30ty Aug.... Power Cut at The Dells !

Parts of Biggleswade endured a power cut between 22.30 and midnight on a cold August night with a bright half moon. Little wonder the moth count was low in my two Skinners. Plenty of Large Yellow Underwings, Vine's Rustic, Orange Swifts, Turnip Moths and Set. Heb. Characters. The only moth of note was this brown form of YELLOW SHELL, which according to UK moths is usually found up North. (it looks a tad lighter with the flash)

29th Aug....Name that Moth ? plus Centre-barred Sallow

Very windy last night, but not a bad haul including a first for year Centre-barred Sallow and my 2nd Old Lady. Rosy Rustics are now visiting, so it looks like the autumn moths are ready to boost my garden list total.
I don't know what this one is though, about the size of an Uncertain but the background colour is leaning towards orange.......any takers ????
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Name that moth.....................

My first Sallow of the year...........................

CENTRE-BARRED SALLOW

My second Old Lady and definitely not the one from the previous evening. This one was also found in the skinner trap. The books say they are not usually attracted to the lights, so I guess Bedfordshire Old Lady's can't read

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OLD LADY

one of two SILVER Y

GARDEN CARPET

ANGLE SHADES

ROSY RUSTIC

STRAW UNDERWING Ran two skinner traps for about 130 moths of 22 species, including 18 Orange Swifts, 22 Large Yellow Underwings, 17 Flounced Rustics, 14 Vine's Rustics and 12 Turnip Moths

28th Aug............First Lady

I have been on the lookout for this one for a while, expecting it to turn up on the walls, but this "garden first" was in the skinner trap this morning. Quite a worn example, but none-the-less my first ever OLD LADY others include :- ( 2 x skinner traps )
12 x Large Yellow Underwing
1 x Lesser Yellow Underwing
1 x Straw Underwing
8 x Turnip Moth
8 x Vine's Rustic
5 x Setaceous Hebrew Character
3 x Willow Beauty
1 x Yellow Shell
2 x Pale Mottled Willow
2 x Square-spot Rustic
4 x Common Wainscot
7 x Orange Swift
1 x Silver Y
6 x Flounced Rustic
1 x Rosy Rustic
1 x Nutmeg
3 x Double-striped Pug
5 x Cabbage Moth
2 x Shuttle-shaped Dart

25th Aug.....wet,wet,wet

All night rain put a damper on the trapping, but amazingly there were 51 moths of 20 species caught.
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COMMON WAINSCOT

LIGHT EMERALD

MOUSE MOTH The nights haul :-

9 x Large Yellow Underwing
6 x Turnip Moth

5 x Vine's Rustic

4 x Flounced Rustic

3 x Shuttle-shaped Dart

3 x Setaceous Hebrew Character

3 x Common Wainscot

3 x Rustic

2 x Square-spot Rustic

2 x Nutmeg

2 x Pale Mottled Willow

1 x Lesser Yellow Underwing

1 x Yellow Shell

1 x Orange Swift (female)

1 x Common Rustic (agg)

1 x Uncertain

1 x Marbled Beauty

1 x Light Emerald

1 x Mouse Moth

1 x Agriphila geniculea

24th Aug..........A Turnip for the books !

A garden first (or previously overlooked) for this DARK SWORD-GRASS which was at first written off as a TURNIP MOTH
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DARK SWORD-GRASS

2nd BULRUSH WAINSCOT for the year

a first for year............. ROSY RUSTIC

one of 4 FLOUNCED RUSTICS in last nights trap

19th Aug.......Canary

Still lots of Turnip Moths and Shuttle-shaped Darts so it was a nice change to see a new species for the Dells garden list.................
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CANARY-SHOULDERED THORN

Regular visitors to the traps this time of year.........ORANGE SWIFT Been away for a few days so hopefully there are some early autumn species turning up soon, although the August weather so far has been disappointing.

16th Aug....Flight of the Phoenix

Warming up slowly and it shows. 20 species of macro with another new garden tick.
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SMALL PHOENIX

YELLOW-BARRED BRINDLE

COPPER UNDERWING

AGAPETA HAMANA

15th Aug.... New arrivals

Still on the cool side but dry and clear. On the wall near the Skinner was a "first" for The Dells garden, a BULRUSH WAINSCOT

a garden "year first" for this ORANGE SWIFT....... This was a very common record last year, so many more to come.

A common micro but the first one recorded in The Dells....

ACLERIS VARIEGANA or Garden Rose Tortrix in the vernacular

There may be additions after I check the trap in the morning before work. Hopefully more new arrivals. My target for the year was a modest 120 species of macro moth but the total at present is 170. My new target is 220 which I think is possible.............so, 50 more to go !

14th Aug.....cold weather keeping numbers down

Nothing too exciting in the traps with the weather still crap. Found some Cinnabar caterpillars in the garden and although I have no Ragwort, they are more than happy to feed on the ample Groundsel and Senecio

13th Aug..... cold and wet still

Rubbish weather ! Just 10 species of macro in the trap this morning with one micro.
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TREBLE BAR

PARAPOYNX STRATIOTATA

STRAW UNDERWING

TURNIP MOTH

12th August.....or is it January ? ! !

A late PRIVET HAWKMOTH looking worn and bedraggled

Wet, miserable and colder than a Polar Bears chuff, the fickle English weather had a wintry feel to it last night. Where are the hot august nights ? Only a few hardy souls ventured out and the trap tally was the lowest for a good while with just 10 species of macro and not one micro recorded.

20+ Turnip Moth

20+ Shuttle-shaped Dart

6 x Setaceous Hebrew Character

3 x Flame Shoulder

3 x Rustic

1 x Vine's Rustic

1 x Nutmeg

1 x Cabbage Moth

1 x Large Yellow Underwing

1 x Privet Hawkmoth

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CABBAGE MOTH

RUSTIC

SETACEOUS HEBREW CHARACTER

NUTMEG

12th Aug....Six-striped Rustic

A new moth for The Dells turned up last night..............
SIX-STRIPED RUSTIC

9th Aug...........Vuvuzela hover fly

Nothing new in the trap mothwise, plenty of rainwater tho, but lately I am being plagued by wasps. 70 plus wasps in two traps the previous night and 30 plus in the one trap last night. At first glance I thought I had a hornet in the trap but it turned out to be a large hover fly. I havent noticed one of these in the garden before. Pictured alongside a Common Wasp for size comparison is a VOLUCELLA ZONARIA which sounded more like a Vuvuzela as it flew away !

8th July.....Magpie

After a very enjoyable evening at Chicksands Wood, hosted by Andy & Melissa, it was home to check the garden traps. Best weather for a while, warmer with just a hint of a breeze. Waiting for me on the back door, attracted by the kitchen lights, was a very welcome garden first, a spectacular.....................
..................MAGPIE MOTH

on the brick wall near the funnel trap a PALE PROMINENT

SPECTACLE in the skinner, near the house

Two TURNIP MOTHS ensuring I get another trapful next August

A very well marked BUFF ERMINE

COMMON WAINSCOT 35 species of macro and 12 micro including 3 x COPPER UNDERWING and a SVENSSONS COPPER UNDERWING which is the first time I have identified one, having taken the trouble to check the hindwing details.

5th, 6th, 7th, Aug...new micro + 1 unid'd macro

Warmer weather = more moths. A garden "first" for this smart little micro.......
YPSOLOPHA SEQUELLA

micros rule at the mo, I seem to be inundated with SH. SH. DARTS, , COM. RUSTIC aggs and STRAW U'WINGS so it made a nice change to see a few micros and rack my inadequate brain as to the ID.

TRACHYCERA ADVENELLA unless I'm mistaken !

This one I'm not sure of.....any ideas welcome............................ Thanks Ben, hope you've settled in to your new gaff.

FLOUNCED RUSTIC

IRON PROMINENT

LESSER BROAD- BORDERED YELLOW UNDERWING

Had to put this fella in.....another slug meets his/her/its end

MARBLED BEAUTY showing orange background rather than my usual white ones

MAPLE PUG

VINE'S RUSTIC

YELLOW SHELL