… and today is the day! I could hardly get in to work today as there seemed to be an interesting beastie every few yards along the warehouse wall. First up though, is the Common plume moth Emmelina monodactyla. These are common all year and can often be seen at rest in the full open, on all but the most viciously icy days. The common plume is usually light brown, with a lighter stripe down the middle of its back, punctuated by darker spots or dashes. There is an indistinct spot halfway along each wing.
As mentioned, I thought that some of the common plumes I see, especially later in the season, are actually brown plumes, as they tend to be slightly larger and more sturdy-looking. I can’t really find any convincing evidence though, so I may have to go back to viewing them as common plumes. More exciting though, is the salt marsh plume moth Agdistis bennetii shown on the next two pages. They live on foetid coastal marshes like those that Gravesend sits on, and yet I have never seen one of these distinctively Y-shaped moths until this day!
Other beasts I found on the warehouse included this fearsome red-legged shieldbug, another new species for me, and the micro-moth below that, another one that is unusual in this area according to the book – and yet the warehouse wall is absolutely rife with them. This is Cochylis molliculana, and although they are always small, they seem to have a remarkably wide size range. The largest are 11 or 12mm, but some are no more than 5 or 6mm.
Other small creatures I found today include this mayfly, which seems a bit larger and more sturdy that the general run of mayflies, and a tiny spider running down a gutter pipe.
There was some other stuff too, but either my camera is getting worse, or I am.
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