matters!

A round up on the bird front mainly because of the sighting of a Hobby during the Butterbur stroll, includes regular evening gatherings of Swallow and House Martin which just seem to feed. Kingfisher are starting to show their hand again, while also at the rivers edge there are still a few Sedge and Reed Warbler while Cetti's Warbler are noticeable by their silence. Cuckoo, reported earlier, has been the 'best' in recent days as Goldfinch, Great Tit and Chaffinch are now returning to the feeders in numbers. Raven is now daily, as the odd Little Egret passes through, Goldcrest continuously sing but there has been no further sightings of the Bullfinch.

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