15th June

Swift actions pot Gold

On my way to Buckle Wood this evening. I had halted my vehicle to open a gate and could not help but look up to notice clear skies above. The air was definitely cooling, I was actually running slightly behind time for dusk was fast approaching, so needed to hurry up to set the trap up.
As I stepped up towards the gate a smallish moth flew along side the woodland edge to my right and remained upright on a piece of vegetation. I made a mental, visual note of just where it was positioned, and decided to race back to the vehicle to collect a pot in the hope it remained there when I got back. It did and I collected it without to much fuss. It probably was not until 20 minutes that I was able to have a good look at it and my first thoughts under poor light was it was a Common Swift as it flapped away, although it was not the usually orange colour, and thought that stuck in my head.

Gold Swift (female)

After getting good light to the subject in turned out to be just that, a Swift, but a Gold Swift as I flicked to the page in moth book.
It is a moth I've never seen so I was very pleased to make the acquaintance with this female.
The moth has similarities with the Map-winged Swift apparently where it feeds on the roots of Bracken and can be seen to hover over and around the foodplant at dusk I read. I remember seeing Map-winged Swift hovering over grasses and bracken at Chepstow Park Wood not too long ago.
I'm in contact with bracken frequently on my traps which begs a few questions.
Perhaps it's not too keen to turn up at a light trap, or perhaps I just have not found the right places where it resides as yet. Could well be locally local although the distribution maps have it quite well scattered across the vice county.