Re: Neil Freeman
Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:07 pm
Back to Normal
After the early taste of summer that we had last week, things have returned to normal with a bit of a vengeance. The last day of February (Last Thursday) was significantly cooler and cloudier and by the weekend we were looking at typical conditions for the time of year. Saturday was not too bad with a few short sunny spells in the morning before some rain blew in during the afternoon but Sunday was wet all day with mostly drizzle and light rain with some heavier bursts every now and then. The winds built up through the afternoon as storm Freya approached until by early evening it was blowing a right hoolie.
Needless to say with these conditions, I haven't seen any more butterflies but I did put the moth trap out a few times last week before the nights got too windy.
The best moth I have had so far was a Pale Pinion on the night of Tuesday 26th Feb. This nationally local species was first recorded in Warwickshire (at Oversley Wood) in 1984 following an extension in range from the south-west and is now fairly widespread around the county but still a good record for my garden.
The previous Friday night I had trapped another Dotted Border following the one from the week before and this one was a darker colour form, again showing the variation found within many moth species.
To illustrate this I put together a composite shot showing the darker one from last week with the lighter form from the week before.
I also had more Common Quakers last week and did another composite of four different variations caught the same night.
The only other moths caught last week were first of the years of Hebrew Character and Beautiful Plume Moth.
Over this past weekend, especially on Sunday, it seemed that even the birds were mostly keeping hidden away from the wind and rain but on Saturday afternoon I was pleased to see a pair of Greenfinches on the feeders, this being only the second time I have seen these in the garden with the first time being a male last year.
Bye for now,
Neil.
After the early taste of summer that we had last week, things have returned to normal with a bit of a vengeance. The last day of February (Last Thursday) was significantly cooler and cloudier and by the weekend we were looking at typical conditions for the time of year. Saturday was not too bad with a few short sunny spells in the morning before some rain blew in during the afternoon but Sunday was wet all day with mostly drizzle and light rain with some heavier bursts every now and then. The winds built up through the afternoon as storm Freya approached until by early evening it was blowing a right hoolie.
Needless to say with these conditions, I haven't seen any more butterflies but I did put the moth trap out a few times last week before the nights got too windy.
The best moth I have had so far was a Pale Pinion on the night of Tuesday 26th Feb. This nationally local species was first recorded in Warwickshire (at Oversley Wood) in 1984 following an extension in range from the south-west and is now fairly widespread around the county but still a good record for my garden.
The previous Friday night I had trapped another Dotted Border following the one from the week before and this one was a darker colour form, again showing the variation found within many moth species.
To illustrate this I put together a composite shot showing the darker one from last week with the lighter form from the week before.
I also had more Common Quakers last week and did another composite of four different variations caught the same night.
The only other moths caught last week were first of the years of Hebrew Character and Beautiful Plume Moth.
Over this past weekend, especially on Sunday, it seemed that even the birds were mostly keeping hidden away from the wind and rain but on Saturday afternoon I was pleased to see a pair of Greenfinches on the feeders, this being only the second time I have seen these in the garden with the first time being a male last year.
Bye for now,
Neil.