It seemed so perfect...

28th February was one of those days that just seemed like the right conditions to put out the trap. It was cloudy and humid all day, the temperature got up to 13C and stayed at around 11C all night, only very slight breeze fro mthe SW. So why didn't more come to my trap??
Three moths were caught, well two were caught and one was sat on the shed door waiting for me in the morning. All three were new for the year, which is good. This puts me on 4 x Macros and 4 x Micros.

The first to the trap was Endrosis sarcitrella. Common, yes. But it was my first for the year, so here it is.

Next to arrive (but I had to wait a further 3 hours!) was this nice Amblyptilia acanthadactyla. I got several of these last year but they're always interesting to see!

Finally, as I was packing the trap away in the shed, I spotted this Emmelina monodactyla sitting waiting for me to photograph it on the door.

Slowly, we are getting there!

Green with envy

Thursday night conditions were pretty perfect for mothing, not many nights are spot-on but this was one. So I was gutted that I'd not had chance to replace the broken Actinic and had to use the BLB again. I knew I wouldn't get as many moths, it doesn't seem to have the 'pull' that the actinic does but it did manage to produce 2 new for the garden...one of which was a real stunner!

This Scarce Silverlines was potted just before I went to bed, and as it was flapping around in the pot, I initially thought it was an Emerald species. But when it stopped and showed me the lines on its forewings I couldn't think what it could be. It also has pure white hindwings which none of the emeralds have so I went to bed in confusion. In the morning it had settled into this position and I knew straight away what it was! And it completes the Silverlines duo, after catching its hairier cousin - Green Silverlines - earlier this year.

This is my second newbie of the night - Agriphila inquinatella. Not quite as stunning as the Silverlines but equally as welcome in my garden! I got 5 of them altogether, so I guess there must have been a hatch of them. I'm really getting into the micros this year, my eye for details seems a bit sharper so the smaller moths are really tumbling onto the garden list.

This little plume - Amblyptilia acanthadactyla - turned up too. This is a slightly more well marked plume, although the photo isn't great. This is the second one for the year. This Square-spot Rustic (right) is a new for the year.


I also caught a Copper Underwing, and after being very bold about this species and the very similar Svensson's Copper Underwing a few post ago, I'm retracting all my confidence! I read a post on Ben Sale's blog Herts and Essex Moths in which he explains that most of the external features about this species pair are pretty much unreliable. So all my Coppers have been relegated to Copper Underwing agg....until someone comes up with a fool proof way of spotting Svensson's!

Catch report for 11th August 2011 - 97 moths of 32 species (16 micros; 16 macros)
Acrobasis consociella
Agriphila inquinatella x 5 (New for Me)
Agriphila straminella x 12
Agriphila tristella x 3
Amblyptilia acanthadactyla
Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix
Brown House-Moth x 3
Bryotropha domestica
Bud Moth
Common Carpet
Common Rustic agg x 9
Copper Underwing agg.
Currant Pug
Dark Arches x 4
Diamondback Moth
Dipleurina lacustrata x 6
Garden Carpet
Large Yellow Underwing x 14
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
Marbled Beauty x 6
Red-barred Tortrix
Riband Wave
Ruby Tiger
Scarce Silverlines
Scoparia ambigualis
Shuttle-shaped Dart x 3
Small Rivulet
Square-spot Rustic
Stenoptilia bipunctidactyla
Udea lutealis x 2
Willow Beauty x 10
Ypsolopha scabrella

Out again tonight (Saturday) with a NEW ACTINIC BULB!! Looking good so far!