Some night-time neighbours in our garden at Thrupp (Oxon)

A beetle negotiates my Leopard Moth. It went all the way to the end
and then all the way back again

Hi there and it's great to join the Challenge though I will be well down with the wooden spoon brigade. But I've had huge enjoyment from my Robinson moth trap since my wife Penny gave it to me for my birthday in 2008, knowing that I had always wanted one since boyhood days when they were financially far out of reach.

Garden Tiger - a moth I've always hoped for

During five years in Leeds, I recorded a total of 205 macro moths and 36 micros (in which I was less interested until getting the brilliant new book on them last year), plus 19 types of butterfly. Then in April this year, we moved to the idyllic hamlet of Thrupp on the edge of Kidlington just north of Oxford, and since then I have recorded 138 macros and 25 micros, plus 18 butterfly species.

Another which was only a dream in Leeds - our biggest
resident moth, the Privet Hawk

I ramble on about my finds in a blog called Martin's Moths and I've just done an audit in today's post which is here. I am a huge fan of Waring, Townsend & Lewington and of a small but very generous group of more expert moth-ers who keep my wobbly identification skills on the straight and narrow via comments on the blog.

This Scarlet Tiger scampered off and ended up here - did it suss that the picture
display window had an element of the dark shine in its wings?

I'll try to keep updating my total, which underestimates the actual number of species in the trap because I lack the patience and time to check them all (partly because I am the one in the household who makes the early morning tea).  I've greatly enjoyed reading other entries on this blog and wish wonderful moths on one and all.  I've added pics of some of my favourites above and below.

All warm wishes,

Martin Wainwright

Five of seven Elephant Hawks which arrived one night in June

Female Ghost Moths are two a penny here but this is
the only male to have called

The Blotched Emerald, maybe an unfair name for a very pretty moth

The Grass Rivulet, one of the most delicate of what I think of
as 'Laura Ashley moths'

I am a ragwort fan

Two big hairy gents; first a Lobster Moth

And a Drinker, a moth whose caterpillars we found high up
on grass and bred at school

The purity of the White Satin

This White Plume gradually unfolded its wings from a simple
T-shape to a four-decker

Another one I'd always hoped for: the Puss Moth. Now for its caterpillar...

The third of the 'Op-art Trio' with the Leopard
and Puss moths, the Black Arches

Showing its knee breeches: a recent Ruby Tiger

One of the most extraordinary of many odd shapes; a Lilac Beauty