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 !

RESULTS 8/10/09

weather cold, clear sky, bright moon
results ? 1 x very lonely shuttle-shaped Dart.
Tonight, trap back in shed entrance

RESULTS 7/10/09

Not a bumper night by far.

Weather, cold, light breeze, cloudy.

2 x Large Yellow Underwing ( looking very worn )

3 x Shuttle-shaped Darts

3 x Pale Mottled Willow ( 2 large 1 small )

1 x Willow Beauty (Pictured looking paler due to camera flash )

tonight the trap has been moved from out of the shed to position 3

between plum and apple and Budd. Werriana.

New species badly needed to make up a bit of ground on the

Up. Caldecote crew.

SPIDERS !!!

Lots of spiders this year and my shed is a favourite spot for them. Diet of the week is shuttle-shaped Darts and Caddis flies

RESULTS 6/10/09

Trap moved to just inside shed door. Rain imminent.

weather:- Breezy, mild, cloudy

1 x Blair's Shoulder Knot

1 x Large Yellow Underwing

1 x Mallow

3 x Shuttle-shaped Dart

4 x Pale Mottled Willow ( Pictured )

1 x Willow Beauty

WELCOME !!

A warm welcome to Mr Andy Banthorpe to my humble blog.

JOKES

What do you call a female moth ??????????????
A Myth


If you have a mothball in one hand and another mothball in the other,
what do you have ?????????????
Yes, it's the obvious......one bloody great moth !

RESULTS

Sunday night was calm with a bright fullish moon.

Results were the expected low with just 3 x Willow Beauty

and 3 x Sh. Sh. Dart.

Monday 5th was a little better with 2 x Sh.Sh.Darts

2x Large Yellow Underwings ( both looking worn )

1x Lesser " " " " " also worn

1 x Black Rustic

1 x Pale Mottled Willow

AND one unidentified, which I believe is a micro (see pic)

RESULTS 3/10/09

Very blowy last night and RAIN. Very little to report.
Shuttle shaped Dart
Lesser Y Underwing
Large Y Underwing
Black Rustic
all singles.
A re-design of trap imminent as the retention level
is low due to a design fault (too much wood near the edge of the trap
entrance, allowing the moths to escape much easier)

TRAP MOVE

Due to the extremely windy conditions the trap has been moved back to the sheltered corner between the house and garden wall. Not expecting too much tonight but who knows ?

RESULTS oct 3rd '09

New moth for the trap last night..a Straw Dot, unable to get a pic.
Rather breezy weather but fairly mild.
2 x Large Yellow Underwings
2 x Lesser " " " " " " "
3 x Sh. Sh. Darts
3 x Lunar Underwings
1 x Straw Dot

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

The trap re-positioning paid off last night and my Biggleswade towny garden hit back at the rival Caldecote trap with the Pink Barred Sallow. However, I slipped a notch or two as the Manor Rd manor weighed in with Brindled Green and crossed out my Grey Shoulder Knot. This is slowly developing into a competition, which adds to the interest.
The rival trap being "Trappings of success" owned and trained by Matt Burgess, Louie & Keeley, egg boxes kindly donated by Karen Burgess.

OCT 1st '09 SALLOWS & MALLOWS

Pink Barred Sallow

Few to report but two new ones at last

Sallow and Pink Barred Sallow

Also, Mallow and a few Lunar Underwings plus

Shuttle-shaped Darts

( no Lesser or Large Yellow Underwings !!)

TRAP RESULTS 30/9/09

The re-positioning of the trap failed to deliver anything new but we live in hope and the trap will stay there over the weekend..
3 x Lunar Underwing
2 x Pale Mottled Willow
4 x Sh Sh dart
1 X willow Beauty
1 x Lesser Yellow Underwing
2 x Black Rustic
First multiple recording of Black Rustic