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Tuesday 28 June 2011

More than a Little success in the garden

Back to the garden last night, where conditions were excellent, and I was relieved we didn't get the forecast thunderstorms. By far the best variety of the year to date included a Little Emerald which is new to the garden, along with a load of new for the years.








27th June:

14 Heart and Dart

10 Light Arches

9 Riband Wave

6 Rustic

5 Uncertain

5 Beautiful Hook-tip NFY

3 Buff Arches NFY

3 July Highflyer

3 Flame

3 Light Emerald

3 Dot Moth

2 Tawny-barred Angle

2 Mottled Rustic NFY

2 Minor sp.

2 Brimstone

2 Dark Arches

1 Fan-foot

1 Little Emerald NFG

1 Poplar Grey NFY

1 Iron Prominent NFY

1 Mottled Beauty

1 Engrailed NFY

1 Common White Wave

1 Heart and Club

1 Double-striped Pug NFY

1 Double Square-spot

1 Shuttle-shaped Dart

1 V-pug NFY

1 Brown Silver-line

1 Treble Brown-spot

1 Dunbar NFY

1 Willow Beauty

1 Common Lutestring NFY

Total: 33


V-pug



Engrailed



Buff Arches



Dot Moth



Double-striped Pug



Poplar Grey



Tawny Barred-angle



Little Emerald

Sunday 26 June 2011

Clay confusion at Norbury

Conditions were much better tonight, with the temperature still at 21C when we started trapping at Norbury Park at 9:30! A much more diverse catch than yesterday was achieved, although quality was slightly lacking, but we still had a great time. 60 macros were caught up to 1:00, with the best probably being several Triple-spotted Clays. Although, I think the comparison shot below shows two Double Square-spot (they looked very different at the time)!

Norbury Park, 25th June:

Yellow Shell

Mottled Beauty

Brown Scallop

July Highflyer

Burnished Brass

Riband Wave

Heart and Club

Snout

Treble Brown-spot

Common Marbled Carpet

Common Emerald

V-Pug

Minor Shoulder-knot

Rosy Footman

Flame

Double Square-spot

Large Yellow Underwing

Dark Arches

Double-striped Pug

Common White Wave

Light Emerald

Beautiful Hook-tip

Privet Hawk

Buff Footman

August Thorn

Triple-spotted Clay*

Dark Umber

Small Angle Shades

Iron Prominent

Brimstone

Beautiful Golden Y

Coronet

Light Arches

Peppered Moth

Brown Silver-line

Green Pug

Elephant Hawk

Dunbar

Flame Shoulder

Lobster

Heart and Dart

Reddish Light Arches

Rustic

Clouded Silver

Black Arches

Engrailed

Foxglove Pug

Treble Lines

Turnip

Short-cloaked

Common Wave

Uncertain

Brown Rustic

Swallowtail

Peach Blossom

Willow Beauty

Leopard

Great Oak Beauty

Satin Beauty

Short-cloaked



Festoon



Leopard



Privet Hawk



Coronet



Swallowtail



Clay comparison(?)

Saturday 25 June 2011

Cloaked in drizzle, but we Hook quality!

I went to Thursley Common last night for a mothing event with David Gardner. Bill was able to come, although it was a shame he had to leave early. Particularly as we had a great time, with only average conditions. In drizzly, cold weather, we got small numbers, but high quality from this top-notch site. I got three lifers, and a possible fourth. When the very first macro we saw was a Silver Hook, I knew we were going to do well! I managed to net this wet heathland specialist before dusk. During the night itself, we were also graced by the presence of a Cloaked Carpet, and a female Grass Wave amongst others. You can't beat mothing with a serenade of Nightjar churring (I got some great views too, as a male endeavoured to catch the moths before me)!

Thursley Common, 24th June (in order of appearance):

Silver Hook*

Treble Brown-spot

Double-striped Pug

Snout

Lilac Beauty

Grey Pine Carpet

Pine Hawk

True Lover's Knot

Marbled White Spot

Cloaked Carpet*

Heart and Club

Tawny-barred Angle

Mottled Beauty

Green Carpet

Middle-barred Minor

Brown Rustic

Smoky Wainscot

Beautiful Hook-tip

Lobster

Scalloped Hook-tip

Striped Wainscot

Barred Red

Riband Wave

Marbled Brown

Grass Wave*

Dunbar

Yellow Shell

Willow Beauty

Small Fan-footed Wave

Double Square-spot

Large Yellow Underwing

Small Seraphim



Possible Square Spot (it was much smaller than nearby Mottled Beauty)



(Forgotten the name of this micro!)



Beautiful Hook-tip



Striped Wainscot



Lilac Beauty and Barred Red



Scalloped Hook-tip



Grass Wave



Cloaked Carpet



Silver Hook

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Clearwing success in the garden!

I had a very successful afternoon yesterday using the clearwing lures for the first time in the garden. I half heartedly hung my newly acquired 'VES' lure on a bamboo cane between two apple trees in the border at about 1pm, pretty much knowing that I wouldn't catch anything, and after 45 minutes of nothing I was ready to pack them away.

After unsuccessful sessions in Richmond Park and Denbies Hillside back in May, you can begin to imagine my surprise then when I went out to check the lure, and found an Orange-tailed Clearwing investigating the lure. This was the last thing I expected to find in the garden, being miles from any chalk, and may well be quite an interesting record. No sooner had I finished photographing it, an absolutely superb Yellow-legged Clearwing decided to join the party, soon followed by two more, rounding off a perfect afternoon.


The stars of the show...


Having a good old scratch behind the ear... err, I mean antennae...


Orange-tailed Clearwing in the hand... am I going too far?


Yellow-legged Clearwing...


A close up of that unique 'clear' wing...


Not quite as smart as the above Yellow-legged, but its still a clearwing, and any clearwing is a smart clearwing in my book!


Not a suitable activity for children below the age of 3...


Now for the hat-trick with Red-belted Clearwing in the next few weeks, or am I pushing my luck?

Friday 17 June 2011

Hearts, Clubs, Waves, Carpets and other stuff...

I haven't posted on here in quite a while, and there have been too many moths to post full trap reports, so here are a few photos of some of the species that have been turning up in the garden trap through May, and into (a pretty rubbish!) June...

Beautiful Hook-tip (28th May)...


Marbled Brown (28th May)...


Blotched Emerald (29th May)...


Treble Brown Spot (20th May)...


Least Carpet (8th June)...


Dwarf Cream Wave (8th June)...


The Shears (8th June)...


Heart and Club (8th June)...


Flame Shoulder (25th May)


Expect a few more photos in the near future, as I don't think the weather is going to allow for much trapping this weekend, giving me time to make up for a bit of back-blog!

Thursday 16 June 2011

Glitch

There is currently a glitch in the Blogger system whearby I can't sign in to edit my posts, or leave comments (although the 'dashboard' works fine, so I can still put in new posts without problem).

Thanks, Paul.

Ben,

What makes you say that? I always thought that the lack of a curved crossbar (I know there is a faint one, but it was almost non-existant it real life), and very clear oval and kidney markings were better for Rustic.

Always willing to learn!

Sean

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Pugtastic

Last night was the first warm cloudy one for a couple of weeks, so it worth running the trap. Numbers were a little dissapointing, but included an array of Pugs, all but one of which I managed to identify! One of the Green Pugs was very fresh, but by the time I had had it potted for a little while, it started to loose its green! The same can be said for the July Highflyer too. I also found a very pretty micro flying around in the day, that I would appreciate an ID for.

June 14th:

15 Heart and Dart

4 Rustic

3 Green Pug NFY

2 Dark Arches

2 Willow Beauty

2 Common Pug

1 Foxglove Pug NFY

1 Grey Pug

1 Fan-foot NFY

1 Small Fan-foot NFY

1 July Highflyer NFY

1 Marbled White-spot

1 Small Dusty Wave NFY

1 Brimstone

1 Uncertain NFY


Sorry for some of these poor shots, but I wasn't having much luck persuading them to sit where I wanted!



Unidentified micro



Green Pug



Small Dusty Wave



July Highflyer



Small Fan-foot



Fan-foot



Rustic

Friday 10 June 2011

little and large (clouded brindles)

I found a clouded brindle in my shed a couple of nights ago. I thought that it might be interesting to post it above a small clouded brindle from last year.
small clouded brindle

clouded brindle