End of week catch up - Part 1

Phew! What a manic few days. A trap every night (Thurs-Fri-Sat-Sun) and some bits of nature thrown into the weekend have meant that I have a lot to say, but don't want to bore you too much. So I'll give a summary of what I've caught/seen and hope you enjoy it!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday 24th May

Thursdays trap was good (21 moths of 14 species) with a few more macros turning up, but still dominated by micros. One of the macros was one of my favourite moths - The Chinese Character. I love these guys as they fly in totally unassuming, white with a couple of dark patches but then once the land - boom - they transform into a bird-dropping!! It's amazing! True evolutionary camouflage at its best surely? I tried to get a photo of it with wings outstretched but it wouldn't co-operate, so I took this pot shot instead.

A few other macros from the list included this Common Swift (left) and Small Rivulet (right). Both of these are regular on the garden but it's great to see them after all this horrid weather!

The only new species (I'm hoping!) is this bromzy coloured micro which I have my fingers crossed is Emmetia marginea. If anyone can offer any advise I'd be much appreciated, I'm waiting on a reply from the smart-mothers at Back Garden Moths. (EDIT: I was correct with my id, so that's another new moth for the garden list!)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday 25th May

The weekly Scouts drop-off left me with a couple of hours to kill, and the choice between Garganey at Attenborough Nature Reserve or two Black Terns at Branston Gravel Pits. Both birds are desirable but I decided to go for the Black Tern simply due to the location. Now I've tried to find other birds at BGP but the closest I've ever got it Branston Water Park. And this is clearly not the same place (or even anywhere near?) I wandered round the Water Park and down the canal to Tatenhill Lock and then walked west between two pools and came to a load of fields. No more water! And defintely not even a sniff of Black Terns. I did however see a few moths, and the Carpets were out in force. Green Carpet, Common and Silver-ground Carpet (both new for the year) were along the hawthorn hedges along with this suspected Water Carpet (it will be my first, so if anyone can confirm then I'd be eternally in debt - in a moth-sense. EDIT: Again the nice folk at BGM have confirmed my id. We're doing well this year!!).

Friday night saw more good conditions for the moths (although if I dare to say this it could do with being a bit cloudy, sharp intake of breath from the audience!) so I put the trap out again. A bit of an experiment ensued when I used the 80W MBF bulb with the Skinner trap but the results weren't quite as I'd expected them (14 moths of 11 species) but then the cooler night time temperatures probably lead to the smaller catch. The highlights were this Muslin Moth (left) and another Mompha subbistrigella (right) a tiny little micro that I've caught three out of last three traps.

Part Two to follow - with news of a much more successful trapping session at Carr Wood and a surprise find in a friends backgarden!

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