Painted Ladies, Foresters and a mystery carcass

The recent influx of Painted Ladies has continued, I saw 5 last Saturday but over 20 today around Beeley Moor. They were most apparent on the newly replanted forest areas but I saw several crossing Beeley Moor in a southerly direction.
Many are very worn but some are in quite good condition which makes me wonder whether they have all travelled the same distance. Hundreds if not thousands have been reported from eastern and southern coastal sites so it's a very significant immigration.

Painted Lady

The first Forester Moths have emerged again on Flash Lane with at least a dozen seen today. I heard of other sightings in the Cromford and Ashover area so this is probably a fairly widely distributed moth on rough grassland which may have been overlooked in the past.

Forester Moth - male on right and smaller female on left

Walking in Whitesprings Plantation with Mel Hayes we came across the emaciated, headless corpse of a mustelid. We couldn't specifically identify the corpse which was about 35cm long, including the tail, but suspected it could be a young Polecat. There have been a few records of dead animals as road casualties in the area in recent years but I've yet to see a live one.

Possible Polecat corpse

Painted Lady - Wragg's Quarry, Beeley Moor

A rather more cooperative Painted Lady in Wragg's Quarry this morning. 

Painted Lady

Painted Lady - Clough Wood

Looks like the Diamond-back Moth numbers are in the decline, only two in the trap this morning but Painted Lady's are on the move with large numbers on the East Coast. I had one today at Clough Wood and Ken Orpe has reported another dozen at various locations in Derbyshire.

Painted Lady

Painted Lady - Bonsall Moor

A walk round Bonsall Moor early morning produced a good showing of orchids with Common Spotted the most obvious but Pyramidal, Fragrant and Bee Orchids were all in reasonable numbers. 
A singing Lesser Whitethroat proved typically elusive, and, like the Yellow Wagtail, is only seen occasionally on passage on the gritstone moors but is widespread if thinly distributed in the White Peak.
Plenty of butterflies on the wing; Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Common Blue and only my second Painted Lady of the year. Butterfly Conservation has predicted a major invasion of the Painted Lady this summer but this one looks like its been here a while.

Painted Lady

Painted Lady - an unexpected visitor to the moth trap

It's a rare event for me to catch a butterfly in the moth trap, I can recall a couple of occasions when Red Admirals have been amongst the moth catch on a morning so I was very surprised to find this Painted Lady in the trap this morning. 
The trap was switched on after dark and off around dawn so it most have been flying during the hours of darkness. This probably isn't that surprising for such a highly migratory species. 

Numbers recorded in Derbyshire fluctuate markedly from year to year, it can be quite scare in some years and abundant in others. It is not a migrant strictly speaking as individuals which do arrive in the UK from continental Europe or even North Africa will not return southwards although some of their progeny might.

Painted Lady