Sunday 22 August 2010

21st August 2010

Atrocious weather conditions overnight meant thoroughly drenched traps but a surprisingly good catch. Epinotia ramella, the dark form, becomes the 700th moth on the garden list whilst Webb's Wainscot and a late Broad-barred White were both new for the year.

Epinotia ramella f. costana:

Webb's Wainscot:

Saturday 21 August 2010

20th August 2010

662 moths of 75 species was a considerable improvement on recent days despite a strong breeze throughout the night. Only two species were new for the year although a ting Stigmella sp. will be a garden first but requires dissection.

Oak Hook-tip, 1st since 2006:

Campion, 1st since 2007:

Cydia splendana, dark form:

Tuesday 17 August 2010

16th August 2010

A second garden record of Square-spotted Clay was the highlight of another busy night (400+ moths of 63 species), along with 2nd garden record of Six-striped Rustic. Gold Spot was the fourth record this year and there was a fifth White-point.

Square-spotted Clay:

Six-striped Rustic:

Monday 16 August 2010

15th August 2010

Still in the doldrums before the autumn species arrive so most traps are rather unexciting. Setaceous Hebrew Character numbers are building with nearly a third of the total catch of 360 moths being SHC; total species was down to just 42. The only real highlight was a first record of Ypsolopha parenthesella for the garden.

Monday 9 August 2010

8th August 2010

The arrival of two further White-points, this time fully-winged individuals, lends weight to my theory that they are breeding locally, I think, especially as other migrants are very thin on the ground. Having said that there was also a Rusty Dot Pearl in the trap this morning and I was surprised to see that it is the first recorded here since 2008. The highlight however was the first Mompha propinquella for the garden.


Saturday 7 August 2010

6th August 2010

A White-point was the only addition to the year list from a busy night although the 2nd Ear sp of the year looks substantially different to the first (larger and plainer) (Edit: identified by gen.det. as Saltern Ear). The White-point has one deformed wing which presumably hinders flight and makes me doubt its migrant status.

White-point (4th garden record):

Saltern Ear:

Wednesday 4 August 2010

3rd August 2010

We seem to be alternating warm and cold nights at the moment. Last night was warm (and wet) and resulted in over 500 moths of 91 species. A second garden record of Agapeta zoegana was the highlight with an Ear species which will have to wait for determination (edit: identified by gen.det. as Ear Moth).

Agapeta zoegana:

Ear Moth:

Monday 2 August 2010

1st August 2010

After a couple of cool nights producing disappointing catches to close down July, August started with a muggy night and 380 moths of just under 100 species. There were several year firsts and another tort new for the garden, Zeiraphera ratzeburgiana:

Third garden record of one of my favourite moths, Latticed Heath: