Not much to report for 5 days

With me very busy at work and the weather being absolutely horrid for May I have seen very little in the  way of natural history. Though Blogger being down due to Google's  redesign  failure didn't help. You get what you pay for, and Blogger is free.

The moth trap has had only the odd moth in the last few days, mainly Heart & Dart  and Shuttle-shaped Dart with  a sole micro moth Syndemis musculata being the best and at least it was new for the year. Even Friday's GMS trapping only had a single 'Shuttle'.  I put the trap out last night and it was slightly better, with two new moths for the year - Flame Carpet and and another early one - Brown Rustic.

Brown Rustic - a bit battered from the wind

Birding has also been very poor, a walk on the fell on Sunday had nothing new. Plenty of the summer warblers still around singing and at least 2 Cuckoos but generally disappointing. It just didn't feel like the middle of May walking around. Only the odd butterfly was about and in fact I did not see any over the weekend or yesterday because of the wind and rain. A Weasel that ran across the road at Chester Moor was probably the best thing I saw the last few days.

Flowers are continuing to appear and I added a few more to my OFFH list of plants in flower the past couple of days.

Harsh Downy Rose (Rosa tormentosa) - this is the very dark pink rose that occurs all the way along Waldridge Lane, Common Mallow, Bay Willow, White Willow, Pineappleweed, Smooth Sow-thistle, Procumbent Pearlwort and a vivid red Common Snapdragon, growing quite wild in a gutter in the town centre among a mass of yellow Oxford Ragwort. Also a couple of grasses, Wall Barley, Soft-brome and Rough-stalked Meadow-grass.