Another One That Almost Got Away

On Easter Sunday my wife and I went up to Stourhead. On the way, we called in at a small patch of woodland in Dorset. I have seen Light Orange Underwing there in past years and hoped to get another glimpse of the moth which usually flies high in the tops of its foodplant the Aspen tree. Though we watched various Aspens for about an hour in total, nothing stirred but the odd dropping catkin. As we were climbing the incline out of the wood my wife suddenly asked, "What's that on the path behind you?" There alighting on the damp mud only a few feet from us was a superb Light Orange Underwing. It fluttered up several times, always finding a new patch of damp earth to land on. The woodland it is in is not far from the Somerset border and it would be great to discover this species in our county so if you aren't doing much this weekend get out into some damp woodlands with Aspen on our side of the border. Don't forget to look down as well as up.