In the dark

Didn't have time this morning to count the finches. A tidy up in the garden flushed a few moths in the way of single Large & Lesser Yellow Underwing, a micro moth Udea lutealis  and a Small White butterfly. This tea-time 2 House Martin and 3 Common Swift were over the house,  the first of either for a while so they were probably not [very] local birds.

Udea lutealis 

I followed up Steve Evan's correspondence of a possible fire on the fell this morning by taking a little walk this evening. It was already getting towards dusk as  the moth trap had come on and a Pipistrelle bat flew over the Hermitage Woods. Before long I could see the smoke, a noticeable column,  but no flames and it must be contained as there was only a small area of burnt heather & gorse.  

White flowers stand out much more in this half-light, the Yarrow now at their peak being particularly prominent. I might not have noticed in daylight but some other white flowers caught my eye. In fact they were Harebell but this patch with about a dozen flowers were white instead of the usual blue like all the others around. Too dark for a photo, I'll try and get one tomorrow. 

The police helicopter flew over and had a look at the fire or it was checking out a report of a strange man with binoculars on the fell. I wouldn't have been surprised it was the latter, as I don't know who got a bigger shock a few minutes earlier.  As I went down the hill I 'flushed' an elderly lady in the middle of the bottom hedge who was, I believe picking blackberries, even though it was nearly dark. 

You see some unusual  sights on the fell.