Here pussy, pussy, pussy.....

I knew as soon as I put the light on yesterday evening, that I was in for a great catch.  It was a very hot day, and cloud was just forming overhead.  The cloud may not have stayed around all night, but it was still warm enough for just a T-shirt when I closed down the trap just before first light. 

When I close down the trap, I stuff the entrance with kitchen towel, so I can put the trap in the shed, and open it up later in the day after work.  This has always worked fine, but those little devils that are Cockchafers were able to push out the paper this morning!  As a result, a few moths got away, and got lost in the piles of garbage in the shed.  Who knows what was there, but I should definitely not complain! 

The reason being that despite not quite as many moths as I expected (26 sp), I did manage to get two brand new species, and a further new one for the garden, an amazing result!  Amongst these was a long sought-after species as far as I'm concerned - a Puss moth.  Result!  The other brand new one was a single Grey Birch, and the garden tick was another Birch feeder - a Birch Mocha.  I also got a striking micro, Acleris literana.

23rd May:
9 Mottled Pug
3 Shuttle-shaped Dart
3 Brimstone
2 Common Wave NFY
2 Small Seraphim NFY
2 Light Brocade NFY
2 Common Pug NFY
1 Puss Moth NFM
1 Birch Mocha NFG
1 Narrow-winged Pug
1 Shears
1 Yellow-barred Brindle
1 Silver-ground Carpet NFY
1 Red Twin-spot Carpet
1 Tawny-barred Angle NFY
1 Poplar Grey NFY
1 Pebble Hook-tip NFY
1 Red-green Carpet NFY
1 Grey Birch NFM
1 Garden Carpet
1 Minor sp. (prob Marbled) NFY
1 Spruce Carpet NFY
1 Brindled Pug
1 Pebble Prominent
1 Iron Prominent NFY
1 Flame Shoulder

Plus loads of unidentifiable Pugs (prob mostly Mottled)!

Puss Moth

Spruce Carpet

Common Pug

Minor sp (prob Marbled)

Light Brocade

Small Seraphim

Red-green Carpet

Poplar Grey

Pebble Hook-tip

Grey Birch

Tawny-barred Angle

Common Wave

Silver-ground Carpet

Birch Mocha

 

Acleris literana

Like a Phoenix from the fire

It seems the warm weather is finally here, and with a little cloud cover about, I set the trap last night. Numbers were surprisingly down on the last couple of nights, but the quality was pretty good. Best was my first confirmed Phoenix for the garden, although it got away before I got a photo! A few others new for the year in addition, included a fantastic Buff-tip.



1st June:
17 Heart and Dart
4 Dark Arches
3 Minor sp.
2 Treble Brown Spot NFY
1 Buff-tip NFY
1 Treble Lines
1 Mottled Pug NFY
1 Small Seraphim NFY
1 Bird's Wing
1 Broken-barred Carpet NFY
1 Phoenix NFY
1 Ingrailed Clay
1 Vine's Rustic
1 Grey Pug NFY

Treble Brown Spot

Small Seraphim

probable Grey Pug

Bird's Wing

Broken-barred Carpet

Buff-tip

Recent Year Ticks

My last few trapping sessions in the garden have yielded relitively low numbers, but I have managed to get quite a few new moths for me and for the garden.

My year list now stands at 125 (quite low, but bear in mind I wasn't trapping till April and only trapping once a week till June), with the recent additions of...

• Black Arches
• Blackneck
• Mottled Beauty
• V-Pug
• Small Seraphim
• Rosy Footman
• Wax Moth
• Catoptria falsetta

Black Arches- aka smiley face moth (look at the neck)...

Blackneck...

Small Seraphim...

V-Pug...

Wax Moth...

Catoptria falsetta...

Mega moths!

Wow, what a night, this is what mothing is all about.

I woke up at 4:00 this morning, expecting the trap to be full of water! Amazingly, this area avoided the rain, but got the moths. The final tally of 93 moths of 41 species is massively bigger than anything before, and it took me a couple of hours to sort them out. There were also plenty of Cockchafers and Ichumen wasps in the trap too, and that certainly made the rumage interesting!

The couple of brand new species to me were Broken-barred Carpet and the Seraphim, but there were also loads of new-for-gardens and new-for-years.

5th June:

12 Heart and Dart
9 Common Marbled Carpet
5 Mottled Pug
4 Brown Silver-lines
3 Oak-tree Pug
3 Shuttle-shaped Dart
3 Peppered Moth
3 Flame Shoulder
3 Scorched Wing NFG
3 Green Carpet
3 May Highflyer
3 Common Pug
2 Brimstone
2 Spruce Carpet
2 Minor sp.
2 Heart and Club
2 Buff-tip
2 Pale Prominent
2 Red Twin-spot Carpet
2 Orange Footman
2 Maiden's Blush
2 Light Brocade
2 Flame NFY
2 Treble Lines
1 Small Phoenix
1 probable Grey Pug NFG
1 probable Seraphim NFG
1 Coxcomb Prominent
1 Grey Pine Carpet
1 Small Serphim
1 Alder Moth
1 Coronet NFY
1 V-Pug NFY
1 Spectacle
1 White Ermine
1 Snout NFY
1 Ingrailed Clay
1 Flame Carpet
1 Marbled Brown NFG
1 Broken-barred Carpet NFG
1 Rustic NFY
1 White-spotted Pug

V-Pug

The Flame

Small Seraphim

probable Seraphim

Scorched Wing

Rustic

faded Red Twin-spot Carpet

Minor (probably Marbled)

Marbled Brown (honestly!)

Coronet

Broken-barred Carpet,

Thunder!!

Last night was a bit mad – my biggest catch of the year by a distance. No doubt thanks to the thundery conditions. I woke at 4.20 a.m. and it took me till about 10 a.m. to sort out my catch (with a pause for breakfast!). 48+ species.
I’ve still got a load of micros to sort out but this is my provisional list:

Large yellow underwing
Brown silver-lines x2 nfy
Willow beauty nfy
Straw dot x5 nfy
Orange footman x2
White ermine z9
Pale tussock x5
Green carpet x2
Heart & dart x2
Treble lines x4 nfy
Flame-shoulder x2
Celypha lacunana x6

Poplar hawk
Shoulder-striped wainscot
Agapate hamana x 4 nfy

Middle-barred minor x2 nfy
Flame nfy
Flame carpet x3
Bee moth nfy
May highflyer x3
Common marbled carpet x3
Clouded silver x 5
Buff-tip nfy

Alder kitten nfy

Sharp-angled carpet
Scorched wing x2 nfy

Epiphyas postvittana nfy
Broken-barred carpet 3
Blood-vein
Pale oak beauty x2 nfy

Snout nfy
Common swift x2 nfy


Oligia sp. nfy
Common wave 2
Peppered moth nfy
Green silver-lines nfy
Common rustic agg nfy
Psyche casta nfy

Light emerald x2 nfy
Brimstone x2
Dark sword-grass
Poplar lute-string nfy
Engrailed nfy
Ingrailed clay nfy
Small seraphim New species for me!

Small phoenix nfy
Maiden’s blush nfy.
Ingrailed clay nfy
Freyer’s pug nfy

Small seraphim nfy