NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

The garden moth trap has started to produce decent numbers and species diversity, although that headline moth has still yet to appear. My highlights over the past week have been Alder Moth (above) and Figure of Eighty (below). A few migrants have also started to show, but limited to low numbers of Silver Y and the micro xylostella . My garden is at its 'mothing' best during the months of June and July, when wanderers infiltrate the catch - not just migrants but also habitat specific residents that go wandering. An exciting time of year here in Banstead.

A first for the garden last night in the form of a Great Oak Beauty (above) that absolutely dwarfed the Willow Beauties around it. The rest of the catch was also interesting, with a Brindled White-spot only the second garden record, plus other 'nice to see species' such as Peach Blossom, Figure of Eighty (below) and Varied Coronet. This afternoon I took my pheromone lures off to Headley Heath in a search for both White-barred Clearwing (failed) and Large Red-belted Clearwing (success, to CUL lure, in an area of birch tree stumps).