28th June........Ghost-Buster

Yet another warm night saw over 50 species in and around the trap and walls. After monday nights Poplar Kitten, along came little brother......SALLOW KITTEN

The first DOUBLE SQUARE-SPOT recorded in my garden

GHOST MOTH female

A nice fresh BROAD-BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWING.... 1st this year

my first CLAY, preferring the kitchen rather than the trap My target of 120 species of macro moths in the garden this year is proving to be an underestimation..... 119 identified to date.

27th June.........Manic !

The last two nights have been very busy. Hard to keep up with it all especially with three traps running in an intensive effort to catch up some ground on the Caldecote garden trap. Macro total is now standing at 115 for the year. Not too many to add to the list this weekend but it was nice to get Sallow Kittens big brother :- POPLAR KITTEN

missed out on this one last year....

VAPOURER

First BLOODVEIN this year....SMALL BLOOD-VEIN that should read. Thanks and well spotted Ben (:0))

YELLOW SHELL

DOT MOTH Recorded around 60+ species of macro over the weekend...... and now I'm going to study all the Pug pics that I took,,, as a sanity test.... (micros after that, before the men in white coats arrive )

25th June......Ton up !

This years garden tally has now passed 100 species and last nights count was 50 + macros with some still to be identified. Nine garden "firsts" last night are pictured below. Hawkmoths were prevalent last night with a count of 8 Privet, 4 Elephant and 2 Eyed, but no Lime which has been my commonest Hawk.
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GREEN SILVER-LINES

EYED HAWKMOTH

LACKEY

SMALL RANUNCULUS

ROYAL MANTLE I hadn't realised the status of this moth when I posted the blog, but after contacting Bedfordshire recorders Andy & Melissa, it turns out that it is only the 6th county record and the last record was 10 years ago. Usual habitat is chalky soil, so to find one on my Philadelphus bush near the trap was extremely unlikely. Lets hope more will turn up.

SCORCHED WING

BURNISHED BRASS

DUN-BAR

BLOTCHED EMERALD

UPDATE 24th June..

Cant keep up with the blog, too much work and too many moths ! So here are some of the "garden firsts" and some "new for years"
BRAMBLE SHOOT MOTH

COMMON WHITE WAVE

BUFF ARCHES

MIDDLE-BARRED MINOR
SWALLOW-TAILED MOTH

LIGHT ARCHES

REDDISH LIGHT ARCHES

TOADFLAX PUG

MAPLE PROMINENT

SCARCE FOOTMAN

LEAST CARPET

DOT MOTH

SHORT- CLOAKED MOTH

CLOUDED BORDER

FAN-FOOT over 50 species per night, soon will get my 120 target

20th June....Sandy Carpet in Biggleswade ?????

Best nights "mothing" for a while, with temperatures only dropping to 12 deg C .... 41 species of macro moths were recorded which is a record number. The explaination for the blog heading, to anyone not familiar with this part of Bedfordshire, SANDY is our neighbouring town, about 3 miles up the A1 from Biggleswade.
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SANDY CARPET (garden first)

BARRED YELLOW (garden first)

MEAL MOTH (garden first for this cracking micro)

GREY PINE CARPET (first for year)

UNCERTAIN (I think !) another first

an early COMMON FOOTMAN (first for year)

DARK ARCHES

LIGHT ARCHES (first for year)

SMALL BLOODVEIN (first for year)

COMMON EMERALD (first for year) RESULTS:-

12 x Heart & Dart

10 x Willow Beauty

5 x Garden Carpet

5 x Marbled Minor agg

4 x Common Marbled Carpet

4 x Large Yellow Underwing

4 x Green Pug

4 x Flame

3 x Turnip Moth

3 x Brimstone Moth

3 x Uncertain **

2 x Wormwood Pug

2 x Common Pug

2 x Barred Yellow **

2 x Broad-barred White

2 x Peppered Moth

2 x Dark Arches

2 x Grey/Dark Dagger

2 x Pale Mottled Willow

2 x Setaceous Hebrew Character

2 x Rustic Shoulder-knot

2 x Privet Hawkmoth

Lime Hawkmoth

Elephant Hawkmoth

Common Emerald *

Riband Wave *

Vine's Rustic

Small Dusty Wave

Flame Shoulder

Sycamore

Small Bloodvein *

Silver Y

Light Arches *

Large Nutmeg

Cinnabar

Buff Ermine

Small Square-spot

Small Waved Umber

Common Footman *

Sandy Carpet **

Grey Pine Carpet *

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Small Magpie

Brown Housemoth

3 x E. mono's

5 x L B Apple moth

3 x Bee Moth

Meal Moth **

* first for year

** garden first

19th June...The Barred of Biggleswade

Temperatures plunged to 6deg.C last night, far too cold for the majority of June flying moths. Although numbers were well down, a new garden moth turned up in the shape of this..................................................BROAD-BARRED WHITE

3 x SILVER Y were also trapped

and this hardy CRAMBUS PASCUELLA braved the cold
Results:-

14 x Heart & Dart

3 x Dark Arches

3 x Silver Y

1 x Buff Ermine

1 x Turnip Moth

1 x Broad-barred White (garden first)

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2 x E. monodactyla

1 x Bee Moth

1 x Crambus pascuella (garden first)

18th June....SNOUT ABOUT

SNOUT first for year

PHTHEOCHROA RUGOSANA a beautiful little micro and a regular visitor

BUFF ERMINE

FLAME

DARK ARCHES

Temperature low enough for a Brass Monkey to look for a Welder. 6 to 8 degC all week, but the traps had a fair return considering.

Results:-

10 x Heart & Dart

4 x Garden Carpet

2 x Brimstone Moth

Bright-Line Brown-Eye

Snout (first for year)

Treble Brown Spot

Marbled Minor agg

Grey/Dark Dagger

Flame

Vine's Rustic

Willow Beauty

Silver Y

Turnip Moth

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2 x Bee Moth

2 x LB Apple Moth

3 x Emmelina Monodactyla

1 x Brown Housemoth

1 x Garden Pebble

1 x Phtheochroa rugosana

+ one micro ID pending......................