Well, I have only ever twitched a bird once in 50+ years. And on that occasion the bird in question had flown 20 minutes before I arrived. Today I had another "Twitch", when I paid the Obs a visit, not for a rare bird but for a moth and my second rare moth twitch in as many days.
Today's rarity was found in my friend's garden moth trap in Southwell and has never been recorded in the UK before. The moth was a Mediterranean Pug (Eupithecia breviculata), which originates across Europe and as far east as Greece and probably further.
There isn't any info (that I can find on this moth from here in the UK), but there is a German lepiforum forum Here which looks interesting
Here is an photo of it, courtesy of the Observatory, who have kindly put it on show on behalf of Debbie Here who trapped it in her garden.
Here is an photo of it, courtesy of the Observatory, who have kindly put it on show on behalf of Debbie Here who trapped it in her garden.
Mediterranean Pug (Eupithecia breviculata)
Birds Recorded: Kestrel, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Sand Martin, House Martin, Swallow, Dunnock, Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Linnet and Goldfinch
Dragonflies and Damselflies Recorded: Emperor Dragonfly
Butterflies Recorded: Large White, Small White, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Red Admiral
Moths Recorded: Mediterranean Pug (Eupithecia breviculata)
Bees Recorded: Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), Common Carder (Bombus pascuorum), Red-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) and White-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)