September in the Garden

An interesting month so far with the annual conference of the Black Environment Network being held here on the 18th and 19th. They invited Paul Waring, a leading moth expert and joint author of the best field guide to British moths on the market (Waring, Townshend and Lewington, British Wildlife Publishing 2003) who brought his top of the range moth trap. He set it up overnight and collected moths in the Wildlife Garden - with some great names: Vine's Rustic, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Square-spot rustic, Setaceous Hebrew Character and Willow Beauty. There were several Large Yellow Underwing and two Lesser Yellow Underwing. On the 19th as David was giving a guided tour to conference delegates we also spotted a magnificent male Migrant Hawker Aeshna mixta - a dragonfly that often visits us at this time of the year. One of the conference delegates also had ears good enough to hear the calls of our two special crickets - Roesel's Bush Cricket and the Long-winged Conehead. He spotted them in the meadow on the public open space outside our side gate as well as in the Wildlife Garden. David's ears can't do this and he has to spend a lot more time seeking them out visually!