Massive night in the garden

Last night, I decided to run my 80W MV bulb on my trap all night. And boy was it worth it!

I've got a bunch of  pots in the fridge yet to be identified, but with the things I have done 115 moths of 51 species.

One lifer, a few new for the year list (NFY), a few new for the garden year list, and a few new for the all-time garden list (NFG).

Ash Bud Moth (Lifer)
Green Pug (NFY)
Clouded Silver
Elephant Hawk-moth (NFY)
Buff-tip
Lobster
Pebble Prominent (NFY)
Figure of Eighty (NFY and NFG)
Beautiful Golden Y
Beautiful Hook-tip
Double Square Spot (NFY)
Flame Shoulder
Straw Dot (NFG)
Marbled White-spot (NFG)
Small Fan-foot (NFY)
Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix

Figure of Eighty

Lifers!

A great night's two-site trapping session in a couple of local woodlands. In total, we caught over 200 moths of 65 species, using a 50W MV and 20W actinic - not too bad I thought especially given recent catches!

I won't list everything, just the highlights, which for me usually means species either new for the site, the year (NFY), or all-time (Lifer).

Agapeta hamana - NFY
Brown China-mark -NFY
Green Oak Tortrix - NFY
White-pinion Spotted
Light Emerald - NFY (over 40 individuals!)
Large Yellow Underwing - NFY
Spectacle
Small White Wave
Small Yellow Wave - Lifer
Nutmeg - NFY
Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix - NFY
Perinephela lancealis - NFY
Blotched Emerald - NFY
Treble Brown Spot - NFY
Mottled Beauty - NFY
Coronet
Bird's Wing - Lifer
Beautiful Golden Y

Bird's Wing

...and a wet week

The weather really hasn't been good this week in Bucks, although hopefully things will pick up over the next week. Please??!!!

The garden trap has been pretty much empty, although most of what has bothered to show up has been new for the year, including Riband Wave, Clouded Brindle, Uncertain, Snout, Ingrailed Clay, Small Magpie and Olindia schumacherana (a lifer!). That list makes things look a lot better than they were!

Olindia schumacherana

Also checked the weekly trap and security lights at the local woodland burial park, which is proving a most productive spot. This weeks highlights were Pretty Chalk Carpet, Rustic Shoulder-knot, and Gold Swift (another lifer!)

Gold Swift

Oh dear :(

The calendar says that summer has started, but the number of moths appearing at my trap over the weekend suggest otherwise. Lets hope that the coming week is a bit more productive; it's not particularly warm but at least it's dry!

On Friday night, a new species for the garden year list in my GMS catch with a well-hidden Buff Ermine, and last night's only moth was at least a new one for my total year list - Ingrailed Clay.

Ingrailed Clay

100 species!!

Last night was a half-century of moths and also it produced my 100th garden species of the year.

I had sent off a bunch of micros to an expert for identification, and the results came back yesterday evening, adding 6 to my garden year list, and 7 to my life list (some came from other South Bucks sites).

I was so pleased to get my first garden hawk-moths of the year, in the shape of a brace of Small Elephant Hawk-moths. Since this species includes Rosebay Willowherb amongst it's food plants, I shall leave my fruit cage unweeded this year...

The trap was rather colourful in fact with the yellow of a Brimstone and the bright green of 3 Green Silver-lines. The rest were not so bright, but the new species were:

Small Elephant Hawk-moth
Udea olivalis
Peppered Moth
Codling
Heart & Club
Coronet
White-spotted Pug

Small Elephant Hawk-moth

Still Improving!

A catch of over 40 moths of over 20 species last night was far and away the best of the year so far, and included 7 species of carpet, and a few new-for-year species.

The species new for this year's garden list are as follows:

Celypha lacunana
Pale Mottled Willow
Willow Beauty
Spectacle

Pale Mottled Willow

More lifers!

Things have been busy on the moth front in the chilterns, although not quite as busy as was hoped!

I attended an trapping event with a few experts on Saturday night, in beech woodland close to Stokenchurch. It had been exceedingly wet all day, and the drizzle continued on and off into the night, but there were at least some moths around, including a couple of lifers for me. A few were taken away for proper id...

New moths for my year included:

Map-winged Swift (Lifer)
Hypochalcia ahenella (Lifer)
Purple Bar
Foxglove Pug
White-pinion Spotted
Clouded Silver
Small Elephant Hawk-moth
Common Wainscot
Marbled White Spot
Beautiful Golden Y
Straw Dot

My garden produced a reasonable haul last night as well (again, expectations are considerably diminished at the moment!). Quite a few species which were new for my garden year list:

Incurvaria ohelmanniella
Pebble Hook-tip
Foxglove Pug
Freyer's Pug (new for all-time garden list)
Middle-barred Minor
Green Silver-lines

Foxglove Pug