5.
lured moths which I had never seen here
before on the wing. The reason, perhaps,
was that the moth trap was left on all night,
whereas house lights normally are not, and
we caught some late fliers. We recorded
Privet and Poplar Hawk moths, Buff Tip,
Garden Tiger, Scarce Silver Lines, Red Under-
wing and many types of Yellow Underwing, to
name some of the larger moths. Among the
smaller moths were multitudes of "medium
brown jobs" i.e. Heart and Dart, True Lovers
Knot, Common Rustic, Hebrew Character, Herald,
Grey Dagger and Burnished Brass moths. At a
time when Butterflies seem so scarce,
especially this year, it is good to find so
many moths around.
Incidentally, the large numbers of Red
Underwings here prompted us to look for
larvae which we found, with some difficulty,
on Cricket Bat Willows growing along our
ditch. These were so well camouflaged on
the tree branches and leaves that it took
some time to find them. We were interested
to see the alarm action of the caterpillar
as they lashed their bodies to and fro
exposing their barred undersides. Butterflies,
as mentioned, were few. Brimstones are seen
here in season, as with small numbers of
Tortoiseshell, Peacock and a few Red Admirals
later in Autumn on rotting fruit. Our
common butterfly is still the Hedge Brown or
Gatekeeper but some Meadow Browns were seen
and the odd Blue, Small Heath and Comma. We
also reared 200 Peacocks which were released
and we have a batch of Lime Hawk moth larvae
which should emerge this Spring.
Turning to mammals, we still have Yellow-
Necked Mice in plenty which often get up into
our loft and make much noise scampering over