November 30th 2011

Due to her flight path, the time of day and the angle of the sun the “space shed coming in off the Atlantic over Cornwall did not become visible till she was way over France finally going out of sight approaching Bulgaria.
Our second visit in a row to the pond that can be classed as “dead” and even Bob did not do his circuit so we tracked back once we reached toft bay. Common Scoter female, Dunlin 3 and Goosander 5 was all we recorded. Hopefully this will be the last day of fishing till March so that might settle the duck down but with water levels still dropping there is little food for some species.
A surprise in the moth trapped awaited us when we arrived home with a Dark Arches among Grey Shoulder-knot, 4 Winter Moth, December Moth and a Dark Chestnut.
Normal flight period for Dark Arches in Warwickshire referred to in David Browns book Larger Moths of Warwickshire is June to September and occasionally October with only three records in November up to the publishing date of 2006. My previous last records for DA have been 12th September 2007, 16th September 2008, 3rd September 2009, 10th September 2010 and 29th September this year so just shows this individual is well outside the norm.

Dark Arches

December Moth

Winter Moth

all pics by Bob Hazell

Richard