Black Rustic

Our moth trap has been out of action for ages, but yesterday evening Pete managed to find the fault (a broken wire in the cable) and got it working again. It was a perfect night for moth-trapping - mild, overcast and with virtually no breeze. 

By the morning it was quite damp so we brought the trap into the kitchen to sort it. At this time of year you don't get vast numbers of moths, but those that turn up can be quite attractive. The Black Rustic is a very typical autumn species, the adults flying in September and October. At first sight the almost black wings look drab, but when examined closely you can see that it is rather subtly and beautifully patterned.

It's most strongly associated with heathland and downland, but is a regular in our garden moth trap. The larvae eat heather, docks, grasses and other low plants - so not that fussy! Its distribution is mainly southern and it was formerly considered to be quite local in the east midlands, but as a result of climate change it seems to be turning up more frequently. 

Pete brought in a log for me to use as a potential background and, as usual, I got sidetracked by some of the tiny creatures living on it, particularly some minute baby snails, only about 2 mm long, that moved surprisingly fast (see extra). This turned out to be a species called the Common Chrysalis Snail Lauria cylindracea, a common species whose adults get to 3-4 mm in size. However, it was a new record for the garden!

The rest of the day was much more hum-drum - lots of report writing and data entry - a good way to spend a damp, dull day with some very heavy rain in the afternoon which meant that Alex was soaked to the skin when I picked him up from Orton Pit, where he'd been helping with yet more scrub clearance.