Moth morning

Lade - 0700hrs - warm, dry, sunny, sw 3 - With light winds and overnight cloud cover a decent catch of moths was anticipated this morning, and so it proved to be with the highlight being my first Sussex Emerald of the summer, plus two more White Spots (both Dungeness specialities), Dusky Sallow, Shoulder-striped Wainscot and Garden Tiger amongst 34 species.

                                Garden Tiger

                                Sussex Emerald, male

                                  White Spot

After checking south lake we did an about turn and headed towards the Kerton Road Café for more moths. En-route the surrounding Desert was certainly living up to its name with more or less all the vegetation browned to a crisp, as it`s many weeks now since we`ve had some serious rain down here. However, it didn't  appear to be effecting the grassland butterflies with, in places, swarms of Marbled Whites, Meadow Browns and skippers. Skirting the gravel pit scores of juvenile Black-headed Gulls were noted on the lake, plus a Med Gull and Little Ringed Plover over calling.

                                Lade Desert

At the KRC over 50 species of macros were logged, including several more Sussex Emeralds and Small Seraphim, plus a smart, potted White Satin Moth, a species that was new to me.
The walk back to Plovers along the foreshore yielded a couple of pairs of Ringed Plovers and, unusually, a Greenshank that settled briefly on the mudflats before continuing south.