Orange Underwing

Richard Bell's Wild West Yorkshire Nature Diary, Sunday, Ist August 2010

evening clouds

wasp WE WERE concerned to see a wasp return repeatedly to visit the patio table to work in a particular spot beneath. When I took a closer look, I was relieved to see that it hadn't started building a nest there; it had been scraping at the timber to make wood pulp to construct a nest elsewhere.

mothA brownish moth was fluttering around the upstairs landing last night. It looked camouflaged and rather nondescript when I caught it in a bug-box, until it opened its wings, revealing an orange underwing. It was a little over an inch long. Most male moths have feathery antennae; this must have been a female.

toadI was emptying a tray of vegetable peelings into the black plastic compost bin when I saw a small toad move amongst the vegetation in the bin. It must be an ideal habitat for a toad in there; dark, moist and with a plentiful supply of invertebrate food.