Washed out

I've not run my moth traps for two nights. The heavy rain a couple of nights ago got into the electrics and I've had to dry everything out and replace two lamps. I'm not sure why, but both my black lamps were dead, although they didn't seem to have got wet and the power tripped out, which should have protected them. A bit annoying because they are expensive and I only had one spare. A couple of moths that appeared before the switch off, caught my eye.

Marbled Beauty (Cryphia domestica)

This little moth(2cm wing-span) is more at home on a wall or rock, but it doesn't show up so well against a stone background. As the name implies it is often found on houses. I don't catch many here, but previously, when we lived in Crayford, it was very common.

Toadflax Pug (Eupithecia linariata)

The even smaller (wing-span about 15mm) Toadflax Pug is one of the more distinctive pugs, a group that can be very difficult to identify to species. The small greenish caterpillars feed in the flowers and seed pods of common toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) and cultivated snapdragons (Antirrhinum)

It's that time of year again. Lots of gulls, in this case all Herring Gulls, and the hope that some time a rarity will turn up amongst them. At them moment I haven't even seen a Mediterranean Gull locally this autumn. Dave seems to be making nice curves in the field.