The Safari wasn't able to get out much over the weekend with much family business to attend too but we were able to get the moth trap out on Friday night, the following morning we opened it to find the best catch of the year so far, 21 Heart & Darts making up the bulk of the incumbents including this rather pale sandy form.
The first Marbled Beauty of the year is always pleasing to see, if we can get the trap out next weekend no doubt there'll be more. Five Dark Arches signaled the arrival of this species in numbers but we didn't get any Large Yellow Underwings - - yet! Our final macro-moth was one we didn't recognise and an anguished trawl through the field guide has us plumbing first for one species then another, we finally settled on 'probably' Dusky Brocade and posted it on the social media forums. Annoyingly it started to try to warm up as son as we got the camera, it had been stock still in the pot for ages upto that point. The general consensus was that Dusky Brocade was the correct ID but we did get a couple of respondents for both of the other possibles; it's gone on the tally as Dusky Brocade.
A small number of common micro-moths were in the depths, most numerous were four Chrysoteuchia culmella aka Grass Veneers.
As the sun came up and the weather warmed large numbers of Broad Centurion Flies started to take to the wing.
There wasn't much at all on the sea today neither early doors nor at lunchtime.
A look at the wild garden between cold heavy showers showed how fast Cinnabar moth caterpillars can grow.
In the meantime let us know who's flitting around your outback.
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