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2007:
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2008:
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Tuesday 31 October 2007

Weather: Cold and frosty, clear, light winds.

Day 182… Two moths was actually more than I expected! The catch was as follows:

Noctuidae

• 1 The Sprawler Brachionycha sphinx Hufn.
• 1 Merveille du Jour Dichonia aprilina Linn.

Tuesday 30 October 2007

Weather: Cool, clear, light winds.

Day 181… A cool night but nothing like cold enough for a frost. No surprise then that there wasn’t much in the trap, though it was good to see another Merveille du Jour - not the same one as last night’s as the markings were quite different. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 1 Feathered Thorn Colotois pennaria Linn.
• 1 Mottled Umber Erannis defoliaria Cl.

Noctuidae

• 1 The Sprawler Brachionycha sphinx Hufn.
• 1 Merveille du Jour Dichonia aprilina Linn.
• 1 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 1 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.

Monday 29 October 2007

Weather: Mild, wet start to the night, cooler and clear later.

Day 180… Again it was one of those nights where the conditions make any predictions of what we might catch difficult. At least it was broad daylight when Loobi and I went out at 07:00 this morning. In the trap we found another small but interesting selection of moths, this time including the fabulous Merveille du Jour (at last!). The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 1 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Feathered Thorn Colotois pennaria Linn.
• 1 Epirrita Sp.
• 1 Mottled Umber Erannis defoliaria Cl.

Noctuidae

• 1 Red–line Quaker Agrochola lota Cl.
• 1 Green–brindled Crescent Allophyes oxyacanthae Linn.
• 1 Merveille du Jour Dichonia aprilina Linn.
• 3 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 2 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 1 The Sallow Xanthia icteritia Hufn.

Tortricidae

• 1 Light-brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana Walker

Merveille du Jour

Sunday 28 October 2007

Weather: Mild, overcast, rain later, very windy.

Day 180… I’ve come to the conclusion (rather belatedly) that it really isn’t in any way profitable attempting to predict the contents of the trap. After last night’s total no-show I couldn’t see any good reason why tonight should be any different, admittedly it was somewhat milder but it was also very windy so it was with a deal of surprise that Loobi and I found anything other than an empty trap this morning, there weren’t too many moths, but an interesting selection and another new species The Sprawler - cracking name. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 1 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Feathered Thorn Colotois pennaria Linn.
• 1 Mottled Umber Erannis defoliaria Cl.
• 1 Cypress Carpet Thera cupressata Geyer

Noctuidae

• 1 Black Rustic Aporophyla nigra Haw.
• 1 The Sprawler Brachionycha sphinx Hufn.
• 2 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 1 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 1 The Sallow Xanthia icteritia Hufn.

Tortricidae

• 1 Light-brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana Walker

The Sprawler

Saturday 27 October 2007

Weather: Mild, cloudy, light breeze.

Day 179… Thought things might be a bit better than last night, admittedly I wasn’t entirely confident of a huge catch but I certainly expected something. Oh well…

Friday 26 October 2007

Weather: Mild, occasional drizzle, overcast, breezy.

Day 178… Well, after last night’s extravagances what will tonight bring? The weather was very similar but Loobi and I found that our catch most definitely wasn’t. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 1 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.

Noctuidae

• 1 Green–brindled Crescent Allophyes oxyacanthae Linn.
• 1 Blair’s Shoulder–knot Lithophane leautieri Boursin.
• 1 Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba Linn.

Thursday 25 October 2007

Weather: Mild, damp, overcast, breezy.

Day 177… At last! a change in the weather, heralded yesterday by a strong northerly wind that, as darkness fell, died down and the cloud that it had brought had the effect of keeping the temperature well above what we have been used to over the past few nights. In the morning it was with a slight optimism that Loobi and went out to see what we had caught. We were somewhat surprised by what we found too, of the eight species of moth in the trap, five of them were new to us: a Mottled Umber, two Epirrita Sp. (possibly any of three species; the November Moth, the Light November Moth and the Autumnal Moth which are impossible to reliably separate without resort to the dissection of their unmentionables), a Spruce Carpet (an inhabitant of spruce plantations of which there are precisely none in this neck of the woods, so it either must have blown in on the wind or have been raised on feral Christmas tree living nearby), a Red–line Quaker and lastly a Barred Sallow. All in all a pretty good night and well worth the wait. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 4 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 2 Epirrita Sp.
• 1 Mottled Umber Erannis defoliaria Cl.
• 1 Spruce Carpet Thera britannica Turner

Noctuidae

• 1 Red–line Quaker Agrochola lota Cl.
• 1 Green–brindled Crescent Allophyes oxyacanthae Linn.
• 1 Blair’s Shoulder–knot Lithophane leautieri Boursin.
• 3 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 1 Barred Sallow Xanthia aurago D. & S.

Epirrita Sp. Mottled Umber

Spruce Carpet Red–line Quaker

Barred Sallow

Sunday 21 – Wednesday 24 October 2007

Weather: Frosty, clear skies, still.

The frosty, clear conditions have persisted making putting the trap out to be little more than a wanton waste of electricity.

Saturday 20 October 2007

Weather: Frosty, clear skies, still.

Day 176… Put the trap out more in hope than expectation and was only mildly surprised and slightly more than mildly irritated to find the trap completely empty (oh, except for an earwig) in the morning.

Friday 19 October 2007

Weather: Frosty, clear skies, still.

Day 175… Well, after last night’s waste of electricity (that chestnut can probably claim to have a larger carbon footprint than the average Tibetan yak herder), it’s not hard to guess what we’re likely to have in the trap this morning. Again, Loobi and I went out at about 08:00, this time to find a thick deposit of ice on the trap’s perspex covers. Inside the trap however, we found the catch was up by a staggering 300% on last night. The catch was as follows:

Noctuidae

• 1 Green–brindled Crescent Allophyes oxyacanthae Linn.
• 2 The Chestnut Conistra vaccinii Linn.

Thursday 18 October 2007

Weather: Cold, clear skies, very slight ground frost, still.

Day 174… Ha ha ha ha ha… The catch was as follows:

Noctuidae

• 1 The Chestnut Conistra vaccinii Linn.

Wednesday 17 October 2007

Weather: Mild, heavy rain, windy.

No trap – nasty weather.

Tuesday 16 October 2007

Weather: Mild, overcast, windy.

Day 173… As far as the weather was concerned, everything was in place for a fairly decent night’s trapping except for the wind which was really quite blusterous (as Winnie–the–Pooh would no doubt say). Loobi and I went out at about 08:00 to find a somewhat improved selection by yesterday’s standard though unremarkable by any other. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 2 Light Emerald Campaea margaritata Linn.
• 4 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Pine Carpet Thera firmata Hb.

Noctuidae

• 6 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 7 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 1 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 1 Pink–barred Sallow Xanthia togata Esp.
• 2 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.

Tortricidae

• 2 Light-brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana Walker

Monday 15 October 2007

Weather: Cool, clear to start, misty and overcast later, still.

Day 172… We don’t seem to have had a breath of wind for days which has had the effect of leaving us stuck in weather pattern giving us either mild overcast nights or cool misty ones, the former being considerably more productive as far as the moths are concerned. Last night was very much the latter, resulting in a grand total of seven moths in the trap. As luck would have it, one of these was a new species, a Yellow–barred Brindle, but at the moment I realised it wasn’t another Red–green Carpet it flew off and evaded photography. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 1 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Yellow–barred Brindle Acasis viretata Hb.

Noctuidae

• 1 The Chestnut Conistra vaccinii Linn.
• 1 Blair’s Shoulder–knot Lithophane leautieri Boursin.
• 3 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.

Sunday 14 October 2007

Weather: Mild, partly cloudy at first, foggy after midnight, still.

Day 171… Not such a promising night as last night, not as mild, and foggy by dawn. I do think though that the fog didn’t form until around dawn, so that shouldn’t have too great an effect on proceedings, which as Loobi and I discovered was very much the case with a trap containing almost as much variety as we had the night before. Nothing new to report though. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 1 Red–green Carpet Chloroclysta siterata Hufn.
• 4 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Willow Beauty Peribatodes rhomboidaria D. & S.

Noctuidae

• 1 Green–brindled Crescent Allophyes oxyacanthae Linn.
• 2 The Chestnut Conistra vaccinii Linn.
• 1 Vine’s Rustic Hoplodrina ambigua D. & S.
• 1 The Snout Hypena proboscidalis Linn.
• 2 Blair’s Shoulder–knot Lithophane leautieri Boursin.
• 3 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 3 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 2 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.
• 1 Square–spot Rustic X. xanthographa D. & S.

Tortricidae

• 1 Garden Rose Tortrix Acleris variegana D. & S.
• 1 Light-brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana Walker

Saturday 13 October 2007

Weather: Mild, overcast, still.

Day 170… Well, things would seem to be on the up again. After an unseasonably warm night Loobi and I went out at about 08:00 this morning to find a remarkably good selection of moths including another new species, a Yellow–line Quaker, like yesterday we had another species we haven’t seen since the spring, (25 April, in fact) a Red–green Carpet, this came as a relief to me as the photo I took of this one (not being quite sure what it was) was awful. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 1 Red–green Carpet Chloroclysta siterata Hufn.
• 5 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Pine Carpet T. firmata Hb.

Noctuidae

• 1 Yellow–line Quaker Agrochola macilenta Hb.
• 1 Shuttle–shaped Dart Agrotis puta Hb.
• 1 Black Rustic Aporophyla nigra Haw.
• 2 Pale Mottled Willow Caradrina clavipalpis Scop.
• 1 The Chestnut Conistra vaccinii Linn.
• 2 Blair’s Shoulder–knot Lithophane leautieri Boursin.
• 3 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 8 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 2 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 2 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.
• 1 Square–spot Rustic X. xanthographa D. & S.

Tortricidae

• 1 Acleris sparsana D. & S.
• 1 Garden Rose Tortrix Acleris variegana D. & S.
• 1 Light-brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana Walker

Yellow–line Quaker

Friday 12 October 2007

Weather: Cool, clear and very slightly misty to start becoming very mild with fine drizzle later, still.

Day 169… Probably, the mild air arrived too late to make a significant difference to the catch but nevertheless, Loobi and I went out to find a somewhat greater variety of moths than we did yesterday morning – not difficult! Not only did we have more variety, we also had a new species to report: a Feathered Thorn, at first I thought we had two new species but the other was The Chestnut which was the first we’d seen since 17 April so it wasn’t exactly a familiar sight. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 1 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Feathered Thorn Colotois pennaria Linn.

Noctuidae

• 1 The Chestnut Conistra vaccinii Linn.
• 1 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 4 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 3 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 2 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.
• 2 Square–spot Rustic X. xanthographa D. & S.

Pterophoridae

• 1 Beautiful Plume Amblyptilia acanthadactyla Hb.

Feathered Thorn

Thursday 11 October 2007

Weather: Cold, cloudless but misty becoming foggy, still.

Day 168… Well, what can I say other than it became terribly apparent to me and Loobi at about 08:00 this morning that moths really don’t like foggy weather. The catch was as follows:

Noctuidae

• 4 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.

Wednesday 10 October 2007

Weather: Cool, clear start, overcast with occasional drizzle later, still.

Day 167… It at first seemed like it was to be a chilly clear night but by dawn it had become mild and more than a little damp. I didn’t manage to examine the trap’s contents until about 09:00, after Phoebe and Loobi had gone to school – they didn’t miss much. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 1 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Dusky Thorn Ennomos fuscantaria Haw.

Noctuidae

• 1 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 8 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 3 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.
• 1 Six–striped Rustic X. sexstrigata Haw.
• 1 Square–spot Rustic X. xanthographa D. & S.

Tortricidae

• 1 Garden Rose Tortrix Acleris variegana D. & S.
• 1 Light-brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana Walker

Pyralidae

• 1 Orthopygia glaucinalis Linn.

Tuesday 09 October 2007

Weather: Cool, overcast, still.

Day 166… A cool, dank sort of a night which, I suppose, at this time of year is a good thing so it was a bit of a disappointment to find the trap failing to brim over with exciting autumn moths – oh well… The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 2 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Garden Carpet Xanthorhoe fluctuata Linn.

Noctuidae

• 1 Green–brindled Crescent Allophyes oxyacanthae Linn.
• 1 Black Rustic Aporophyla nigra Haw.
• 1 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 10 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 3 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 1 The Sallow Xanthia icteritia Hufn.
• 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.

Tortricidae

• 1 Acleris sparsana D. & S.

Monday 08 October 2007

Weather: Mild(ish), light cloud, still.

Day 165… The cloud cover kept the temperature well above that of recent nights, I doubt whether it dropped much below about 10°C. When Loobi and I finally managed to get out to examine our catch (we had to wait until about 07:30 as any earlier would have been too dark) we were initially a little disappointed at the apparent lack of moths we had caught, gladly though, all the interesting stuff was hiding on the backs of the egg–trays. There still wasn’t a great number of moths but we did get three, yes three, new species: a Blair’s Shoulder–knot, a Green–brindled Crescent and two Acleris sparsana (I’m fairly certain). Continuing the possible migrant theme we also had our first Diamond–back Moth since 17 July. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 2 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Garden Carpet Xanthorhoe fluctuata Linn.

Noctuidae

• 1 Green–brindled Crescent Allophyes oxyacanthae Linn.
• 1 Blair’s Shoulder–knot Lithophane leautieri Boursin.
• 1 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 13 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 7 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 1 Large Ranunculus Polymixis flavicincta D. & S.
• 2 The Sallow Xanthia icteritia Hufn.
• 2 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.

Tortricidae

• 2 Acleris sparsana D. & S.

Yponomeutidae

• 1 Diamond–back Moth Plutella xylostella Curt.

Blair’s Shoulder–knot Green–brindled Crescent

Acleris sparsana

Sunday 07 October 2007

Weather: Cool, clear for first half of night, light cloud and mist later, still.

Day 164… Not quite as cold than on the previous couple of nights, no doubt, due to the light covering of cloud that developed and, as we found when we looked in the trap, a slight improvement in the variety of moths we caught, nothing new or wildly interesting though. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 1 Cypress Carpet Thera cupressata Geyer

Noctuidae

• 1 Shuttle–shaped Dart Agrotis puta Hb.
• 1 Turnip Moth Agrotis segetum D. & S.
• 1 Silver Y Autographa gamma Linn.
• 1 Pale Mottled Willow Caradrina clavipalpis Scop.
• 7 Large Yellow Underwing Noctua pronuba Linn.
• 6 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 1 The Sallow Xanthia icteritia Hufn.

Saturday 06 October 2007

Weather: Cold, clear, still.

Day 163… More of the same as far as the weather goes, and as we found this morning, as the moths go too. The only vaguely interesting thing about this morning’s catch was that, for the first time, we caught more Lunar Underwings than Large Yellow Underwings – the Lunar Underwings are taking over the asylum? The catch was as follows:

Noctuidae

• 1 Shuttle–shaped Dart Agrotis puta Hb.
• 1 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 8 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 10 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 1 Six–striped Rustic Xestia sexstrigata Haw.

Friday 05 October 2007

Weather: Cold, clear, still.

Day 162… We probably only avoided a frost last night by a degree or two, a shame because the flip–side of nights like this is the warm, sunny days we’re having – great for a bit of autumnal butterfly spotting but not so hot on the moth front. Unsurprisingly, October’s run of new species juddered to an abrupt halt this morning, twenty moths representing five species was all we could manage. The catch was as follows:

Noctuidae

• 1 Shuttle–shaped Dart Agrotis puta Hb.
• 1 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 9 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 8 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.

Tortricidae

• 1 Light-brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana Walker

Thursday 04 October 2007

Weather: Cool, foggy, still.

Day 161… Slight downturn in the weather department, the fog started to form at dusk and stayed with us all night, as a consequence our expectations were fairly low. As expected, there weren’t that many moths in the trap when wee looked in the morning but, nevertheless, October’s new found status as "Wonder–Month" continues as we had another new species: a Pink–barred Sallow – that’s five in four days. It was, though, our first night without a Light Emerald since 14 September. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 2 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Garden Carpet Xanthorhoe fluctuata Linn.

Noctuidae

• 1 Shuttle–shaped Dart Agrotis puta Hb.
• 1 Pale Mottled Willow Caradrina clavipalpis Scop.
• 2 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 21 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 12 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 1 Pink–barred Sallow Xanthia togata Esp.
• 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.

Pink–barred Sallow

Wednesday 03 October 2007

Weather: Mild, overcast, occasional light drizzle, still.

Day 160… More good (moth) weather and yet another good sized catch in the trap as Loobi and I found when we examined its contents in the twilight of the morning. I'm also glad to be able to report that in amongst the assorted Underwings we found yet another new species, this time The Vestal – evidence, possibly of a slight upturn in migrant activity to accompany this late warm spell we seem to be having(?).

Apparently, according to my expert source, the Cypress Carpet is becoming more common in Sussex as was demonstrated by the fact we caught two this morning. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 6 Light Emerald Campaea margaritata Linn.
• 2 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 The Vestal Rhodometra sacraria Linn.
• 2 Cypress Carpet Thera cupressata Geyer
• 1 Pine Carpet T. firmata Hb.
• 4 Garden Carpet Xanthorhoe fluctuata Linn.

Arctiidae

• 1 Hoary Footman Eilema caniola Hb.

Noctuidae

• 3 Shuttle–shaped Dart Agrotis puta Hb.
• 1 Silver Y Autographa gamma Linn.
• 1 Brindled Green Dryobotodes eremita Fabr.
• 1 Vine’s Rustic Hoplodrina ambigua D. & S.
• 1 Common Wainscot Mythimna pallens Linn.
• 1 The Delicate M. vitellina Hb.
• 2 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 37 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 10 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 3 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.
• 1 Square–spot Rustic X. xanthographa D. & S.

Pyralidae

• 1 Rush Veneer Nomophila noctuella D. & S.

The Vestal

Tuesday 02 October 2007

Weather: Mild, overcast, occasional drizzle, windy becoming still.

Day 159… A mild and damp night which, of course, is just what the moths like but it would be nice if things could perk up a bit during the day though. It was too dark to see what we were doing at 07:00 this morning – probably too dark to turn off the trap, there might still have been some moths flying, they certainly seemed fairly active still. So Loobi and had a brief look and decided it was better to come back later, which when we did we found another good selection of moths including TWO more new species: the first, The Sallow, I’m somewhat surprised we haven’t seen before as it’s not uncommon but the second, which Loobi spotted sitting on a chair next to the trap, is a Cypress Carpet and was, apparently, only first recorded in this country in 1984, so how scarce it is I have no idea. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 10 Light Emerald Campaea margaritata Linn.
• 2 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Dusky Thorn Ennomos fuscantaria Haw.
• 1 Cypress Carpet Thera cupressata Geyer
• 1 Pine Carpet T. firmata Hb.
• 1 Garden Carpet Xanthorhoe fluctuata Linn.

Noctuidae

• 2 Shuttle–shaped Dart Agrotis puta Hb.
• 1 Silver Y Autographa gamma Linn.
• 1 The Snout Hypena proboscidalis Linn.
• 1 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 47 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 17 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 1 The Sallow Xanthia icteritia Hufn.
• 2 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.
• 1 Six–striped Rustic X. sexstrigata Haw.
• 1 Square–spot Rustic X. xanthographa D. & S.

Tortricidae

• 1 Large Fruit–tree Tortrix Archips podana Scop.
• 1 Carnation Tortrix Cacoecimorpha pronubana Hb.
• 1 Light-brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana Walker

Pyralidae

• 1 Rush Veneer Nomophila noctuella D. & S.

Cypress Carpet The Sallow

Monday 01 October 2007

Weather: Mild, overcast, steady rain after midnight, breezy.

Day 158… Mild (good thing) very wet (not such a good thing – well, not for the trap anyway). Loobi and I went out at about 07:00 this morning to see what we had caught and, miserably, it was still nearly dark. In the trap (which on the basis of this morning’s showing should be renamed "The General Invertebrate Trap" – inside, there were hornets, wasps, ichneumons, caddis flies, crane flies, house flies, beetles, wood–lice and snails as well as a few moths) we found another reasonably good selection of moths as well as a new species (good way to start the new month): a Black Rustic. The catch was as follows:

Geometridae

• 3 Light Emerald Campaea margaritata Linn.
• 1 Common Marbled Carpet Chloroclysta truncata Hufn.
• 1 Dusky Thorn Ennomos fuscantaria Haw.
• 1 Pine Carpet Thera firmata Hb.

Noctuidae

• 1 Black Rustic Aporophyla nigra Haw.
• 1 Pale Mottled Willow Caradrina clavipalpis Scop.
• 1 Rosy Rustic Hydraecia micacea Esp.
• 1 The Snout Hypena proboscidalis Linn.
• 1 Lesser Yellow Underwing Noctua comes Hb.
• 29 Large Yellow Underwing N. pronuba Linn.
• 18 Lunar Underwing Omphaloscelis lunosa Haw.
• 1 Angle Shades Phlogophora meticulosa Esp.
• 10 Setaceous Hebrew Character Xestia c–nigrum Linn.
• 5 Square–spot Rustic X. xanthographa D. & S.

Tortricidae

• 1 Large Fruit–tree Tortrix Archips podana Scop.

Pyralidae

• 1 Scoparia subfusca Haw.

Black Rustic

2007:
December | November | October | September | August | July | June | May | March & April

2008:
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