The brighter side of Leyland Cypress

In spite of the lateness of the year, my senior niece's husband's birthday (hope you follow that) brought a First of the Year in the shape of the top moth in the picture above, top in both senses of the word. It's a Cypress Carpet, a Continental species which was first recorded in the UK in 1984, in West Sussex, but has flourished in the South of the country and visits me every year.

As its name suggests, its caterpillars live on cypress trees and its spread may be one of the very few good things about the nation's predilection for fast-growing Leyland Cypress as a hedge. Below it are a Red-green Carpet on the right, a constant joy in late October, and another recent success story, the immigrant White-point which sometimes produces only a few UK records in a year but has been abundant in the last decade.

I put the trap out again in the early evening of the birthday and brought it in at 10pm when forecast rain began to star. Its evening visitors included thos below: a Large Yellow Underwing, an Autumnal moth, a lovely cappuccino variety of the Green-brindled Crescent (another star of late Autumn) and a Common Marbled Carpet.  Overall, a great celebratory haul.

The next night saw the much-hyped Hunter's Moon which for us at least was simply a very bright moon as shown with the moth trap in the first picture below. I can seldom resist taking pictures of the trap's eerie light and here it is again on a couple of other recent occasions.

Some scientists believe that the moon is central to moths' navigation and that light traps can disrupt this either as a rival moon or simply through upsetting the insects' navigation systems. In any event, another very handsome, fresh Red Green Carpet got through and later posed on high alert with its wings folded upwards like a resting butterfly's.

There was also this distinctively-coloured micro-moth Acleris sparsana and a few Daddy Longlegs and flies.

The media concern this Summer about butterfly numbers has had some evidence for it in our part of the world, probably because of the very wet weather, but there's undoubtedly a revival for our main Autumn species at the moment. As well as the many Red Admirals which I mentioned the other day, the Speckled Wood is often to be seen along woodland rides, hedges and the canal towpath.

Ditto with dragonflies which are all over the garden when the sun comes out. Here is a Common Darter comparing its dull red livery with the gaudier overcoat of a Ladybird.