Friday 20 June 2014

This weeks mothing

No big trips out this week; just what has turned up in my garden and the regular 6w woodland trap...

The best of the garden species have been Olindia schumacherana, Common Emerald, Small Dusty Wave, Dingy Footman and Purple Clay, which is new for my all-time garden list!

The woodland was quite active as well with Ghost Moth, Engrailed, Light Arches, Great Oak Beauty (not new or anything, just a great species :) ), Buff Tip and Satin Beauty (the first and last new for site).

Satin Beauty


Tuesday 10 June 2014

Anther week of decent weather...

During the last week, I have managed to run my garden trap more frequently, spurred on by the muggy nights. My catches are still tiny compared to some, but a few species new for the year or new for the garden have appeared, most pleasingly a Red-necked Footman. Others included Small Magpie, Green Silver-lines, Treble Brown-spot, Grey Pug, Light Emerald, Large Yellow Underwing, Silver Y and a daytime Small Fan-foot.

Red-necked Footman

Also, a two-trap session on a private woodland/farmland site yielded just over 100 moths of just over 50 species, including male and female Ghost Moth (although not from the same part of the site; maybe they'll now meet!), Garden Pebble, Sandy Carpet, Small Elephant Hawk-moth, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Green Arches, Light Brocade, White Point, Dark Arches and Burnished Brass. Later on the same site, I was able to add Burnet Companion to my year list.

Burnished Brass
Small Elephant Hawk-moth

Monday 2 June 2014

Lots of Moths!

The last week or so has seen a dramatic increase in my moth sightings for the year, partly down to a large trapping session in my local woodland site, which added a couple of lifers to my list in the form of Mother Shipton and Alder Moth.

Even my normal 6W light in the same woods for GMS collected 14 species, including new for the site year list Pebble Hook-tip, Spruce Carpet, Green Carpet, Tawny-barred Angle, Lobster Moth and Buff Ermine.

Lobster

Over the last few days, and especially last night, my garden moth catch has improved a lot, although I expect this will be a blip, given the return of the wet weather from tomorrow. 

Anyway, a first-for-garden female Ghost Moth was a nice addition to my GMS trap, and last night several new for year species included White-spotted Pug, Green Pug, Middle-barred Minor, Heart & Dart, Ingrailed Clay and Buff-tip.

Ghost Moth