Pink and green elf warriors and micro mayhem

Elephant Hawk-moths are back - I am undecided as to whether they are elf warriors or green and pink goblins, in the mean time I will keep taking the pills.
However it has been a very cool week on the moth front with good numbers and new year ticks aplenty and new species on the micro front. Respective counts were as follows:
9th June - 40 macro's of 18 species - New for the year: Coronet, Elephant hawk, Magpie, Poplar Grey, Riband Wave, Small Blood-vein, and Straw Dot. 7 micro's of 3 species included Eudonia delunella.
11th June - 17 macro's of 10 species - New for the year: Fan-foot, & Mottled Rustic. 2 micro's included Eudonia mercurella.
13th June - 37 macro's of 17 species - New for the year: Barred Yellow, Buff Arches, Common Footman, & Shears. 18 micro's of 10 species (serious headache) included new ones as follow: Chrysoteuchia culmella, Crambus pascuella, Dichomeris marginella (Juniper Webber), Pseudargyrotoza conwagana, & Scoparia ambigualis. I have posted a couple of piccies of the more striking ones below together with a Buff Arches pic as they are one of my favs.

On the bird front today (the 15th) was WEBS day so necessitated an early morning bike ride across the patch. As to be expected at this time of year things were pretty quiet the highlights being 2 Hobby in one of the hay fields, grounded by the overcast and cool weather reminding me a bit of Spitfires winged in battle, Cuckoo still present on Horse-eye, Lesser Whitethroats (which still seem to be rattling from every hedgerow), the ubiquitous Meadow Browns which are now well on the wing, and the usual variety of assorted damselflies. Yesterday a Little Owl was watched hunting from the telegraph poles at Downash, a Red Kite flew over Amberstone on the 12th, and an evening walk at Arlington on the 10th produced a purring Turtle Dove (a quintessentially english summer soundtrack). Other bits and pieces included a stunning Grass Snake while fishing in Herstmonceux as well as Cuckoo and the resident Buzzards but unfortunately I had omitted to pack my camera...

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