Number of species:
This month: 76
No trap.
Clear, 7°C, still.
I don’t think we can really expect to see very much while these cool clear nights continue, four moths on a September night is really a bit below par in my book.
Noctuidae
No trap.
Clear, 6°C, still.
With these chilly nights and moth numbers falling it’s difficult to avoid the feeling that the lean months of autumn and winter are only just around the corner.
Oecophoridae
Noctuidae
No trap.
Centre-barred Sallow - Atethmia centrago
Clear, 6°C, still.
A night of few moths, we did get our first CBS of the year though.
Tortricidae
Noctuidae
No trap.
Frosted Orange - Gortyna flavago
Overcast, 14°C, breezy.
A Frosted Orange was the star attraction in last night’s catch.
Yponomeutidae
Tortricidae
Crambidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
Overcast, 14°C, light breeze.
I might have been wrong to be surprised by the Shuttle-shaped Dart we caught a week or so ago but today’s , admittedly very tatty and worn, Heart and Dart goes down as our latest record for this species by nearly a month and it is nearly two months after we saw the last one last year.
Geometridae
Noctuidae
No trap.
Privet Twist - Clepsis consimilana
Spruce Carpet - Thera britannica
Overcast, 14°C, light breeze.
The target for this year’s National Moth Nights was all migrant species, except for the possibility that some of the Large Yellow Underwings might have wandered over from The Continent we didn’t see any at all. Last night’s highlights were a couple of second generation individuals; a Privet Twist and a Spruce Carpet.
Tortricidae
Crambidae
Pyralidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
Large Fruit-tree Tortrix - Archips podana
Garden Rose Tortrix - Acleris variegana
The mysteriously spotted Light Emerald
Vapourer - Orgyia antiqua
Overcast, 14°C, light breeze.
Earlier this week an experiment was launched with the aim of establishing the degree to which moths will disperse from the locality in which they bred. To this end, large numbers of moths were released from various locations around the British Isles, every moth with a coloured mark painted onto one of its forewings, a different colour for each release site, the idea being that if anyone finds one of these moths they are to alert the appropriate authority. When I opened the trap this morning I was absolutely thrilled to find the Light Emerald (pictured above, lower left), clearly marked, sitting inside. After a lengthy exchange of e-mails with Mark Tunmore, the experiment’s coordinator and Michael Blencowe in which I pointed to the fact that between the marks was a hole or tear in the wing, we concluded that this particular moth couldn’t have been one of the marked ones. The location of the spots on the forewing was correct but colour was wrong (the nearest possible match for this colour was the one used for those moths released in Cheshire). Eventually Colin Pratt suggested that the marks might have been made when, as the moth emerged from its pupa, its wing may have been damaged causing a "leak" of the liquid that it uses to pump them up. I guess I’ll never know what the actual story is but it will certainly go down as a huge coincidence.
Other than the Mystery Emerald we had a fairly good catch which included our first Vapourer and Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (which was terribly tatty and not worth photographing) of the year.
Tortricidae
Alucitidae
Geometridae
Lymantriidae
Noctuidae
Brindled Green - Dryobotodes eremita
Mostly overcast, 11°C, very breezy.
A Brindled Green was the highlight of an otherwise pretty ordinary catch.
Tortricidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
No trap.
No record.
Another moderate night of more of the same. The Shuttle-shaped Dart came as a bit of a surprise but when I looked at the records it wasn’t in the least unusual, it has just been about a month since the last time we saw one, we recorded them up to 13 October in ’07.
Tortricidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
Overcast, rain after midnight, 12°C, breezy.
Lots of Large Yellow Underwings but that was really about it.
Geometridae
Noctuidae
Clear, 9°C, breezy.
Moderate, average, mediocre - that about sums it up I reckon.
Yponomeutidae
Tortricidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
Lunar Underwing - Omphaloscelis lunosa
Thin cloud cover, 13°C, light wind.
At last, the first LU of the year, well it’s only five days later than last year but nearly two weeks later than our first in 2007.
Tortricidae
Crambidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
Mainly clear, 10°C, light breeze.
Frankly, just a little underwhelming.
Geometridae
Noctuidae
Partly cloudy, 16°C, breezy.
Much better, warmer and more moths, nothing too exciting, no new species but our second Pinion-streaked Snout was good to see.
Yponomeutidae
Oecophoridae
Tortricidae
Crambidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
Partly cloudy, 8°C, still.
The weather forecast was for a much warmer night, neither the warmth nor many moths actually materialised.
Crambidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
Fulvous Clothes - Tinea semifulvella
Rosy Rustic - Hydraecia micacea
Cloudy at first, clearing, 9°C, fairly windy.
A late(ish) second generation Engrailed and the autumn’s first Rosy Rustic were trumped for highlight of the day by our first Fulvous Clothes, a great name but not quite as good as some of the others Clothes variants in 230’s and 240’s in Jim Porter’s essential and wonderous list.
Tineidae
Tortricidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
Sycamore Midget - Phyllonorycter geniculella
Square-spot Crest - Hypatima rhomboidella
Rusty Dot Pearl - Udea ferrugalis
Mouse Moth - Amphipyra tragopoginis
No record.
Didn’t make a not of the weather again, bit slack, not a bad night though, two new species, a Sycamore Midget and Square-spot Crest, our first MM since ’07 and another RDP which, this time, I did manage to get a shot of.
Gracillariidae
Oecophoridae
Gelechiidae
Tortricidae
Crambidae
Pterophoridae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
No trap.
Clear, 9°C, full moon, breezy.
A fair few LYU but not really very much else.
Crambidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
No trap.
Partly cloudy, light showers, 14°C, windy.
A busy night, the two highlights, in amongst all the Large Yellow Underwings being another Webb’s Wainscot and a Leek Moth which I have recently discovered is a proposed Red Data Book species…
Tortricidae
Crambidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
No trap.
Leek Moth - Acrolepiopsis assectella
Webb’s Wainscot - Archanara sparganii
Overcast with a little light rain 16°C little wind.
A busy night, the two highlights, in amongst all the Large Yellow Underwings being another Webb’s Wainscot and a Leek Moth which I have recently discovered is a proposed Red Data Book species…
Yponomeutidae
Oecophoridae
Tortricidae
Crambidae
Geometridae
Noctuidae
No trap.