Wood Mouse - Kempston

This photo was taken by Martin Palmer in his garden in Kempston. As Martin said not all that come to his garden birdfeeders are avian, this Wood Mouse is a regular visitor searching for fallen seeds.

Jersey Tiger in Kempston

This Jersey Tiger was photographed in his Kempston Garden on 22nd August 2012 by Martin Palmer. It is the 3rd record for Bedfordshire following records at Biggleswade in 2009 and Bromham in 2011.

Dark Spinach in Lower Stondon

A Dark Spinach on 11th August was a new moth for our garden and the third record for the county this year, following ones at Biggleswade and Bromham earlier in the year. Photo: Melissa Banthorpe

Small Ranunculus moth larvae are about now

Checking some Prickly Lettuce, Lactuca serriola, in Kempston today I found 15 larvae of the Small Ranunculus moth. These distinctive larvae are green or brown and and can be hard to find but look for plants where the flower buds have been obviously eaten away. The larvae tend to rest along the stalks.

Below are a couple of photos taken today (8th August) and also the distribution map of the species in Bedfordshire up to the end of 2011.

Please look out for these and report your findings with count, location and a photo if you are not sure to Melissa and I as we are the county Macro-moth recorders (macromoths@bnhs.org.uk)

Two quite well grown larvae

A single larva eating a flower bud

Distribution of Small Ranunculus in Beds up to the end of 2011