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

01-05...................

Upper Caldecote Garden- 2x15w Actinic/UV Skinner, 15w BLB Bulb- 14 of 11 species-

0130	Incurvaria masculella		1	NFY
0648	Endrosis sarcitrella	White-shouldered House-moth	2	NFY
1342	Eudonia angustea		2
1524	Emmelina monodactyla		1
1648	Drepana falcataria	Pebble Hook-tip	1	NFY
1852	Eupithecia abbreviata	Brindled Pug	1
1853	Eupithecia dodoneata	Oak-tree Pug	1	NFY
1883	Acasis viretata	Yellow-barred Brindle	1	NFY
1906	Opisthograptis luteolata	Brimstone Moth	1
2019	Clostera curtula	Chocolate-tip	1	NFY
2188	Orthosia incerta	Clouded Drab	2

Pebble Hook-tip

Oak-tree Pug

Chocolate-tip

Yellow-barred Brindle

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

........05/05

Bordered White Puss Moth Yellow-barred Brindle

A nice little haul really and a couple of debutantes. The Bordered White is apparently the earliest in the county by 2 weeks and the Puss Moth is a truly impressive beast! The full count is as follows-

1. Hebrew Character- 5
2. Shuttle-shaped Dart- 2
3. Clouded Drab- 2
4. Bordered White- Garden 1st
5. Puss Moth- Garden 1st
6. Yellow-barred Brindle- 2nd Record
7. Brimstone Moth
8. Common Quaker
9. Powdered Quaker
10. Flame Shoulder
11. Nut-tree Tussock
12. Pug? a brief visit, prob Brindled.
13. Emmelina monodactyla
14. White-shouldered House-moth

Bathroom Light vs. Actinic Traps....27/04

Yellow-barred Brindle Shuttle-shaped Dart Grey/Dark Dagger Mystery Micro????? White-shouldered House moth

A much warmer night than last and some old friends are back. But the star of the show was the Bathroom light........The window was left open for less than 2 hours and it attracted a Yellow-barred Brindle and a Nut-tree Tussock. I don't know why I bother with all this trap nonsense sometimes. Nothing brand new (apart from the unIDed), but a few for the year list none the less........

1. Hebrew Character- 6
2. Shuttle-shaped Dart
3. Early Grey
4. Garden Carpet- Year tick
5. Yellow-barred Brindle- Year tick
6. White-shouldered House moth
7. Mystery Micro??- 1st Ever
8. Common Quaker
9. Nut-tree Tussock
10. Grey Dagger- Year tick
11. Incurvaria masculla

The mystery micro is Epermenia chaerophyllella (483). Thanks to Dean & David for your ID...........

All the small things........

Top: Garden Carpet, a very common visitor

Middle: Gold Fringe, actually a micro moth

Bottom: Yellow-barred Brindle, I know.....it's green!

So called because when they 1st hatch, they are actually yellow.