It is a rare occasion when Nature and my work directly dovetail together. Usually, nature watching is what happens after the job is complete and I am waiting for a ferry home. Or maybe whilst driving to and fro, there'll be a raptor or a wader sat on a fence post at the edge of the road. Less frequently, thankfully, I might have to share a loft with spiders or, outdoors, a satellite dish might be located just above a huge clump of nettles. However, during the last few years, I have noticed a definite trend in the month of June. The phenological problem begins with a telephone call reporting a worsening fault with tv channels. Initially this has manifested itself with a few channels disappearing whilst others are unaffected, then a few more disappear, before finally, all signal is lost. Now, without delving too deep into technobabble, there could be many explanations for these symptoms, at any time of year. These include a dish becoming mis-aligned due to strong winds, a fail...
June, despite its mercurial weather, has been quite the lepidopteran feast. The past three weekends have featured some sunny weather, huge downpours and gale force winds. You may recall that we had to cancel a wildlife walk due to persistent showers. It should be noted that this postponement was purely for the benefit of humans, the wildlife was out in the weather whatever. There follows a brief round-up of some of the moths and butterflies seen since we last spoke. There has been a steady stream of sightings of Painted Ladies in the county. This one was nectaring on our front "lawn". Prior to one of the huge downpours, Megan spotted this moth on the garage wall. How, I do not know. Grey Dagger Sheltering from the weather, this time on the frame of the patio door, a Clouded-bordered Brindle. Meanwhile on the recess of the kitchen window, a Narrow-winged Pug And the fourth Megan-spotted moth was a Wormwood Pug on the increasingly-popular garage wall. Yesterday saw us leading ...