Another find at Blue House on 7th were several webs of Brown-tailed Moth caterpillars, like the ones illustrated (taken along the Dengie coast in April last year), a species that gets local councils in a panic when, as occasionally happens, the webs appear in large numbers along tree lined city streets as the shed hairs can cause painful rashes and breathing problems in a few people. The moth trap was set overnight on the reserve and yielded a Sloe Carpet, an Essex Red Data Book species new to the area. Other species included an Early Thorn, Red Chestnut and 3 Powdered Quakers while this fine Lime Hawk Moth was among the species caught in my garden at Ingatestone on the same date.
My garden is also playing host to large numbers of Bee Flys Bombylius major at the moment while the distinctive bee, Anthophora plumipes, the females of which are black and the males brown, has also begun to appear, buzzing around the flowerbeds like a manic bumblebee. With the sad exception of Small Tortiseshell (of which I have only seen one this year) it is also looking promising for butterflies; a transect locally, at Mill Green, producing 8 Peacocks, 3 Brimstone, 2 Green-veined White and single Comma and Small White. So things are definitely on the up.