SOME JULY MOTHS

There's been a rewarding selection of moths visiting the moth trap at the country park in recent nights due to the warm temperatures.
This large female oak eggar is one of the largest moths seen at the park during the summer nights. Two or three individuals are often noted during July, usually always the females to the trap. The large hairy caterpillars are often seen at the park if they're wandering around on the ground.

The red coloured ruby tiger may be a common moth but it always adds a bit of colour to a summer trap.

The large and bulky-looking drinker moth turns up at the trap in small numbers during July and early August. The large caterpillar is occasionally found at the park amongst the long grass, where it sometimes drinks the dew drops off the grass.

The aptly named yellow-tail moth is showing off the tail tip here, which helps to distinguish it from the equally common brown-tail moth.

This female ground lackey moth was seen in the trap by the car park - about 400m from the nearest saltmarsh which is its preferred habitat. Usually it is the smaller and paler males that are found in the trap. The moth is nationally scarce, found on the saltmarshes mainly of the south and east of the UK.

Other moths of interest seen at the park over the last week have included festoon, privet hawkmoth, elephant hawkmoth, poplar hawkmoth, least carpet, orange footman, Kent black arches, fen wainscot, lunar-spotted pinion, iron prominent, pebble prominent, starwort, small scallop,  and the micros the sulphur pearl and the tiny migrant diamond-backed moth(3 on the 15th).