21st June 2014 ... Scorchio !

On the night of 20th I manned the traps for an hour and a half to pot up every micro moth in sight !
The result was 89 moths of 45 species with 2 new for site and a few year firsts to add to the list.
Last night saw very similar weather conditions but even warmer by just 1 degree, but I had company and didn't check the traps until this morning.
The result was 57 moths of 20 species, so it pays dividends to man the traps if you want to increase your micro haul.
Even so, I added a couple more micros to the garden year list ...
COLEOPHORA TRIFOLII

ENDOTHENIA GENTIANAEANA

Both species confirmed.
After wondering where the Sallow Kittens were, two turned up last night.
A Mottled Beauty was found amongst the Willow Beautys and the highlight of the night, Scorched Wing, which are few and far between in the garden.
SCORCHED WING

MOTTLED BEAUTY

SALLOW KITTEN

MAIDENS BLUSH from the previous night ...

15th July 2013 ... Cherry Picking

The hot spell continues, the moth numbers have increased and a sudden busy spell at work means that I haven't had time to count and process everything in the traps.
Millions of Brown moths, too many.
Some notables .... 5 Clay was a high count and Lime, Elephant, Privet and Eyed made up the Hawk-moth catch.
Dingy Shears, Small Ranunculus, Sandy Carpet, Maple and Swallow Prominent were nice finds along with Early Thorn, Shaded Broad-bar and 5 huge Swallow-tailed Moths all standing out amongst the Brown horde.
SO, here are some pics of the moths that I "cherry picked", most are new for the year, but some are well worth a mention....
0873 ... Blastobasis adustella ... Dingy Dowd ... YF

873 ... Blastobasis adustella

1723 ... Ruddy Carpet ... YF

1723 ... Ruddy Carpet ... Catarhoe rubidata

2421 ... Scarce Silver-lines ...

2421 ... Scarce Silver-lines ... Bena bicolorana

1371 ... Sitochroa verticalis ... Lesser Pearl ... YF

1371 ... Sitochroa verticalis

1425 ... Galleria mellonella ... Wax Moth ... YF

1425 ... Galleria mellonella

1941 ... Mottled Beauty ... YF

1941 ... Mottled Beauty ... Alcis repandata

1020 ... Cnephasia stephensiana ... Grey Tortrix ... YF

1020 ... Cnephasia stephensiana 

2318 ... Dun-bar ... 2 ... YF

2318 ... The Dun-bar ... Cosmia trapezina

2473 ... Beautiful Hook-tip ... YF

2473 ... Beautiful Hook-tip ...  Laspeyria flexula

2466 ... The Blackneck ... YF

2466 ... The Blackneck ... Lygephila pastinum

1917 ... Early Thorn

1917 ... Early Thorn ... Selenia dentaria

19th June 2011

It was all going well until the clouds cleared and temps dropped from 14 deg to just 7 deg. Is it really June ?
The 100th micro was not to be, but 3 more macros were added to the year list.
BUFF ARCHES 1653

SMOKY WAINSCOT 2198.. Thanks to Captain Trappings who pointed out that it was not a Common Wainscot.

MOTTLED BEAUTY 1941... only my second record TOTALS :- 255 species (158 macro, 97 micro)

I built a nest box on the inside of my shed and have had the local Blue Tits nest in it on two previous occasions.

Not this year, it is chock full of common wasp nest which will be on the local schools nature table in November/December. I will have to be wary when I check the shed lights in Aug/Sep...they seem to sting for fun at that time of year !

4th July ...... Telling Tails

RUBY TIGER made a reappearance after a long absence

Just the one trap going last night, 3 traps are too much to keep up with. After the Brown-tail two nights ago along came ........YELLOW-TAIL, the first for the year

Plenty of Willow Beauties around at the moment, so it made a change to see a garden first MOTTLED BEAUTY if anyone would like to confirm this....they are so variable.

The "dead stick" moth.....PALE PROMINENT

PTEROPHORUS PENTADACTYLA ......White Plume Moth

CLOAKED MINOR.......2nd for the year

SPECTACLE just the one Skinner trap being used now, but still a good haul.......40+ Macros :-

22 Mottled Rustic

16 Dark Arches

8 Flame

7 Common Footman

7 Riband Wave

6 Willow Beauty

6 Buff Ermine

4 Elephant Hawkmoth

4 Swallow-tailed Moth

3 Garden Carpet

3 Marbled Minor agg

3 Scarce Footman

3 Uncertain

3 Dot Moth

2 Small Blood-vein

2 Heart & Dart

2 Large Yellow Underwing

2 Setaceous Hebrew Character

2 Sycamore

2 Pale Mottled Willow

2 Light Arches

2 Dwarf Cream Wave

2 Double Square-spot

Mottled Beauty

Maple Prominent

Marbled Beauty

V-Pug (from the night before)

Flame Shoulder

Peppered Moth

Ruby Tiger

Grey/Dark Dagger

Yellow-tail

Snout

Bright-line Brown-eye

Lackey

Spectacle

Pale Prominent

Clay

Small Emerald

UNIDENTIFIED PUGS AND MICROS

I will put up a gallery of Pugs soon for a game of "Name that Pug" (:0))