New Day, Old(new) Camera........

..........and having heard good things about the exceptional performance of the now ageing Nikon Coolpix 4500. When a BNIB one came up for sale for just £25! (thank you Robin!) I had to have it and luckily I got in just before his inbox was deluged with offers to buy.

So after charging the battery, I took a few experimental shots with last nights catch. Although harder to use than modern cameras, I can see with a bit of practice those noisy Lumix close ups could be a thing of the past. OK the screen is small, it's only 4 mega pixel and it takes ages to focus- but what a piece of kit. It's only a mystery why this model wasn't developed any further........

See what you think about my initial efforts.

 List at the bottom of this post-

Yellow-barred Brindle

NFY- 4th May. A little out of focus- but pleased with it as a 1st effort.

Muslin Moth

 Nut-tree Tussock

I'm really please with the definition you can achieve. I've barely cropped this image.

 Powdered Quaker

 Shuttle-shaped Dart

 NFY- 4th May

Also notable was a 2nd female Emperor Moth attracted to light in the early evening. Unfortunately Louie moved it and when we went back for a closer look, it was gone. Hopefully it's in my back garden hedge somewhere and will attract mates later today. Trent has now taken the pupa back to his for another go at assembling- he'll do anything for a garden tick!

Upper Caldecote- 04-05-2013- 3 traps, 25 of 12 species-

1524  Emmelina monodactyla  3

1643  Emperor Moth (Saturnia pavonia)  1

1883  Yellow-barred Brindle (Acasis viretata)  1 NFY

2063  Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica)  1

2092  Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta)  1 NFY

2186  Powdered Quaker (Orthosia gracilis)  2

2187  Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi)  5

2188  Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta)  3

2190  Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica)  4

2243  Early Grey (Xylocampa areola)  1

2306  Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa)  1

2425  Nut-tree Tussock (Colocasia coryli)  2

Garden catch up & the big Six

A pretty hectic couple of nights in the garden all in all with a couple of new macros on 27th March. A very tatty Angle Shades and this furry little devil. It's quite an early record I would say, my earliest by  almost 2 weeks.

Muslin Moth

The big Six refers to Orthosias as I've finally recorded six different ones on one night. The full list for 28th March is as follows.

Upper Caldecote  Garden- 28-03-12- 33 of 11 species-

1497	Amblyptilia acanthadactyla		2
1524	Emmelina monodactyla		4
1862	Gymnoscelis rufifasciata	Double-striped Pug	1
1917	Selenia dentaria	Early Thorn	1
2182	Orthosia cruda	Small Quaker	8
2185	Orthosia populeti	Lead-coloured Drab	1
2187	Orthosia cerasi	Common Quaker	6
2188	Orthosia incerta	Clouded Drab	3
2189	Orthosia munda	Twin-spotted Quaker	1
2190	Orthosia gothica	Hebrew Character	5
2243	Xylocampa areola	Early Grey	1

Pug problems........09/04

.......And they've started earlier than usual. Yet another warm night early on, but a surprising dip in temp to just 3°C. Numbers were down on previous nights even though I had 2 traps out again.

This little critter was 1 of 2 pretty much identical moths found last night. When I caught it, I immediately thought it was Oak-tree due to the compact size (barely bigger than Double-striped) and pale patches beside the central black dots. However the strong white line along the trailing edge also made me think of Common.

I will leave it up to the jury of bloggers far more experienced than me to decide.

Oak-tree Pug

Thanks for ID confirmation from Mark & Andy.

 Muslin Moth

The Teddy Bear of moths- always nice to see.

The result- 12 of 8 species-

• Hebrew Character- 2
• Oak-tree Pug- 2 - Year tick
• Clouded Drab- 2
• Brindled Beauty- 1
• Nut-tree Tussock- 1
• Muslin Moth- 1- Year tick
• Powdered Quaker- 1

Muslin Extremist......09/05

Muslin Moth

No let up in the arctic temperatures. But extreme conditions allow only the hardiest of moths to venture forth. This Muslin Moth was joined by a single Garden Carpet and a Shuttle-shaped Dart.

The Actinic Strikes Back!.....28/04

Micro?- awaiting ID

Muslin Moth Chocolate Tip Mullein Pale Prominent Red Twin-spot Carpet

Twin-spotted Quaker

Brimstone Moth

A monster haul, the best so far for my garden. I put 2 traps out, both twin 15w Actinics. These were placed at either end of the garden and with near perfect conditions, I couldn't lose- 47 Moths of 23 species!

1. Hebrew Character- 9
2. Clouded Drab- 5
3. Common Quaker4
4. Brindled Pug?- 4 I think they all were
5. Shuttle-shaped Dart- 4
6. Double-striped Pug- 2
7. Flame Shoulder- 2
8. Muslin Moth- Garden 1st
9. Twin-spotted Quaker- Garden 1st
10. Chocolate Tip- Garden 1st
11. Red Twin-spot Carpet- Year tick
12. Waved Umber- Garden 1st
13. Powdered Quaker
14. Brimstone Moth- Year tick
15. Mullein- Garden 1st
16. Pale Prominent- Year tick
17. Parsnip Moth
18. Agonopterix heracliana
19. Agonopterix arenella
20. Emmelina Monodactyla- 2
21. White-shouldered House Moth
22. Micro??- awaiting ID
23. Argyrotaenia ljungiana

The Micro??? is a probable dark form Pammene fasciana (1236)