Box Tree Moth

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This Box Tree Moth was the only moth that came to light this weekend. While a did manage to find a night with no rain, it was pretty windy, so combine that with the season and there wasn’t much about. Yesterday (Halloween) during a sunny spell I saw Rad Admiral butterfly and a Common Darter dragonfly in the garden; maybe the last of the year. To mark the coming winter the first fieldfares flew over and at night Tawny Owls are making a lot of noise.

October 10th

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There was not a lot in the moth trap this morning, so it was a pleasant surprise to get 4 new garden species. The Box Tree Moth is a recent immigrant from South-East Asia that only arrived (presumably from imported plants) in UK in 2007 and is spreading pretty fast across the country - it is bad news if you have a box hedge as its caterpillars will eat all the leaves. Green-brindled Crescent and Canary-shouldered Thorn are both rather attractive native species with a single generation in the Autumn. The large and delicately marked caddisfly Halesus radiatus was also a welcome addition to the list.