Beauty and the Brindled

I got a fantastic catch last night, in near perfect conditions. I got 20 moths of 9 species, which is about the amount I would have to wait till May to get with my old (Actinic) trap. These included two new for the garden. An Oak Beauty and a Small Brindled Beauty (seemingly scarce round here) were those in question. These are ticks 255 and 256 on my garden macro list.

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28th Feb:

7 Common Quaker

5 Small Quaker

2 Hebrew Character NFY

1 Small Brindled Beauty NFG

1 March Moth

1 Spring Usher

1 Pale Brindled Beauty

1 Oak Beauty NFG

1 Clouded Drab

....and no Chestnuts!

.

I also got this Agonopteryx which I would appreciate an ID for (Heracliana?):

Hebrew Character

Small Brindled Beauty

Oak Beauty

The new girl on the blog...

I was very flattered to have been asked to join the blogging team here at Surrey Moths.  I am very much a newbie to mothing having only been running a trap since last August.  Indeed, prior to last August, I had absolutely no knowledge of moths whatsoever and certainly no idea moths could be quite so fascinating!  

So here we are in 2012 and already the mothing world is being turned upside down, or slightly sideways at least, by the early emergence of some species.  Even here in deepest Wimbledon, where moths have not been as numerous as they might be, I am getting a few out of season flyers.  The tally so far this year is:-

2 Chestnut
4 Spring Usher
2 Mottled Umber
1 Pale Brindled Beauty

Then the fun ones......

1 Hebrew Character

 1 Red-green Carpet

 

Please excuse the rubbish photograph but this one that I thought was quiet after a night in the fridge flew before I could get a decent shot!  I still have a lot to learn when it comes to photographing moths!

Species steadily building up

New species are beginning to appear more frequently now. I had about 60 moths last night. A couple of oak beauties, small brindled beauty, umpteen small quakers, several common quakers and the following new for the year:

Yellow horned


Hebrew character

Early grey

clouded drab

March comes Early

Sorry, I know I can't compete with Sean's title puns, but I gave it my best try!

Over the last few weeks, I've trapped on the 12th and 18th, and although the chilly nights seem to have returned, it doesn't seem to be stopping hardy early species from being on the wing, and I've managed to add 3 species to the garden list.

March Moth- described as generally very common throughout Surrey. In an unusual posture...

Same moth, in its typical posture...

Early Moth- another common species, but a welcome sight...

Hebrew Character- Caught an individual of this early appearing noctuid on 12th, no doubt it will become much commoner as spring arrives!

National Moth Night - 15th May

Last night was National Moth night when everyone is encouraged to record moths. Butterfly Conservation report that the no. of moths has declined by 40% in the last 30 years, so more study is needed.
In my corner of Surrey it was reasonably mild but with no cloud cover the moths weren't coming to the trap. I ended up with just seven moths.

chocolate-tip


common wave


iron prominent


Hebrew character


muslin moth


2 x unidentified pugs (very worn).