It was the first warm night in a long time with the temperature at 10.00pm hovering around 18°C. Earlier in the evening I put out three traps in strategic positions around the garden. Not wishing to miss anything I did a few early patrols (Trent style) up until around 11.30pm.
I very rarely patrol at this time of year, as it is usually quite late before anything turns up. But this turned out to be an exceptional night with sizeable amounts turning up shortly after dark. Twenty new moths for the year (10 macro, 10 micro) and in that, four were new for the garden! It's been a long time since that's happened, I'm lucky to get one nowadays.
I ended up with a record breaking 294 of 88 species..........however, I won't be attempting this too often as it takes absolutely ages to process!
Fern
Garden First.
Small Fan-footed Wave
Garden First.
Mere Waiscot
Not shown in books, a good way to separate this from Small Wainscot is the spiky hairdo!
Miller
Eyed Hawk-moth
White Satin
724 Metzneria lappella
Garden First.
1201 Eucosma cana
Garden First.
1380 Phlyctaenia perlucidalis
1086 Hedya salicella
Upper Caldecote Garden- 3 traps- 294 of 88 species-
| 0161 | Zeuzera pyrina | Leopard Moth | 1 | NFY |
| 0216 | Nemapogon cloacella | Cork Moth | 1 | NFY |
| 0441 | Paraswammerdamia nebulella | 1 | ||
| 0450 | Scythropia crataegella | Hawthorn Moth | 2 | NFY |
| 0647 | Hofmannophila pseudospretella | Brown House-moth | 3 | |
| 0724 | Metzneria lappella | 1 | NFG | |
| 0787 | Bryotropha terrella | 5 | ||
| 0898 | Limnaecia phragmitella | 1 | NFY | |
| 0905 | Blastodacna hellerella | 2 | ||
| 0970 | Pandemis cerasana | Barred Fruit-tree Tortrix | 1 | |
| 0972 | Pandemis heparana | Dark Fruit-tree Tortrix | 1 | NFY |
| 0977 | Archips podana | Large Fruit-tree Tortrix | 1 | |
| 1001 | Lozotaeniodes formosanus | 1 | ||
| 1020 | Cnephasia sp. | 2 | ||
| 1036 | Acleris forsskaleana | 1 | NFY | |
| 1063 | Celypha striana | 2 | ||
| 1083 | Hedya nubiferana | Marbled Orchard Tortrix | 1 | |
| 1086 | Hedya salicella | 1 | NFY | |
| 1201 | Eucosma cana | 1 | NFG | |
| 1261 | Cydia pomonella | Codling Moth | 1 | |
| 1293 | Chrysoteuchia culmella | 59 | ||
| 1294 | Crambus pascuella | 9 | ||
| 1302 | Crambus perlella | 1 | ||
| 1331 | Acentria ephemerella | Water Veneer | 3 | |
| 1334 | Scoparia ambigualis | 2 | ||
| 1338 | Dipleurina lacustrata | 1 | ||
| 1375 | Ostrinia nubilalis | European Corn-borer | 1 | NFY |
| 1376 | Eurrhypara hortulata | Small Magpie | 1 | |
| 1380 | Phlyctaenia perlucidalis | 1 | NFY | |
| 1413 | Hypsopygia costalis | Gold Triangle | 4 | |
| 1424 | Endotricha flammealis | 3 | ||
| 1428 | Aphomia sociella | Bee Moth | 2 | |
| 1474 | Ephestia parasitella unicolorella | 3 | ||
| 1513 | Pterophorus pentadactyla | White Plume Moth | 1 | |
| 1524 | Emmelina monodactyla | 1 | ||
| 1651 | Cilix glaucata | Chinese Character | 1 | |
| 1669 | Hemithea aestivaria | Common Emerald | 1 | |
| 1699 | Idaea rusticata | Least Carpet | 2 | |
| 1702 | Idaea biselata | Small Fan-footed Wave | 1 | NFG |
| 1705 | Idaea fuscovenosa | Dwarf Cream Wave | 2 | |
| 1708 | Idaea dimidiata | Single-dotted Wave | 1 | |
| 1713 | Idaea aversata | Riband Wave | 2 | |
| 1728 | Xanthorhoe fluctuata | Garden Carpet | 1 | |
| 1732 | Scotopteryx chenopodiata | Shaded Broad-bar | 1 | |
| 1782 | Horisme tersata | Fern | 1 | NFG |
| 1803 | Perizoma alchemillata | Small Rivulet | 1 | NFY |
| 1830 | Eupithecia absinthiata | Wormwood Pug | 1 | |
| 1834 | Eupithecia vulgata | Common Pug | 1 | |
| 1837 | Eupithecia subfuscata | Grey Pug | 2 | |
| 1858 | Chloroclystis v-ata | V-Pug | 2 | |
| 1887 | Lomaspilis marginata | Clouded Border | 1 | |
| 1888 | Ligdia adustata | Scorched Carpet | 1 | NFY |
| 1921 | Crocallis elinguaria | Scalloped Oak | 2 | |
| 1922 | Ourapteryx sambucaria | Swallow-tailed Moth | 2 | |
| 1937 | Peribatodes rhomboidaria | Willow Beauty | 2 | |
| 1941 | Alcis repandata | Mottled Beauty | 1 | |
| 1976 | Sphinx ligustri | Privet Hawk-moth | 3 | |
| 1980 | Smerinthus ocellata | Eyed Hawk-moth | 1 | NFY |
| 2031 | Leucoma salicis | White Satin | 1 | NFY |
| 2047 | Eilema complana | Scarce Footman | 2 | |
| 2050 | Eilema lurideola | Common Footman | 6 | |
| 2061 | Spilosoma luteum | Buff Ermine | 4 | |
| 2088 | Agrotis clavis | Heart and Club | 2 | |
| 2089 | Agrotis exclamationis | Heart and Dart | 3 | |
| 2098 | Axylia putris | Flame | 4 | |
| 2107 | Noctua pronuba | Large Yellow Underwing | 20 | |
| 2109 | Noctua comes | Lesser Yellow Underwing | 9 | |
| 2110 | Noctua fimbriata | Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing | 6 | |
| 2128 | Xestia triangulum | Double Square-spot | 5 | |
| 2155 | Melanchra persicariae | Dot Moth | 3 | |
| 2160 | Lacanobia oleracea | Bright-line Brown-eye | 1 | |
| 2173 | Hadena bicruris | Lychnis | 1 | NFY |
| 2192 | Mythimna conigera | Brown-line Bright Eye | 2 | |
| 2193 | Mythimna ferrago | Clay | 2 | |
| 2198 | Mythimna impura | Smoky Wainscot | 3 | |
| 2199 | Mythimna pallens | Common Wainscot | 1 | |
| 2279 | Acronicta aceris | Sycamore | 1 | |
| 2280 | Acronicta leporina | Miller | 1 | NFY |
| 2284 | Acronicta psi | Grey Dagger | 2 | agg. |
| 2318 | Cosmia trapezina | Dun-bar | 1 | |
| 2321 | Apamea monoglypha | Dark Arches | 26 | |
| 2322 | Apamea lithoxylaea | Light Arches | 2 | |
| 2343 | Mesapamea secalis | Common Rustic | 4 | agg. |
| 2349 | Chortodes fluxa | Mere Wainscot | 1 | NFY |
| 2381 | Hoplodrina alsines | Uncertain | 23 | |
| 2387 | Caradrina morpheus | Mottled Rustic | 1 | |
| 2389 | Paradrina clavipalpis | Pale Mottled Willow | 1 | |
| 2477 | Hypena proboscidalis | Snout | 2 |
Fern is a nice distinctive moth, get a few down here. Five on your list last night would have been NFG for me though. Need Sm FF Wave, Dwarf Cream Wave, Shaded BB, White Satin and Mere Wainscot. All six of my NFG have been noctuids, maybe I need to patrol to get some of the softer stuff which flaps around the trap rather than dives in...
ReplyDeleteI'm really surprised you don't get Dwarf Cream Wave- they seem to be one of the most common in this neck of the woods.................
ReplyDeleteHi Matt, a good catch there. I'm surprised at Cana and Small FF Wave being new for the garden, both are very common up here, though in smaller numbers this year. I also thought you would have had larger catches, you get many more species than me.
ReplyDeleteCheers Stewart
Hi Stewart, Cana really is a mystery- as I'm sure I haven't overlooked it. S F-f Wave seems to be more of a Woodland species in VC30, I do catch a few in Home Wood only two miles away.
ReplyDeleteThere is probably two reasons for my lower numbers. Firstly I only use Actinic/Black Light Blue in Skinner traps and according to research than can affect your catch by up to 40%. Skinners don't retain as much as Robinsons either.
I am also in a relatively suburban area; although I live in a village- I'm in the middle of it! I'm sure I would get more if on the outskirts. To be honest, I'm glad I don't get massive numbers- 59 C. culmella is more than enough for me...........zzzzzzzzzz
Cheers, p.s. Your mystery micro is in the 'they all look the same' category, so I can't be of any help.
Cheers Matt, I'll probably bin the mystery and hope for a fresher one so all will be revealed!
ReplyDeleteYes the Robinson can catch a lot. My record is 688 of 95sp. An expert may have clocked the ton! In there were 95 Large Yellow Underwing, 87 culmella, 88 tristella, 22 Small FF Wave (topical), 36 Smoky Wainscot, 25 Mother of Pearl etc etc... I have also had 624 of 83, 535 of 73, 506 of 87 all in one Robinson parked on my drive.
The best so far this year is a paltry 163 of 53 ( 56 sp max this year).