Fire in the hole

Or rather the moth trap electrics which spectacularly (well relatively) caught fire last month causing me some alarm and also expense! Following delivery of the required replacements from ALS the weather had been so windy and grim that I didn't trap until the night of the 3rd June, and given the atrocious numbers trapped prior to the great fire expectations were very low. Nonetheless there were a few moths in the trap including Lime-speck and Wormwood Pugs, Garden Carpet, Small Square-spot, and Shears, together with a Light Brown Apple moth, a White shouldered House moth and another as yet unidentified micro. On the night of the 5th my first immigrant of the year in the shape of my first Bordered Straw (pictured left) since 2006 was sitting in the trap along with 6 Heart and Dart, Willow Beauty, Light Emerald, Treble Lines and a single LBAM. Lets hope this is a sign of better things to come. A couple of Silver-Y on Down Level were also seen on Down Level on the 6th.
On the bird front things remain static on the patch with all the usual suspects present including spectacular displays being put on by the Hobbys' as they hawk the now plentiful dragons and damsels. Little Egret, Raven, Stockies, Cuckoo, Shelduck, Yellow wags, Lapwing, Buzzard, Lesser Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler are all still around the patch with the latters song still most welcome whenever I am  in the Rickney corner of Down. Highlight of the past week though has to be the female Red-footed Falcon at nearby Barcombe Mills, I nearly didn't bother but fortunately Geoff shamed me into driving the relatively short distance to take it in!

With the weather warming up generally things have been picking up on the insect front with Hairy Dragonflies and Broad-bodied chaser both on the wing and, on the damsel front, Small Red-eyed, Common Blue, Azure, Long-tailed Blue, and Variable also increasingly abundant. Butterflies are also increasing in number and variety with Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Wall Brown, Small Heath, and Speckled Wood all present on Down Level and White Dyke over the weekend. In addition a new fly for me in the shape of the hoverfly Helophilus pendulus pictured above right which was near Mappins today (7th). I also saw numerous Dolichopus flies near Rickney which I believe were Dolichopus atratus however my fly id is no great shakes as yet so I am staying non-commital!