Lepidopterist's Bulging Box of Yearly Ubiquity

(if you don't understand the title, look at the initials)  Last night was incredibly muggy, so I expected decent numbers in the garden trap.  Species were slightly down, but individual numbers were the largest of the year, mostly down to Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings!  The only species highlights were the second records of Birch Mocha, Tawny Speckled Pug, and Peach Blossom, and six of the seven species of Footman I've ever had in the garden.  Micro highlights included an Agriphila selasella and a Parornix species, probably anglicella.

13th August:
Macros:
87 LBBYU
18 Dunbar
15 Large Yellow Underwing
9 Riband Wave
9 Small Fan-footed Wave
7 Dark Arches
6 Willow Beauty
6 Common Rustic sp.
5 Common Carpet
5 Shuttle-shaped Dart
4 Buff Footman
3 Swallow Prominent
3 Dagger sp.
3 Common Footman
3 Pebble Hook-tip
3 Red Twin-spot Carpet
3 Uncertain
3 Rosy Footman
2 Peppered Moth
2 Fan-foot
2 Early Thorn
2 Brimstone
2 Lesser Swallow Prominent
2 Silver Y
1 Dingy Footman
1 Small Phoenix
1 Scarce Footman
1 Yellow-barred Brindle
1 Lesser Yellow Underwing NFY
1 Tawny Speckled Pug NFY
1 Purple Thorn
1 Orange Footman
1 Maiden's Blush
1 Straw Dot
1 Copper Underwing
1 Knot Grass NFY
1 Black Arches
1 Sallow Kitten
1 Flame Carpet
1 Peach Blossom
1 True Lover's Knot
1 Snout

Micros:
12 Mother of Pearl
7 Phycita roborella
5 Cydia splendana
4 Agriphila straminella
4 Agriphila geniculea
4 Agriphila tristella
3 Chequered Fruit-tree Tortrix
2 Eudonia mercurella
2 Catoptria pinella
2 Bryotropha affinis
1 Crambus pascuella
1 Blastobasis adustella
1 Swammerdamia pyrella
1 Parornix anglicella*
1 Diamond-back Moth
1 Endotrichia flammealis
1 Hypsospygia glaucinalis
1 Acleris forsskaleana
1 Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix
1 Holly Tortrix
1 Brown House-moth
1 Bactra lancealana
1 Carcina quercana
1 Agriphila selasella*



Birch Mocha

Purple Thorn (second generation)



Sallow Kitten

Black Arches

Lesser Yellow Underwing

Knot Grass (or baldy!)

An array of Daggers



Parornix anglicella

Chequered Fruit-tree Tortrix

Agriphila selasella

Swarmmadamia pyrella

Here pussy, pussy, pussy.....

I knew as soon as I put the light on yesterday evening, that I was in for a great catch.  It was a very hot day, and cloud was just forming overhead.  The cloud may not have stayed around all night, but it was still warm enough for just a T-shirt when I closed down the trap just before first light. 

When I close down the trap, I stuff the entrance with kitchen towel, so I can put the trap in the shed, and open it up later in the day after work.  This has always worked fine, but those little devils that are Cockchafers were able to push out the paper this morning!  As a result, a few moths got away, and got lost in the piles of garbage in the shed.  Who knows what was there, but I should definitely not complain! 

The reason being that despite not quite as many moths as I expected (26 sp), I did manage to get two brand new species, and a further new one for the garden, an amazing result!  Amongst these was a long sought-after species as far as I'm concerned - a Puss moth.  Result!  The other brand new one was a single Grey Birch, and the garden tick was another Birch feeder - a Birch Mocha.  I also got a striking micro, Acleris literana.

23rd May:
9 Mottled Pug
3 Shuttle-shaped Dart
3 Brimstone
2 Common Wave NFY
2 Small Seraphim NFY
2 Light Brocade NFY
2 Common Pug NFY
1 Puss Moth NFM
1 Birch Mocha NFG
1 Narrow-winged Pug
1 Shears
1 Yellow-barred Brindle
1 Silver-ground Carpet NFY
1 Red Twin-spot Carpet
1 Tawny-barred Angle NFY
1 Poplar Grey NFY
1 Pebble Hook-tip NFY
1 Red-green Carpet NFY
1 Grey Birch NFM
1 Garden Carpet
1 Minor sp. (prob Marbled) NFY
1 Spruce Carpet NFY
1 Brindled Pug
1 Pebble Prominent
1 Iron Prominent NFY
1 Flame Shoulder

Plus loads of unidentifiable Pugs (prob mostly Mottled)!

Puss Moth

Spruce Carpet

Common Pug

Minor sp (prob Marbled)

Light Brocade

Small Seraphim

Red-green Carpet

Poplar Grey

Pebble Hook-tip

Grey Birch

Tawny-barred Angle

Common Wave

Silver-ground Carpet

Birch Mocha

 

Acleris literana

An Umber of Great moths

I have not trapped in the garden for some time, mainly due to the appalling clear weather we have had! I needed a mothing fix, so I went to Oaken Wood last night with Derek Coleman. Conditions were again poor, so I was quite surprised at the number of species we got by 23:30. The best from my point of view was the new species of Barred Umber, but we got a number of scarce species too, such as Great Oak Beauty, Four-dotted Footman, and Orange Moths.

21st May, Oaken Wood:

Green Carpet

Little Emerald

Common Swift

Orange Moth

Birch Mocha

Silver-ground Carpet

Purple Bar

Cream Wave

Treble-bar

Pale Tussock

Brown Silver-lines

Treble Lines

Common Marbled Carpet

Maiden's Blush

Four-dotted Footman

Pale Prominent

Scalloped Hazel

Barred Umber*

Green Silver-lines

Small White Wave

Great Oak Beauty

Marbled Brown

Light Emerald

Clouded Silver

Broken-barred Carpet

Blood Vein

Orange Footman

Treble Brown-spot

Buff Ermine

Oak Hook-tip

White Pinion-spotted

Flame Shoulder

Heart and Dart

Ingrailed Clay

Peacock

Common Pug

Alder Moth

Lobster Moth

Scorched Wing

Poplar Grey

White Ermine

Small Seraphim

Small Dotted Buff

Pale Oak Beauty

Foxglove Pug

Vine's Rustic

Total: 46

Cream Wave (none of us were sure, but thats the decision we came to)

Marbled Brown

Alder Moth

Orange Moth

Birch Mocha

Green Silver-lines

Great Oak Beauty

Barred Umber

Sorry for going off topic again, but I just have to share this shot I got of a Cream-spot Tiger in Brittany last week (There were lots of lepidopteran highlights there, but this was the only one I photographed):

Luckily, rain the Least of our worries at Albury

I turned up at Albury Heath yesterday evening expecting to either get turned away, or get rained on and have the session abandonded. But, despite fairly cold conditions, we went ahead, and somehow, we got no rain. Even though I had to leave early, I still saw three or four new species. In all, 42 macros were seen up to 0:00.

.

The first lifer was unexpected Least Carpet, not in a traditional location. Then a geometrid turned up, which happened to be a Birch Mocha, surprisingly my first one of those, despite having seen the rarer Mocha before. Finally, right at the end of my visit, a long-overdue tick of Scalloped Hook-tip arrived. Reviewing my photos this morning, I just wonder whether the second Birch Mocha which appeared, is actually a False Mocha (it looks more yellow). I'm currently in correspondence with David Gardner who was there, and he will get back to me with his thoughts (its a shame the photo is poor!).

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16th July. Albury Heath:

Marbled White Spot

Lobster Moth

Least Carpet*

Birch Mocha*

Common Footman

Scarce Footman

Buff Footman

Rosy Footman

True Lover's Knot

Brimstone

Buff Arches

Pebble Hook-tip

Yellow-tail

Dunbar

Riband Wave

Mottled Beauty

Common Emerald

Knot Grass

V-Pug

Large Twin-spot Carpet

Double Square-spot

Ruby Tiger

Buff Ermine

Small Fan-footed Wave

Large Yellow Underwing

Flame

Beautiful Hook-tip

Common Rustic sp.

July Highflyer

Flame Shoulder

Scalloped Oak

Spruce Carpet

Heart and Dart

Tawny-barred Angle

Peppered Moth

Orange Footman

Green Pug

Scalloped Hook-tip*

Small Rivulet

Engrailed

Uncertain

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Scalloped Hook-tip

Large Twin-spot Carpet

True Lover's Knot

Small Rivulet

Least Carpet

False Mocha?

Birch Mocha