Nothing to Report

The Moth trap has now been mothballed until February.

WINTER OF CONTENT

The re-furbished trap was back in action this week, using the actinic 15 watt tube. Persistence paid off with a Winter Moth on my illuminated shed door close to the trap, a garden first.

Weather...cloudy, light rain briefly, very light breeze and mild for time of year.

The BLACKLIGHT MOTH TRAP

The moth trap has been transformed. A brilliant white interior with a green woodstain exterior. The lighting will be experimental and interchangeable. These modifications are incomplete except for the system featured. Two 27mm E.S. porcelain Lampholders mounted on a wood batten, both wired to a 13 amp plug top. The lamps are 240 volt, 100 watt oversized blacklights, edison screw 27mm.

The advantages:- easy to install........ lamps give out 200 watts of u/v light without appearing too bright, so wont upset the neighbours, perfect for adjoining gardens where a 125 watt MV might cause friction.

Disadvantages :- The running cost.... 200 watts all night becomes expensive over time. The heat.... lamps get hot and will injure the moths, therefore a protective device is needed to keep moths from contact with the lamps. (To be designed and fitted) Health and safety... avoid looking directly at UV blacklights, and care must be taken with 240 volt leads.

Moth pulling power ? unknown....experimental.

NAME THAT MOTH

Clue :-

Not found in Europe

Trap Refurb

The trap has been out of action for 6 days now. Having a refurb during the bad weather. But hopefully play will resume from monday. Looking good with three coats of green woodstain and a brilliant white interior. Should work well with dual actinic 30 watt tubes either side of the two sloping perspex sheets. Completed pic to follow, watch this space.............

ALL IN ALL IT'S JUST ANOTHER BRICK ON MY WALL

I.D. confirmed(thanks Ian) The Brick

MORE PICS OF BRICK ?? (confirmed )

SINGLE YELLOW LINE 23/11/09

A bit of a lull in the strong winds of late produced a single Yellow-line Quaker. This is a garden first for me and most welcome after a barren few days.

STOP PRESS: This may not be a Yellow-line Quaker. I'm leaning more towards Brick after a closer inspection.

RED-GREEN CARPET

RED-GREEN CARPET

Roll out the Red (green) Carpet

Persistence pays off. Nothing for a few days and then along comes another new moth for the garden list, (which I must add up at sometime !) a RED GREEN CARPET.

Very difficult to spot on my green shed.

Nothing to Report

Trap has been positioned at shed entrance due to rain but apart from the odd micro, Light Brown Apple moth, no macros up to 13th Nov. Trap has now had its final modification, but the lighting will be experimented with when there are more moths around.

December in November 09/11/09

Very little activity trapwise but a December Moth did make a brief appearance on the trap. 08/11/09. Unfortunately it was too brief for a snapshot. Picture courtesy of UK Moths

Bored & Lodge 8/11/09

Nothing to report from garden trap, so a trip to The Lodge with Mr Trappings of Success and Tribe for a Firecrest hunt this morning was a nice change. Apart from a successful Firecrest sighting, the walls of the Avocet building were checked, also the gate house, in the vicinity of the external lights. This was highly productive with 2 x Sprawlers, 1 x Spruce Carpet and 13 x November Moths (Aggs) see http://trappingsofsuccess.blogspot.com/ for Sprawler pics

BACK TO REALITY

After the weekends exciting find, we're back to earth with a mothless trap for the last two nights. Just one Willow Beauty on the wall near the trap on Sunday night..Surely the last one until next year ?

Original Pic of unidentified moth

The original shot of the mystery moth before any enhancement. The pinkish tinge can be seen. ID confirmed as Scarce Bordered Straw
thanks Andy.
Thanks also to Matt and Mike for the correct suggestion.

30/10/09 Unidentified Flying Object

Unidentified to date

Silver Y

Micro 1

Micro 2

The trap got a bit of a soaking in last nights rain, but 4 moths were noted.

2 x micros, 1 x Silver Y and another not identified ( slightly smaller than a Silver Y, had an overall hint of pink )

LUCKY LIONEL STRIKES AGAIN 29/10/09

Pale Mottled Willow

Merveille-du-Jour

Only two moths lurking in the trap this morning (30/10/09) position 2.

Weather was warm for time of year with a slight breeze and a bright waxing moon in between the clouds. My second Merveille-du-jour was a real joy to behold along with a Pale Mottled Willow.

TUES 27/10/09

Despite a mild night with little breeze, Zero ! position 2.
will try again tonight at position 2 (near BBQ )

25th Oct '09

Feathered Thorn (top) and Red Line Quaker

Last nights haul was a pleasant surprise with a Red Line Quaker, Shuttle-Shaped Dart, Large Yellow Underwing and my second Feathered Thorn. Weather was very blowy but fairly mild and with the threat of rain the trap was placed in the shed entrance. Maybe the above mentioned moths were taking shelter in the shed.

21st Oct 09 Results

Emmelina monodactyla

Variety of plume moth ?
Sallow demise

Lots of these around

Tortrix variety ??? I must get a good micro book

Epiphyas postvittana

Blair's Shoulder Knot

Blair's Shoulder-knot

Fairly mild, a little breeze, cloud cover.

Very little activity around trap. The action was on my shed where an unfortunate Barred Sallow fell victim to one of the myriad of spiders in my garden.

1 x Blair's Shoulder Knot
1 x Dead Barred Sallow
1 x Plume moth species ... Emmelina monodactyla (2015) Late edit :)
1 x micro a tortrix type ..... Epiphyas postvittana

RESULTS19/10/09

Not much activity around the trap last night.
weather cold and a bit of a breeze, cloudy.
Had more luck in my shed with a large yellow underwing, a surprising Silver Y and a tatty looking Common Marbled Carpet.
Only one Large Yellow Underwing in trap.
Trap was moved to position 1 last night (near house ) and due to work commitments and the shorter days my trap will mostly be operating on weekends.

RESULTS 17th & 18th Oct

weather cloudy, calm, chilly (17th) ................Feathered Thorn

Large Y Underwing

Willow Beauty

2 x Blair's Shoulder Knot

Spruce/ Grey Pine Carpet ( see ID pics below )

.......................................................................................

18th Oct Cloudy with a strong breeze at times, cold.

M. du Jour

Willow Beauty

Barred Sallow

3 x Shuttle shaped Dart

Blairs shoulder Knot

Grey Pine/Spruce Carpet, still on the wall from last night.

Feathered Thorn **** New one for garden**** (Pictured)

ID PROBLEM

Having trouble with this one.........Spruce Carpet is favourite, but Grey Pine Carpet is another possibility...... comments appreciated

A Pair of Beads

2 Beaded Chestnuts from last night

DARK CHESTNUT ? (YES ... 17-02-2013 )

Dark Chestnut

I have ID'd this one as Dark Chestnut, but not 100% sure. (90 %). Shown alongside a Shuttle-shaped Dart for size comparison ( 17/2/2013..... 4 years down the line I can ID this as a DARK Chestnut ) 

PICS FROM LAST NIGHT

Barred Sallow

Large Yellow Underwing

RESULTS 16/10/09

Weather overcast, dry with a breeze. 12 moths of 8 species including another Merveille du Jour.
1 x M. du Jour
1 x Large Y Underwing
1 x Blair's Sh. Knot
1 x Dark Chestnut
1 x Barred Sallow
2 x Willow Beauty
2 x Beaded Chestnut
3 x Sh Sh Dart

RESULTS 15/10/09

Weather perfect early evening. Overcast, no breeze, but by morning a stiff breeze and light rain.
2 x Barred Sallow
1 x Blair's Sh. Knot
1 x Willow Beauty
2 x S.S.Dart

RESULTS 14/10/09

A much better night, weather overcast, no breeze and a good selection including a couple of new visitors. The star of the show for me was this Merveille du Jour, surely a contender for Britains most beautiful moth.

















1x Merveille du Jour (pictured)
2x Lesser Yellow Underwing
1x Large Yellow Underwing
4x Sh. sh. Dart
1x Chestnut (probably a Dark Chestnut)
2x Willow Beauty
1x Barred Sallow
1x Red Line Quaker (new for the trap/wall/garden)
1x Blair's Shoulder Knot

RESULTS 13/10/09

Large Yellow Underwing

Dark Chestnut

Beaded Chestnut

Weather, calm, cloudy, a light shower.
A much improved bag.
3 x Shuttle-Shaped Dart
1 x Lesser Underwing

1 x Dark Chestnut

1 x Beaded Chestnut
1 x Willow Beauty
1 x Blair's Shoulder Knot
1 x Large Yellow Underwing

RESULTS 12/10/09

A new one for the trap Barred Sallow............................................................................................................................................................

The tally was up on the last few efforts and the Tesco Value bedsheets seemed to work. So it was "welcome to the cheap sheets" for:-

3 x Willow Beauty

3 x Shuttle shaped Dart

1 x Grey Shoulder Knot

1 x Barred Sallow

RESULTS 10th &11th Oct '09

weather for sat. Clear, chilly. bright 1/4 moon = 1 x Lunar Underwing
1 x Shuttle shaped Dart
Sunday, a little cloudier, a bit warmer and breezy.
Just the one Willow Beauty
Tonight the trap goes at the far end of the garden (position 2 ) and I
have invested in two Tesco Value fitted white sheets.
One for the brick wall on one side of the trap, and the other draped over two chairs
on the other side. It looks very effective and as I type this blog I can report two
Willow Beauties on the sheet over the brick wall.
I am confident that my £5.76p investment will not be wasted !
Having regular checks of my sheets, 3 willow B's and SSDart.
As an aside and for the record Redwings can be heard as I check the trap/sheets
and I have been hearing them pass over the garden just about every night
since 28/09/09.
But back to the mothin'....the rival trap at Caldecote is leaving me for dead at the moment, coming up with a Feathered Thorn and the fantastic "Wonder of the Day" which translated into French ?........... Merveille du Jour. I live in hope !!

RESULTS FOR 9/10/09

ZILCH !!!
weather cold, wet and miserable.
My moths have more sense than the Caldecote garden
which had a couple of new ones for their total, leaving the
Biggleswade trap with a lot of ground to catch up on.
Tonight I have added position 6 for the trap. Opposite the
pond corner, near the dustbins, with both lamps blazing !

I.D. s.o.s.

Below are some pics of moths that I attempted to identify when I first started in July. Having reviewed the pics I am still unsure about a few of them and would like confirmation/correction ( this is obviously a job for Andy & Melissa !!)
OK. I will list what I thought they were at the time and still not 100% now with most of them...here goes :-
From top to bottom..........
Poplar Grey (Knot Grass ?? )
A micro ????? a type of snout ???????
Pale Prominent
Large Thorn (no way !)
Early Thorn
Dingy Footman ( not Bedfordshire....Norwich)
Dark Arches ( this one puzzles me )
Common Rustic
Common Footman ( my last common footman turned out to be a Scarce Footman, thanks A&M ! )
Square-spot Rustic
All comments welcome but no prizes !