Bank Holiday Blues

After having scouted round a few of the blogs I follow, I'm going to start off with a recurring theme...that of the weather being so poor that I haven't really done much at all. But this does give me time to update the blog with the results from the trapping session at Carr Wood on Saturday and then back in the garden last night (despite the rain!).

Carr Wood trapping was not exactly a thrill a minute, but it was certainly very interesting. It was the first time that I'd trapped by myself (but I had help from my non-mothing brother and my very-eager-moth-er son) and all went very smoothly, although it was generally agreed that carrying the generator to the same spot next time was not going to happen! The thing is so damn heavy that I'm going to either need some wheels or invest in my own (smaller) genny. Other than that we had no bother. One guy did walk his dog past us, and after watching him cast his eyes over the wooden boxes, petrol can, sheets and then across to us three stood round looking sheepish I assumed that he'd ask us what the hell we were up to. But he just said "Hello" and carried on past!

On to the moths...We ran 1 x 80W MV and 1 x 15W Actinic/20W CFL combo and the MV lost by 6 moths to 9. Not a great total, but the temperature dipped from 10C to 7C by 2200hrs, at which point it started to rain so we decided to pack up at 2230hrs. 15 moths in just under 2 hours isn't that bad going for a new site. And I'm confident that some warm weather and a bit more growth will bring us a much bigger haul.

Moth list was:
Common Quaker x 6
Hebrew Character x 2
Clouded Drab x 1
Twin-spotted Quaker x 1
Chestnut x 2
Diurnea fagella x 1
Agonopterix heracliana/ciliella x 1
Agonopterix arenella x 1



Twin-spotted Quaker

Diurnea fagella



Agonopterix arenella (new for year)

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8th April 2012 - Garden

Due to the imposing rain clouds, and predicted downpours, I decided to run the Actinic/CFL combo (and also because it out-performed the MV last night!) and not risk blowing my new MV bulb up. I left it out all night, and crossed my fingers that it wouldn't rain too badly before 6am. But it did, quite a few millimetres actually but fortunately the hardy bulbs didn't give up and I ended up with a very bedraggled 7 moths.

Hebrew Character x 3

Early Grey x 2

Twin-spotted Quaker x 1 (did it follow us home from Carr Wood?)

Agonopterix heracliana/ciliella x 1

Looks like there won't be much action this week either as the temperatures are set to stay pretty low during day and night! Well, just have to look forward to sunnier times. After all we're ready for this rain (that's what my parents keep saying anyway!)

Heralding good times

27th March 2012
A firm favourite, since my interest in moths took over my life, arrived at the trap last night - this stunning Herald. A first for me after missing one at work a couple of years ago. It was resting on the shed wall, and was one of those "be careful while getting very excited about potting it up" moments (I realise that is quite a niche moment of excitement, in general circles, but I feel I'm among friends here!)



This March Moth is new for 2012. I caught 5 of these boys last year, all in March so it has a very accurate name. They have this fabulous way of rolling the wings tightly around their body when they come to rest. The photo, regretably, doesn't show this moth off to it's greatest potential. It has some very subtle patterning with white flashes at the ends of the wings, and delicate creamy undergarments.



 And finally we come to this little teaser! It's either my 3rd Chestnut or my 1st Dark Chestnut. Which one is your money on? It's being investigated my the helpful people at Back Garden Moths, so hopefully there'll be an answer soon, although I suspect it may be one of those 'cut his bits off' jobs, and we'll never know for sure.






Trap contents were 14 in total, the second highest so far this year. Adding to the total were the second Twin-spotted Quaker for the year, Double-striped Pug (getting quite regular now), and 4 x Early Grey, plus the usual Orthosia. Still no Quakers though. What's happened to them all? Maybe the weather is too warm for them. Is that possible?

Moth Yearlist = 20



Blame the weatherman

15th March 2012

After a week of cold mornings I was hopeful for Thursday night. Whichever weatherman I listened to they said it was going to be a nice day, warm temperatures and a warm night. What did we wake up to? The thickest fog all year and a daily maximum of 9 degrees! I debated about putting out the trap, but then I had been looking forward to it all week, so I decided to try it. By 10pm I'd not had a sniff, so I was very doubtful about the mornings success.

However, just to prove me wrong I did have a few moths to pot up. Three species in all, and all three new for the year, of course.

These two Twin-spotted Quakers were a nice find as I've only caught two other individuals before.

I've never seen one with the rusty coloured marking across the middle before.

 Next were two Common Quakers, a common species in the garden but such lovely markings when they're nice and fresh like this.
And of course the last one had to be the Clouded Drab. I managed three of these and the variability of their colours can be seen in the photos of the three of them together below right.

So not quite as bad a night as I was expecting. 7 moths of 3 species. Not a big catch but certainly a sign of things to come...