Looking back...

We’ve been a bit slack with the trapping in the last couple of months – only managing one trap a week, if that, so we’ve probably missed out on some good ‘uns and we’re certainly lagging a bit with our total! Since the last blog, we’ve added a couple of hundred to our garden list (this may sound like a lot, but it was back in June when our last totals were sent in!), taking our total to 312 (291 moths + 21 butterflies).

We had a moth evening back in July, with 72 species recorded from the gardens alone. A Hummingbird Hawk-moth started off the night for us, which was the first of a few of these to be seen here this summer. The traps on the moth evening were dominated by micros, which have since quietened down here; we might get one or two micro species per trap at the moment if we’re lucky (or unlucky as some might say!).

We’ve had good numbers of butterflies this year, with Clouded Yellow and Purple Hairstreak being the highlights. The most numerous species fluttering around the borders were Green-veined White, but this year has also seen good numbers of Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Comma.

We’ve had some interesting moth records as well. Traps earlier in the summer were dominated by Dark Arches, leaving us wondering if they were planning a world takeover.  The Grey Pine Carpet has been an ever present moth, with the second generation in full steam at the moment. Some star species were:

The Blackneck (not particularly common here)

Anania perlucidalis (new species for The Lodge)

Sharp-angled Carpet (last record in Beds. was in 1987)

Oak Nycteoline (uncommon in Beds.)

Buff Arches and Buff-tip continue to amaze, also provoking debate as to which is the cooler moth

Red-necked Footman (5^th & 6^th records for Beds.)

Red Underwing (impressively big, even when lurking high up on a wall)

Merveille du Jour (we were wondering when this would turn up and it did last week)

and a few photos:

Burnished Brass

Scalloped Hook-tip

Pebble Prominent

Brindled Green

Large Ranunculus