Migrants in the Garden

Gale force winds and a dying lawn have discouraged me from putting out the trap in the garden recently, but with a lazy night in and no plans, I figured I might as well attempt with the trap one last time in April.
It was more about quality rather than quantity when I collected the trap in at 1am, with a pretty low total of 8 moths of 7 species caught. Luckily though, the main highlights saved the day (or night?!), a Pearly Underwing, and a Light Brocade.

The Brocade is a pretty common species in the garden, but doesn't usually appear until mid to late May-warmer than average temperatures must have encouraged earlier emergence...

The Pearly Underwing was completely unexpected. Its a migrant from Europe, which reaches Britain in small numbers (with influxes now and then) mainly in the autumn, so must have blown here in the strong winds. The moth was pretty worn, but the large size, and outward shaping of the forewings towards the tip make it pretty distinctive, and considering the distance its travelled, I think we can let it off for looking a bit drab!

The only other moths of note was a Diamond-back Moth, another migrant moth from Europe, and...

Cochylis atricapitana...

Swammerdamia pyrella...

Mega numbers make up for Minor pain

In seemingly unpromising conditions, and circumstances, I got my best catch this year in terms of number of individuals (94), but oddly, a rather low species count of 26 (this was not down to Large Yellow Underwing as it would usually be - I got only one!).
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Amongst these were one new for the garden, and two other year ticks. The new garden species was an unsurprising one really, two Cloaked Minor. I also got another Scallop Shell, which I was happy to get a decent shot of this time. Some pretty micros present too. The difficult circumstances mentioned before were that 6-7 wasps were present in/around the trap, and whilst checking the light first thing this morning, one suddenly lunged at me and stung me on the chest (they ate one of my Buff Ermines too)! It was worth it in the end though.
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28th July:
19 Dunbar
12 Riband Wave
10 Common Rustic sp.
7 Flame
7 Dark Arches
6 Shuttle-shaped Dart
4 Double Square-spot
4 Rustic
3 Uncertain
2 Lesser Swallow Prominent NFY
2 Svensson's Copper Underwing
2 July Highflyer
2 Cloaked Minor NFG
2 Copper Underwing
2 Buff Ermine
1 Oak Hook-tip
1 Scallop Shell
1 Yellow-barred Brindle
1 Scalloped Oak
1 Poplar Hawk-moth
1 Rosy Minor
1 Large Yellow Underwing
1 Vine's Rustic NFY
1 Small Fan-footed Wave
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Cochylis atricapitana

Oegoconia quadripuncta/deauratella

Pyrausta aurata

Common Rustic sp. (this was very bold in the flesh, more like a Dot Moth)

Vine's Rustic (not 100% certain)

Lesser Swallow Prominents

Scallop Shell

Cloaked Minor