RXwildlife Sightings

A weird and wonderful catch in my moth trap in Rye today comprised 10 moths of 10 species - a fresh Green-brindled Crescent (pictured), its metallic scales glowing even in the grey light of dawn, plus the autumn’s first November Moth, a very late Small Square-spot, Mallow, Blair’s Shoulder-knot, L-album Wainscot, worn Barred Sallow and Black Rustic, and the micros Blastobasis decorella and Light Brown Apple Moth. None of the usual Large Yellow Underwings and Feathered Ranunculus - and I’m still waiting for my first Clifden Nonpareil. But the only predictable thing about moth trapping is its unpredictability.

Late news from Pete Rouse of an adult Whooper Swan among Mute Swans at the East Sussex end of the pit on Sunday Oct 12th.
A male Merlin was hunting Meadow pipits there at dusk yesterday.

Catocala fraxini is a large moth and sometimes referred to as the ‘Blue Underwing’. Once a scarce resident in Kent and Norfolk, it is now a rare immigrant to the south-east coast of Britain, with usually  less than 10 records a year. This very worn and faded individual was found in a Robinson trap at Icklesham on the morning of the 17^th October, one of only a handful of more common moths trapped that night. Wingspan 75 mm.

Alan Martin by e-mail