Wildlife

James Lowen

Plenty of Orthoptera including Scaly Cricket on Chesil Beach - initially overlooked as I hadn't realised they were so small! Far too quick for photographs, clearly.

Some nice butterflies included this night-roosting Marbled White.

A rather successful start to a family holiday, then. And I must remember that it is a family holiday, not a mothing trip...

There were some really good micros too - particular thanks to Martin for attracting my attention to them and suggesting where to look for them.

Migrants were scarce on the ground, but my daughter Maya found a glorious Small Marbled while searching for Orthoptera, and we also saw L-album Wainscot (from Martin's home trap), Rusty-dot Pearls, Silver Ys and Diamond-backs.

The mothing comprised: daytime rummaging around the coast, including on Chesil Beach and amidst Golden Samphire; being fascinated by the glories of Martin's Obs and home traps; running an actinic outside the Obs; sitting next to an actinic for a few hours on a coastal cliff (hoping for Bloxworth Snout); and - best of all - several hours dusking then torching around Broadcroft Quarry, which was absolutely humming with nocturnal activity. The resident macro highlights were Portland Ribbon Wave (one netted in Broadcroft Quarry and a much better specimen that Martin caught at his home in Grove; Marbled Green; Brussels Lace; several Kent Black Arches; Barred Rivulet; Small Purple-barred; Northern Rustic; many Crescent Dart; and Oak Eggar. A few of these took me by surprises, as I hadn't realised that they were here.

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20 July 2019 Portland

Family Lowen has just spent three lovely days on the Isle of Portland, staying in the cottage annex of Portland Bird Observatory. Clearly, this being #MyMothYear, I had an ulterior motive - which involved seeing some speciality moths of rocky coasts. Thanks to the generous and genial genius Martin Cade, I very largely succeeded - seeing 25 new moths for the year, of which 19 were new for me. All the key targets for the book were secured - with much more besides.