Mystery Micro?.........Solved!

Taken through a specimen pot, maybe enough to get an ID? Well it's an Epinotia immundana of course! Many thanks to Ben Sale

A Prominent Display...19/05

A really good night last night, but not as warm as some areas of the country as temperatures still got down below 10°C. For the 1st time this year I reached over 20 species, with a couple of micros yet to be ID'ed. Unlike others (especially Ian G!) no Hawk Moths yet, though I'm extremely happy with 3 Prominent species.......

Pebble Prominent Lesser Swallow Prominent Swallow Prominent Brindled Pug Common Swift- Male

Buff-tip

Rustic Shoulder-knot

I think I would have recorded more if I had visited the traps a few times in the night.........but I was just too tired. I also think just using Actinic will never produce the hauls found by others......

I'll either have to put out more traps or move!

1. SS Dart- 4
2. Flame Shoulder- 4
3. Swallow Prominent
4. Lesser Swallow Prominent
5. Pebble Prominent- Garden 1st
6. Small Waved Umber- Year tick
7. Hebrew Character
8. Treble Lines
9. Pale Tussock
10. Buff-tip- Garden 1st
11. Red Twin-spot Carpet
12. Garden Carpet
13. Common Pug
14. Brindled Pug
15. Heart & Dart
16. Common Swift
17. Emmelina monodactyla- 2
18. White-shouldered House-moth
19. Rustic Shoulder-knot- Garden 1st
20. Micro A?- Poor photo (see above post)- Epinotia immundana
21. Micro B?- flew away prob. Depressaria sp.

Pumped!.........18/05

Angle Shades- Before

A newly emerged Angle Shades starts to dry off it's wings..............

After

In less than 2 hours it has transformed into this! Ready for it's 1st flight tonight...........

The rest of the count was disappointing as the warm weather turned out to be......well, cold!

1. Shuttle-shaped Dart- 8
2. Pale Tussock
3. Muslin Moth
4. Common Pug
5. Swallow Prominent
6. Waved Umber
7. Clouded Drab- Getting a bit late?
8. Angle Shades
9. Red Twin-spot Carpet
10. White-shouldered House-moth

5 Star Mothin'!......17/05

Lesser Swallow Prominent Treble Lines Buff Ermine Cabbage Moth

A great night with 5 more to the good. I also trapped a Heart & Dart, but it made it's escape just before the camera shutter closed!

1. Shuttle-shaped Dart- 7
2. Brimstone Moth
3. Flame Shoulder
4. Muslin Moth
5. Mottled Pug
6. Treble Lines- Garden 1st
7. Lesser Swallow Prominent- Garden 1st
8. Buff Ermine- Year tick
9. Cabbage Moth- Year tick
10. Heart & Dart- Year tick
11. Agonopterix arenella

The Pug Parade..........

Now everybody loves Pug identification like a hole in the head. So I've decided to get them all out of the way together. Some have been confirmed by VC30, others not. So I've stuck my neck out and had a try............just hope a few are actually right!

White-spotted Pug

This was seen in my garden on 14th May and is by far the largest I've had with a wingspan of 27mm and very large white wing spots, a light tipped abdomen and a large white patch in the middle of the thorax.

Dwarf Pug

A few of these were caught in Chicksands Wood on 15th May. Despite the name they aren't that small! Note the heavy markings and angle at which the wings are held.

Ochreous Pug

Another species caught in Chicksands Wood, it's a pine feeder.

Mottled Pug

I've had 2 of these in the garden, of which this is by far the best photo. In the books it describes the black area as being 'broken up'. It also has a defused black line running across the base of the abdomen.

Common Pug

Now my commonest pug species, the very obvious line around the trailing edges of the wings seems to be a good field mark.

Double-striped Pug

Earliest to be on the wing and fairly obvious once you've squinted hard enough to see 'em.........

Let's hope my theories are water tight!

...........16/05

Garden Pebble

This little fellow was found in the vegetable patch, the 1st I've seen this year. Quite big for a micro really............

1. Shuttle-shaped Dart- 3
2. Brimstone Moth- 2
3. Hebrew Character- 2
4. Mottled Pug- Garden 1st, see post above
5. Knot-grass
6. Waved Umber
7. Garden Pebble- Year tick
8. White-shouldered House-moth

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.

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.......

Billy Witch.........14/05

Cockchafer Common Swift Grey Pine Carpet

I haven't seen a Cockchafer in years- are they getting rarer? This one was found under the egg boxes along with my 1st ever garden Common Swift. On the outside of the trap was a Grey Pine Carpet and another garden debutant; a White-spotted Pug. Also for the 1st time this year there was a fleeting visit from a Sallow Kitten. The count;

1. Shuttle-shaped Dart- 4
2. Common Quaker
3. Waved Umber
4. Brimstone Moth
5. Grey Pine Carpet- Year tick
6. Common Pug
7. White-spotted Pug- Garden 1st
8. Sallow Kitten- Year tick
9. Common Swift- Garden 1st
10. White-shouldered House-moth
11. Esperia sulpurella

Hedging it's bets.............

There has been 2 of us monitoring the traps lately..................

FUL vs. UV........13/05

Last night's trap battle was a touch one sided. At the top of the garden was the 'old faithful' fitted with 2 UV BL Blue tubes. At the bottom of the garden was the new 2x 25w FUL skinner.........
In short, the FUL won.

Pale Tussock

Spectacle

The conditions improved slightly over the last 24hours with the wind swinging round to the S. So for the 1st time in a while I put out 2 traps. A quick visit at 9.45pm last night produced a Pale Tussock at the UV and a Bright-line Brown Brown-eye at the FUL. Unfortunately both had gone by morning. Luckily I got a shot of the Tussock-

Twin UV trap

1. Pale Tussock- Year tick
2. Hebrew Character
3. Shuttle-shaped Dart

FUL trap

1. Bright-line Brown-eye- Year tick
2. Spectacle- Year Tick
3. Muslin Moth- 2
4. Shuttle-shaped Dart
5. Common Quaker

UV..........12/05

Twin UV 30w trap

Powdered Quaker Double-striped Pug

Another bitterly cold spell during the night saw a minimum temperature of -2°C. But a few graced trap, even though it is operating with just UV Blacklight Blues at the moment. The light emitted looks extremely dull to our eyes, but to a moth they must be like beacons!

1. Muslin Moth- 2
2. Powdered Quaker- 25th record
3. Grey Dagger
4. Double-striped Pug
5. White-shouldered House-moth

...........11/05

Temperatures bottomed out at -1°C and it was officially the coldest May night for 15 years!
I had 1 30w twin trap out last night and was surprised to catch anything-

1. Clouded Drab
2. Hebrew Character
3. Muslin Moth
4. Brown House-moth- found in the Kitchen

The UV super screen.

As the weather and temperatures have been far from ideal, I decided to get ahead of the curve and create a new contraption!

This is the V2 of Trent Duval's original UV screen. The principle is the same but some notable improvements have been made. The 'screen' itself is a value white roller blind from Argos.

When rolled down, it connects to retaining hooks. This keeps it taught even in breezy conditions and after use can be easily stowed away again.

The 15w Blacklight Blue low energy bulb is connected to a lamp holder. This is mounted onto a long length of 25mm conduit which can be extended from under the shed canopy.

Only when its dark do you see just how bright the light actually is, plus there's the option of a 25w upgrade. Hopefully to moths and insects this will prove irresistible. For best results, just add a bit of Spring Weather!