Shopping, Starlings, and Moths

It hasn't escaped my notice that there has been a huge influx of Rose-coloured Starlings in the UK since the end of May, and at least three have appeared in the West Midlands (two in Staffs and one in Worcs). The latter was seen in a flock of 1000 Starlings at Grimley near Worcester on Thursday evening. I was very tempted to go last night. However, I'm still uncomfortable about the health risk posed by crowds of twitchers, and I was wondering about parking.

So plan B was to go shopping in Alcester taking a circuitous route around Studley and Redditch in the hope of bumping into a Starling flock. This proved unsuccessful, surprisingly enough, and I even struggled to spot more than a handful of Starlings. Oh well, the Rosy failed to reappear at Grimley anyway.

The moth trap went out in spite of heavy rain before it got dark, and drizzle later. It was at least a mild night and I was reasonably hopeful, particularly when a I caught the garden's second Blue-bordered Carpet during the evening. A stunning moth.

Blue-bordered Carpet

This morning, things got off to a disappointing start. An interesting Carpet Moth sp was resting on the side of the trap. I peered blearily at it before deciding I didn't know what it was and would need to get a photograph. I turned around briefly to see where my camera was, and on returning my gaze to the trap, the moth was gone. Bugger!

Fortunately it was uphill all the way after that. Although I only found 28 moths in total, two were to prove new for the garden, and another four new for the year.

The first new one was a rather horribly worn noctuid. I couldn't figure out what it was, so measured and photographed it, eventually narrowing it down to two species. I decided to Tweet some shots to UKMothID and was delighted to have my suspicion confirmed. It was a Small Square-spot.

Small Square-spot

This is not supposed to be a rare moth, but it does appear to be declining rapidly, which may explain why I have not seen one before.

The second garden-tick came at the end of the session, when I made a final check of the fence. On it was a recognisably different Pug. I was pretty certain it was Foxglove Pug, and some quick research duly ruled out the other possibilities.

Foxglove Pug

This too is not a rare moth, but its appearance in the garden may be linked to us planting some Foxgloves last year.

The new ones for the year were: White Satin Moth, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Plum Tortrix, and the grass moth Crambus pascuella.

White Satin shown from underneath as the top is just white.

Setaceous Hebrew Character 

Plum Tortrix

Crambus pascuella

The full list was:

Plum Tortrix 1 (nfy)
Garden Grass-veneer 2
Crambus pascuella 1 (nfy)
Blue-bordered Carpet 1 (nfy)
Peppered Moth 2
Foxglove Pug 1 (nfg)
Buff Ermine 1
White Satin Moth (nfy)
Vine's Rustic 1
Heart and Dart 14
Setaceous Hebrew Character 1 (nfy)
Small Square-spot 1 (nfg)
Flame Shoulder 1

PS: At around midday I nipped into the garden to discourage two cats from rolling in our Cat-mint, and on looking up spotted a Red Kite drifting over, very high up. I had time to grab the camera and get some shots.

Red Kite

There may be a bird occupying territory in this end of Redditch because John Belsey filmed one over his garden a week ago.