The new girl on the blog...

I was very flattered to have been asked to join the blogging team here at Surrey Moths.  I am very much a newbie to mothing having only been running a trap since last August.  Indeed, prior to last August, I had absolutely no knowledge of moths whatsoever and certainly no idea moths could be quite so fascinating!  

So here we are in 2012 and already the mothing world is being turned upside down, or slightly sideways at least, by the early emergence of some species.  Even here in deepest Wimbledon, where moths have not been as numerous as they might be, I am getting a few out of season flyers.  The tally so far this year is:-

2 Chestnut
4 Spring Usher
2 Mottled Umber
1 Pale Brindled Beauty

Then the fun ones......

1 Hebrew Character

 1 Red-green Carpet

 

Please excuse the rubbish photograph but this one that I thought was quiet after a night in the fridge flew before I could get a decent shot!  I still have a lot to learn when it comes to photographing moths!

Late news

I've had some records back from 2011 as I saved some specimens for dissection, which Graham has kindly now done. By coincidence, I had two new garden ticks, both on the same day in May.

One, cream wave, was in a bad way when I found it - not worth a photo. The other was a micro which is one of the hard-to-ID Scoparia species, in this case basistragalis.

Spring Ushered?

If only, but it was a great start to my garden trapping year in the garden. This will be the first year I attempt to use the MV trap regularly in the garden, that's until the neighbours complain!

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Never having trapped in the winter before, I was hoping of at least a garden tick of Winter Moth. None of those amazingly, but I did get that garden tick in the form of a Spring Usher, but despite getting an early Common Quaker as well, I wouldn't regard it as a sign of spring just yet!

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9th January:

2 Chestnut

1 Common Quaker

1 Spring Usher NFG

1 Pale Brindled Beauty

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Spring Usher

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Pale Brindled Beauty

late post

I'm afraid I haven't been doing much mothing recently, partly due to strange work schedules but also feeling the effects of last year's health crisis. (It's ironic that I did far more mothing when I was on sick leave than since I went back to work full-time!) But I thought I'd stick a couple of photos on here for the record.

These photos have been taken over recent months... they are all common except for Argyresthia cupressella, which is the only photo ever taken of this species in Surrey (and I apologise that it's not that great - my camera is reaching the top end of its resolution on a moth that is only 6mm long). How do I know that it's the only photo? Because the moth has only been recorded four times in Surrey, and all the records were in my garden! Incidentally, look out for Smaller moths of Surrey - the ultimate guide to Surrey's micros, which should be out in 2012. I've seen some of the photo plates and they look good!

Speckled wood

common blue


six-striped rustic


oak lutestring


feathered gothic


Argyresthia cupressella

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...

Spot On + Crescent and Correct

SPOT ON

Despite the brilliant-looking conditions in recent days, trapping in the garden has been largely disappointing, particularly for numbers. There has been a little bit of quality here and there however. Not least a brand new species to me on the 2nd, a Brown-spot Pinion.

Aggregate list for 30th September, 2nd and 3rd October:

8 Common Marbled Carpet

6 Large Yellow Underwing

4 Sallow NFY

3 Spruce Carpet

3 Yellow-line Quaker NFY

2 Grey Pine Carpet

2 Lesser Yellow Underwing

2 Large Ranunculus

2 Lunar Underwing

1 Snout

1 Svensson's Copper Underwing

1 Copper Underwing

1 Barred Sallow

1 Garden Carpet

1 Red-line Quaker NFY

1 Brown-spot Pinion NFG

1 Chestnut

Yellow-line Quaker

Sallow

Grey Pine Carpet

Brown-spot Pinion

CRESCENT AND CORRECT

Last night was Paul Wheeler's last Pewley Down session of the year, and with the forecast for complete cloud, we were hopeful. As it turned out, the cloud cover was quite thin, and often broken, so as a result numbers were a little disappointing. But, some top quality was caught, including a lifer for me, a stunning Green-brindled Crescent. Also lots of variable Beaded Chestnut (only my second sighting).

4th October, Pewley Down:

Large Ranunculus

Beaded Chestnut

Autumnal Rustic

Red-green Carpet

Barred Sallow

Lunar Underwing

Willow Beauty

Yellow Shell

Brown-spot Pinion

Silver Y

Common Marbled Carpet

Green-brindled Crescent*

Snout

Setaceous Hebrew Character

Dark Sword-grass

Burnished Brass

Beaded Chestnut (pale example)

Brown-spot Pinion

Green-brindled Crescent

Autumnal Fant-Rustic!

I have hardly trapped at all this autumn. We had a couple of warm nights a fortnight ago, but due to various reasons, I could not trap, which was rather frustrating. I managed to trap once last week, but the result was fairly poor, with just one true autumn species, a Lunar Underwing. However, with the weather taking a turn for the warm, I trapped last night and it was a brilliant haul. I got almost all the autumnal species I expect to get during the period in one go! Best was a brand new species to me, of a gorgeous Autumnal Rustic, which was much smaller than I expected.

September 26th:

12 Large Yellow Underwing

5 Lunar Underwing

3 Snout

3 Common Marbled Carpet

3 Svennson's Copper Underwing

3 Copper Underwing

2 Large Ranunculus NFY

1 Brimstone

1 Square-spot Rustic

1 Grey Pine Carpet

1 Spruce Carpet

1 Oak Nycteoline

1 Setaceous Hebrew Character

1 Pink-barred Sallow NFY

1 Black Rustic NFY

1 Barred Sallow NFY

1 Brindled Green NFY

1 Autumnal Rustic NFG

Pink-barred Sallow

Lunar Underwings (variation)

Large Ranunculus

Brindled Green

Black Rustic

Barred Sallow

Autumnal Rustic

Jersey Mocha- first for Surrey

After a tantalising wait for the results, my mystery Mocha from the garden was finally confirmed this afternoon by the CR, Graham Collins, as the first record for Surrey of Jersey Mocha!

Classed as a rare immigrant at the moment, its certainly one to look out for in the coming years, as it starts to establish itself in Cornwall and the south coast.

I assume word has already been leaked to the media, so expect a full front page article about the sighting in tomorrow's national newspapers ;-)

August catch-up

For the last couple days, all garden moths have been over-shadowed by the appearance of a very interesting looking Mocha in the garden trap back on the 29th August. It shows all the features of the rare immigrant Jersey Mocha, and would be a first record for Surrey. I'm just waiting to send the moth off to Graham Collins, and hopefully it's true identity will be determined very soon so watch this space!

In the meantime, here are a few moths from the second half of August...

Oak Processionary, in better condition than the first a few weeks ago. Caught on 23rd...

Angle-shades, only my second ever...

This stunning Ypsolopha sequella was caught on the 18th...

A tiny micro moth, Stenolechia gemmella, caught on the 21st...

Pewley - the Centre of activity

The last session at Pewley Downs this year happened last night, and conditions were pretty good. Individual numbers were pretty impressive in three traps, with Square-spot Rustic making up the bulk of the moths. Feathered Gothic was also numerous with 20 in my trap alone. Nothing that unusual, but it was nice to get an Orange Swift, and a Centre-barred Sallow. And, it wouldn't be a trip to Pewley without a Lace Border (a small individual of the second generation).

1st September, Pewley Downs:
Large Yellow Underwing
Vine's Rustic
Treble Bar
Purple Bar
Straw Underwing
Feathered Gothic
Square-spot Rustic
Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
Setaceous Hebrew Character
Green Carpet
Angle Shades
Brimstone
Centre-barred Sallow
White Point
Lime-speck Pug
Willow Beauty
Snout
Shuttle-shaped Dart
LBBYU
Common Marbled Carpet
Riband Wave
Dark Arches
Common Wainscot
Barred Rivulet
Turnip
Six-striped Rustic
Copper Underwing
Common Carpet
Flame Shoulder
Orange Swift
Spectacle
Lace Border

Centre-barred Sallow

Orange Swift