Another good night............

............in the best year I've had so far. 86 species by 22nd April is eight days earlier than my previous best in 2011. The highlight,(for me anyway) was finding not one, but two Least Black Arches. Having only trapped it on one occasion before on 29th April 2010. A full list below-

Least Black Arches

NFY- Two caught on 22nd April

Brindled Beauty

 NFY- 21 April, possible re-trap on 22nd.

 Pale Prominent

NFY- 22nd April

Upper Caldecote Garden- 22/04/2014- 2 traps- 37 of 20 species-

0925  Phtheochroa rugosana  1 NFY
1136  Epinotia immundana  1 NFY
1832  Currant Pug (Eupithecia assimilata)  1
1852  Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata)  1
1853  Oak-tree Pug (Eupithecia dodoneata)  4
1883  Yellow-barred Brindle (Acasis viretata)  1
1888  Scorched Carpet (Ligdia adustata)  1
1927  Brindled Beauty (Lycia hirtaria)  1
2006  Lesser Swallow Prominent (Pheosia gnoma)  1
2011  Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina)  1 NFY
2063  Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica)  1
2078  Least Black Arches (Nola confusalis)  2 NFY
2092  Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta)  6
2154  Cabbage Moth (Mamestra brassicae)  1
2186  Powdered Quaker (Orthosia gracilis)  4
2188  Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta)  1
2190  Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica)  6
2289  Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis)  1 NFY
2423  Oak Nycteoline (Nycteola revayana)  1
2425  Nut-tree Tussock (Colocasia coryli)  1

Mystery Micro, help needed 22-04

I can't recall seeing this before, has anyone got any ideas? About 8mm long.................

Thanks for the help Dave and Ben, it is indeed 1136 Epinotia immundana

Mullein.........16/04

After a couple of cold nights, a slight upturn in temperature encouraged me to stick the lights on. A low of 6°C and a late rising moon leant itself to a little more variety, though numbers were still comparatively low.

Mullein 

NFY

Nut-tree Tussock

A record 4 caught.

Upper Caldecote Garden 16-04-2014 - 23 of 13 species-

0697  Agonopterix arenella  1
0998  Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas postvittana)  1
1852  Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata)  1
1862  Double-striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufifasciata)  1
1936  Waved Umber (Menophra abruptaria)  1
2063  Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica)  2
2187  Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi)  2
2188  Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta)  1
2190  Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica)  6
2221  Mullein (Shargacucullia verbasci)  1 NFY
2243  Early Grey (Xylocampa areola)  1
2306  Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa)  1 NFY
2425  Nut-tree Tussock (Colocasia coryli)  4

Recent Highlights...........

.....................these are some of last week's riches. This week the weather has turned cold, so the traps will remain off line for a couple of days at least.

1054 Acleris cristana

NFY on 7th April

649 Esperia sulphurella

672 Parsnip Moth Depressaria heraclei

Waved Umber

NFY- 9th April

130 Incurvaria masculella

Chinese Character

 NFY- 10th April

 Red Twin-spot Carpet

 NFY- 12th April

Tawny Pinion 6/4

...........Pretty rare these days. This is the third garden record of this moth after catching two in 2011. Previous to that, not seen in VC30 since 2006.

Tawny Pinion 

Garden Traps March Summary

38 species were caught on 15 trap nights in March. See how your totals compare with mine................The clear winner as with every year is Common Quaker with a high count of 44 on 30th. There will be a lot more in April!

Common Quaker

An unsurprising winner.

Garden Trap totals for March 2014- 720 of 38 species.

2187 Orthosia cerasi Common Quaker 278
2188 Orthosia incerta Clouded Drab 116
2190 Orthosia gothica Hebrew Character 86
2182 Orthosia cruda Small Quaker 58
1524 Emmelina monodactyla 55
2243 Xylocampa areola Early Grey 29
1862 Gymnoscelis rufifasciata Double-striped Pug 15
0688 Agonopterix heracliana 12
1917 Selenia dentaria Early Thorn 9
1663 Alsophila aescularia March Moth 5
2423 Nycteola revayana Oak Nycteoline 5
2258 Conistra vaccinii Chestnut 5
2237 Lithophane ornitopus Grey Shoulder-knot  4
1930 Biston strataria Oak Beauty 4
2189 Orthosia munda Twin-spotted Quaker 4
2179 Panolis flammea Pine Beauty 3
1747 Anticlea derivata Streamer 3
1760 Chloroclysta siterata Red-green Carpet 3
1288 Alucita hexadactyla Twenty-plume Moth 2
2260 Conistra rubiginea Dotted Chestnut 2
1852 Eupithecia abbreviata Brindled Pug 2
1659 Achlya flavicornis Yellow Horned 2
1934 Agriopis marginaria Dotted Border 2
2139 Cerastis rubricosa Red Chestnut 2
0974 Argyrotaenia ljungiana 1
0240 Tinea pellionella Case-bearing Clothes Moth 1
0263 Lyonetia clerkella Apple Leaf Miner 1
0483 Epermenia chaerophyllella  1
2256 Eupsilia transversa Satellite 1
0695 Agonopterix alstromeriana  1
1643 Saturnia pavonia Emperor Moth 1
0892 Mompha subbistrigella 1
0682 Depressaria chaerophylli 1- NFG
0998 Epiphyas postvittana Light Brown Apple Moth 1
2063 Diaphora mendica Muslin Moth 1
1947 Ectropis bistortata Engrailed 1
2469 Scoliopteryx libatrix Herald 1
0697 Agonopterix arenella  1

Dotted Duos............

Aren't the traps busy lately? I've had my best ever start to a campaign with 42 species by the end of March. I haven't recorded many micros so far, but have done incredibly well for macros.
I will post a few lists if I get a chance to catch up on my records. So just as a taster, I will offer these..........

Dotted Chestnut

 Finding one is great. But finding two is pretty unbelievable! Recorded for the third year running in the garden. NFY 31st March

 Dotted Border

 Well, it took a while. But just as I was beginning to give up hope- two turned up 31st March.

The Return of the King!............

......................well, Queen really.
My earliest ever Emperor record on 29th March. For the second year in a row one was just found in the Synergetic Skinner trap shortly after nightfall. The earliest recorded in VC30 is 23rd March.

Emperor

Photo taken by Louie