The calm before the storm?

The report is from Thursday's catch - a bit belated due to other commitments. Can you believe that moths don't take precidence!!

I decided to give my BLB bulb another test, the conditions seemed pretty much the same as Tuesday...until about 5pm when from nowhere the wind started blowing. However, I continued with my plan but this actually led to a slightly smaller catch. It would be nice to be able to test the bulbs side-by-side for a fair result, but I don't have multiple traps (yet!) or the garden size/neighbours to make this justifiable!

Still one thing is clear, the BLB seems to pull in the goodies when it's used. Dark Arches certainly put on a much better show than the previous two traps with 21 in the trap.

The best of the night was undoubtedly my first ever Purple Thorn. The bizarre resting position gave it away immediately as it waited for me at the trap-side in the morning. The only other new species for me was this Mompha propinquella. Had me stumped for a while so many thanks to Peter Krischkiw on back-garden-moths for this id.

Other nice moths from Thursday included this Grey/Dark Dagger agg. which has turned up twice so far this year but it is such a finely-detailed moth that it was nice to find another. I was also very pleased to spot a small underwing zipping round the light. I followed it as it flew close then away from the light but eventually succumbed to the attractiveness of the BLB! By the morning I had managed to attract two of these - Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings. I enjoy catching these as they're not quite as beligerant as their big cousin, the Large Yellow, and are much more photogenic too!

Here is another moth which appears to have missed my garden last year, but this individual is the sixth for 2011 - Agapeta hamana is such a splendid colour too. Another moth that managed a return was Agonopterix heracliana. This is a very unassuming little micro which hasn't been seen since April. It can be confused with a couple of other similar moths but I think this is the more common of the genus.

And finally...
What the devil is this? It was small, 13mm in length, and the lovely rusty colour is how it looked in real life. It also had a bit of a sheen to it. There has been the suggestion that it may be Rosy Minor, but I've no experience with this species so I'll leave it a bit longer and see what else I can find out. Any comments would be welcome?

Catch report for Thursday 28th July 2011 - 71 moths of 27 species (13 micros; 14 macros)
Agapeta hamana
Agonopterix heracliana
Agriphila straminella x 2
Agriphila tristella x 3
Bee Moth
Brown House-Moth x 2
Bryotropha terrella x 2
Bud Moth
Chrysoteuchia culmella
Clay
Common Rustic agg x 9
Dark Arches x 21
Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix
Dipleurina lacustrata x 4
Eudonia mercurella x 2
Grey Dagger
Heart and Dart x 3
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing x 2 (New for Year)
Marbled Beauty x 3
Mompha propinquella (New for Me)
Mottled Rustic
Purple Thorn (New for Me)
Riband Wave x 2
Rosy Minor (TBC - New for Me if it is this species)
Shuttle-shaped Dart x 2
Smoky Wainscot
Willow Beauty

Sunday night I'm on a camping/moth trapping trip to Chatsworth Park with Ian G from Derby. It's looking like the weather is going to be perfect, so I'm hoping to boost my moth list and get some more experience of different types of trapping. I don't know who's more excited me or my little boy!?! Stay tuned for details and (hopefully) some great photos...

A pair of Rubies mark the change

At last a decent catch! The weather looked good all day, and held out into the evening with a cloudy sky, virtually no breeze and (all important) no rain, so no worrying about the electrics.

There were quite a few new moths for the year plus a couple of new moths for me, so it was a very pleasing result. Although most of the interesting moths were micros so as they say "the devil is in the detail" my family aren't quite as excited when I show them Acleris forsskaleana as opposed to an Elephant Hawk Moth.

One of the moths that did impress was the Ruby Tigers. They're not the first for this year, I had my first garden record back in June, but they are one of those moths that make you stop and take a third look, especially when you flip it over and it shows its red underside!

This Cloaked Minor (left) was a new macro for the year, this photo is a record shot and will be updated tomorrow when I've got a bit more time! A return of this lovely Common Carpet - not seen since May. Although as their name suggests they are common they are so delicately marked and deserve a mention. In actual fact they're not quite as common in my garden as the Garden Carpet (if you follow that?).

This Acleris forsskaleana is a garden first, however this is not a new species for me as I did catch one last year elsewhere. Still nice to get it in the garden but not as good as this Apotomis betuletana which is new for me!

Possibly one of the smallest moths I've caught, but certainly one that comes with some nice colour is this new Batia lunaris. This little guy was no bigger than 6mm and certainly took some patience to photograph, and I don't have forever to wait for it hence the awful pot-shot! I caught 3 of these Acleris (right)last night after never having seen them before, so obviously there was a hatch somewhere close by last night! The only problem is that it's one of those difficult species that cannot be identified without having a look at its bits, so this will go down as Acleris laterana/comariana.

Finally this delicate little fella is a Yellow Shell, another new for the year. Amazing how many moths have such delicate, intricate colouration. One of the things I never realised about moths before I started on this bizarre nocturnal journey!!

Catch report for 26th July - 144 moths of 54 species (32 micros; 22 macros)

Acleris forsskaleana x 2 (New for Garden)

Agapeta hamana x 2

Agriphila straminella x 7

Agriphila tristella x 5

Apotomis betuletana ( New for Me)

Blastodacna hellerella x 2

Bright-line Brown-eye x 2

Brown House-Moth

Bryotropha affinis

Bryotropha terrella x 2

Batia lunaris (New for Me)

Bud Moth x 2

Campion x 2

Catoptria pinella

Celypha lacunana

Celypha striana

Chrysoteuchia culmella

Clay x 2

Clepsis consimiliana

Cloaked Minor (New for Year)

Codling Moth

Coleophora sp?

Common Carpet

Common Rustic agg x 5

Common Wainscot

Dark Arches x 17

Dipleurina lacustrata x 12

Double Square-spot

Dun-bar

Eudonia mercurella x 5

Gold Triangle

Heart and Dart x 5

Large Yellow Underwing x 6

Marbled Beauty x 12

Marbled Orchard Tortrix

Neosphaleroptera nubilana

Orthopygia glaucinalis

Pseudargyrotoza conwagana

Red-barred Tortrix

Riband Wave x 7

Ruby Tiger x 2

Scoparia ambigualis

Shuttle-shaped Dart x 4

Single-dotted Wave

Small Fan-footed Wave

Small Phoenix

Acleris laterana/comariana x 3 (New for Me)

Teleiodes vulgella x 3

Twenty-plumed Moth

Udea lutealis

Uncertain x 2

Willow Beauty

Yellow Shell (New for Year)

Ypsolopha scabrella x 2

Svensson rears his head

After Saturdays poor showing, the weather was a little more 'mothy' with much less wind, but still clear skies so numbers were improved but not amazing. There was a much better showing of the micros, which are usually the first to vanish as soon as the wind gets too strong. A couple of these were new for the year and this one was new for me - Bryotropha senectella.

One of the highlights was another of this plume that's causing me a spot of bovver at the mo! It was a different individual (the one from Saturday is still sitting in its pot in the fridge) but it's a difficult moth to photograph due to it's sitting position. I'm still waiting on a definitive answer between Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla and S. milleridactyla....EDIT: This is S. milleridactyla

However, the real headscratcher came when I turned over one of the eggboxes to reveal a Copper Underwing. This moth comes as two species, which are extremely similar and very tricky to separate. Last year I lost my patience with trying to separate them and put them down as Copper Underwing (agg). However, after reading some guidance on the matter over the winter, some clever chappie came up with a feature using the palp colour. In Common Copper Underwing the palps are pale brown, whereas in Svensson's Copper Underwing they are dark chocolate brown with an obvious white tip. So began my attempt at trying to photograph my moth head on, trying to zoom in on its mouthparts!! The results are below and I'm pretty confident that this one is Svensson's Copper, which I'm chuffed about pinning down! (EDIT: Just read a post on Essex Moths that the palp theory isn't 100% reliable, but when used in combination with hindwing colour and inner cross-line projection, I'm still confident that mine is Svensson's!)

Other goodies from last night included the first this year of an amazing little micro - Carcina quercana (not easy to say after 4 pints of best!). This moth is a true riot of colour, and if it was more than the size of a 5 pence coin it would be the dream of all moth-ers, I'm sure! It gets it tongue twister of a name after the Greek for crab (which it sort of resembles, particularly when viewed from underneath) and its larva tend to prefer oak trees.

Another cracking micro that is pretty tricky to get wrong is Catoptria pinella. I've caught 4 in total this year with two turning up last night. I also got my second Small Dotted Buff, a better marked individual than my garden first a few nights ago. This Cherry Fruit Moth is the first for my garden after catching one last year elsewhere. Finally, one moth that needs a mention even though it's fairly common and very pretty is this Clouded Border. Nice!

Catch report for Sunday 24th July - 68 moths of 38 species (19 micros; 19 macros)
Agriphila straminella x 2
Agriphila tristella x 4
Agriphila/Crambus sp?
Blastodacna hellerella
Brachmia blandella
Brimstone
Brown House-Moth
Bryotropha senectella
Carcina quercana
Catoptria pinella x 2
Celypha striana
Cherry-fruit Moth
Chrysoteuchia culmella
Clay x 2
Clouded Border
Common Rustic agg x 4
Common White Wave
Crambus pascuella
Dark Arches
Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix
Dipleurina lacustrata x 6
Double Square-spot
Eudonia mercurella x 7
Flame
Heart and Dart x 3
Large Yellow Underwing
Marbled Beauty x 4
Red-barred Tortrix
Scalloped Oak
Scoparia ambigualis x 2
Shuttle-shaped Dart x 2
Single-dotted Wave x 2
Small Dotted Buff
Smoky Wainscot
Stenoptilia milleridactyla
Svensson's Copper Underwing
Udea prunalis
Uncertain x 3

Is it really July?

Another fairly disappointing night with an indication of how few moths I could expect in the morning as only 10 moths were potted before I called it a night at 2330hrs. Normally I can manage about 30! I think the large gusty breaths of fresh air would have kept things clinging on for dear life, rather than paying me a visit. So I guess it's the best I could manage!

However, having said it was disappointing there are always highlights and this time the trap yielded my first two Clay for the year. The one on the left was a tatty little devil, so obviously they've been around for a while. The guy on the right looked pretty fresh and much more easy to id!

One of my favourite moths turned up last night too - Buff Arches. One moth that I never fail to find fascinating. It's colour and patterns are truly beautiful, and I cannot fathom how evolution gave it these amazing ornamentations!

Left is a moth that I think I must have overlooked last year due to it's tiny size, but I've caught 3 this year so far. It is a nicely marked little guy called Bryotropha domestica, but is little bigger than the nib of my pen!  This plume moth to the right is causing me a little confusion. There has been a couple of options put forward on back-garden-moths.co.uk. Either Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla or S. milleridactyla. I initially thought it was the regular Emmelina monodactyla, but it was much smaller and doesn't seem quite right. I'd appreciate anyone with experience of these species putting their ideas forward!

Catch report for Saturday 23rd July - 38 moths of 20 species (8 micros; 12 macros)

Agriphila straminella
Bryotropha domestica
Buff Arches
Clay x 2 (New for Year)
Common Rustic agg
Currant Pug
Dark Arches x 10
Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix
Dipleurina lacustrata
Stenoptilia sp. (potentially New for Me)
Eudonia mercurella x 3
Heart and Dart x 4
Marbled Beauty
Nutmeg
Riband Wave
Shuttle-shaped Dart x 4
Swammerdamia pyrella
Uncertain
White-shouldered House-Moth
Willow Beauty

Much more still tonight, so I'm going to try again and see what a difference it makes. However, have just noticed that one of the neighbours has lit a huge bonfire and my garden is downwind!

Not much of a birthday bonanza

My little boy's 10th birthday on Thursday! But the moths definitely didn't come out to celebrate with us. Although in fairness it wasn't a great night for the winged creatures....temperatures were relatively low (certainly early in the morning) and the sky was clear.

This was reflected in the slightly lower numbers, with only 68 moths of 27 species caught. I did get these two Small Fan-footed Wave which are new for the year. I only caught two of these last year so to get these two in one trap was good to see.

Here are a few of the other moth highlights. They include this Campion which I always enjoy catching simply because it's a cracking looking moth! I also had a reccurence of the Shuttle-shaped Dart, with two in the trap. These are the first I've had since April/May so I assume they are second generation? You can really see the 'shuttles' on this one. In addition to several of the commoner micros (Scoparia ambigualis/Dipleurina lacustrata/ Eudonia mercurella/Agriphila straminella) I caught this worn crambid. At first I thought it was Crambus lathionellus but now I'm thinking Catoptria falsella.

The Scarce Footman is becoming a regular at the trap just lately, I've caught at least one in most traps I've done for the past week or so. As is the next moth, this Scalloped Oak. Only ever a solitary visitor however. The last one is another puzzler...Currant or Wormwood Pug. Again any comments would be very welcome!

Full catch report for Thursday 21st July 2011
Agriphila straminella x 3
Bee Moth
Brimstone x 3
Campion
Catoptria falsella (New for Year)
Chrysoteuchia culmella
Clepsis consimiliana x 2
Common Rustic agg x 2
Common Wainscot
Currant Pug
Dark Arches x 14
Dipleurina lacustrata x 6
Dun-bar
Eudonia mercurella
Garden Carpet
Heart and Dart x 4
Large Yellow Underwing x 3
Marbled Minor agg.
Pale Mottled Willow
Riband Wave x 5
Scalloped Oak
Scarce Footman
Scoparia ambigualis x 2
Shuttle-shaped Dart x 2
Small Fan-footed Wave x 2 (New for Year)
Uncertain x 5
Willow Beauty x 2

Let's see what tonight brings?!?

Oh...and the birds did disappear as predicted! Frustration keeps me on my toes...

Giving it a go...the results

There are some moths that when you catch them for the first time, after poring through the moth book picking them out, make to hold your breath as you pot them up and save them for their photoshoot. Species like Elephant Hawk-Moth, Chocolate-tip, Green Silver-lines, Buff-tip - all these moths had me skipping round the garden like some crazy moth-induced rain-dancer. So with the anticipation fairly high for last night's trap results I began slowly turning the eggboxes over.

"What cracker did you find?" I hear you ask. What beauty graced my garden last night??

This little fella, not so much a knock-out...more of an over-looker. But in its defence, the Small Dotted Buff did have a very charming trap manner (it didn't try and get away for starters!) and upon further investigation whilst photographing him I discovered that it has a pearlescence found in only a few of the moths species I've caught so far (Mother of Pearl being the prime example of this oystershell-type of colouration). So this little shiny brown chap goes down as number 323 in the Thorpe garden and in addition to this first.

I also had two new for the year - this Udea prunalis, a dull looking micro which as it's name suggests is closely associated with blackthorn (of which there are plenty above my trap) and four Common Wainscots. I was a little dubious as I checked them off to start with, but after photographing all five wainscot species that I caught last night, I decided that only one of them was a Smoky.

I also had my 2nd garden Gold Triangle, although it wouldn't sit still for it's photo and I eventually lost it in the conservatory somewhere! Hopefully it'll turn up in a day or two ready to pose properly. So here's a picture of my first garden record caught on 15th June 2011.

Other stars of the show were this Shaded Broadbar, Light Arches, and Mother of Pearl.

All in all not a bad catch - 95 moths of 38 species (18 Micros; 20 Macros)

Agriphila straminella x 3
Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix
Bright-line Brown-eye x 3
Brown House-Moth x 2
Bryotropha terrella x 2
Bud Moth
Celypha lacunana
Celypha striana x 2
Clepsis consimiliana
Common Rustic agg
Common Wainscot x 4 (New for Year)
Crambus lathionellus
Crambus pascuella x 3
Dark Arches x 11
Dipleurina lacustrata x 8
Double-striped Pug
Dun-bar x 2
Eudonia mercurella x 6
Fanfoot
Flax Tortrix
Garden Carpet
Gold Triangle
Heart and Dart x 10
Large Yellow Underwing x 2
Light Arches
Marbled Beauty
Mother of Pearl
Nutmeg
Riband Wave
Scoparia ambigualis x 6
Shaded Broadbar
Small Dotted Buff (New for Garden)
Small Dusty Wave
Smoky Wainscot
Swammerdamia pyrella x 3
Udea prunalis (New for Year)
Uncertain x 6
Willow Beauty

Giving it a go...

I think tonight could be a fairly good moth night tonight. Temperatures don't look like dropping too low, cloud cover is good for now but likely to clear, wind is due to drop later on. We'll see what happens and post back tomorrow!

Bad timing

Why do the good birds always seem to turn up when I don't have the time to go see them?

A Marsh Sandpiper has taken a liking to one of my favourite East Yorkshire sites, Blacktoft Sands, along with a Spoonbill, Spotted Redshank, and Wood Sandpiper. A Spotted Sandpiper has been at Rutland Water for the last few days, both species I've only ever seen once. Both turned up whilst I was away on the Isle of Wight last week, I haven't had the time to see them this weekend and don't have time this week due to my boy's birthday preparations.

How much shall we bet that they both disappear on Friday afternoon??

This moth is always Poplar

Getting a Hawk is always a heart-thumping moment, so it was great to see the year's second Poplar Hawk in the trap this morning. And a lovely fresh one at that. This is only the 3rd for the garden too, so a nice surprise to find. I do love it's fantastic anti-predator colouration which doesn't quite go as far as the brazen Eyed Hawk but remains subtle and matches the rest of it's delicate grey smokiness. I was pleased at capturing its 'face' in the photo of it perched on my finger. A real classy moth!

I have to report the sad demise for a new garden micro I'm afraid. I got so excited at seeing a Caloptilia species land on the perspex that I was a bit too heavy handed in potting him up...and managed to squish him slightly. As the photo shows it was only minor body damage but it was enough to finish the poor guy off! Still he goes down with the great accolade of being a Ripley garden first - you may be gone, but you will always be in our thoughts Caloptilia stigmatella...RIP.

Other good moths for the night were year firsts of Small Phoenix, Common Rustic and Mother of Pearl in addition to the second Ruby Tiger of the year (albeit rather battered) and Early Thorn.
There was also a distinct lack of the terrible twosome - Heart and Dart & Dark Arches.










The full list consists of 58 moths of 35 species (16 Micros/19 Macros)

Agriphila straminella x4
Bee Moth x2
Blastodacna hellerella
Brown House-Moth x2
Cabbage Moth
Caloptilia stigmatella (New for me)
Campion
Celypha lacunana x2
Celypha striana
Chrysoteuchia culmella x3
Clepsis consimiliana
Common Footman
Common Rustic agg x3 (NFY)
Dark Arches x5
Dipleurina lacustrata x3
Double Square-spot
Dun-bar
Early Thorn
Eudonia mercurella x2
Heart and Dart
Large Yellow Underwing x3
Marbled Beauty
Marbled Minor agg.
Mother of Pearl x2
Neosphaleroptera nubilana
Poplar Hawk-Moth
Ruby Tiger
Scalloped Oak
Scarce Footman
Scoparia ambigualis x3
Small Phoenix (NFY)
Smoky Wainscot
Twenty-plumed Moth
Uncertain x2