Wednesday was a big one!

A brilliant night - the weather looked threatening and heavy but despite the potential for a thunderstorm I put the trap out with the Actinic and 117W CFL. I guessed right too, as the moths were coming from the moment I turned on the lights at 10pm! The final tally was 69 moths of 30 species and with them came a new micro for me, which I'm just waiting for confirmation as Dichrorampha acuminatana. New for the years came in the form of a cracking Peppered Moth, a very flighty Small Dusty Wave, Epiblema trimaculana, and Bryotropha affinis. After picking up my first Mottled Pug in the last trap I caught 6 this time, I think you could call that a pug explosion? Common Swift also came in good numbers with 7 being caught, 4 males and 3 females.

possible Dichrorampha acuminatana

Epiblema trimaculana

Bryotropha affinis

Flame Shoulder

Small Dusty Wave

Small pug species

Something strange? Can't figure out this is

And finally, this tiny 3-4mm long creature which at first I thought was a moth, but now having photographed it - I'm not so sure. If anyone knows what it is I'd be most grateful for your ideas!

Moth Yearlist total = 86 - the May total of 68 is quite down on last years 87, so I suspect the cold April has a lot of influence into May too. Individual moth numbers were also down with 299 this year compared to 362 in 2011, and trapping days down - 11 traps this May and 16 last May.

As far as the sugar-water experiment is going you can see that the trick seems to be working for the micros again. Never last year would I have expected to get any of the those three micros to sit still outdoors long enough to snap it! These species were the only ones I'd fridged up plus two that didn't respond to the sugar water (Small Dusty Wave - hence the horrid potshot, and Silver-ground Carpet enjoyed the sugar water but refused to flatten his wings out, had his fill and then started flitting round in the pot - so no photo).