Saturday 11 June 2016

Moth Night Event

This morning I helped out in a small way with a Butterfly Conservation / Moth Night event for the public at the local BBOWT reserve, College Lake.


There are one or two micros that are still to be identified, but a good selection of moths, both brown and colourful, were available to interest the visitors.

This years Moth Night "theme" was Hawk Moths, and for once, the catch was well matched, with Privet, Poplar, Lime, Elephant, Small Elephant and Pine all available (the last named flew off before the ensemble could be completed).



New for my year list were Ghost Moth, Swallow Prominent, Broom Moth, Burnished Brass, Flame, Flame Shoulder, Brown Rustic, Marbled Coronet, Dark Arches, Shaded Pug, Puss Moth (a lifer!), Shark (also a lifer!), Lobster Moth, Bordered Pug, Figure of 80, Obscure Wainscot, Grass Rivulet and White Point - plus a bunch of micros...

Shark


Saturday 4 June 2016

This Week's Moths

My weekly 6W trap in the woods caught 25 moths of 13 species. 13 of these moths were Scoparia ambigulis, but the rest included a handful of new-for-year species including Common Swift, Diamond-back Moth (just the one in spite of what I understand is a massive fall over the last couple of nights) and Maiden's Blush.

My 15w garden trap last night did even better with 21 species (although still 25 moths due to just the one Scoparia). New for the year were Small Elephant Hawk-moth, Currant Pug, Heart & Dart, a dark form of Marbled Minor agg.,  Willow Beauty, Epinotia bilulana and Notocelia cynosbatella.

Upside-down Currant Pug on the kitchen window...