Polecat Produces Plenty!

The weather conditions have been really good for the last three nights (and look decent tonight for a garden trapping), and although I failed to do anything two nights ago, I made up for it last night.  I trapped at a woodland site near me in Haslemere called Polecat Valley.  I only trapped up to 12, but no doubt I would have done it for longer if it weren't for the fact that I had work the next morning.  Not as busy a night as Holmen's Grove, but still decent numbers with 72 moths.  These included the unexpected lifer of Waved Carpet.

27th June, Polecat Valley:
4 Green Oak Tortrix
3 Dipleurina lacustrana
3 Flame Carpet
3 Snout
3 Brimstone
3 Satin Lutestring
3 Light Emerald
2 Clouded Silver
2 Chrysoteuchia culmella
2 Morophaga choragella*
2 Fan-foot
2 Straw Dot
2 Common Marbled Carpet
2 Variegated Golden Tortrix
2 Bee Moth
2 Beautiful Hook-tip
2 Foxglove Pug
2 Acleris forsskaleana
2 Argyresthia bonnetella
1 Buff Ermine
1 Iron Prominent
1 Green Carpet
1 Small Magpie
1 Treble Brown-spot
1 Brown Silver-line
1 Angle Shades
1 Minor sp.
1 Grey Pine Carpet
1 Small Angle Shades
1 Beautiful Golden Y
1 Middle-barred Minor
1 Bordered White
1 Waved Carpet*
1 Cydia fagiglandana*
1 Brindled White-spot
1 Scoparia pyralella
1 Willow Beauty
1 Riband Wave
1 Common Emerald
1 Lobster Moth
1 Large Fruit-tree Tortrix
1 White-shouldered House Moth
1 Buff-tip
1 Clouded-bordered Brindle
1 Tawny-barred Angle

Waved Carpet

Satin Lutestring

Not exactly a Carpet of moths at Redlands

The event last night was at Redlands Wood, in the shadow of Leith Hill near Dorking. It had been yet another disappointing day in terms of temperatures, but it was forecast to cloud over. Did it? Of course not! Temps were down to 12 degrees when we packed up at 12:30. As a result, numbers were pretty poor, although better than I expected. Luckily, we did get one or two nice things, including a new species to me. It was a Twin-spot Carpet that was one of the first moths to appear, and we got another 4 or so by the nights end. Nice to see my second Ghost Moth and Bordered White also.

July 9th, Redlands Wood:
July Highflyer
Mottled Beauty
Twin-spot Carpet*
Small Fan-footed Wave
Common Emerald
Riband Wave
Heart and Dart
Purple Clay
Bordered White
Ghost Moth
Brimstone
Tawny-barred Angle
Barred Red
Light Emerald
Small Rivulet
Swallowtail
Satin Lutestring
Spruce Carpet
Dark Arches
Uncertain
Pine Hawk
Iron Prominent
Clay Triple-lines
Minor Shoulder-knot
Peppered Moth
Buff Arches
Scalloped Oak
Clouded Silver
Grey Arches
Suspected
Buff Footman
Grey Pine Carpet
Dunbar
Large Emerald
Fan-foot
Common White Wave
Total: 36

Epinota brunnichana

Satin Lutestring

Large Emerald

Ghost Moth

Bordered White

Twin-spot Carpet

No puns, just great moths

Sorry about the lack of updates, I have been having camera problems.

I had a bit of a disaster three nights ago when someone managed to jog the plug loose for the trap, so it probably only ran for a couple of hours. As a result I got seven moths. The next night was much better, with a very fresh Light Brocade amongst the catch, but nothing else of particular note. Although it was nice to get my second records of Dwarf and Foxglove Pugs.

Agreggate for 2nd and 3rd June:

7 Heart and Dart

3 Common Marbled Carpet

2 Treble Lines

2 Pale Tussock

2 Common Pug

2 Peppered Moth

1 Orange Footman

1 Spectacle

1 Spruce Carpet

1 Shuttle-shaped Dart

1 Green Carpet

1 Light Brocade

1 Dwarf Pug

1 Clouded-bordered Brindle

1 Red Twin-spot Carpet

1 Scalloped Hazel

1 Foxglove Pug

Spectacle

Light Brocade

Last night was a lot better, with 35 moths of 23 species. Unfortunately, the star moth was faded. When I first found my first ever Satin Lutestring, it was outside the trap in the morning, and it was in pristine condition. I just potted it, but did not ID it as I had to go to work. When I got home, I found it floundering on its back, with lots of scales littering the pot! I hope I still got the ID right. Also among the highlights were new-for-year Small Seraphim, Grey Pine Carpet, Light Emerald, a Minor (probably Marbled), and my second ever Ingrailed Clay.

4th June:

5 Heart and Dart

4 Treble Lines

3 Common Marbled Carpet

3 Common Pug

2 Mottled Pug

1 Buff-tip

1 Pale Prominent

1 Orange Footman

1 Flame Shoulder

1 Grey Pine Carpet NFY
1 May Highflyer

1 Light Emerald NFY

1 Small Phoenix

1 Flame Carpet

1 Small Seraphim NFY

1 White Ermine

1 Coxcomb Prominent

1 Oak-tree Pug

1 Green Carpet

1 Pale Tussock

1 Minor sp. NFY

1 Ingrailed Clay NFY

1 Satin Lutestring NFG

Satin Lutestring

Ingrailed Clay