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YARE VALLEY: Strumpshaw moths

5th June 2016

The weather so far this spring has been rather poor for moths, so Cathy & I took the opportunity to head to Strumpshaw Fen on Sunday morning to see a couple of moth traps be opened. There were about 30 species between them, still down on what you would expect around this time of year. Upon our arrival a call went up from the screen near reception hide that a Barn Owl was hunting over the reedbed, and we watched it drifting about in the morning light. 

None of the macro moths were new for me, but there was some interesting ones like Scorched Wing, Scorched Carpet and Silky Wainscot, plus the obligatory hawk moths. I did see a few new micro moths - a Cork Moth caught by Ben Lewis, Alabonia geofrella caught by Matt Casey and Pyla fusca caught by James Lowen. Despite the likely potential for seeing Swallowtails later on in the day, we left once the traps had been looked at so that I could head out later in the day. Just before we left a Kingfisher flew across the broad to bookend the visit nicely.

 Scorched Wing
 Scorched Carpet
Alabonia geofrella

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