And still they come

Another new singleton moth to light last night. It's Early Tooth-striped - Trichopteryx carpinata, but a rather unusual colour form.

Thanks to Angus for the id on this one.

Carpet and Moss

The bright green of this moth larva caught my eye as I walked past. Investigation shows that it's the larva of the Common Marbled Carpet - a handsome moth that I've shown before.

Detail of the head end shows that the front legs are all condensed into one group, and that it has five ocelli or sub-eyes.

These are the ripening capsules of the moss Bryum capillare:

But the rain came back. Of course.

Wood Sorrel - Oxalis acetosella - has very attractive flowers that bear close examination. As you can see, the rain returned.


The fertile shoots of Field Horsetail - Equisetum arvense - precede the familiar green growth by several weeks:

Leaves have appeared on the more sheltered Hawthorn bushes:

Longest dry spell in 11 months

Barren Strawberry - Potentilla sterilis - has opened. The photograph shows most of the identification features: a small notch in the outer edge of the petal, gaps between the petals, and the final tooth in the leaf is shorter than its neighbours.


Single specimens of new moths keep arriving at light. This is Twin-spotted Quaker - Orthosia munda:

And this is Pale Pinion - Lithophane hepatica:

More Moss

There's something quite wonderful about the way light interacts with mosses when you get really close. This is Ceratodon purpurea.


This is a habit shot on the top of a rock:

Racomitrium lanuginosum is another rock moss. The leaf tips have an extended central vein that looks like a white hair:


Here's a close-up.


And another Hebrew Character turned up last night:

Definite signs of spring

I was out looking for hoverflies - unsuccessfully, as it turned out - when this queen Bumblebee flew over my head and immediately started to rummage in the hedge base, looking for a nesting site:


I rattled off a few shots and a closer look reveals her to be a queen Bombus cryptarum - a recent segregate from Bombus lucorum. The notch in the yellow collar is the clue:

I have been watching the parasitic bumblebee Bombus bohemicus over the last couple of years. This is known to be a parasite of Bombus lucorum, but I wonder if it's also a parasite of Bombus cryptarum, which appears to be the dominant white-tailed species in this location.

Blue Sky

A wonderful spring morning dragged me out of my torpor and the hedgerow was found to be full of 7-spot Ladybirds. Every Hawthorn had a few basking in the sun. These two are on Ivy.


A few dry nights, and the moths are returning. This is the March Moth, Alsophila aescularia (male) , and is new to me.


And this is the Hebrew Character - Orthosia gothica: