After a morning's outing for Mum's 91st a local walk in the midday heat was never going to produce much, and even the currently ubiquitous Swollen-thighed Beetles and Broad Centurions were doing their best to hide. The first three skippers here refused to stop for an ID despite following them backwards and forwards; three Holly Blues and a ragged Painted Lady chasing the only Meadow Brown was it for butterflies. The grass moth Chrysoteuchea culmella was 'kicked up'. Single Chiffchaff and Blackcap still singing but the two or three Med Gulls silently cruising over the well-mown refuge on previous days were absent. The nearest thing to a highlight was a male Greenfinch perched up in neighbour's apple tree singing strongly - the first other than flyovers in many years. And, after being mostly absent recently, small groups of Goldfinches are returning to the gardens, with ten or more noisy individuals around the same apple tree, aerials and roof tops - families or failed breeders??
Two very clear nights of moth trapping, inspired by GWH/CS (and the first here for three and a half years !!) produced the expected small counts totalling 28/16 with the best being Least Carpet and L-album Wainscot.
