Cherry Fruit & Peas

The moth trap went out last night and there was only a little bit of rain. 117 moths of 23 species was alright but there wasn't anything particularly exciting. Not surprisingly, more than half were Yellow Underwings but there were three new for the year present, the micro moths Cherry Fruit Moth and Trachycera advenella and Mouse Moth.

Cherry Fruit Moth

Trachycera advenella

Mouse Moth

As usual there were a few other invertebrate present, including 6 Common Wasp, a Black Carrion Beetle (Nicrophorus humator) and three what were new for me, another carrion beetle, a much smaller one with the name of  Aphodius granarius  (I think) though not 100% certain on the identification as from the quick bit of research I did it seems to be more of a spring beetle.

One of the small Carrion Beetles possibly  Aphodius granarius  

A very vocal Tawny Owl last night which I suspect was a current year bird, appeared in the garden briefly in the early hours but flew off as soon as I looked through the window.  A Great Spotted Woodpecker was the only other bird of note today, though one of the nearby field had 80 Common Starling and 120 Black-headed Gulls present.

A few butterflies were about in the sun when it did appear, mainly Small White but also Small Heath and Meadow Brown were on the wing. Also a few more hoverflies are beginning to appear, dozens of  Episyrphus balteatus (Marmalade Flies) and quite few Syrphus ribesii, plus a lone Eupeodes luniger. 

I added one more flower for the year when I came across a patch of Narrow-leaved Everlasting Pea  (Lathyrus sylvestris)

Narrow-leaved Everlasting Pea