A Quiet Period

Or so it seems, since the blog has been silent over the weekend.  To be fair, conditions have not been very encouraging for would-be moth trappers.  In spite of this I put a couple of actinic traps out last Thursday night and again last night, with similar numbers/species counts on both occasions (26/9 and 29/11 respectively).  FFYs were Early Tooth-striped, Water Carpet and Flame Carpet:

Flame and Water Carpets from last night's catch

I returned last Tuesday from 10 days at my son's family home in SW France.  If the visit had been a week earlier I might have been able to rescue a tribe of Pine Processionary Moth larvae which had descended from a tree close to their back door.  Recognising them as a threat to the health of their dog, who is fond of lying in the shade under the tree, my son decided to destroy them.  I understand that the species is spreading northwards through France, but hasn't arrived in GB - yet.  Perhaps it's as well that the adult moth is short-lived and may therefore struggle to find its way across the Channel.