Small Dusty Wave- 21st March

Thanks to Nick Tanner for the sighting and photo of what is surely the earliest recorded Small Dusty Wave this year, if not the earliest Surrey record, taken at Berrylands Station on 21st March.

For more moth sightings from Berrylands and the surrounding area, visit Nick's blog.

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

A better night

I had quite a good selection on 20th night, though most are ones already featured previously (orange footman, spectacle, pale oak beauty etc). But here are a couple of photos... (Amazingly we don't seem to have common footman before!)

great prominent

scorched wing

small dusty wave

common wainscot

Mullein over one Shell of a moth

Back to old faithful last evening, my garden. Less than perfect conditions produced a surprisingly large number of moths, that included two new for the garden. Amongst 66 moths of 25 species was a Mullein Wave, and a gorgeous Scallop Shell, which is a first for me. I tried to get a more natural shot of the latter, but it got away! That brings my macro garden year list to 144.
.
5th July:
15 Dark Arches
10 Heart and Dart
5 Mottled Beauty
4 Double Square-spot
4 Buff Arches
3 Riband Wave
2 Beautiful Hook-tip
2 Flame
2 Uncertain
2 Heart and Club
2 Common Lutestring
1 Small Dusty Wave
1 Clouded Silver
1 Barred Red
1 Minor sp.
1 Broken-barred Carpet
1 Light Arches
1 Scallop Shell NFG
1 Elephant Hawk-moth (an also-ran now!)
1 Green Pug
1 Minor Shoulder-knot
1 Buff Ermine
1 Fan-foot
1 Dunbar
1 Mullein Wave NFG


A squadron of Dark Arches

Small Dusty Wave

Minor Shoulder-knot

Buff Arches

Beautiful Hook-tip

Mullein Wave


Scallop Shell

Slow progress

Apart from a few moths at house-lights (blood-vein, small dusty wave and Tortrix viridana) I've not seen much.
However, I did get a rare brilliant emerald in the garden - not the greatest pic but this species is very hard to approach (in fact it's the first time I've ever seen one land at all).

small dusty wave

brilliant emerald

Tortrix viridana

A Purple patch....

Although overall numbers remain low, it is supposed to warm up by the end of the week, and I can't wait. I say that, but the quality I have been getting has been fantastic.

The last two nights have been cold, but I managed to get several new for the year, three new for the garden, as well as a brand new species for me. Two nights ago the best was a lovely Purple Bar, but last night I managed a Small Dusty Wave (that I caught bare handed the evening before), Scalloped Hazel, a fabulous Lime Hawk-moth, and the new one for me in the shape of a Clouded-bordered Brindle of the form with the fantastic name, combusta.

Agreggate catch for 29 and 30 May (NFY = new for year, NFG = new for garden):

7 Treble Lines
4 Shuttle-shaped Dart
2 Common Marbled Carpet NFY
2 Green Carpet
1 White-spotted Pug
1 Pale Tussock
1 Purple Bar NFG
1 Uncertain NFY
1 Flame Carpet NFY
1 Brimstone NFY
1 Poplar Hawk-moth
1 Scalloped Hazel NFG
1 Heart and Dart
1 Lime Hawk-moth NFG
1 Shears
1 Mottled Pug
1 Clouded-bordered Brindle NFG
1 Small Dusty Wave NFY

Purple Bar

Uncertain

Small Dusty Wave

Scalloped Hazel

Lime Hawk-moth

Flame Carpet

Clouded-bordered Brindle