Back to Winter?

There was a few decent nights at the beginning of the month, but other than that it has been generally quite cold and surprisingly windy for the time of year. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the amount of Orthosias still flying. Powdered Quaker I would expect, but four Hebrew Character and two Common Quakers on 17th May I certainly wouldn't.

Poplar Grey

NFY- 15th May

 Bright-line Brown-eye

NFY- 16th May

 Hebrew Character

I thought I'd seen the back of these. But still turning up fresh specimens in the second half of May.

 Red Twin-spot Carpet

.....unless it's the rare red form of Dark-barred? Apparently never recorded in VC30! NFY- 17th May.

 Rustic Shoulder-knot

NFY- 17th May

1288 Twenty-plume Moth Alucita hexadactyla 

Love these!

Upper Caldecote Garden- 17-05-13- 3 Traps. 18 of 14 species.

0648  White-shouldered House Moth (Endrosis sarcitrella)  1

1288  Twenty-plume Moth (Alucita hexadactyla)  1

1724  Red Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe spadicearia)  1 NFY

1852  Brindled Pug (Eupithecia abbreviata)  1

1862  Double-striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufifasciata)  1

1883  Yellow-barred Brindle (Acasis viretata)  1

1906  Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)  1

2007  Swallow Prominent (Pheosia tremula)  1

2092  Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta)  1

2186  Powdered Quaker (Orthosia gracilis)  1

2187  Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi)  2

2190  Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica)  4

2306  Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa)  1

2334  Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens)  1 NFY

What's the Point?

In an attempt to increase my year list, I put out 3 different Actinic traps. The wind had finally dropped and the temperature at dusk was a promising 12°C. However, as with most nights this year; there has been a general lack of either quantity or quality. One consolation did come in the form of a garden 1st White-point, macro #294 in my quest for 300. Otherwise, the cupboards were pretty bare. The only other new moth was a single worn Silver-ground Carpet.

White-point 

Rather worn, but I'll take it........

Bright-line Brown-eye

 Silver-ground Carpet

Upper Caldecote Garden- 09-06-2012- 2x 15w Actinic/BLB, 1x 25w FUL Skinners- 36 of 23 species

0648	Endrosis sarcitrella	White-shouldered House-moth	2
0787	Bryotropha terrella		1
1133	Epinotia bilunana		1
1727	Xanthorhoe montanata	Silver-ground Carpet	1	NFY
1819	Eupithecia exiguata	Mottled Pug	3
1834	Eupithecia vulgata	Common Pug	4
1883	Acasis viretata	Yellow-barred Brindle	1
1906	Opisthograptis luteolata	Brimstone Moth	1
1937	Peribatodes rhomboidaria	Willow Beauty	2
2000	Notodonta dromedarius	Iron Prominent	1
2069	Tyria jacobaeae	Cinnabar	1
2089	Agrotis exclamationis	Heart and Dart	4
2092	Agrotis puta	Shuttle-shaped Dart	1
2126	Xestia c-nigrum	Setaceous Hebrew Character	2
2147	Hada plebeja	Shears	1
2157	Lacanobia w-latinum	Light Brocade	1
2160	Lacanobia oleracea	Bright-line Brown-eye	1
2194	Mythimna albipuncta	White-point	1	Garden 1st
2334	Apamea sordens	Rustic Shoulder-knot	1
2337x	Oligia strigilis agg.	Marbled Minor agg.	2
2381	Hoplodrina alsines	Uncertain	1
2389	Paradrina clavipalpis	Pale Mottled Willow	2
2441	Autographa gamma	Silver Y	1

Anyone fancy a Ruby?...15/05

Ruby Tiger Spruce Carpet Bright-line Brown-eye

National moth night tonight so I spent 3/4 enjoyable hours in Chicksands Wood with the VC30 Moth Group. On my return I found that there was activity around the traps. Spruce Carpet was my 4th pine species to date and the B-l B-e was a 2nd record this year. But even though they're common, my favourite garden moth of the night has to be the Ruby Tiger!-

1. Shuttle-shaped Dart- 9
2. Double-striped Pug- 2
3. Brimstone Moth
4. Bright-line Brown-eye- 2nd this year
5. Common Pug
6. Ruby Tiger- Year tick
7. Spruce Carpet- Year tick
8. Hebrew Character
9. Chinese Character- 2nd this year
10. Flame Shoulder

Brown Silver-line

Earlier, at The Lodge, a morning walk produced a few Brown Silver-lines around the bracken. We did manage to trap 1 in a specimen pot but the photo was fairly poor through the plastic.......