RXwildlife Sightings

A grand total of two moths were in my roof-top moth trap this morning - a record moth night! The only up-side of this was that one of them was a peppered moth, a first for the year and apparently the earliest recorded in Hastings. The other was an angle shades.

Peppered moth.

Of most interest though was this marbled beauty caterpillar feeding on lichens growing on the roof tiles. Adults are very commonly seen in moth traps or resting on walls but the larvae are rarely seen as they feed at night. Marbled beauty overwinter as larvae, they then feed in May and June before pupating and emerging as adults in July, August and September.

Marbled beauty larva.

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One of our regular contributors, Patrick Roper, has some web pages for you to read about his observations of his natural world. See the link on the left under Local Websites.

Great Crested Grebe chicks are starting to hatch out at Castle Water, the one pictured was hitching a ride on its parents back before it fell off. Other highlights included 2 Garganey, 5 Common Sandpiper and a Greenshank.

There were opportunities at our Wildlife Weekend to get a Bird’s eye view of the RX countryside. 140 feet up the old Dungeness Lighthouse, the top of Fairlight or Rye Church, or from the top of a 47m high crane at the river mouth at Rye Harbour.

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