28th August 2009

After a very chilly and blustery night the catch was unsurprisingly well down with just 19 species. Again over half the 197 moths were Setaceous Hebrew Characters. The highpoint was a very bright Centre-barred Sallow, the first of the sallows for the year:


This unusual looking moth took quite a while to identify as an aberrant Vine's Rustic:

26th August 2009

It took six years but at last I'm able to tick off one of the commoner moths missing off my garden list - Six-striped Rustic. It arrived early in the evening along with large numbers of the usual suspects - the total ended up at 330 moths of 36 species. New for the year was a very smart Frosted Orange.

Six-striped Rustic:

Frosted Orange:

25th August 2009

A beautiful male Large Thorn was the star of a rather dull catch of just 42 species - nearly half of the 452 individuals were Setaceous Hebrew Characters.

23rd August 2009

A small noctuid found sitting on the wall by the actinic trap this morning had me very puzzled as I searched through the books and websites. The closest to a match that I could find was Tree-lichen Beauty, a moth not recorded in Huntingdonshire. I posted a picture on UKMoths and sent one to Barry Dickerson and within a few minutes had confirmation of the ID from Mark Hammond. From Waring and Townsend it would appear that this is the form calligrapha which 'has the green replaced by yellow'.


Rather overshadowed by this find was Emmetia marginea, a year first:

22nd August 2009

An odd mixture in the trap last night with an early Large Wainscot rubbing shoulders with a very late Heart and Dart. A second Aproaerema anthyllidella for the garden was the highlight of another very small haul of micros; I've also put a picture of a mystery tort on the unidentified blog.

Large Wainscot:

21st August 2009

Temperatures were forecast to go down into single figures during the night so I wasn't expecting much in the traps so it was a great surprise to find this pristine Bordered Straw in the MV - only the third record for the garden and the first since the influx in 2006:

19th August 2009

A warm and humid night produced an excellent catch - with work in the morning I didn't have time to count all the Setaceous Hebrew Characters but they were again in the hundreds. In all 63 species were recorded.

Latticed Heath - only the second garden record and the first since 2004:

Elachista apicipunctella:

18th August 2009

A forecast warm night turned quite chilly and the result was a disappointing catch in the traps, however my first Old Lady since 2006 was a surprise. Initially it flew into the house, did a quick lap of the living room and flew back out again - all before I could even grab my net. About an hour later the same or another moth flew in again and this time I slammed the door shut cutting off it's escape! It proved horrendously difficult to photograph even after a night in the fridge and I eventually gave up and released it. It fluttered straight into some undergrowth and allowed me to get some reasonable pictures at last.

15th August 2009

Another busy night with 934 moths of 70 species. As yesterday the majority were of two species - Setaceous Hebrew Character (344) and Water Veneer (233) - although there were very few other micros.

Gold Spot was new for the year with one in each of the traps, and a very battered Small Scallop was also nfy. A late Eyed Hawkmoth was a surprise as was a 2nd generation Cream-bordered Green Pea.

Gold Spot:

Small Scallop:

Cream-bordered Green Pea:

14th August 2009

After several rather dull and quiet nights things exploded last night with over 700 moths of 83 species. Over half of these were of just two species - Setaceous Hebrew Character (290) and Water Veneer (100+). The latter had died in their scores at the bottom of the trap.

Several species were new for the year and one was new for the garden which takes the total for 2009 so far up to 405 species.

Chionodes fumatella, looks like being the 4th record for VC31:

I have recorded this moth as my second Saltern Ear, and 3rd for the vice-county I think, but it will need to be confirmed (edit - confirmed by dissection as the first gartden record of Ear Moth):

White-point, 3rd garden record:

Schoenobius gigantella:

Epiphyas postvittana, Light Brown Apple Moth:

Square-spot Rustic, first (and second) of many:

11th August 2009

Both traps out over a warm, cloudy night saw numbers well up with 484 moths of 77 species. Four were new for the year.

Argyresthia semifusca - 2nd garden record and not seen since 2004:

Cochylimorpha straminea - first since 2006:

Dipleurina lacustrata:
Catoptria falsella:

10th August 2009

A good night with 261 moths of 65 species just to the actinic trap. 3 species were new for the year but a distinctive gelechid, Aproaerema anthyllidella, was the highlight being a garden first and just the 3rd VC31 record.

Aproaerema anthyllidella:

Calybites phasianipennella f.quadruplella:
Borkhausenia fuscescens:

Agriphila geniculea:

Small Waved Umber:

Orange Swift (female):

Cochylidia implicitana:

8th August 2009

After three poor nights including one complete washout, things got back to normal with over 300 moths of 78 species. Three were new for the year and after last night's Pearly Underwing another migrant, Dark Sword-grass appeared - the third this year.

This was the first Small Rivulet for 3 years:

Dark Spinach:

Udea lutealis:

Willow Beauty f.perfumaria:

Dark Sword-grass:

5th August 2009

A warm and humid night was spoilt by huge numbers of tiny beetles in the trap, I suspect they prevented the moths from settling and there were a far higher number of escapes than usual. Final total was 141 moths of 55 species two of which were new for the year.

I've posted pics of an interesting looking Coleophora on the 'Unidentified' blog.

Scoparia subfusca:
Yponomeuta cagnagella:

Edit: Colin Welch, beetle recorder for VC31 has identified the tiny beetles as Bradycellus verbasci:

4th August 2009

A warm still night prompted a jump in moth numbers to 356 of 85 species across the two traps - again the actinic just outperformed the MV in the number of species. Two species were new for the year but pride of place went to a garden first - the very striking Ypsolopha sequella:


Orange Swift:

Scrobipalpa costella:

3rd August 2009

It looked like being a very promising night despite a near full moon so both traps went out. It meant a hectic couple of hours before going to work but the reward was a garden first in the form of a long-awaited Flame Carpet and 3 nfy.

Flame Carpet:

This was only the third garden record of White-spotted Pinion and the first for 5 years:

Bryotropha domestica:

Aspilapteryx tringipenella: