Constant distractions

I get extremely fidgety at this time of year. Leaves have burst back onto trees, and everywhere looks that little bit more superb because of it. If I'm not outside, I'm worrying about the insects I could be missing, and when I am outside I don't know which direction to turn. It usually culminates in many hours spent bashing or sweeping every square metre of vegetation, without actually covering much ground.

Apparently, according to friends and family, this doesn't always make me a very good walking partner. Whilst they want to work up a sweat, I want to find as much wildlife as possible. Give me a nice patch of woodland or grassland - no matter how small - and I can quite easily keep myself occupied for a day.

With this in mind, I made sure not to let anyone join me (not that anyone actually wanted to) on an evening foray around the village of Hallow last week. I stumbled across a tennis court sized patch of rough grassland opposite a sewage treatment plant and spent three hours recording things, ending up with my highest daylight search tally for the year of 31 moth species. There was such a diverse range of micro-moths flying that it would be hard to pick a highlight, but I was particularly chuffed to stumble across a small population of Dichrorampha sequana - an intricately pattered moth with a very comical snout.

 Dichrorampha sequana

 Aspilapteryx tringipennella

 Micropterix aruncella

 Coleophora trifolii

 Pammene rhediella

 Glyphipterix fuscoviridella

 Notocelia uddmanniana - leaf spinning on bramble created by the larva

 Tipula fascipennis

 Rhabdomiris striatellus

Rhingia campestris