ORANGE TIP

Female ORANGE TIP butterfly in my garden this week

Tip of the Iceberg

We are still in the ice-age with the prevailing winds from the North, although it was warmer than the Met. Office forecast of 4 deg.C. Only 1 trap was set (the Homebase Funnel) in the shed entrance door and of course the old bedsheet on the shed wall with a 25w blacklight to illuminate it. A total of 14 moths of 9 species were found, one of which was a superb Pebble Hook-tip, a garden first.
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PEBBLE HOOK-TIP

YELLOW-BARRED BRINDLE (on the sheet)

LIGHT BROWN APPLE MOTH Total :-

4 x S.S.Dart

3 x Early Grey

1 x Powdered Quaker

1 x Hebrew Character

1 x Garden Carpet

1 x Yellow-barred Brindl

1 x Nut-tree Tussock

1 x Pebble Hook-tip

1 x Light Brown Apple Moth

4th May.....Another cold and Drab night

CLOUDED DRAB

Temperatures were down to 5 deg. C , but high enough for a few moths to take to the wing. This Clouded Drab (top) is the first for a while but no Common Quakers which appear to have ended their season at The Dells.

The traps and surrounding walls lured 12 moths of 9 species and the first 4 pics below show an unidentified micro from the skinner trap. The photos are not good quality having been taken in the dark with flash. But maybe good enough for an ID. The problem with these little blighters is they have usually escaped by the morning when a better shot on my limited camera would be possible. If anyone has a spare couple of £££GRAND£££ or so, I promise the pics will improve !!

The nights haul:-

4 x Shuttle-shaped Darts

1 x Common Pug (possibly !)

1 x Powdered Quaker

1 x Pale Mottled Willow

1 x Early Grey

1 x Cabbage Moth

1 x Clouded Drab

1 x Garden Carpet

1 x "D.Manning" ( my euphemism for an unidentified micro, I'm sure he won't mind )

4 pics of the unidentified micro, approx 7mm long :-

Identified as Scrobipalpa acuminatella thanks to David Manning

SCROBIPALPA ACUMINATELLA
Scrobipalpa acuminatella

Scrobipalpa acuminatella

I am going to stick my neck out and say this tiny pug is a COMMON PUG. It is a little less than 20mm across but as always, the ID is open to debate !

PALE MOTTLED WILLOW

POWDERED QUAKER

CABBAGE MOTH

GARDEN CARPET

Mr and Mrs S.S.Dart

Brrr Knot very warm !

The near zero temperatures of last night didnt deter this KNOT GRASS first for year
Also 1 x Hebrew Character
plus 3 x Shuttle-shaped Darts

2nd May ..A big Zero !

Rain and high wind last night = No moths in either trap and no visitors to the bedsheet.