We win by a nose as Snouts save the day

We arrived at Hydon Heath near Godalming last night in pretty windy and chilly conditions, so we were not expecting a great deal. Luckily, the cloud amassed and we had another enjoyable evening.

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We set the trap up in an area of mixed woodland, with plenty of Bilberry. It was no surprise then when a Beautiful Snout appeared, and it was followed by eight others! Pine species were also numerous with eight Pine Hawk-moths! The star of the day however showed up early on, and proved to be a White-line Snout. According to 'The Larger Moths of Surrey', there were only two records between 1976 and 1997 in the county. I am not aware of its more recent history.

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Hydon Heath, 30th July:

September Thorn

Small Fan-footed Wave

Dunbar

Small Rivulet

Willow Beauty

Brimstone

Beautiful Snout

Scalloped Oak

Common Rustic

White-line Snout*

Buff Footman

Large Twin-spot Carpet

Iron Prominent

Brown-tail

Common Carpet

Pine Hawk-moth

Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Early Thorn

Rosy Footman

Scalloped Hook-tip

Riband Wave

Black Arches

Scorched Carpet

Pebble Hook-tip

Large Yellow Underwing

Mottled Beauty

Yellow Shell

Beautiful Hook-tip

Small Phoenix

Dingy Footman

Cloaked Minor

Tawny-barred Angle

Marbled White Spot

Copper Underwing

Dagger sp. (plus a Grey Dagger larva on nearby Birch)

Drinker

Peppered Moth

Lesser Swallow Prominent

Orange Footman

Pine Carpet

Double Square-spot

Satin Lutestring

Oak Hook-tip

Coxcomb Prominent

Common White Wave

Total: 45

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The final trap

Gigantic Pine Longhorn Beetle (not its official name!)

Beautiful Snout

White-line Snout

Pewley Borders on the amazing

Last night, it was the Guildford Borough Council night-life event at Pewley Downs - a pristine chalk downland site. I went on this event last year and saw loads of lifers, including such quality as Mocha and Tawny Shears.
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Neither of those appeared this time, but that did not really matter. After the starter of many female Glow Worms and a massive Wasp spider (I should have got shots of these, sorry), we had the main course of moths. We wondered whether there was any chance of seeing the main speciality of the site, but we needn't have worried, as at least four Lace Border came to the trap! The only lifer seen was a couple of Barred Rivulet, but what stunners they are. The main excitement on the night for the expert (Paul Wheeler), was finding four specimens of a very rare micro, and then capturing a possible first for Surrey (I've forgotten its name). Its at times like this I wish I wasn't so inept when it comes to micros! A most enjoyable evening.
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Pewley Downs, 29th July:
Shaded Broad-bar
Cloaked Minor
Common Rustic
Lace Border
Ruby Tiger
Dark Umber
Yellow Shell
Shuttle-shaped Dart
Six-spot Burnet
Large Yellow Underwing
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
Nut-tree Tussock
Rosy Footman
Red Twin-spot Carpet
Heart and Dart
Dingy Footman
Setaceous Hebrew Character
Lime-speck Pug
Smoky Wainscot
Knot Grass
Scorched Carpet
Pebble Prominent
Buff Footman
Dark Arches
Least Yellow Underwing
Dunbar
Rustic
Small Emerald
Barred Rivulet*
Currant Pug
Turnip
Dusky Sallow
Small Fan-footed Wave
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (including one very bizarre individual, that was the same size and proportions as LBBYU!)
Scarce Footman
Single-dotted Wave
July Highflyer
Dagger sp.
Flame Shoulder
Flame
Double-striped Pug
Yellow-tail
Wormwood Pug
Ear Moth
Brown-line Bright-eye
Haworth's Pug
Willow Beauty
True Lover's Knot (two - an acid loving species on chalk!)
Common Carpet
Copper Underwing
Svennson's Copper Underwing
Small Rufous (another odd one, a wetland species)
Small Rivulet
Purple Bar
Campion
Lesser Yellow Underwing (thats all five common Yellow Underwings)
Total up to 0:00: 56
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A pug ID'd by Paul as Wormwood

Barred Rivulet

Lace Border

Buddleia comes up trumps

I checked out (tiny) buddleia last night and found a new species for the garden. The gothic is said to be widespread but uncommon in Surrey. It is one of those species that does not come readily to light and is best found by searching nectaring sites. (I have a small list of moths in my garden that I've only ever seen by dusking or searching flowers by torchlight. Lychnis and dwarf cream wave are other examples.)
gothic

23rd-28th July, NE Surrey

Caught in the garden 15W Actinic between 23rd and 28th...

A colourful Oak Hook-tip...

A very pretty Sallow Kitten...

My long awaited first Wainscot for the garden, a Smoky Wainscot...

The garden year list has now risen to 165, and a number of common species have been reaching record numbers, including Dark Arches, the example depicted showing extra large lower kidney marks...

This female Turnip Moth had me thinking it was something different for some time..

I'm starting to take more of interest in micros. Here are two new for years from 27th...

Clepsis consimilana...

Codling Moth..

I'm going to be taking a break from trapping for the next few weeks as I'm going on holiday, but I'm sure Sean and Ken will keep the blog up-to-date... they're doing a brilliant job, cheers guys!

Have a great summer,

Bill

Mega numbers make up for Minor pain

In seemingly unpromising conditions, and circumstances, I got my best catch this year in terms of number of individuals (94), but oddly, a rather low species count of 26 (this was not down to Large Yellow Underwing as it would usually be - I got only one!).
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Amongst these were one new for the garden, and two other year ticks. The new garden species was an unsurprising one really, two Cloaked Minor. I also got another Scallop Shell, which I was happy to get a decent shot of this time. Some pretty micros present too. The difficult circumstances mentioned before were that 6-7 wasps were present in/around the trap, and whilst checking the light first thing this morning, one suddenly lunged at me and stung me on the chest (they ate one of my Buff Ermines too)! It was worth it in the end though.
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28th July:
19 Dunbar
12 Riband Wave
10 Common Rustic sp.
7 Flame
7 Dark Arches
6 Shuttle-shaped Dart
4 Double Square-spot
4 Rustic
3 Uncertain
2 Lesser Swallow Prominent NFY
2 Svensson's Copper Underwing
2 July Highflyer
2 Cloaked Minor NFG
2 Copper Underwing
2 Buff Ermine
1 Oak Hook-tip
1 Scallop Shell
1 Yellow-barred Brindle
1 Scalloped Oak
1 Poplar Hawk-moth
1 Rosy Minor
1 Large Yellow Underwing
1 Vine's Rustic NFY
1 Small Fan-footed Wave
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Cochylis atricapitana

Oegoconia quadripuncta/deauratella

Pyrausta aurata

Common Rustic sp. (this was very bold in the flesh, more like a Dot Moth)

Vine's Rustic (not 100% certain)

Lesser Swallow Prominents

Scallop Shell

Cloaked Minor

A buzz in the air!

Too much excitement last night! As if having half a dozen hornets flying round the trap when I went to check it wasn't enough, when I got back indoors I discovered that one had come in with me. I don't know what your household is like but my nearest and dearest were not thrilled to have a hornet buzzing round the sitting room. Even worse, by the time I'd got the vacuum cleaner, it had disappeared. There followed a rather tense search until I located it crawling across the carpet in a dark corner. (By the way, I can officially inform you that they don't immediately search out meat. We decided to sacrifice a piece of left-over liver to see if that would draw it from hiding. It didn't. But the dog was pleased!)
When I eventually removed the hornets from the trap and went through the catch, I did have one or two interesting moths - and a nice shield bug.
I think I'm going to have to leave the trap on all night or not at all while it's so warm. The only prob. with that is that I'm not good at surviving the day after waking at dawn. Roll on autumn!
small rivulet

least carpet

forest shieldbug

dingy footman (f. stramineola)

Argyresthia brockeella

I've Hooked myself a Scalloped

Conditions were right on the edge last night, which means I wondered whether it was really worth running the trap, with many clear spells. Numbers therefore were not as good as recently, but better than expected. But I think it was worth it, as I got an unexpected garden tick.

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Amongst 59 moths of 31 species was a surprise Scalloped Hook-tip, although no other highlights to speak of.

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26th July:

10 Riband Wave

6 Common Rustic sp.

3 Dunbar

3 Dark Arches

2 Mottled Rustic

2 Pebble Hook-tip

2 Svennson's Copper Underwing

2 July Highflyer

2 Red Twin-spot Carpet

2 Large Yellow Underwing

2 Mottled Beauty

2 Rustic

2 Uncertain

2 Double Square-spot

1 Willow Beauty

1 Shuttle-shaped Dart

1 Flame

1 Small Phoenix

1 Beautiful Hook-tip

1 Copper Underwing

1 Common Footman

1 Common Wave

1 Scalloped Oak

1 Slender Brindle

1 Single-dotted Wave

1 Ear Moth

1 Rosy Footman

1 Silver Y

1 Scalloped Hook-tip NFG

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Endotricha flammealis (Correct me if I'm wrong)

Small Phoenix

Red Twin-spot Carpet

Scalloped Hook-tip

All's Rosy, as underwings Herald new era

Although conditions were almost perfect last night with full cloud cover, I did not get my best haul of the year, but I shouldn't complain, as 87 moths of 32 species is still excellent.

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There was a garden tick amongst them, as well as four year ticks. However, the new garden species was not 'pure', as last year I did find the wing of a Herald in a spiders web in the garden, so they have certainly visited me before. Still, it was a stunner. Nice to get four species of yellow underwing too, autumns coming!

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25th July:

10 Riband Wave

9 Dunbar

9 Double Square-spot

8 Copper Underwing

6 Flame

6 V Pug

4 Svennson's Copper Underwing

3 Rosy Minor NFY

3 Dark Arches

3 Common Rustic sp.

2 Scalloped Oak

2 Ruby Tiger

2 Minor sp.

2 Oak Hook-tip

2 Large Yellow Underwing

2 Willow Beauty

1 White-spotted Pug

1 Purple Thorn

1 Tawny-barred Angle NFY

1 Common Footman

1 Rustic

1 July Highflyer

1 Small Fan-footed Wave

1 Herald NFG

1 Beautiful Hook-tip

1 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing NFY

1 Slender Brindle

1 Shuttle-shaped Dart

1 Peppered Moth

1 Least Yellow Underwing NFY

1 Lesser Yellow Underwing

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A couple of interesting insects from around the trap:

Speckled Bush-cricket

A wonderfully wierd Weevil

Tawny-barred Angle

Least Yellow Underwing

Rosy Minor

Herald

underwings arrive

I had a short session trapping in my garden on 24th where I was again hampered by hornets buzzing round the trap. In the end, I decided that I would just cover the trap and deal with it in the morning. So, not surprisingly, I didn't have a large catch. However there were some 'new for year's.
*broad-bordered yellow underwing
*least yellow underwing
*copper underwing (agg)
*pine carpet.
Photos in no particular order:

pine carpet

least yellow underwing

broad-bordered yellow underwing

copper underwing agg

large emerald

gold spot

Three Leopards stalk us at Smithwood

A half-night at a place called Smithwood Common near Cranleigh yesterday produced the now regulation three lifers for me. We placed one trap in grassland, and the other most importantly, next to a pond, which is the last site where Water Ermine had been seen in Surrey.
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No sign of those unsurprisingly, but we did manage 42 macro species up to o:oo in very good conditions. The three new ones were a Double Kidney, three stunning Leopard Moth, and a Lesser-spotted Pinion, which, thanks to recent discussion, I ID'd immediately.
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Smithwood Common, 24th July:
Large Yellow Underwing
Lime-speck Pug
Small Fan-footed Wave
Dunbar
Smoky Wainscot
Common Rustic
Lesser Cream Wave
Small Rufous
Brimstone
Leopard Moth*
July Highflyer
Lesser-spotted Pinion*
Yellow Shell
Double Kidney*
Yellow-tail
Dusky Sallow
Small Rivulet
Dingy Footman
Single-dotted Wave
Common Footman
Ruby Tiger
Snout
Black Arches
Flame Shoulder
Cloaked Minor
Double Square-spot
Small Phoenix
Oak Hook-tip
Uncertain
Buff Arches
a possible Yarrow Pug (it will be gen. deted.)
Willow Beauty
Scarce Footman
Dark Arches
Coxcomb Prominent
Pale Prominent
Riband Wave
Flame
Common Carpet
Currant Pug
Shaded Broad-bar
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
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Small Rufous

Double Kidney

Cloaked Minor f. latistriata

Lime-speck Pug

Lesser-spotted Pinion

Lesser Cream Wave

Leopard Moth