After dark...

I was out of the house by half past six, and spent a full day surveying an area of farmland near Chelmsford. Some of the arable fields had been taken out of cultivation and the developing damp grassland had plentiful nectar sources which supported a range of butterflies including common blues, small copper and brown argus, as well as the usual range of browns and whites.

I arrived home just after four, giving me time to have a cup of tea, process the day's photographs and prepare and eat dinner before heading out for an evening of moth trapping at Orton Pit. It was quite exciting being on this very large and treacherous reserve at night. Most people stayed around the lamps, but Pete, Alex and I went off to the reed-beds and wood small-reed patches in search of wainscots, particularly the nationally scarce mere wainscot, which we eventually found.

The reed bed area was particularly exciting - carving a path through vegetation about 3m high, partly on steep slopes, and never being quite sure where the water was. Alex thought it was a bit like being in the jungle - this atmosphere was aided by the swarms of hungry mosquitoes...

The wood small-reed areas were much tamer, but I was amazed at how many insects the torch illuminated. I found roosting common blue butterflies and damselflies, but the most prolific creatures were the long-winged coneheads. This cricket thrives in damp areas of rough grassland, and many of the grass stems had at least one, playing peek-a-boo. Trying to photograph them in pitch darkness, with a noticeable breeze making the grass heads sway, certainly wasn't easy. I was amazed that any came out in focus at all!