Last week I took the opportunity to spend the night at Dungeness Bird Observatory to do some moth trapping. The great things about Dunge is that as well as deploying it's own MV trap on a nightly basis, guests are permitted to trap themselves on the Dunge estate. 10th June dawned grey and misty and I ventured out to my trap which was situated by the Long Pits. Amongst many common Moths were a few Light Feathered Rustics, four Eyed Hawk Moths and a Cream-bordered Green Pea but a few hoped-for species were absent. Luckily, the obs trap came up trumps with several beautiful White Spots which I had been hoping to see. Also, a few stunning Cream-spot Tigers were in the trap along with many commoner species.
After breakfast I ventured up to Hythe Rough's which is a chalk escarpment overlooking the northern end of the Romney Marshes. My target here was the localised Four-spotted moth which I found after a bit of searching and there were plenty of them once I'd figured out their preferred habitat niche. After a few pics I carried on to Abbotscliff in the hope of seeing Dew Moth and arrived to find the site shrouded in a thick sea mist. I looked but failed to find the target but did see Wall Brown and Adonis Blue butterflies as compensation.
On the way home I stopped at a Kent Wildlife Trust reserve on the North Downs to have a look for a stunning micro moth called Hypercallia citrinalis. This species has only recently been rediscovered at this single site after being thought extinct in Britain since 1975. I had no expectation whatsoever of actually seeing it. However, after tapping a few low bushes with a stick, a small vividly coloured moth flew out and landed in plain site. I immediately recognised it as citrinalis. I approached slowly and managed a few shots before it zipped off again. Extremely happy with my efforts, I backed off and Iet it be.
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