It has been pretty quiet in my reserve, plenty of roe deer and lots of signs of successful bird breeding with plenty of young birds about, the green woodpeckers have been particularly conspicuous recently. A dusky clearwing was the moth highlight this month but also of note were twin spot wainscot, brown veined wainscot, chevron.

A busy month with plenty of remote mothing on the Suffolk Coast, Scotland and Lake District with plenty of nice moths Mountain Burnet, gold spangle, Fenn’s wainscot, White mantled wainscot, Devon carpet, wormwood, star-wort, antler moth, pretty pinion, chestnut coloured carpet. Garden moths of note were white spotted pinion, hummingbird hawkmoth and dark swordgrass.

The highlight this month was a confiding red fox in the garden, pretty rare in rural parts, also of note were three of the biggest Red Deer stags in Suffolk.

Pretty tired I headed to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal first thing where I located some blunt leaved pondweed. I had some sleep before heading home.

I was in Arnside first thing, where along the railway embankment I found Celtic Sea Lavender. So headed into Yorkshire and took a walk on Ash Fell where in a small pond I located some Various leaved water starwort. I did a few touristy bits before heading to Foulshaw Moss for a wander, plenty of common lizards on the boardwalk but the action was in the air at least 3 Ospreys were flying round showing very well. I headed to Meathop Moss but did not find any butterlies or moths of note here but another Osprey and a Peregrine. Time for some food before retuning to set up the moth traps. The weather was much cooler and windier than forecast so there was no activity at dusk or in the run up to dusk. Trapping was not too bad 75 species in the end and a few moths of interest Devon carpet, Twin spot Carpet, marsh oblique barred, dotted clay and I had to battle with the rain while packing up.

Chips – Fish over Chips, Grange over Sands - Fish and Chips, mushy peas – 8/10

I was in Brighton first thing looking for Vernal shieldbugs, I found several hairy shieldbugs and loads of Green shieldbugs and some tortoise shieldbugs but no Vernal shieldbugs. However looking more closely at some nymphs they were Vernal shieldbugs, I had just mis timed my visit to find adults, so a revisit sometime later in the year will be needed. Eager to see more shieldbugs I headed to Samphire Hoe, traffic was good and by late morning I had 4 Trapezium shieldbugs. Time for lunch then I made a quick stop for some Violet helleborines on the way home.

Chips – Little Fish and Chips, Folkestone – Sausage and Chips – 8/10

I headed to Strumpshaw Fen after work, the aim was sharp leaved pondweed and as I headed out to look it started to rain fortunately only a quick shower. The pondweed was duly found so I took a wander only a kingfisher of note. Time for some food then I headed to the Suffolk coast. Here I joined Anthony Wren for some moth trapping, a very successful night with 130 species including Fenn’s wainscot, Gem, tawny bared angle, gold spot, marbled clover, brown veined wainscot, white lined dart.

Chips – Cod House, Beccles - Spring roll, pickled egg and chips 8/10

Although it was a cultural weekend with friends, the city had a few green spaces and I did find some wildlife while wandering around eating ice cream Italian wall lizards, crag martins, Italian sparrows, feral pigeons, kestrel the large animals seen. Common cicadas was pretty common although quite hard to see, a nice selection of butterflies where ever there were flowering plants swallowtail, scarce swallowtail, southern grizzled skipper, wall brown, Germanium bronze, common blue, brown argus, clouded yellow, large white, small white, red admiral, holly blue, small heath, hummingbird hawkmoth, spotted sulphur, purple marbled moth. A few other insects migrant hawker, golden ringed dragonfly, azure blue damselfly, Schmidt’s marbled bush cricket, Italian striped shieldbug, broad-headed bug.

With a good weather forecast, James Hunter and I headed for the Suffolk coast for some moth trapping. It was a little windy but warm, after some chips we set up and the moths came to the traps along with Alan Lewis. About 130 species, thousands of Synaphe punctalis and diamond backed moths along with our target of white mantled wainscot and a bonus star-wort, other moths of note, marbled clover, ??

Chips – Golden Galleon, Aldeburgh - Fish and Chips 8/10

After a café breakfast I headed to Cluny Gardens to see some red squirrels several were present showing nicely. By late morning I headed off, I had some lunch on the way home but was pretty tired so did not do anything else.

Chips – Central Café, Dunbar – Burger and Chips 8/10

I headed to Braemar even at 8am it was hot and the walk up Morrone was hard in those temperatures. I got to the right altitude and the Mountain burnet moths started to appear, most pretty worn but I did find some in good condition. I was close to the top so summited, encountering a nice golden plover on the way. A few other moths on the descent and several butterflies. I stopped for supplies on the way to Ben Lawer’s where I headed up Creag an Lochain, here I was attempting my 5th try for Alpine woodsia and after a bit of navigating round the cliffs I found the spot where a small clump of Alpine woodsia was growing. I was pleased to eventually find this rather small fern. Time was getting on so I headed back down, I found some grass of parnassus, roseroot, alpine saw-wort, mossy saxifrage, chickweed wintergreen and ?? lady’s mantle on the way down. It was time for a drink then set up the moth traps, I had a nice selection of moths ?? species including gold spangle, Haworth’s minor, Yellow ringed carpet, pretty pinion, Scotch annulet.

I was at Inchnadamph a little later than planned but soon made it to the caves where I found the whortle leaved willow and some nice alpine plants such as mountain avens. I then headed to a limestone escarpment (Dubbed the Inchnadamph zoo) where some of the introduced alpines Oxford rampion, Fairy foxglove and Blue Fairy’s thimble were in flower. It was hot so I stopped for some cold drinks before heading to a site for Alpine Bearberry. The Loch where I parked had some nice water lobelia, but it was an hour to the Loch where slender leaved pondweed was and I quickly found it by the Loch edge. After chips I headed to the Lecht area to do some moth trapping, it was pretty windy and only had about 22 species Antler moth, Chestnut coloured carpet, scarce silver Y, Scotch annulet of note.

Chips – Mr Fish, Dingwall – Macaroni pie, Sauage and Chips 7.5/10

After work, I headed to Bishop’s Middleham quarry arriving late evening, the dark red helleborines were flowering nicely but it was a little late for many butterflies to be active, so I headed off for the long drive north.

Chips – Carlo’s, Alnwick – Haggis and Chips – 9/10

I popped to Sheringham to see the now flowering Norfolk Rock Sea Lavender, followed by enjoying an ice cream by the sea.

An early start to get into Kent before the traffic was too bad, first stop was Broadstairs where after a short walk along the seafront I located both Kent and Tall Sea Lavenders. It was then a visit to St Margaret’s Bay where I quickly found St Margaret's sea lavender. My next stop was Sandwich bay looking for scarce tortoise shieldbug, I was lucky and found a few along with heath shieldbug and Meadow ladybird. On the beach I located an 11 spot ladybird. I searched another spot for shieldbugs but nothing of note but I did find a fiery clearwing. I popped into Canterbury for chips and a quick look for Beavers but none about. Then it was off to Orlestone for some moth trapping, an excellent night 200 species including light crimson underwing, poplar lutestring, olive crescent.

After work I headed to the Brecks to continue my search for Loose Silky Bent but I was still unsuccessful. I did see some nice Maiden’s pinks but little else. I spent a little time searching for ladybirds and found a nice selection Oak Scymnus, Angle spot Scynuus the pick. The weather was perfect for moth trapping and I was joined by Anthony Wren and a bit later by Toby Austin, it started a little slowly, but the wind suddenly dropped and suddenly the moths arrived in massive numbers, plenty of the Breckland specialities tawny wave, clouded magpie, marbled clover, Tawny Barred Angle and Oblique striped. Other moths of interest was a goat moth, V moth and wood carpet and as we were packing up a moth we did not recognise but was later identified by Anthony as Splendid Brocade an excellent evening of mothing but pretty exhausting. Final count was around 230 species