The Tower of Rustic Neglect / + big news

In conjunction with the Surrey Wildlife Trusts volunteer do at the Semaphore Tower at Chatley Heath, I joined Paul Wheeler for some mothing on the edge of the heathland there.  It was rather nice having a barbacue, cider and wine to keep us going (although pangs of guilt for not being a volunteer meant I just had the one half-pint of cider!).   The conditions weren't brilliant, but I still came away with the nice macro lifer of Neglected Rustic, although its lucky it showed its hindwings, as we may have otherwise overlooked it as a Lesser Yellow Underwing!  Some nice micros included Agriphila latistria, Swarmmadamia caesiella, and Mirificarma mulinella (just like the Rustic, these were as dull as anything, but new ones to me!).  I did not take any notes so I don't have the full list, but the only other moths worthy of any mention were a Mocha, lots of White-line Darts, and the heathland gelechid Aristotelia ericinella.

Neglected Rustic

 

In other news, I have recently found out that I have to move house.  This is a bit of a pain, as I feel I was just getting to know the lepifauna of my Haslemere garden!  In just over three years there I've built up a macro list of 275, and a micro list (which I've only just started) of 105.  On the plus side, the house I am moving to near Aldershot at the end of September is a blank canvas, and I can't wait to get going there.  The Ash Ranges are close-by, and the Basingstoke Canal passes the bottom of the garden, so I hope to get some nice wetland species.