Saturday 30 August 2014

Quite a Quiet August

The garden trapping during the whole month of August has been very poor, and in common with many others, it really hasn't been worth putting the trap out most nights.

Looking back,I've caught a total of 66 species over the entire month, the best being new-for-garden species Lime-speck Pug and Small Square-spot and a single example of the migrant micro Cydia amplana, which was being reported from a lot of inland sites at the time.

To put that in context, at the start of the month, I did an all-night session with a friend at one of my work places, which happens to comprise 40-odd acres of woodland, grassland and fields, which caught 107 species. Best of those was probably the out-of-place Brown-veined Wainscot and also the start of autumn species like Rosy Rustic and Six-striped Rustic.

Another session yesterday at the same site produced around 55 species, with autumn definitely dominating proceedings with Centre-barred Sallow, Feathered Gothic and Frosted Orange all featuring, and Large Yellow Underwing in overwhelming quantities.

 Blood Vein
 Frosted Orange
White Point

Friday 1 August 2014

A Thorny Issue...

This week I have been mainly trapping in my garden, with reasonable results and a few new species for my year list, seeming to comprise of 2nd-generation moths.

This week's theme has been various "Thorn" species with Early, Purple, August, September, Dusky and Canary-shouldered varieties (the latter was actually in the bedroom, so a new one for the house list as well!)

Canary-shouldered Thorn

Other new moths for the year list include Orange SwiftChrysoclista linneella (a lifer for me), Tawny-speckled Pug and Pine Hawk-moth (first for the garden).

Chrysoclista linneella

The regular Thursday-night session in nearby woodland with the 6w light has produced Large Emerald and Dark Spinach.

Dark Spinach