The Lyons Share

Yesterday I spotted a small moth in flight on the chalk-grassland along the top of the cliffs at Seaford Head. A hint of metallic green caught my eye and I realised I was a looking at a forester moth. Now, there are three foresters and they are a wee bit tricky to tell apart (unless of course you're used to staring at spiders testicles down a microscope). It's all about the male antennae really. The scarcest one, the Scarce Forester, is easily ruled out by not having a club to the tip of the antennae. So I clearly had either Cistus Forester or the Forester. I have seen Cistus at Malling, this one is smaller than the other two with seven clubbed antennal segments. It also feeds on Common Rock-rose which I have not seen at Seaford. That left the Forester, the only one I hadn't seen. With ten clubbed antennal segments this one was looking more likely and after a quick email to Colin Pratt, he confirmed the identity. It's a new site record and it's a BAP species so I better get emailing Tony Davis at BC now too...