Nothing from me today as I was conducting Norfolk Symphony Orchestra and didn’t get the chance to do any wildlife watching, with the exception of a close encounter with a red kite over the car on the way home! However I’m sure the flowers will have benefitted from some of the thundery downpours that happened today, after our recent spell of very dry weather.
Brenda writes: “I had a very early start today and so only had a brief look at the moth trap. It’s always nice when there’s something that’s not shades of brown! The cinnabar moth is a striking red and black moth. This one had lost a bit of one forewing so you can see the red underwing. Its black and orange striped larvae feed on ragwort.There was also a green silver-lines which we had previously seen in Scotland – so pretty.
There was also a brown silver-line which was very common there but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in Wells before. I also had my first riband wave of the year. This moth varies from having a solid brown band across the wings to just having the outline, as in this case.
Having collected those moths, the rest had to wait until I finished my Sunday services, and most seemed content to sit on their egg boxes. Some may have gone off but my total today was still 75! In the afternoon I visited five gardens in Wells involved in the National Gardens open gardens scheme. There was such variety and ingenuity and it was lovely to see wild species being welcomed in borders and in deliberate wild areas.
On my way between gardens I saw a magnificent patch of weld. In the past weld was used extensively in the dying industry. Although it is a yellow flower it produces a green dye.
There were four new flowers today including nipplewort, an erect, branched plant with tiny yellow flowers, and feverfew, which has daisy-like flowers in clusters. In both cases the name probably refers to their former medicinal uses!
On the way home I spied field scabious on the green, and in the back garden our spear thistle triffid has come into flower but has sadly collapsed, a victim of its own success!”
New species for June 18th:
Moths: cinnabar, riband wave
Flowers: nipplewort, feverfew, field scabious, spear thistle
TOTALS TO DATE:
Birds = 203
Moths = 116
Wildflowers = 202