Summer is Here

It was mad around the trap this morning. I got out into the garden shortly after 4 a.m. It was still dark enough for a few moths to be flying around, thanks to the cloud cover. But it was 14deg C and many of the moths in the trap were very active. I did my best to check them out but inevitably lots flew away as soon as I lifted the lamp away from the top of the trap. I covered the trap with a towel and headed for our garden shed. At least I have a chance of recatching some of the ones that fly off in there. I didn't try to count the moths as I wanted to concentrate on IDing as many species as possible before I lost them. I reckon there could have been 500 in all but I must have lost about 100. Even so I had 20 new macro species for the year and umpteen micros - many of which I'll have to ask the ever-patient county recorder to look at. But there were certainly quite a few new for the year among them.

I didn't photograph every species - the day is not long enough but here are some (not all are new for the year - and I don't have common footman or bright-line brown-eye here):
varied coronet


Treble Brown Spot


Dingy Shears


Smoky Wainscot (note dark hindwing)


Small Angle Shades


Rosy Footman


Pale Oak Beauty


Minor Shoulder-knot


Double Square-spot


Common Emerald


Burnished Brass


Blue-Bordered Carpet


Blotched Emerald


Barred Yellow


Beautiful Golden-Y


Barred Straw