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