A Peach of a Catch in the Garden

Conditions looked pretty good last night, with entire cloud cover and little rain forecast.  It was slightly wrong in that it rained almost all night!  But, with the rain guard in place, it caused little problems, and in fact I think proved that it is very much worth trapping in these conditions (as long as you can protect your equipment!).  I got the biggest number of individuals, with 105, since Small Quaker-gate, and the second most diverse catch of the year with 40 species (140 of 55 if you include micros).  Amongst these were 13 year ticks, which is unsurprising considering I haven't trapped in the garden for two and a half weeks for various reasons.  I did get one garden tick too in the form of an overdue Peach Blossom.  Also my second Four-dotted Footman. 

13th July:
11 Heart and Dart
11 Large Yellow Underwing
10 Minor sp.
6 Riband Wave NFY
6 Dark Arches
6 Uncertain
4 Flame Shoulder
3 Buff Ermine
3 Light Emerald
3 Flame
3 Double Square-spot NFY
3 Heart and Club
3 Snout
2 Garden Carpet
2 Peppered Moth
2 Spectacle
2 Elephant Hawk-moth
2 Swallow-tailed Moth
2 Clay NFY
2 Light Arches NFY
2 Dot Moth NFY
1 Buff Arches
1 Four-dotted Footman
1 Peach Blossom NFG
1 Green Silver-lines NFY
1 Beautiful Golden Y
1 Rustic NFY
1 Burnished Brass NFY
1 Buff-tip
1 Small Angle Shades
1 Green Pug
1 Poplar Hawk-moth
1 Clouded Border
1 Scorched Wing NFY
1 Common Rustic sp.
1 July Highflyer NFY
1 Turnip NFY
1 Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing NFY

Micros (* = lifer):
13 Chrysoteuchia culmella
9 Dipleurina lacustrata
2 Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix
2 Crambus perlella
2 Bramble-shoot Moth
1 White-shouldered House Moth
1 Diamond-back Moth
1 Celypha lacunana
1 Batia lunaris
1 Acleris quercana
1 Crambus pascuella
1 Agriphila straminella
1 Argyresthia brockeella
1 Codling Moth * (incredible considering I have always put the trap under an Apple tree!)
1 Ypsolopha parenthesella *

Peach Blossom

Four-dotted Footman

Clay

Dot Moth

Light Arches

July Highflyer

Scorched Wing

Green Silver-lines

Ypsolopha parenthesella (I think, please correct if wrong)

All's Rosy, as I find the Red-neck of the Grove

I thought it might be worth popping up the road yesterday evening to a small woodland called Holmen's Grove, as its a previously (as far as I know) unsurveyed site.  According to the forecast, there would only be a small window of oppurtunity between the clear skies and the heavy rain, but I thought I may as well give it a go for an hour or two, as the habitat looked really nice (Nightingale and Woodcock present for instance).

The cloud cover was there as forecast, but incredibly, I got to 12:30 with no rain.  This leant itself to a quality night for moths, and boy was it.   I had to pack up early, as I had work the next day, but I would have stayed longer if I could.  As it was, I was woken up at around 4:00 by the rain lashing down outside!

There was a constant stream of moths towards the end of the session after a slow start.  I managed three macro lifers, including a stonking Red-necked Footman!  The others were a very worn moth that I am pretty confident is a Brindled White-spot, and three Rosy Marbled.  I was delighted I was able to pick out the latter without first taking a skim through the micro book!

A few micro ticks were got too including Brown China-mark, Dipleurina (was Eudonia) lacustrana and Ptocheuusa paupella.

20th June, Holmen's Grove (* = lifer):
2 Grey Pine Carpet
6 Common Swift
11 Scorparia ambigualis
5 Straw Dot
3 Brown Silver-line
3 Celypha lacunana
1 Emmetia marginea*
4 Green Oak Tortrix
1 Willow Beauty
2 Brown China-mark*
4 Mottled Beauty
2 Udea olivalis
2 Green Carpet
1 Nematopogon metaxella*
2 Tinea semifulvella
1 Large Fruit-tree Tortrix*
1 Ptocheuusa paupella*
1 Beautiful Hook-tip
2 Small Seraphim
1 Bramble Shoot Moth
4 Light Emerald
3 Common Carpet
1 Middle-barred Minor
1 Beautiful Golden Y (pristine specimen!)
2 Orange Footman
2 Common White Wave
1 Scalloped Hook-tip
2 Spruce Carpet
1 Scorched Wing
1 Common Marbled Carpet
1 Blood Vein
1 Red-necked Footman *
1 Epinotia demarniana*
1 Brimstone
1 Poplar Grey
1 Agapeta hamana
2 Purple Clay
1 Peach Blossom
1 Red-barred Tortrix*
1 Setaceous Hebrew Character
1 Maiden's Blush
1 Fan-foot
1 Blotched Emerald
1 Peppered Moth
2 Small Angle Shades
1 Marbled White-spot
1 Dwarf Pug
1 Foxglove Pug
3 Rosy Marbled*
1 Brindled White-spot*
1 Dipleurina lacustrana*
1 Carpatolechia proximella*
1 Lobster Moth
1 Satin Lutestring
1 Flame
1 Barred Yellow
1 Ingrailed Clay
1 White Ermine
1 Holly Tortrix
1 Dusky Brocade
Total: 59

Red-necked Footman

Rosy Marbled

Brindled White-spot (it was more confincing in the flesh, honest!)

Brown China-mark

Blood Vein

Purple Clay no. 1

Purple Clay no. 2 (decent shout for Square-spotted Clay?)

Peach Blossom

Oak-tree Pug (it was tiny!)

Dipleurina lacustrana

Thats what mothing is all about!!

Brockham leaves me speachless

What an incredible night, I don't have any superlatives left. I went trapping at Brockham Quarry near Dorking last night with David Gardner, hoping to get some chalk specialists.

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I must admit I expected there to be a few moths, including lifers, at this honey-pot site on a warm night, but I was not prepared for the onslaught we experienced. To seasoned moth'ers, this was probably only an above-average night at best, but for me it was incredible, with 65 macros recorded by the end of the night.

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In the end, I managed to see seven new species, including some specialists such as Reddish Light Arches and Galium Carpet. Nice to get a visit from only my second Privet Hawk-moth too. Plenty of pretty micros were seen as well, such as Oncocera semirubella.

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By morning we got (* = lifer):

3 Brown Rustic

2 Common Carpet

6 Brimstone

5 Riband Wave

8 Mottled Beauty

10 Willow Beauty

3 Barred Yellow

3 Beautiful Hook-tip

2 Common Emerald

9 Light Emerald

4 Peach Blossom

1 Small Yellow Wave*

7 Coronet

2 Flame Shoulder

5 Common Marbled Carpet

5 Fern*

2 Marbled White Spot

4 Pretty Chalk Carpet

1 Mullein Wave

2 Large Yellow Underwing

1 Small Phoenix

1 Privet Hawk-moth

1 Clay

2 Buff Arches

3 Double Square-spot

2 Currant Pug (as well as a large amount of unidentified pugs!)

1 Setaceous Hebrew Character

1 Common Wainscot

2 Clouded Brindle*

1 Reddish Light Arches*

3 Treble Brown Spot

2 White Ermine

1 Lobster

2 Dark Arches

5 Heart and Dart

1 Swallow-tailed Moth

1 Middle-barred Minor

1 Light Feathered Rustic*

2 Green Carpet

4 Grey Arches

1 Lilac Beauty

1 Purple Clay

1 Uncertain

2 July Highflyer

1 Shears

1 Silver-ground Carpet

1 Barred Straw

1 Orange Footman

1 Treble Lines

1 Galium Carpet*

3 Peppered Moth

2 White-pinion Spotted

1 Short-cloaked Moth*

2 Mottled Rustic

3 Purple Bar

5 Common White Wave

2 Clouded Border

1 Clouded Silver

2 Scarce Footman

4 Common Wave

1 Heart and Club

1 Marbled Minor

1 Small Blood Vein

3 May Highflyer

1 Green Pug

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Small Yellow Wave

Short-cloaked Moth

Oncecera semirubella

Reddish Light Arches

Privet Hawk-moth

Peach Blossom
Mullein Wave
Lobster Moth
Light Feathered Rustic
July Highflyer
Galium Carpet
Fern
Common Emerald
Clouded Brindle