We go for Gold at Bisley

There was an event on at Sheet's Heath this evening, which is a heathland/woodland site near Woking, right next to Bisley shooting centre. However, the forecast looked appalling, with the rain careering in around 10:00pm. I thought it was worth going just in case. It did cloud over around 9:00, as forecast, but incredibly, we just experienced one or two light showers, until we packed up at 1:00, with no threat to our electronics thank goodness. With the cloud cover at least temperatures stayed constant, although it had not been a hot day. We had four traps running, so normally I would be a little dissappionted with the numbers we got, but considering the forecast, I was happy with anything! As a matter of fact quality was very high, with several scarce species, and three lifers. These included two heathland specialists, with Dotted Border Wave, and the stunning Purple-bordered Gold, as well as three Plain Waves (I was surprised at how striking the latter was, being smaller than Riband, with clear dots, but faint lines).

6th July, Sheet's Heath;

Dunbar

Riband Wave

True Lover's Knot

Swallowtail

Brown Rustic

Double Square-spot

Suspected

Dark Arches

Clouded Silver

Coronet

Iron Prominent

Purple-bordered Gold*

Oak Nycteoline

Mottled Beauty

Poplar Grey

September Thorn

Smoky Wainscot

Elephant Hawk

Buff Arches

Narrow-winged Pug

Heart and Dart

Peppered Moth (including a carbonaria example)

Scarce Footman

Striped Wainscot

Flame

Willow Beauty

Light Emerald

Lesser Yellow Underwing

Marbled White-spot

Grass Emerald

July Highflyer

Pine Hawk

Pebble Prominent

Buff-tip

Uncertain

Purple Clay

Heart and Club

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Rustic

Plain Wave*

Silver Y

Common Footman

Dotted Border Wave*

Total: 44

carbonaria Peppered Moth

Suspected

September Thorn

Grass Emerald

Dotted Border Wave

Plain Wave

Purple-bordered Gold

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

Up on the Downs again

Another attempt at Pewley Downs last evening with Paul Wheeler gave limited success, despite the warm start. Don't get me wrong, plenty of nice moths were seen, but nothing new. Best was probably my second Clouded Brindle, Festoon, and Triple-spotted Clay (I still can't 'do' the latter!).

CORRECTION: In the blog entry for the Pewley Downs session on June 3rd, the Coronet I have labelled as Varied, is in fact a Marbled, which is a lifer!

Pewley Down, July 3rd:

Dark Umber

Brown Scallop

Brown-line Bright-eye

Cloaked Minor

Dunbar

Light Arches

Reddish Light Arches

Scarce Footman

Silver Y

Clay

Fan-foot

Riband Wave

Dusky Sallow

Heart and Dart

Heart and Club

Dingy Shears

Brimstone

Large Yellow Underwing

Clouded Silver

Swallow-tail

White Point

Pine Hawk

Buff Arches

Dark Arches

Double-striped Pug

Small Purple-barred

Coronet

Pretty Chalk Carpet

Common Carpet

Dark Sword-grass

Flame

July Highflyer

Elephant Hawk

Smoky Wainscot

Triple-spotted Clay

Mottled Beauty

Scalloped Oak

Festoon

Clouded Brindle

Clouded Brindle

Pine Hawk

Pretty Chalk Carpet

Small Purple-barred

Triple-spotted Clay

A Lunar-tics O-pinion

Conditions last night were not ideal, as it had not been a particularly warm day, and cloud cover was at a minimum. Some nice moths were caught in the garden however, including a few new for the year. Best was my second record of Lunar-spotted Pinion. Interestingly, my first record was on the very first night I ever trapped in the garden, two years ago to the day!

July 1st:
7 Dark Arches
6 Riband Wave
6 Rustic
4 Heart and Dart
4 Uncertain
3 Willow Beauty
3 Light Arches
3 Turnip
2 Mottled Beauty
2 Flame
2 Heart and Club
2 Dot Moth
1 Double-striped Pug
1 Lunar-spotted Pinion NFY
1 Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing NFY
1 Beautiful Hook-tip
1 Large Yellow Underwing
1 Mottled Rustic
1 Bird's Wing
1 Shears
1 Snout NFY
1 Minor sp.
1 Buff Ermine NFY
1 Garden Carpet
1 Bright-line Brown-eye NFY
1 Small Seraphim

Bright-line Brown-eye

Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing

Rustic (right this time?)

Buff Ermine

Lunar-spotted Pinion

More than a Little success in the garden

Back to the garden last night, where conditions were excellent, and I was relieved we didn't get the forecast thunderstorms. By far the best variety of the year to date included a Little Emerald which is new to the garden, along with a load of new for the years.

27th June:

14 Heart and Dart

10 Light Arches

9 Riband Wave

6 Rustic

5 Uncertain

5 Beautiful Hook-tip NFY

3 Buff Arches NFY

3 July Highflyer

3 Flame

3 Light Emerald

3 Dot Moth

2 Tawny-barred Angle

2 Mottled Rustic NFY

2 Minor sp.

2 Brimstone

2 Dark Arches

1 Fan-foot

1 Little Emerald NFG

1 Poplar Grey NFY

1 Iron Prominent NFY

1 Mottled Beauty

1 Engrailed NFY

1 Common White Wave

1 Heart and Club

1 Double-striped Pug NFY

1 Double Square-spot

1 Shuttle-shaped Dart

1 V-pug NFY

1 Brown Silver-line

1 Treble Brown-spot

1 Dunbar NFY

1 Willow Beauty

1 Common Lutestring NFY

Total: 33

V-pug

Engrailed

Buff Arches

Dot Moth

Double-striped Pug

Poplar Grey

Tawny Barred-angle

Little Emerald

Clay confusion at Norbury

Conditions were much better tonight, with the temperature still at 21C when we started trapping at Norbury Park at 9:30! A much more diverse catch than yesterday was achieved, although quality was slightly lacking, but we still had a great time. 60 macros were caught up to 1:00, with the best probably being several Triple-spotted Clays. Although, I think the comparison shot below shows two Double Square-spot (they looked very different at the time)!

Norbury Park, 25th June:

Yellow Shell

Mottled Beauty

Brown Scallop

July Highflyer

Burnished Brass

Riband Wave

Heart and Club

Snout

Treble Brown-spot

Common Marbled Carpet

Common Emerald

V-Pug

Minor Shoulder-knot

Rosy Footman

Flame

Double Square-spot

Large Yellow Underwing

Dark Arches

Double-striped Pug

Common White Wave

Light Emerald

Beautiful Hook-tip

Privet Hawk

Buff Footman

August Thorn

Triple-spotted Clay*

Dark Umber

Small Angle Shades

Iron Prominent

Brimstone

Beautiful Golden Y

Coronet

Light Arches

Peppered Moth

Brown Silver-line

Green Pug

Elephant Hawk

Dunbar

Flame Shoulder

Lobster

Heart and Dart

Reddish Light Arches

Rustic

Clouded Silver

Black Arches

Engrailed

Foxglove Pug

Treble Lines

Turnip

Short-cloaked

Common Wave

Uncertain

Brown Rustic

Swallowtail

Peach Blossom

Willow Beauty

Leopard

Great Oak Beauty

Satin Beauty

Short-cloaked

Festoon

Leopard

Privet Hawk

Coronet

Swallowtail

Clay comparison(?)

Cloaked in drizzle, but we Hook quality!

I went to Thursley Common last night for a mothing event with David Gardner. Bill was able to come, although it was a shame he had to leave early. Particularly as we had a great time, with only average conditions. In drizzly, cold weather, we got small numbers, but high quality from this top-notch site. I got three lifers, and a possible fourth. When the very first macro we saw was a Silver Hook, I knew we were going to do well! I managed to net this wet heathland specialist before dusk. During the night itself, we were also graced by the presence of a Cloaked Carpet, and a female Grass Wave amongst others. You can't beat mothing with a serenade of Nightjar churring (I got some great views too, as a male endeavoured to catch the moths before me)!

Thursley Common, 24th June (in order of appearance):

Silver Hook*

Treble Brown-spot

Double-striped Pug

Snout

Lilac Beauty

Grey Pine Carpet

Pine Hawk

True Lover's Knot

Marbled White Spot

Cloaked Carpet*

Heart and Club

Tawny-barred Angle

Mottled Beauty

Green Carpet

Middle-barred Minor

Brown Rustic

Smoky Wainscot

Beautiful Hook-tip

Lobster

Scalloped Hook-tip

Striped Wainscot

Barred Red

Riband Wave

Marbled Brown

Grass Wave*

Dunbar

Yellow Shell

Willow Beauty

Small Fan-footed Wave

Double Square-spot

Large Yellow Underwing

Small Seraphim

Possible Square Spot (it was much smaller than nearby Mottled Beauty)

(Forgotten the name of this micro!)

Beautiful Hook-tip

Striped Wainscot

Lilac Beauty and Barred Red

Scalloped Hook-tip

Grass Wave

Cloaked Carpet

Silver Hook

Clearwing success in the garden!

I had a very successful afternoon yesterday using the clearwing lures for the first time in the garden. I half heartedly hung my newly acquired 'VES' lure on a bamboo cane between two apple trees in the border at about 1pm, pretty much knowing that I wouldn't catch anything, and after 45 minutes of nothing I was ready to pack them away.

After unsuccessful sessions in Richmond Park and Denbies Hillside back in May, you can begin to imagine my surprise then when I went out to check the lure, and found an Orange-tailed Clearwing investigating the lure. This was the last thing I expected to find in the garden, being miles from any chalk, and may well be quite an interesting record. No sooner had I finished photographing it, an absolutely superb Yellow-legged Clearwing decided to join the party, soon followed by two more, rounding off a perfect afternoon.

The stars of the show...

Having a good old scratch behind the ear... err, I mean antennae...

Orange-tailed Clearwing in the hand... am I going too far?

Yellow-legged Clearwing...

A close up of that unique 'clear' wing...

Not quite as smart as the above Yellow-legged, but its still a clearwing, and any clearwing is a smart clearwing in my book!

Not a suitable activity for children below the age of 3...

Now for the hat-trick with Red-belted Clearwing in the next few weeks, or am I pushing my luck?