Latticed Heath

A hot and sticky night, making sleep difficult, but ideal for nocturnal insects. The numbers and variety of moths in the trap this morning was the best for some time, and included two lattice heaths, not an uncommon species locally, but one usually found in semi-natural grasslands rather than gardens, and a first for us. 

This may be related to the fact that we are managing an increasing area of our lawn as a hay meadow. This year we have had another entomological first - breeding cinnabar moths on our ragwort. We also have resident populations of meadow brown, ringlet and gatekeeper. 

Wild plants that have appeared (maybe with a little help) include hairy hawkbit and ploughman's spikenard, and at last species such as lady's bedstraw, bird's-foot-trefoil and salad burnet are thriving. It's taken nearly twenty-five years without using fertiliser or herbicide for our grassland on clay soil to become sufficiently infertile for these species, but hopefully over time even more will join them in our own mini nature reserve.