12th August

Quietly surprised in the drizzle near Itton

My intended destination this evening was Ninewells Wood but this was scuppered by a spell of moderate rainfall not long after I turned up. I had checked the rainfall radar prior to leaving and it was not tracking to this area, so I was a little miffed. I gave it a chance to clear but it seemed to be persistent and darkness was falling. I had not 'set up' so I started the engine and headed back towards Chepstow hoping the rain would abate as I got closer. Thankfully it did to a light drizzly format and this helped me make a decision to try a new wood. I had been here in the day, however had not placed a light-trap in here despite making a mental note of it. The wood lies between Devauden and Itton and is predominately larch-based so I was not hoping for much at Cefngarw.
A light drizzle intermittently came and went through the evening here and to my surprise a few of the more notable moths turned up alongside the common ones.
A single Mocha (rarely see them turn in 2's), Buff Footman, Rosy Footman and a Devon Carpet were the notables but I did wonder about a strange looking black, grey and white moth.
I stood there and worked it out under a now clearing sky, flicking the pages of the book through to return back to Black Arches. It had to be Black Arches however, this was the 122nd Black Arches I had seen this year but never had I seen one like this with the greyish markings above the main zig-zagging white cross-band.
It's good to come across variation's to keep you on your toes to make sure you are seeing the right species.

Black Arches- a less common variation perhaps

A few micro's braved the spots of rain of which I quite liked seeing Catoptria pinella, and what I think are Epinotia trigonella and the now corrected Lathronympha strigana (thanks George) amongst the generally expected woodland dwellers. I'm sure somebody out there will correct me if they are anything different.

 Epinotia trigonella

Lathronympha strigana