As I’ve been ill recently my fieldwork activities have been restricted to just short wanders around the garden. Amazing what you can find if you just look carefully. Here is an example. I have a small area of wildflower meadow that has a lot of Hawkweeds/Hawksbit growing in it, some of which is now going to seed. I noticed that some of the seed-heads were missing or showing larval feeding damage, so after a little bit more hunting I found the culprits, these larvae below.
Well worth having a look if you have any of these plants in your own garden as it didn’t take much effort for me to locate the caterpillars, even in broad daylight they were sitting quite openly. I counted at least 10 in about 10 minutes!
Have only run a single trap recently (last night), not as many moths as the previous weekend as there seemed to be a cooling breeze blowing. Nothing too exciting caught but first White-line darts for the year trapped. Nut-tree tussock present also, now a common moth here after colonization a few years back. Bucculatrix nigricomella the best micro, another species that has come in and is breeding on the Ox-eye daisy in the garden.
Neil