A slightly milder night on the 22nd allowed for some mothing. It's been quiet lately due to the weather, but as I write this it looks that we're in for some good evening temperatures and only slight breezes. Autumn keeps dropping a few of it's moths in my trap - this evening it was the turn of Blair's Shoulder-knot and Red-green Carpet to grace my egg boxes! The Red-green didn't want to hang around for a decent portrait, so I apologise (but not much!) for the terrible pot-shot.
Blair's has this uncanny ability (like quite a few moths do) of 'playing dead'. This one however, did actually fool me for a while. After tipping onto it's front and then giving it a bit of a prod they usually give themselves away, but this one refused and as it had been in the fridge for the day I thought 'oops, that's broken it!'. In my thirst for curiosity I gently tried to open it wings to see what it looked like underneath....but he didn't like this intrusion and woke up with a start giving me a small heart attack!! Very funny! As you can see by the second photo...no harm done.
The 24th was a much better night, with warmer temperatures, completely still and not much in the way of rain. The results were 36 moths of 22 species (not a bad haul for September, and certainly much better than last year!). Three newbies this evening were the Dusky Thorn, Black Rustic and Pink-barred Sallow, but other highlights included a worn Amblyptilia acanthadactyla, 4 x Blair's Shoulder-knot and Snout.
And then some more autumnal species that for some reason I didn't catch last year, but I suppose that could be down to either trap position (it's now located underneath a mixed hawthorn hedge, as opposed to the middle of the lawn) or the weather? All these moths were in pristine condition. The Yellow-line Quaker (left), Red-line Quaker (right) and the fabulous Green-brindled Crescent (below right)
The last new species for the garden came whilst photographing the catch. I took out a Red-green Carpet that had it's wings folded up as it had just come out of the fridge. I managed to get it to stand on the wall (where I take my photos) whilst still in the pot. I left it for five minutes to relax and sure enough it flopped its wings flat. I took the pot covering it off to take it's portrait...and it was an Autumn Green Carpet!! Brilliant what you miss the first time round when you're rushing to get the trap emptied! EDIT: I've been corrected by the guys at BGM, and this is in fact a Red-green Carpet.
