..........5/5

Things have suddenly started to hot up; after a couple of cold windy nights the moths have upped their game and a whole load of new species have sprung into action.

Vine's Rustic

Totally expected.

 Scorched Carpet

Totally unexpected, rare in my garden and only the second record after a second flight last year.

 Eyed Hawk-moth

What a beauty!

 Setaceous Hebrew Character

As expected slowly replacing the now waning Hebrew Character.

 Large Nutmeg

Will probably reach plague proportions in a few weeks.

 Shears

A good one to get in the garden. Second record.

The results for the day also include some garden sweeping during the late afternoon and evening with the kids on above post- 50 of 26 Species-

• 2092 Agrotis puta Shuttle-shaped Dart 10
• 0227 Monopis laevigella Skin Moth 4
• 0391 Glyphipterix simpliciella Cocksfoot Moth 3 Garden 1st
• 2087 Agrotis segetum Turnip Moth 2
• 0174 Epiblema cynosbatella 2 Garden 1st
• 1819 Eupithecia exiguata Mottled Pug 3
• 2190 Orthosia gothica Hebrew Character 2
• 2089 Agrotis exclamationis Heart and Dart 2
• 1361 Pyrausta aurata 2
• 0648 Endrosis sarcitrella White-shouldered House-moth 2
• 2384 Hoplodrina ambigua Vine's Rustic 1 FFY
• 1888 Ligdia adustata Scorched Carpet 1 FFY
• 0904 Spuleria flavicaput 1 FFY
• 0315 Phyllonorycter harrisella 1 Garden 1st
• 0301-8 Parornix sp. 1 Garden 1st
• 0892 Mompha subbistrigella 1
• 1428 Aphomia sociella Bee Moth 1
• 1906 Opisthograptis luteolata Brimstone Moth 1
• 1834 Eupithecia vulgata Common Pug 1
• 1980 Smerinthus ocellata Eyed Hawk-moth 1 NFY
• 2147 Hada plebeja Shears 1 NFY
• 1524 Emmelina monodactyla 1
• 2126 Xestia c-nigrum Setaceous Hebrew Character 1
• 2333 Apamea anceps Large Nutmeg 1 NFY
• 0974 Argyrotaenia ljungiana 1
• 0247 Tinea trinotella 3  NFY

Home Wood Survey.....26/04

Well, it was that time again; another foray into the woods ensued. The plan was to go a few days earlier when the weather was perfect. But a genrator that I had ordered turned out to have been used as a football in the depot and had to be returned. When the replacement did finally turn up it was deployed in a new location (3) in the wood and left overnight to see how it would fare. Pity really as the wind and cooler temperatures probably hampered the catch somewhat.........

Mr T. Duval's van

We packed it to the rafters with 2 traps and a tripod stand with MV bulkhead attached. We seem to have acumilated a lot of gear in a reletively short space of time.

 Location 3

This is a new area at the Southern end of the main trails on an intersection. This is where the MV Skinner was left overnight. The new Chinese 2-stroke 850w generator with one 80w MV trap connected  managed to last 7 hours 20 minutes with approximately 1 litre of the 4.2 remaining. So in the middle of Summer this would be more than enough. Thanks to Mark Skevington for the idea. The 'Home Wood Survey' page has now been updated with location map and photos.

 Location 4

This is where the battery Actinic/UV was placed. Unfortunately the battery failed and the lights where out when we arrived in the morning (6.15am). However with more mature Oak trees and a mixture of low lying scrub and Coniferous trees, this looks a slightly better site than the others......

 Flame Carpet

4 caught loc. 2&3

 Frosted Green

2 caught Loc. 3&4

 Green Carpet

5 caught- Loc. 2,3&4

 Scorched Carpet

2 caught- Loc. 2&4

 Yellow-barred Brindle

1 caught- Loc. 3

 Pale Prominent

1 caught- Loc. 3

Adela reaumurella 150

4 caught- Loc. 2,3&4. ID, A. Banthorpe VC30 Moths

The results-

Location 2- 80w MV on stand with sheet, 8.45-10.45pm-  27 of 13 species

• Brindled Pug- 5
• Dwarf Pug- 4- NFS (New for Site)
• Green Carpet- 2- NFS
• Red Twin-spot Carpet- 2- NFS
• Flame Carpet- 2- NFS
• Cream Wave- 2- NFS
• Orange Footman- 2- NFS
• Adela reaumurella- 2- NFS
• Hebrew Character- 2
• Streamer- 1
• Brimstone- 1- NFS
• Early Grey- 1
• Common Wave- 1- NFS

Location 3- 80w MV Skinner, 8.45-dawn- 36 of 21 species-

• Brindled Pug- 7
• Dwarf Pug- 4
• Green Carpet- 2
• Common Pug- 2- NFS
• Brimstone Moth- 2
• Flame Carpet- 2
• Muslin Moth- 2- NFS
• Hebrew Character- 2
• Red Twin-spot Carpet- 1
• Pale Prominent- 1- NFS
• Maiden's Blush- 1- NFS
• Syndemis musculana- 1- NFS
• Yellow-barred Brindle- 1- NFS
• Least Black Arches- 1- NFS
• Frosted Green- 1- NFS
• Grey Pine Carpet- 1- NFS
• Mottled Pug- 1- NFS
• Adela reaumurella- 1- NFS
• Flame Shoulder- 1- NFS
• Orange Footman- 1- NFS
• Clouded Drab- 1

Location 4- 2x15w Actinic/UV- 8.30-dawn- 6 of 6 species-

• Scorched Carpet- 1
• Green Carpet- 1
• Frosted Green- 1
• Muslin Moth- 1
• Maiden's Blush- 1
• Adela reaumurella- 1

Macro Highlights............

These are a few recent Macros from the garden trap. I've only been putting out a twin 15w actinic/UV for the last 2 weeks.

Olive

Pale Mottled Willow

Small Waved Umber

Dingy Footman (f.stramineola)

Chinese Character

Scorched Carpet

National Moth Night @ Chicksands Wood...15/05

The VC30 Moth-ers

A field meeting in the heart of Chicksands Wood was very productive even though the temperature dropped below 5°C. It was well organised, being run in conjunction with the Beds Bat Group. Not many bats around, but finally at 0100hrs a single Natterer's Bat was recovered from a mist net.

35 species of moth were recorded (report on VC30 to follow) from 5 traps, these are a few of the highlights I managed to photograph-

Broken-barred Carpet

A broken example! 2 were trapped on the night.

Clouded Border

Just 1 of these found by an MV skinner trap.
Iron Prominent

Just 1 recovered by the tripod MV with sheet. (see top photo)
Maidens Blush

Only 1 found, again on the tripod sheet.

Scalloped Hazel

2 found by the tripod MV.
Scalloped Hook-tip
Found on my 15w 12v Actinic trap!
Scorched Carpet
The 1st moth caught- in a net by Andy Banthorpe.
Small White Wave
A real highlight, caught in a net by Stephen Plummer, it's the 1st VC30 record since 1986!
Seraphim
Quite common- with 20+ found around 4 traps.