“They seek him here, they seek him there
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere
Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
That demned elusive Pimpernel”
Baroness Orczy
Brenda writes: “There were two flower species before I even left our drive today, a lovely patch of scarlet pimpernel – which is far from elusive – in our garden and dwarf pansy, the tiny but exquisite wild relation of our garden pansy, often seen adorning field margins.
There were two new moths in the trap too. The silver y moth flies all through the season. It gets its name from the white y-shaped flash on its wing and so is easily recognised.
The other was a member of the carpet family, the scorched carpet, with striking black and white markings.
James has verified my recent identifications, including the mottled rustic. He also confirmed another from a few days ago, a pale mottled willow, which laid a few eggs in the pot. Most moth larvae eat very specific food plants, so if they hatch I will need a supply of what they eat on hand. Knowing my wild flowers is very useful but I’m not so good on trees!
I’m currently only seeing birds as I go about my duties. On Sunday it was great to see my first house martins of the year swooping over Holkham Village and today I saw my first swifts over Wells.”
New species for May 8th:
Moths: silver y, scorched carpet, pale mottled willow
Flowers: scarlet pimpernel, dwarf pansy
TOTALS TO DATE:
Birds = 184
Moths = 35
Wildflowers = 78