Thursday May 2

Sunny intervals during the morning, but increasing cloud gave way to a heavy shower as I was about to leave. A light north-westerly breeze.

I found myself taking the road from Netherstead back past Bannams Wood for no particular reason. Three Sedge Warblers were singing in and around the reed-bed, and I managed a fuzzy shot of one for the year-list image.

Turning down from the corner of the wood I spotted a remarkable insect on a Silver Birch log. A bit of research has come up with a name for it, the longhorn beetle Rhagium mordax.

Rhagium mordax

At the bottom of the slope I was walking along the bridleway with the Chat Field to my left, when a small bird flew past me on the other side of the hedge. I hurried onwards so that I could get to a place where I was able to confirm my suspicion that it was a male Whinchat.

Whinchat

The views were adequate, but not great. so I decided to move to a "better" position. I never saw it again!

The Flash Field still contained a pair of Gadwall, a rather aggressive male Shelduck, and at least one Teal, but apart from the Lapwings the only other waders visible were four Little Ringed Plovers. A single Sand Martin defied me to get a shot of it, and as usual I failed.

Walking back I spotted a tiny bird-dropping mimicking micro moth. It was pretty docile and so I got a shot, intending to identify it later.

Unfortunately it turned out to be of the genus Epiblema  and was likely to be one of three almost identical and variably patterned species. The book said a specimen would be required to confirm identification. In my case I have absolutely no idea how to dissect a tiny moth in order to examine its genitals, so it remained alive and unidentified. My best guess would be Epiblema scutulana.

As the rain began to fall I spotted another micro-moth, this time one I see here every year, Ancylis badiana. If and when I do set up a moth trap one night, I think I am going to be overwhelmed by biodiversity. Not a bad thing.