All this perfect trapping weather and it's a smorgasbord of boring brown moths out there. Even I can't summon the energy to try and work out if I have a worn out Boring Beige Drab or if it's actually the slightly more exciting Dull Russet Snorefest.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Tuesday night I had 136 Large yellow underwings and probably the same amount of wasps. I did get 3 tawny form of common marbled carpet, new for me. I had a tatty centre barred sallow which appear to be coming in now. I've put it out tonight but further away from the wasps nest. 22 C out there at 11pm. no wind. Fingers crossed. Blue underwings have been seen all around us, but none in trap yet. This heat should bring in a few migrants over the water from the continent.
I've just checked and two Brimstones are the only break from the brown tide. There are some interesting beetles and flies about but nothing that's going to keep me from heading to bed.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
There were Brimstone wings on an upstairs window sill this morning so I guess a bat disagreed with the aesthetic. A bat has been using the bat box above where I trap so I've probably created a bat B&B this week
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Apologies for the appalling photo but this was high up on the wall in a dimly lit bedroom (you didn’t want me to climb on the furniture did you?) so it’s a phone photo with the phone held at arms length above my head … but hopefully it’s clear enough for you to ID it for us 🙏
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Well this weeks trap was bonkers. I hang a sheet out as well as the trap, I find a lot of moths settle on it and are easier to catch. Well before midnight I had over 40 box tree moths. By the time I bought it in at 3.30 am I had 73, more than all the other species put together. Someone a couple of miles away had 130. I drown all box tree moths, trying to do my bit for gardeners, but the problem is going to be if they start on other food plants when they have killed all the box. I gather they will eat Euonymus if there is nothing else. I took one off of a leaf of a deciduous magnolia, if they lay eggs there they will drop,but they seem to like tough leaves so the Magnolia grandiflora is next to it.
The good ones I got were a nice pale version of sallow, four black rustics, and two angleshades.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/box-tree-moth
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
@fidgetbones ? They usually grow out of it 😉
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.