Monday 26th May

It's been a very quiet couple of weeks hence the lack of posts here. The brief spell of hot weather a while back meant that suddenly the flood waters became covered in a green algae which certainly detracts from the look of them - I don't know whether it puts off the birds as well. After our star Avocet left there's been practically nothing of note to report at all. Last week there were a couple of LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS and RINGED PLOVERS and today there was a HOBBY chasing the hirundines in the rainy weather - presumably there aren't enough dragonflies on the wing in the rain. Even most of the loafing gulls have now left, it's all getting rather quiet as the June doldrums approach.

I have been trying to keep up my interest via the mothing but of course the weather is putting a damper on that. The highlight of the last couple of weeks was a Toadflax Brocade that I caught in my garden on the 16th. This species in the rarest category of resident moths in the UK, being present in fewer than 15 10km squares in the entire country. However it's spreading rapidly from the south and east so will probably lose this status next time they're updated. Still it's a rare moth to find in Oxon and apparently it's the first record in the VC23 recording area that my garden lies in.

Toadflax Brocade



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