Aug 15th Mousehold Heath

Pine Hawkmoth

Its moth night again at Mousehold Heath. It wasn't the warmest night for it, but we had a few interesting things turn up in the trap for the small group that has turned up tonight. There wasn't as many moths bumping into us as the last session, but we did get our first hawkmoth at Mousehold of the year tumbling into Will's trap. It was a pine hawkmoth and even though it was faded in colour (meaning it was an old moth close to the end of its life), it was still a crowd pleaser. We also caught tonight...

Pebble Hook-tip

Setaceous Hebrew Character

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Black Arches

Black Arches

Copper Underwing

Nut Tree Tussock

Canary Thorn (a favourite among us Norwich City fans)

Willow Beauty (outside my flat when I got back)

 As well as moths, a distant female tawny owl was calling away. 'Ke-wick! Ke-wick!' To attract her attention and to get her to fly over to us, I have a trick up my sleeve. I can imitate a hooting male quite well by whistling. It has worked in the past with success and it was working again tonight. The female's calls were getting closer. She was in a nearby tree somewhere. It was now a game of Blind Man's Bluff as we fumbled in the dark with torches searching for the owl using her calls to guide us to her location. I managed to find her in a tall tree before she took off with an intense chorus of 'ke-wick ke-wick ke-wick ke-wick!' She was gone, but we could still hear her from the other side of the site across the road.