It was mild, with a fair degree of cloud cover, so I felt that a check of the ivy was necessary again. I had staked out two stretches during the day and Tony (the other S.M.o.G. member) had some near his house worth investigating. It turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes of wildlife-watching. Something that anyone can do. The ideal time at the moment seems to be when Eastenders is on (please don't think that I watch this excuse for entertainment). Once this post gets read, I have no doubt that next week's papers will be full of stories about a sudden drop in viewing figures.
The first stretch was in a sheltered, north-facing lane. Most of the ivy had yet to come in to flower, but we still mustered eight moths of six species - single of Lunar Underwing, Flounced Rustic, Brick and Square-spot Rustic and two each of Chestnut and variably marked Common Marbled Carpet.
Angle Shades
The second stretch produced our first two Angle Shades of the evening, another Chestnut and singles of Snout, Lesser Yellow Underwing, Grey Shoulder-Knot and incredibly the nationally scarce L-Album Wainscot. It is a moth that is becoming more common in this part of the world, but it is a fair distance from the nearest patch of marram grass (its larval foodplant).
L-album Wainscot
Stretch three was Angles Shades heaven. with at least eleven identified. Another Brick was seen, along with an Autumnal Rustic and best of all, a Dark Sword-Grass. The latter was well out of reach, so Tony went home and fetched a walking pole and a long-handled net and it was soon in the bag. It must have made for a bizarre sight.
I would like to rescind my recommendations in a previous post for using red light, as the moths didn't seem to give a monkeys. In fact, some of them were so intoxicated on ivy-juice I could have picked them off with my fingers.
So I urge you to get out there and see what you can find. You just need a jam jar and a torch.
Brick (rubbish photo I know)
Dark Sword-Grass
Chestnut
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