End of week catch up - Part 2

Continued from last nights post
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Saturday 26th May - Carr Wood
I could hardly contain my excitement when I organised to go down to Carr Wood, considering that the weather looked like it was going to be good (a little cooler than the rest of the week but still warm) and also because the garden had started giving lots of year ticks. The previous two times we've trapped there have been fairly uneventful, giving us new ticks for the Wood but nothing unexpected.
We were joined by two members of the Amber Valley Council who brought down with them some bat detectors. So we set up the traps by 2115 and went down to the pond to join them watching the Pipistrelles catching midges between the trees. We counted up to five but there could have been more they're so blooming fast!
We lit the traps up at 2145 and straight away picked up plenty of flies and some sort of rove beetle(?). The moths weren't far behind with Common Swift the first to fall into the MV. The activity was pretty constant, every few minutes or so, so we were kept pretty busy. At 2300 as me and Ross from the council stood watching the trap, a Lime Hawk-moth dropped like a plane, bounced once off the lamp and fell straight into the trap! You can imagine how excited me and Jordan were! And this wasn't the only good moth of the night. Ross potted up a Grass Rivulet, which is new for me, and three tortrix turned out to be Capua vulgana, another newbie! The excitement kept us going till just after midnight and when we had packed up the traps and were sat writing up our findings by torchlight I noticed an orangey-coloured moth flitting about. I potted it up...and it was a Clay Triple-lines - another new for me!! Brilliant. Can't wait till National Moth Night to run another trap. If you fancy coming along then please send me an email!

Grass Rivulet

Unknown Stigmella species?

Clay Triple-lines

Final tally:

80W MBF Robinson-style trap		15W Actinic - 117W CFL Combo Skinner-style trap
Caloptilia syringella	3
Capua vulgana	2	Capua vulgana	1
Clay Triple-lines	1
Clouded Silver	1
Common Pug	5	Common Pug	6
Common Swift	2
Cork Moth	1	Cork Moth	2
Flame Carpet	1
Garden Carpet	2	Garden Carpet	1
Grass Rivulet	1
Green Carpet	2
Lime Hawk-moth	1
		Nematopogon swammerdamella	1
Scalloped Hazel	2	Scalloped Hazel	1
Shuttle-shaped Dart	1
		Silver-ground Carpet	1
Stigmella sp.	1
		Tinea trinotella	3
		Twenty-plumed Moth	1
White-shouldered House Moth	1	White-shouldered House Moth	1

Moth Yearlist is finally coming along nicely with 69.

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Sunday 27th May

A wander down to the River Amber with Jordan and a fishing mate this afternoon meant basically a few hours in the field both staring at a rod waiting for it to snap into action, and staring around the field/river looking for all things naturelle. A Kingfisher flew past us twice, and a Great Spotted Woodpecker called from a dead tree not too far off. Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were singing, Demoiselles played in the nettles by the rivers edge, with the males doing circular flights around the female as she sat on the vegetation. Also found plenty of these Ramsons (I think?).

It was another gorgeous day and thoughts were already turning of moth-trapping again!

However before that, another friend texted me from their barbecue with a photo and the title "ID Please!" I opened it and found an Eyed Hawk-moth staring back at me. I quickly texted her back and she told me that the boys had found it in the Apple Tree and it was resting in a Wisteria. Five minutes later and Jordan had it in his hands! Awesome!

The trap went out again on Sunday night, with some more good results but I've run out of time (again) tonight, so I'll add that info to tomorrow's post.