Wildlife

James Lowen

Another fave moth this month has been Mullein. New for the garden, new for my mate Will, only the second adult I had seen, and a shocking punk mother*cker of an insect. That hairdo. That attitude. Moths rock. If Packham were a moth, he'd be a Mullein.

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30 April 2018 Imperial April

I haven't blogged much about moths this month. In truth, there haven't been a vast amount. But there have been some. And star amongst them have been two male Emperor Moths, attracted to the lure (and the wafting of pheromone-substitute even after the lure was taken down) in the early evening of one warm April day.

This month has also seen quite some procession of Heralds. These things hibernate in caves and other dingy places. I have had occasional ones before, but never a succession and never multiples: my maximum was three in one sitting.

Not a moth, but my second-ever Western Conifer Seed Bug was a fine beast to discover walking over our front door.

Nice though these moths are, it would be grand if the cold could abate, and mothing could start properly. I mean, we're almost in May...

Others bits 'n' bobs have included Common Oak Purple (a gloriously golden micro), ample Double-striped Pug and Many-plumed (which appear to have had a good year), Powdered Quaker (the second for the garden), several Early Thorns and Lunar Marbled Brown.