Tuesday 5 April 2016

Catherton Common, Sunday 4th April

Catherton Common, looking north from Ridding's Gate
An invitation to trap at Catherton Common, just over the border in Shropshire, was gratefully accepted, with Northern Drab and White-marked heading the target species.

Acleris hyemana
Mottled Grey
Shortly after setting up, however, it started to rain quite heavily, forcing a retreat to our vehicles for shelter. Nearly an hour later we were able to emerge and continue but everything was a bit soggy by then.

Pine Beauty
Double-striped Pug
Unsurprisingly, moths were a bit thin on the ground but plenty of Mottled Grey were caught amongst the usual spring species plus at least one Pine Beauty and several very fresh and nicely marked Double-striped Pugs. Micros included Acleris hyemana, Agonopterix umbellana and a probable Agonopterix astromeriana (escaped) and probable Eriocrania sangii (to be determined).

Being a lightweight I was packed up by 12.30 am but the ‘real men’ who stayed until 4.15 am (!) were rewarded with 7 Northern Drabs and 2 White-marked ……….

 Patrick Clement

5 comments:

  1. That makes me a featherweight then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not when it comes to producing dissection images.

      Delete
  2. I notice your recent dissection images are even better than before, which means I now have to step up again...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry if I'm being tiresome, but yes, I am trying to up my game.

      Delete
  3. Did I fall asleep at some stage? as the sky did not look like that when I was there!

    ReplyDelete

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