Bits and Bobs...

First of all, apologies for the lack of updates from me this year. It's been a busy summer, with little time spent standing still! After coming off Fair Isle in late May, I was offered the chance to return as a volunteer at the island's bird observatory for a month- a dream opportunity that I was never going to turn down (feel free to have a read about my work on Fair Isle on my blog). Leaving Fair Isle in late July, I then headed over to California for a couple of weeks of sun, sea and beer. Poor me.

In between the travelling, I have kept an eye out for moths, even managing a few unusual ones...

It was a bit of a surprise when this Mother Shipton, a moth usually found in open grassland, literally dropped out of the sky onto the garden lawn whilst I was eating lunch back in early June...

This smart looking micro, Ethmia quadrillella, caught in the garden on 21st August, turned out to be the first record of the species for Surrey. It's a scarce moth, confined mainly to fens and wetlands towards the east of England, but also has a tendency to arrive in Britain as a migrant- explaining the few other records from counties along the south coast. This one arrived on the same night as my highest ever single migrant count of 14 Diamond-back Moths and a Silver Y.

Aristotelia ericinella, caught on the same night as the above. A heathland speciality, probably bred from cultivated heather in a nearby garden- as can be said for a few White-line Darts and a Heath Rustic also caught this summer.

It's been a poor year for Hoary Footman in the garden compared to previous seasons, with only three individuals caught (including this one), and a bad year for footmen in general with no records of Buff Footman, and more surprisingly no sign of any Common Footman. I have recorded Hoary as late as 15th October, so there is still time for a revival...

And finally, this Yarrow Pug from 23rd August took the garden moth list to 500 species!

I'm afraid this will most likely be my last update from north Surrey till at least the end of the year as I'll be moving in to Uni this Saturday! Cheers all for reading the blog. Keep it up!

Happy mothing!

Sheets puts on a Show

Conditions are fantastic just now, so perhaps I should expect large hauls, particularly from visits into the field.  Last evening, there was an event at Sheets Heath which is a young heathland and woodland site near Woking, next to Bisley shooting range.  Our last visit last year was excellent with some heathland specials.  In keeping with that, this nights trapping was brilliant with two lifers amongst other top species.  We had four traps going, but both of my highlights were in my trap, as first a single Hoary Footman appeared, and then a Scarce Silver-lines.

24th July, Sheets Heath:
6 Scalloped Hook-tip
3 Oak Hook-tip
2 Pebble Hook-tip
3 Buff Arches
3 Grass Emerald (including a specimen of the red form)
2 Large Emerald
3 Common Emerald
1 Maiden's Blush
1 Least Carpet
3 Dotted Border Wave
12 Small Fan-footed Wave
1 Single-dotted Wave
3 Riband Wave
3 Plain Wave
2 Common Carpet
3 Yellow Shell
1 Small Phoenix
1 Blue-bordered Carpet
4 July Highflyer
1 May Highflyer
3 Small Rivulet
1 Ling Pug
6 Narrow-winged Pug
1 Double-striped Pug
2 Small Seraphim
1 Clouded Border
3 Horse Chestnut
2 Brimstone
1 September Thorn
1 Early Thorn
1 Purple Thorn
1 Scalloped Oak
8 Peppered Moth (including examples of all three forms [normal, carbonaria, and intermediate])
3 Mottled Beauty
2 Engrailed
1 Common White Wave
2 Pine Hawk-moth
1 Poplar Hawk-moth
3 Elephant Hawk-moth
2 Iron Prominent
1 Pale Prominent
2 Yellow-tail
2 Black Arches
6 Rosy Footman
3 Dingy Footman
1 Hoary Footman
8 Scarce Footman
3 Buff Footman
2 Common Footman
1 White Ermine
3 Buff Ermine
1 Ruby Tiger
1 Flame Shoulder
2 Large Yellow Underwing
1 Lesser Yellow Underwing
1 LBBYU
8 True Lover's Knot
1 Double Square-spot
5 Beautiful Yellow Underwing
1 Clay
1 Minor Shoulder-knot
1 Miller
4 Suspected
2 Dunbar
3 Uncertain
1 Marbled White-spot
1 Scarce Silver-lines
1 Nut-tree Tussock
2 Spectacle
1 Beautiful Hook-tip
2 Snout
1 Small Fan-foot

Total: 72
Also, a bewildering array of micros!

Hoary Footman

Scarce Silver-lines

the red form of Grass Emerald

Beautiful Yellow Underwing

Still waiting...

Still waiting for my autumn fix of migrants, but there have been a healthy amount of interesting garden moths to make trapping in recent nights worthwhile. I also passed my 400th species of moth for the garden at the end of September, with an Acleris schalleriana to the porch light.

Hoary Footman seems to be doing very well in the local area, and this is the 4th individual I've caught this year, after no records at all last year. Its worn state can be explained by its very late appearance in the trap, on the 3rd October...

The distinctive pale hindwing...

Deep-brown Dart...

Barred Sallow, a classic autumnal species...

 Black Rustic...



Blair's Shoulder-knot...

Acleris schalleriana...

Home grown Spinach

Dark Spinach is a species I've never caught before, but on the 6th August, 3 decided to make an appearance in the garden. Unfortunatly, it hasn't managed to change my views about the green stuff...

White-point is another species I've never seen before, so it was nice to get this one in the garden trap on the 10th August. Despite its official migratory status, the moth is believed to now be resident in the South.

A second Hoary Footman visited on the 7th August, and I couldn't resist getting another shot of this scarcity...

And the micros...

Phyllocnistis unipunctella...

Ectoedernia decentella- just about the only leaf-miner moth that can actually be easily identified as an adult...

Caryocolum fraternella...

Notables from the Garden

A big improvement in night temperatures over the last few days has resulted in some real quality moths turning up in the garden trap.

It took all morning to identify this very worn little moth as the rare immigrant, Oak Processionary.  Males of the species have occasionally made the hop from mainland Europe, and more recently, larvae of the species is appearing in stretches of Oak woodland in the South, much to the disapproval of many wildlife authorities. The larvae, if present in numbers, can seriously damage Oak trees, and also release hairs that are highly irritable to the skin.

Small Ranunculus has been increasing its range in the South-east ever since it was re-discovered in Britain in 1997, so I guess it was only a matter of time before one turned up in the garden, but it was still a great surprise to walk out to check the trap and find one staring back!

Hoary Footman is another scarce species which is slowly spreading up from the coast, where it has until recently been confined to sea cliffs in the South-west. It is now established in various localities in Surrey, and I caught this individual in the garden on 31st July, a day before Jim Porter caught one just up the road in his Chessington garden.

And a comparison with the much commoner Scarce Footman (foreground)...

This well marked Tree-lichen Beauty on the 1st August represented the 3rd individual I've caught in the garden this year, of this recently established immigrant.

Waved Black, caught on 3rd August...

I thought Plain Pug was chiefly coastal, so it was a bit of a surprise when I caught this moth the other night. It turns out that the species is quite common in the suburbs of south London...



Caught on the Antlers of a dilemma

On the 17th August, I had a fantastic night in the garden. The variety was the best for some time with 89 moths of 33 species. These included one year tick, one overdue garden tick and a further brand new species to me, as well as a potential second. The most stunning was an Antler Moth, a species that perhaps wandered from the heathland. The new garden species was two Yellow Shell - long overdue. But, better than that was a possible Hoary Footman. I personally cannot rule out a worn Scarce, so I would like your opinions.
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17th August:

13 Dunbar

9 Shuttle-shaped Dart

8 LBBYU

7 Common Rustic sp.

6 Large Yellow Underwing

6 Copper Underwing

4 Vine's Rustic

4 Brimstone

3 Riband Wave

3 Svensson's Copper Underwing

3 Willow Beauty

2 Double-striped Pug

2 Yellow Shell NFG

1 Flame Shoulder

1 Small Rivulet

1 Maiden's Blush

1 Silver Y

1 Iron Prominent

1 Small Fan-footed Wave

1 Currant Pug

1 Common Carpet

1 Red Twin-spot Carpet

1 Yellow-barred Brindle

1 Turnip

1 Lesser Swallow Prominent

1 Cloaked Minor

1 Cabbage Moth

1 Pine Carpet NFY

1 Scalloped Oak

1 Antler Moth NFG

1 poss Hoary Footman NFG

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Pine Carpet
Antler Moth
Hoary Footman?
View of underwing (I had to put my finger on it for it to unfurl its wings)
Yellow Shell