Portland Ribbon Wave

Put a moth trap out on the slopes last night expecting a calm, muggy and clear night. Instead I was woken up with a jolt at 3am by some of the most spectacular thunder, lighting and torrential rain I've ever experienced. It was unrelenting for half an hour, with the surrounding countryside completely illuminated every few seconds by overhead sheet lightning. The guttering on my caravan was overflowing and there was a temporary river flowing down the track towards me!

My caravan survived as did I, but I half expected to find the trap charred by a lightning bolt when the weather finally calmed down at dawn. Amazingly it was still standing and brimming with 107 moths of 40 species including some fine local cuisine in the form of a Portland Ribbon Wave. It's a moth very much associated with the Dorset coast, historically restricted to a tiny area of the UK on its namesake island but apparently spreading out along the south coast in more recent years.

Portland Ribbon Wave

 Pretty Chalk Carpet added colour to the catch

Oedemera femoralis was a new one on me. Apparently nocturnal so perhaps no surprise that it turned up in the moth trap