A good night for Migrants............

..........for other VC30 moth-ers, as an incredible two Four-spotted Footman were caught in Kempston and another two Vestals were caught in Luton. But for me, it was pretty much standard with one NFY species in the notebook. Looks like another mild night coming up, so a customary 3-trap Saturday night will hopefully turn up something special.

Red-line Quaker

NFY

Upper Caldecote Garden- 1 trap- 77 of 21 species-

1048  Garden Rose Tortrix (Acleris variegana)  1

1728  Garden Carpet (Xanthorhoe fluctuata)  1

1745  Mallow (Larentia clavaria)  1

1760  Red-green Carpet (Chloroclysta siterata)  1

1764  Common Marbled Carpet (Chloroclysta truncata)  1

1937  Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria)  4

2092  Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta)  1

2107  Large Yellow Underwing (Noctua pronuba)  11

2109  Lesser Yellow Underwing (Noctua comes)  1

2126  Setaceous Hebrew Character (Xestia c-nigrum)  17

2232  Black Rustic (Aporophyla nigra)  5

2240  Blair's Shoulder-knot (Lithophane leautieri)  13

2245  Green-brindled Crescent [ab. capucina] (Allophyes oxyacanthae ab. capucina)  1

2263  Red-line Quaker (Agrochola lota)  1

2267  Beaded Chestnut (Agrochola lychnidis)  6

2270  Lunar Underwing (Omphaloscelis lunosa)  4

2273  Pink-barred Sallow (Xanthia togata)  1

2306  Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa)  1

2375  Large Wainscot (Rhizedra lutosa)  1

2384  Vine's Rustic (Hoplodrina ambigua)  1

2389  Pale Mottled Willow (Paradrina clavipalpis)  4

A mini Renaissance........27/10

After very little action over the past week it was nice to see a spike in activity. The last 2 days have seen a substantial rise in temperature and despite the wind, I managed 6 species. It's just a shame there were no new additions for the year list. If I'm lucky, there might still be a few to add........

Red-line Quaker

The Count-

1. Red-line Quaker- 1
2. Yellow-line Quaker- 1
3. Large Yellow Underwing- 1
4. Blair's Shoulder-knot- 1
5. Willow Beauty- 1
6. Emmelina monodactyla- 1

Quakers...........12/10

An improved night with slightly higher temperatures and less wind. Also another year tick, though I'm starting to run out of 'easy ticks'. Looking at the weather, things are about to get a lot colder; so I'm expecting the trap to be fairly empty by the end of the month.

On the Vismig front, things are picking up. A Merlin through today and yesterday a Ring Ouzel, for some not very exciting. But for inland birders, these are notable records!

Red & Yellow-line Quaker

The 1st time I've ever caught both species on the same night.

Green-brindled Crescent

3rd record this year.

Spruce Carpet

1 of 2 Carpet species on the night.

The Count-

1. Beaded Chestnut- 5- Highest ever count
2. Large Yellow Underwing- 3
3. Willow Beauty- 2
4. Setaceous Hebrew Character- 2
5. Red-line Quaker- 2- Year Tick
6. Spruce Carpet
7. Grey Pine Carpet
8. Yellow-line Quaker
9. Green-brindled Crescent
10. Shuttle-shaped Dart
11. Turnip Moth
12. Pale Mottled Willow
13. Black Rustic
14. November Moth agg.
15. Light Brown Apple Moth

Red letter day!..............09/10

This rather tatty individual is the garden's 1st Red Underwing. Modelled by Louie, you can just about see how big it is! The fore wing measured at least 1 1/2 " and is the largest Underwing we have seen so far.

The photo to the right is a Red-line Quaker and again is a garden 1st. I manged to get a quick picture before it flew.

It was another good night for variety with 10 of 9 species recorded;

1. Large Yellow Underwing -2
2. Red Underwing
3. Lunar Underwing
4. Shuttle-shaped Dart
5. Black Rustic
6. Spruce Carpet
7. Blair's Shoulder-knot
8. Setaceous Hebrew Character
9. Red-line Quaker