Friday April 14

So, I was up at 06.30 like a kid unwrapping his Christmas presents. The moth trap had been running all night and I had no idea what to expect.

My first emotion was one of relief as I found I had caught at least three. It took me ages to painstakingly remove each constituent of the trap to search for moths and then to photograph them. I quickly realised that I was going to have to "phone a friend" to get myself on the right track. The friend in question was John Sirrett, and I tasked him with checking the photos I emailed to him to make sure I had got the identifications correct, some of which I hadn't, or to suggest a name where I was stumped.

I actually caught 13 moths of six species, as follows:

Early Grey - 1
Common Quaker - 8
Chestnut - 1
Hebrew Character - 1
Light Brown Apple Moth - 1
Clouded Drab - 1

Some were quite easy to identify; the Early Grey and the Hebrew Character, while I was familiar with Light Brown Apple Moths from the bathroom window mothing in July.

I found the rest very tricky, and certainly needed John's help. The variation was the problem. Here are some Common Quakers.

Pale ones, rufous ones, well-marked ones, poorly marked ones. The one thing they had in common was their size and rather rounded wing tips. I had several of them down as unknown or something else before John put me right.

Also confusing were the Chestnut, and the Clouded Drab.

Fortunately a couple of them were far more distinctive.

The early morning had been quite cloudy, but by mid morning the sun appeared and I was able to nip out to see what other beasts I could find.

My first Dark-bordered Bee Fly of the year soon appeared, and is always a welcome sight. Although not for the solitary bees it parasitises.

Dark-bordered Bee Fly

If I thought moths were tricky to identify (and I do), they are nothing compared to bees. A bumblebee was buzzing around the Rosemary, while a solitary bee was examining a Grape Hyacinth.

Bombus pratorum

bee sp

The bumblebee was a queen Early Bumblebee, although the orange hairs on the tibia seemed a bit strange, and as for the other bee. I'm going to need to phone another friend.