Numbers picking up but slowly, slowly...

Like others, we're finding that numbers are increasing (some nights - I didn't bother last night, as it was cold and generally unpromising) but still seem low for the time of year: it says something that a haul of six Green Carpets on the 26th was the biggest number of individuals of any one species this year so far. However, the 26th and 27th were both productive, with Flame Shoulders starting to come to the fore: on the 27th, several species new this year, or new to the garden altogether were among the catch - Flame Carpet, Freyer's Pug, Pebble Hook-tip and a pretty little micro, Cochylis atricapitana. Perhaps the most spectacular was the Poplar Hawkmoth, clinging to one of our eggboxes, and practically too big to fit in a viewing container.

Cochylis atricapitana, 27th May

Flame Carpet, 27th May

Poplar Hawkmoth, 27th May

I've been finding it increasingly hard to avoid going and checking around the trap at intervals over the evening, and that's been proving a good way of finding individuals which otherwise might not actually go in the trap - a very handsome Coronet on the 26th was a good example. Anyway, that brings us to a total of 68 species for the year: 62 moths, plus six butterflies.