Wind, rain, frost then a good night's catch

I'm back. Actually I haven't been away but with the strong wind on Monday & Tuesday followed by heavy rain made the last few days a write-off when it comes to seeing anything of interest.  The little weather station in thegarden that has been running since Christmas has been blasting out new records, left,  right and centre, All time high daily rain, all time high hourly rain, All time high wind gust etc.  A decent sized White Willow tree got blown over and some quite large branches off other trees were also snapped with smaller branches and leaves everywhere. To cap it off there was even a ground frost on Wednesday morning.

The air pressure over the last few days

.By last night, all was calm, the temperature strayed to just 8.6C and the rain held off.

This morning there were 43 moths of 27 species and no less than 11 were new for the year, including at last a few micros.
The micros included Epinotia rubiginosana, Argyresthia trifasciata and two Coleophora albicosta, plus other new ones for the year, a Peppered moth,  

Peppered Moth

Freyer's Pug, several Green Carpet,

Green Carpet

 Common Wave, Least Black Arches, Rustic Shoulder-knot,

Rustic Shoulder-knor

and two good ones for the garden, Seraphim and Welsh Wave.

Seraphim - a good 'un, the other good 'un did a runner before I took his photo

A good night's catch all round.

I don't know if some water somewhere had just been disturbed but a pair of Mallard and a flock of 30+ Canada Geese flew over as I was checking the trap.

More flowers are beginning to appear and at least I saw some new ones, despite the weather - False Oat-grass, Trailing Bellflower, Broad-leaved Willowherb both Common and Common Ramping-fumatories, Cleavers (aka Goosegrass), Oxeye Daisy,  Weld, Common Sorrel, Curled Dock, Elder, Feverfew, Goat's-beard and Bread Wheat.

 OFFH List

Flowering plants - 219
Birds - 104
Butterflies - 13
Moths - 79