So quiet!

You can tell by the lack of blog posts here how dismal the mothing has been of late.

But things seem to be picking up at and the last two nights have seen some moths in the trap, particularly Oak Beauty and Small Quakers.  Last night was particularly pleasing though with some 24 Small Quaker, 3 Oak Beauty, a Clouded Drab, Hebrew Character, a Twin-spotted Quaker and a Herald...let's hope it lives up to its name!

Herald

All's Rosy, as underwings Herald new era

Although conditions were almost perfect last night with full cloud cover, I did not get my best haul of the year, but I shouldn't complain, as 87 moths of 32 species is still excellent.

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There was a garden tick amongst them, as well as four year ticks. However, the new garden species was not 'pure', as last year I did find the wing of a Herald in a spiders web in the garden, so they have certainly visited me before. Still, it was a stunner. Nice to get four species of yellow underwing too, autumns coming!

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25th July:

10 Riband Wave

9 Dunbar

9 Double Square-spot

8 Copper Underwing

6 Flame

6 V Pug

4 Svennson's Copper Underwing

3 Rosy Minor NFY

3 Dark Arches

3 Common Rustic sp.

2 Scalloped Oak

2 Ruby Tiger

2 Minor sp.

2 Oak Hook-tip

2 Large Yellow Underwing

2 Willow Beauty

1 White-spotted Pug

1 Purple Thorn

1 Tawny-barred Angle NFY

1 Common Footman

1 Rustic

1 July Highflyer

1 Small Fan-footed Wave

1 Herald NFG

1 Beautiful Hook-tip

1 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing NFY

1 Slender Brindle

1 Shuttle-shaped Dart

1 Peppered Moth

1 Least Yellow Underwing NFY

1 Lesser Yellow Underwing

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A couple of interesting insects from around the trap:

Speckled Bush-cricket

A wonderfully wierd Weevil

Tawny-barred Angle

Least Yellow Underwing

Rosy Minor

Herald

The Beautiful Rough comes up trumps

Last evening, I went to a place called Fames Rough near Banstead, in the hope of seeing some nice chalk scrub species. David Gardner was determined to look for a group of micros which feed on Thyme. We did not find those, but we had a fantastic night in near-perfect conditions. Three lifers for me, and even a few micro lifers for the expert!

Up to 1:10 we managed the most macros I have ever experienced, with 82 species. The three new ones were a fantastic Beautiful Carpet, a worn Green Arches, and two Small Emerald. Some other notables were Phoenix, Olive, Waved Black, and three Kent Black Arches.

Fames Rough, 19th July:
Dunbar
Small Fan-footed Wave
Clay Triple-lines
Buff Footman
Buff Arches
Ruby Tiger
July Highflyer
Beautiful Carpet*
Marbled White Spot
Silver Y
Scorched Carpet
Clouded Silver
Smoky Wainscot
Rustic
Double-striped Pug
Common White Wave
Light Emerald
Double Square-spot
Green Pug
Dark Arches
Riband Wave
Brimstone
Clay
Lesser Yellow Underwing
Flame
Brown Scallop
V-pug
Mottled Beauty
Brown-line Bright-eye
Coronet
Single-dotted Wave
Phoenix
Large Yellow Underwing
Scarce Footman
Large Emerald
Common Footman
Garden Carpet
Small Purple-barred
Common Rustic
Oak Nycteoline
Waved Black
Flame Shoulder
Iron Prominent
Small Emerald*
Engrailed
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
Small Rivulet
Copper Underwing
Snout
Black Arches
Small Angle Shades
Heart and Dart
Kent Black Arches
Orange Footman
Straw Dot
Ear Moth
Fan-foot
Dusky Sallow
Olive
Common Emerald
Elephant Hawk-moth
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
Dark Sword-grass
Least Carpet
Miller
Peppered Moth
Spruce Carpet
Herald
Green Arches*
Poplar Hawk-moth
Dark Umber
Common Lutestring
Bright-line Brown-eye
Blood Vein
Grey Dagger
Common Carpet
Beautiful Hook-tip
Willow Beauty
Small Yellow Wave
Uncertain
Scalloped Hook-tip
Swallow-tail moth

Waved Black

Snout

Small Emerald

Catoptria pinella

Orange Footman, Dunbar, and Kent Black Arches

Herald

Dark Sword-grass

Blood Vein

Dusky Sallow

Beautiful Carpet

New year ticks

This is a great time of year to be on the look-out for moths. I found a herald while checking out our strawberry pot in the garden (no strawbs!).


And an example of Endothenia quadrimaculana was resting on a window of our house, even though no lights were on.


The Enarmonia formosana was indoors (probably flew in during the night).