Having been away on holiday for 8 days, moth traps here at IGC hadn’t been run since the 3rd May so with reasonable conditions forecast I ran lights on both the 15th and 16th. Both attempts brought in a good moth for this site. On the 15th, I caught a pristine Toadflax brocade, this my first site record and bringing the IGC lepidoptera list up to 1199. On 16th, fewer moths caught but did include a Mullein moth, my first light-trapped adult of this species following on from my first light trap record of Emperor last month. Other species seen were pretty much expected for the time of year, with Orange footman, Great prominent, Treble lines, Seraphim and White ermine about in small numbers. Still singles of Frosted green and Pine beauty caught also. Micros very thin on the ground with only Dichrorampha acuminatana of note (very few records here).
Neil
I like the Toadflax Brocade. Hopefully it is on the increase as I see Paul Kitchener got one last year. Enjoyable holiday?
Yes, an excellent trip enjoying the wildlife of rural Spain. Good to visit a place that hasn’t wrecked it’s countryside, unlike here in the UK.
My parents lived in southern Spain for a while. They were around 20 miles north of the tourist overrun south coast. The countryside was good there I enjoyed cheap holidays and wandered around Andalusia exploring. I felt it was down to the low population density, whereas on the south coast the countryside was being progressively destroyed in pursuit of the tourist income. Then in Almeria the countryside doesn’t exist any longer. It is covered in hundreds of square miles of glasshouses producing salad veg for us and the rest of the world. It is a mixed story there.