11th Dec...Winter is here

The first moth since an Angle Shades and E. monodactyla on the 18th November ! Could this be the last of the year ? Judging by the weather forecast it may well be......

WINTER MOTH

5th Nov.... The Last Straw (Scarce Bordered that is)

Two nights of near gale force winds followed by a calm night with constant rain ! Not the best conditions for trapping. But I persisted with the garden traps and was rewarded with this Scarce Bordered Straw. A garden "first" ?.........No, I had one last year at the same time under the same conditions and the trap had 20mm of water sloshing around in it. So it would seem that birding and mothing are both good for wayward immigrants after a couple of good windy days in the right direction at the right time of year. Thanks to Andy, VC 30 recorder for the home visit and ID confirmation and thanks to Matt (of trappingsofsuccess blog) for his invaluable ID input.
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SCARCE BORDERED STRAW showing the tell-tale underwing

SCARCE BORDERED STRAW ....side on

SCARCE BORDERED STRAW .....before it lost a few scales in the specimen pot.....year first !

To add to the "rush".......A year first FEATHERED THORN

RED-GREEN CARPET

BLAIR'S SHOULDER-KNOT .....one of two trapped

3rd Nov..............NOV-EL

Late addition to this posting. Found a Brick hiding on the trap.
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BRICK

About time too ! My first November (agg) Moth (:0)) ......... It was blowing a near gale last night but very mild and we also got away with the rain. Nice surprise to find a few moths in the trap including this Nov Moth
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NOVEMBER MOTH agg

Last nights haul :-

3 x Blair's Shoulder-knot

2 x Turnip Moth

1 x Willow Beauty

1 x November Moth agg

1 x Brick

2nd Nov.......Sprawl on the wall

SPRAWLER .......................................................................................................................................................................
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5 moths of 5 species in and around garden traps last night. A mild night but blowing a gale with some rain thrown in for good measure, so it was good to rack up another garden first.
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LESSER YELLOW UNDERWING.......... still they come !

another ANGLE SHADES found in the rather damp Skinner this morning

RED-LINE QUAKER, looking a little raggy

BLAIR'S SHOULDER-KNOT

1st Nov....Dark Chestnut or is it Chestnut ? Help !

I think this is Dark Chestnut.....the pics are a little over-exposed to show the patterning. The wing shape doesn't look rounded enough for Chestnut but then again not as straight as most of the illustrations I've looked at for Dark Chestnut. Thanks Matt.... I had this down as Dark but after a second look the doubts were creeping in. Not a garden or year first but ....................
CHESTNUT

22nd - 29th Oct....Update.

A mixture of temperatures ranging from below zero to 11 deg.C this week, with windy conditions and rain on 3 nights. Last night was calmer and very mild until the cloud cover disappeared.
29th Oct...
2 x Willow Beauty
2 x Lesser Yellow U'wing
2 x Red-line Quaker
2 x Angle Shades
1 x Satellite
1 x Shuttle-shaped Dart
1 x Blair's Shoulder=knot
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ANGLE SHADES

LESSER YELLOW UNDERWING

RED-LINE QUAKER

28th Oct......Mild, windy, dry.

One each of:-

Willow Beauty

Blairs Sh-knot

Yellow=line Quaker.

Barred Sallow

Red-green Carpet

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Light Brown Apple Moth

A faded Beaded Chestnut

BARRED SALLOW

RED-GREEN CARPET

RED-LINE QUAKER

27th Oct...cool, dry and breezy

Large Wainscot.....Blair's Shoulder-knot.....Red-line Quaker.....Satellite.....Willow Beauty

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LARGE WAINSCOT

SATELLITE
26th Oct.....wet and windy....2 x Large Wainscot....1 x Blair's Shoulder-knot

25th Oct....Cold.....Pale Mottled Willow.....1 x Red-line and 1 x Yellow-line Quaker

24th Oct....Cold........1 x Yellow-line Quaker

23rd Oct ZERO 22nd Oct.......1 x Willow Beauty...2 x Lesser Yellow U'wing...2 x Blair's Shoulder-knot...

1 x Large Wainscot...1 x Yellow-line Quaker... 1 x Spruce Carpet and a probable Agonopterix heracliana.................................................................................................................

WILLOW BEAUTY

Agonopterix heracliana ??????
SPRUCE CARPET

Acleris confusion.....more pics

Thought I'd better post some more pics of this one.
VC 30 recorder says it is most probably Acleris hastiana but it has been pointed out that it closely resembles Oak Nycteoline by a few "moth-ers". Size, markings and flight season fit the bill.
SO, I've dug up some more pics showing side view to level the playing field. It looks like an Acleris sp from these views. Thanks to Ben for opening this interesting debate and comments are as always welcome.

17th-21st Oct...Brrr ! What's this ?

This pug turned up unexpectedly in the wet warmer weather on 17th.
Any takers ?........................COMMON PUG.........Cheers Ben

21st oct. Warmer early until the cloud cleared to lower temps and reveal a big bright full moon. BUT 6 Blair's Shoulder-knot braved it

Large Wainscot from last night (21st)

Yellow-line Quaker, these showed up even in the frost

Red-line Quaker...another moth that doesn't mind having its mothballs frozen off

Also a Black Rustic last night, hopefully the weather will hit a late warm spell.

14th,15th & 16th Oct....Landmark reached

Temperatures have been falling over the last three days and 3.6deg C was recorded at 11.45 last night. My 200th macro moth species was recorded on the 15th in the shape of a YELLOW-LINE QUAKER and despite the low temperature last night, a garden "first" was recorded on the illuminated shed wall, a LARGE WAINSCOT.
The lines shown on the pics are from a lined notebook. I do this to give an idea of size, the lines being 8mm apart.
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Only 3 moths recorded last night (16th) in the near frosty conditions. One being this plucky little micro a WHITE-SHOULDERED HOUSE-MOTH

This micro appeared on the 15th just before the rain. According to "Mr. Micro", our esteemed VC micro recorder, it is highly probably Acleris hastiana, which along with A. cristana are the most polymorphic of all the UK species with many variations and intermediates. SO, I think I will record this as

ACLERIS HASTIANA ? OAK NYCTEOLINE

another species that beat the rain was this SATELLITE. Not a year first as I had one on Feb 4th.

My 200th macro on the 15th turned up sometime after the rain had cleared...

YELLOW-LINE QUAKER

Last night only 3 moths were recorded as temperatures plummeted. One of them was this new garden addition......

....... LARGE WAINSCOT 14th Oct............................... 15th Oct............................. 16th Oct

4 x Willow Beauty............... 1 x Willow Beauty............. 1 x S.S. Dart

3 x P.M.Willow.................... 1 x P.M.Willow................... 1 x Large Wainscot

3 x Blair's Sh.-knot............. 1 x S.S.Dart........................ 1 x W.S.H.Moth

2 x S.S.Dart.......................... 1 x Satellite

2 x Beaded Chestnut........... 1 x Yellow-line Quaker

1 x Large Y U'wing.............. 1 x Acleris hastiana ?

1 x Lesser Y U'wing

1 x Turnip Moth

1 x Common Marbled Carpet

1 x Green-brindled Crescent

12th Oct....Nearly There

Temperatures on the ground stayed around 9deg C but the air temp felt more like freezing. Moth numbers were well down apart from a record count of 9 Blair's Shoulder-knot and two Red-line Quaker. Almost reached my 200 macro target for the year with the Quakers being No. 199. Hoping that tonight being the 13th will be Lucky Thirteen and produce my 200th macro species for The Dells garden...............
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RED-LINE QUAKER

12th Oct,,,,,Great night !

A great night for The Dells garden with 2 more year ticks, including the Pale-lemon Sallow. I now need two more species of macro to notch up 200 for the year for the garden...lookin' good !
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BEADED CHESTNUT

A brace of GREEN-BRINDLED CRESCENT

COMMON MARBLED CARPET

BARRED SALLOW

MALLOW

GARDEN CARPET

One of 3 SPRUCE CARPET

RED-GREEN CARPET.....first for year

And by far the star of the show... PALE-LEMON SALLOW Last nights trap results :-

6 x Blair's Shoulder-knot

6 x Pale Mottled Willow ( no Clancy's Rustics among them !)

4 x Willow Beauty...including a very small 3rd generation moth

4 x Turnip Moth

3 x Spruce Carpet

3 x Lesser Y U'wing

2 x Green-brindled Crescent

2 x Black Rustic

2 x Large Y U'wing

2 x Beaded Chestnut

and one each of the following:-

Shuttle-shaped Dart

Lunar Underwing

Mallow

Red-green Carpet

Common Marbled Carpet

Garden Carpet

Silver Y

Barred Sallow

Pale-lemon Sallow