Country matters.

Byline: John Dempsey

MAKE no apology for banging on again this week about moths, after a storming night of trapping at Dempsey Towers.

Cloudy and humid conditions drew about 100 of the critters to the trap, which burnt from midnight to 3am. I was overwhelmed by the numbers and variety of species lured in, but Mrs D was less than impressed when she returned from work at the end of a late night shift.

I showed her a goat moth - a wonderful bulky creature with incredible tree bark camouflage, and then displayed my admittedly rudimentary field sketch of the magnificent insect.

'Your drawing looks like child's painting of a cow,' she declared. Personally I thought it was more in the Rorsach inkblot school. It was a good job I didn't tell her that the moth gets its name from its unfortunate ability to give off a scent that smells like an unwashed goat. Nationally scarce, the goat, (predictably christened Billy as it was left to sleep in a storage jar till release later), has the unusual habit of clinging in an upright posture to twigs, as it wing quivered and released pheromones looking for a mate.

Next up was a fascinating little spectacle moth, only about a centimetre and a half long, with two tiny white circles on its head, hence the name. 'It looks like a tiny owl with a top hat on,' was Mrs D's verdict, revealing a hitherto rarely displayed taste for the surreal. And this was before she noticed the more intrepid insects that had already sneaked into the house - our living room was rapidly turning into heart and dart heaven. She was probably tired after work, so I left her to concentrate on the trap, and the hordes of moths swarming around it. Eyed hawkmoth, lesser swallow prominent, hebrew character, riband waves, miller and scores of large yellow underwings were drawn in to the light.

A pioneer trapping experiment the next night at Marshside RSPB reserve by Neill Hunt and Simon 'Jellyhead' Jackson, brought more moth treasure in the form of shark, peach blossom, iron prominent and gold spot, amongst elephant, eyed and poplar hawkmoths.

Unfortunately there were also more mosquitoes than you could shake a stick at apparently. My moth obsession was prompted largely by the 'summer lull' that is just coming to an end in the bird world The Ribble marshes are home at present to breeding meadow pipits, piebald young shelducks and small groups of summering non-breeding waders. On the north side, European black tailed godwits have enjoyed breeding success again near Freckleton, and at Marshside, avocets managed to lay eight clutches of eggs this year. Large and small skipper butterflies are on the wing here, and the road is lined by sulphur yellow crucifers.

Umbellifers, yarrow, rest-harrow and the frankly uninspiring mugwort also crowd in on the roadside there. Grey wagtails raised a family on the shores of Southport's marine lake, their nest well hidden on an overhanging bank - perhaps some of these town centre winterers do stay on to nest after all. Soon the first waders will start south again for the winter, and the Irish Sea movement of juvenile willow warblers will begin - watch out for these yellow washed youngsters in coastal scrub. p Submit your items of news to the column by calling John Dempsey on 0151 472 2408 (Mon to Fri), or e-mail him at [e-mail]

CAPTION(S):

A gold spot moth