9th March 2012...Reasons to be cheerful

Overnight min. temp. 5.9 deg.  clear, 90% waning moon, chilly breeze.
An excellent night for the garden traps with a year first Oak Beauty followed by a garden first Twin-spotted Quaker.
17 moths of 6 species :-

1930 ... Oak Beauty, year first,..........................Biston strataria
2189 ... Twin-spotted Quaker, garden first, .... Orthosia munda
2190 ... Hebrew Character, x 2 ........................ Orthosia gothica
0688 ... Agonopterix heracliana x 4
1524 ... Emmelina monodactyla x 6



OAK BEAUTY, Biston strataria





TWIN-SPOTTED QUAKER, Orthosia munda



11th March 2011 ...A beautiful pair

The garden was affected by last nights early evening stiff breeze which calmed down at about 21.00 hrs. Most of my garden moths are trapped in the first hour or so after dusk so the early evening produced very little.
A solitary A. heracliana braved the wind at around 18.45 with two Common Quakers clinging on to the walls near the lights.
As soon as the wind dropped, at around 9pm , the situation improved when a March Moth put in an appearance followed by an Oak Beauty.
The trap turned up another Oak Beauty this morning which makes 7 for the year to date.
Oak Beauty is a garden "first" this year so to have 7 of them turn up has pleasantly surprised me.
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A brace of...OAK BEAUTY 1930

MARCH MOTH 1663

EARLY GREY 22436 x Common Quaker

2 x Oak Beauty

1 x March Moth

1 x Early Grey

1 x Hebrew Character

1 x Agonopterix heracliana

This years garden total:-

107 moths of 20 species (14 macro, 6 micro )

After a recount ! 62 macro and 45 micro....

Of the 45 micros, A. heracliana accounted for 30, Tortricodes alternella weighed in with 9. Also Ypsolopha ustella x 2, Emmelina monodactyla x 2, with one each of Amblyptilia acanthadactyla and Epiphyas postvittana.

Of the 62 macros to date, half of them have been Common Quaker, with surprisingly, 7 x Oak Beauty and only 4 x Hebrew Character. The rest is made up of 3's, 2's and 1's of various species.

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For anyone following the little side bet between myself and Matt (http://thetrappingsofsuccess blog) for the most species caught in one year....

As far as I know, Matt bagged a Red Chestnut last night, which on my reckoning, makes the score 22 t0 20, putting me two behind.

Embarrassingly, I still haven't paid for last years defeat, the bet being an "excellent" bottle of red.

The local wine shop in Biggleswade closed down and the supermarkets around here only stock "good" wine scaling down to "barely drinkable".

A foray further afield or an email to Mr Laithwaite is required, but if I wait long enough, we might be quits !

10th March 2011...heracliana dilemma

Last night I caught 9 Agonopterix spp, all were caught within the hour following dusk.
Little variation was found between 8 of them, but there was a larger, darker one amongst them.
UK Moths quotes heracliana as having a 21mm wingspan, which fits the bill for the moth pictured top.
It then gives the wingspan of A. ciliella as 19-24mm.
The next picture shows another Agonopterix with a wingspan approaching 23mm.
SO, do I record it as ciliella (our micro expert would probably not accept this) or do I kill it and check the hindwing, or just record 9 heraclianas ?
If I kill it, would I be doing this for the right reason ? Maybe it would help me to win the coveted bottle of vino back from Matt Trappings. Decisions............
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Last night was a better night for a while, with temps staying above 6deg for most of the evening and the stiff breeze abating.
No new species, which was slightly disappointing, but tomorrow is another night !
Last nights bag was:-
9 x Agonopterix heracliana !
5 x Common Quaker
1 x Hebrew Character
1 x Small Quaker
1 x Oak Beauty
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AGONOPTERIX HERACLIANA 688

another A. HERACLIANA (well it is now!)

SMALL QUAKER 2182

The superb OAK BEAUTY, 1930, my 4th this year to date Totals to date:-

96 moths of 20 species (14 macro, 6 micro)

Signs of Spring and another Oak Beauty

I love to see the Dog Violets come into flower around the garden, it means Spring is just around the corner.
They are very invasive and spread like wildfire so have to be "culled" every year or so, and when the flowers have finished the leaves grow into large clumps.
The smaller Sweet Violet will soon follow and Spring will be upon us at last.
It's been a long Winter.

Despite last nights rain and constant drizzle an OAK BEAUTY was found on the illuminated shed wall.

Garden tally 2011: 26 moths of 14 species

Oh, What a Beauty !

At last ! Higher temperatures without the howling wind of previous nights.
All the garden traps went on along with the wall/shed lights and regular patrols were the order of the evening.
The lowest temperature was 5.5 deg C for a short period but it shot back up to 8deg shortly after when a cloud cover moved in.
Two Agonopterix heracliana were caught in the early evening, followed by a garden "first" Oak Beauty on the shed flourescent fitting.
A Satellite appeared on the shed wall followed by a new garden micro, Tortricodes alternella to end a long drought.
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one of two AGONOPTERIX HERACLIANA 688

A common micro but a Dells garden first for this.......

TORTRICODES ALTERNELLA 1025

688 Tortricodes alternella

This is the first "white eyed" Satellite record for the garden, the past captures have all been the form with orange "eyes".

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THE SATELLITE 2256

Last nights Piece de Resistance was undoubtedly this stunning Oak Beauty.

A new record for The Dells garden and a very welcome one.

UK Moths give the flight time as March, so the warm evening stirred this little beauty into action a little early.

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OAK BEAUTY 1930
Totals to date :-

4 Macro

4 Micro

10 moths in total