Johnny the Fox - Thin Lizzy

With the 2 previous days bringing almost continuous heavy rain and gale-force winds, Sunday brought a good deal of sunshine which was a blessed relief. Thursday was the last night we had a decent return from the Moth Traps which included

MOTTLED UMBER

 an addition to the Year List,

VINE'S RUSTIC

a faded
BRICK

DARK CHESTNUT

and yet another
VESTAL
I will have to busy myself counting just how many of the delicate
little beauties we have caught this year.

A single Micro that as yet has not been identified.

The
DUNGFLY

SCATHOPHAGA INQUINATA

and on that extremely damp day the farmer across the River Stour

decided to put his flock of SHEEP to pasture.
The general consensus is that these animals are a Cross Breed, but
I fell asleep while counting them but estimate about 300 in all.
As they say in Wales, "hold these 2 Sheep while I count them"!

Saturday? well perhaps the least said about Saturday the better - almost a complete washout. The saving grace were just c3 Moths of 3 species in 4 traps, a Red-line Quaker, a 

 YELLOW-LINE QUAKER

 and something of a surprise an immigrant

PEARLY UNDERWING

It may be of note to some that 

CADDISFLIES

are also still on the wing.

Oh Blessed Sunday

started with the distinctive 'chacking' of our first c3

FIELDFARE

 first seen perched high in the now leafless Ash Trees.
Despite the slight increase in overnight temperature, once again there
were only 3 Moths of 3 species in the traps, including something of a

 Landmark!
This

 DECEMBER MOTH
was our 350th species of Macro Moth recorded this Year.
That done the next destination was the Irrigation Pond where things
were exceptionally quiet. However, at the recently created 

 Gravel Pit

 this young
FOX
was enjoying this unexpected spell of warm sunshine,
as were the rest of us!

At great distance the smaller 

Canon Power Shot SX50HS

really comes into its own, with the 50x zoom bringing such things 

seemingly to touching distance.

It was about noon when I decided to head back to Slight II,

but for whatever reason a diversion was made via the 

Birch Woods close to Merritown Heath.

 MARSH TIT

 has been absent, or at least not seen or heard for over 2 years now,

so what a stroke of luck just to continue the walk rather than go home to Mum!

There were c3 individuals recorded but light conditions were poor

and not suitable for any photos.

These are from the archive.

Entry	Pageviews
United Kingdom	425
Germany	173
United States	170
Russia	86
China	26
Estonia	25
Ukraine	21
France	18
Canada	11
Italy	11