Cloaked in garden, success!

The weather was not great again last night, but I thought a garden trapping might be worth it. Despite reasonably low numbers, my decision to trap was vindicated, as a Cloaked Carpet was in there, which is new to the garden. This is my second ever after seeing my first at Thursley 10 days ago. This is also only my second 'Notable-B' for the garden (other Horse-chestnut).

July 4th:

10 Rustic

6 Uncertain

5 Dark Arches

3 Light Arches

3 Riband Wave

2 Mottled Beauty

2 Willow Beauty

2 Bird's Wing

2 Double Square-spot

1 Beautiful Hook-tip

1 Minor Shoulder-knot NFY

1 Cloaked Carpet NFG

1 Small Seraphim

1 July Highflyer

1 Flame Shoulder NFY

1 Poplar Hawk NFY

1 Flame

1 Heart and Club

1 Purple Clay NFY

1 Bright-line Brown-eye

1 Dunbar

Flame Shoulder

Minor Shoulder-knot

Poplar Hawk

Cloaked Carpet

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.
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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

A-knot of cloud brings a very Varied catch

Two nights ago was staggering, with lots of cloud and only a little rain.

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I got exactly the same number of species as my best night ever (6th June - 42), but with three less individuals, but I am definitely not complaining! I managed three brand new species to me which were Varied Coronet, Miller, and Minor Shoulder-knot, as well as a couple more new for the year. It was also surprising to smash my previous Hawk-moth total, with four Elephants!

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2nd July:

7 Heart and Dart

7 Riband Wave

6 Flame

5 Dark Arches

4 Willow Beauty

4 Mottled Beauty

4 Elephant Hawk-moth

4 Light Emerald

3 Marbled White Spot

3 Heart and Club

3 Dot Moth

3 Coronet

2 Double Square-spot

2 Light Arches NFY

2 Fan-foot

2 Clouded Border

2 Pale Mottled Willow

1 Miller NFG

1 Dagger sp. NFY

1 Peppered Moth

1 Sycamore

1 Minor Shoulder-knot NFG

1 Barred Red

1 Uncertain

1 Spruce Carpet

1 Grey Pine Carpet

1 Clay

1 Varied Coronet NFG

1 Common White Wave

1 Minor sp.

1 Poplar Grey

1 Green Pug

1 Common Emerald NFY

1 Snout

1 Buff Arches

1 Dunbar

1 Garden Carpet

1 Foxglove Pug

1 Purple Clay

1 Common Lutestring

1 Bird's Wing

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Species recorded in the garden this year: 142

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The other day I was in a woodland near me when I found this curious Light Emerald. It looks like it has just emerged and is pumping up its wings, but the thing is, that I found it on an overhanging branch quite high up, and I thought they pupated underground. I am really not sure what has happened here:

Dagger sp.

A fresh Willow Beauty

Light Arches

Common Emerald

Miller

Minor Shoulder-knot

Varied Coronet

Summer is Here

It was mad around the trap this morning. I got out into the garden shortly after 4 a.m. It was still dark enough for a few moths to be flying around, thanks to the cloud cover. But it was 14deg C and many of the moths in the trap were very active. I did my best to check them out but inevitably lots flew away as soon as I lifted the lamp away from the top of the trap. I covered the trap with a towel and headed for our garden shed. At least I have a chance of recatching some of the ones that fly off in there. I didn't try to count the moths as I wanted to concentrate on IDing as many species as possible before I lost them. I reckon there could have been 500 in all but I must have lost about 100. Even so I had 20 new macro species for the year and umpteen micros - many of which I'll have to ask the ever-patient county recorder to look at. But there were certainly quite a few new for the year among them.

I didn't photograph every species - the day is not long enough but here are some (not all are new for the year - and I don't have common footman or bright-line brown-eye here):
varied coronet


Treble Brown Spot


Dingy Shears


Smoky Wainscot (note dark hindwing)


Small Angle Shades


Rosy Footman


Pale Oak Beauty


Minor Shoulder-knot


Double Square-spot


Common Emerald


Burnished Brass


Blue-Bordered Carpet


Blotched Emerald


Barred Yellow


Beautiful Golden-Y


Barred Straw